A number of years ago, I spoke to a group of school officials, discussing how they might choose to react after a mass casualty event such as the Columbine shootings.
I suggested it would be wise to brief the media sooner, rather than later, before someone like Reverend Jesse Camera Hog has a chance to show up and start spinning his own version of events.
The reaction from some members of the audience was so snap-quick and harsh, you would have thought I advocated throwing acid in the man's face
I learned a valuable lesson that day. One that some critics of the tea-party, Herman Cain, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, and football coaches like Joe Paterno, have yet to figure out.
Don't you dare take the name of a conservative idol in vain.
As my old cop-partner Kenny P. used to say, "Call John Wayne a sissy? Why them's fightin' words!"
The ultra-conservatives, especially those who only read the headline-speak of their candidates, cling tight to idyllic, can-do-no-wrong beliefs about their heroes. So tight that, to cause any ripple in The Force, is cause for immediate retribution. Condescending remarks are usually the first volley.
"You don't understand. Herman Cain didn't abuse those women. You're so simple-minded! You're falling for the Democratic plot to undermine his campaign." Or, "Michele Bachman isn't ever wrong! She just goes off message sometimes..." Or the best one lately, "Joe Paterno did what the law said he had to do...report to his superiors. Nothing required him to call the cops. You're just like all the rest...beating up on an old man."
And then there's the fallback: "Herman didn't do anything Obama hasn't done."
Huh?
No facts. No reasoning. No logical argument. Not even an agreement to disagree.
Instant vilification.
Why is that, do you suppose?
Seems to me, if you're blind to someone's failings, maybe you really don't know enough about them. Which, in this age of politics-lite, seems to so often be the case.
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