I generally limit my column to one topic. Sure, I get distracted, but I will return to the main topic. It’s like when I’m on a road trip to Cincinnati. When I see a Shoney’s sign, I will go out of my way to get a hot fudge cake. But I will eventually end up in Cincinnati. Having said that, let’s explore a few recent diversions.
Keeping up with the news is like drinking from a fire hose. We have a president who doesn’t understand that summer is a good time to relax. He will send out a statement in the middle of the night, declaring that someone carved a 350-foot slit in the liner of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial. (Try doing that in any public place, and see if you can do so unnoticed.) Numerous photos, videos, and our own eyes tell us that is not true, but his favorite “news” channels report it as fact. Some of those arrested for this so-called vandalism will be in court soon, and I have a pretty good idea how this will turn out. “Case dismissed! Next?”
Speaking of the president, kudos to the conservative page editor of my hometown newspaper, the Chattanooga Times Free Press. In a recent editorial on the Tennessee governor’s race, Clint Cooper noted that the president had not endorsed either of the three Republican candidates, all of whom had pledged their allegiance to him. Most notably, Cooper was surprised that Trump had not singled out any of the candidates for his blessing, “especially when one of them (Marsha Blackburn) has stuck to him like Saran Wrap.” I know a good line when I see it.
Now may be a good time to replay one of my own favorite hits from a few years ago. I believed it then, and I believe it even more now. I established a very simple rule in my own philosophy for choosing candidates for whom to vote. “No debates, no town meetings, no vote.” Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has many supporters, and many detractors. Some days I agreed with her, and other days I didn’t. But I always admired the fact that she participated in debates and town hall meetings, even though she usually led her opponents in the polls by double-digit margins. Like it or not, we knew where she stood.
I never ran for anything, and I never will. But if I did, debates and town halls would be my favorite part of the job. In my view, those who refuse to meet with constituents or share a stage with their opponents should be disqualified.
We were all saddened by the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He, too, was a polarizing figure, but he was energetic, vocal, and often entertaining. At 71, he seemed healthy and vigorous, so it was quite a shock to learn he had died suddenly on a Saturday night. Maybe it’s just me, but I found it a little unsettling to learn that his surviving sister Darline, with whom he was quite close, had a conversation with the South Carolina governor just hours after her brother had passed. This, according to the sister, was in the wee hours of Sunday morning. And during that chat, the governor offered Darline her brother’s Senate seat, which she readily accepted.
Let’s pause just a moment here. I also have a wonderful sister. I hope that if she gets a call right after I die from someone saying, “Hey Elaine, sorry to hear about ol’ Dave. Oh, by the way, I sure would like to buy his car,” she would say, “Uh, could you give me a couple of days to grieve here, you know, make some arrangements and stuff? Let’s talk in a week or two.” I think my sister would do that. Anyway, Darline made the trip from Lexington, South Carolina, and was sworn in at the Capitol two days after her brother died. She then voted in favor of a defense authorization bill.
This is yet another reason I could never be a politician. That, plus, I don’t have a red plaid shirt to wear in the commercials.
