Some People Are Handling Their Moment in the Spotlight Better Than Others
Those of a certain age will remember the ground-breaking comedy show Laugh In from the early 1970’s. It broke new ground on several fronts, including political commentary. And it was funny! It still is. Check out some episodes and extracts found on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Laugh+In
One of the better routines on the show was the periodic awarding of the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate. This “award” was given to people or organizations who did something pretty stupid. Often it was a singular moment when someone was called to step up in a big way, in a bright spotlight – and they blew it.
Who Gets the Flying Fickle Finger Now?
Events of the last few days have reminded me of the old Flying Fickle Finger. Events political and impeachment related would have earned a slew of these awards.
We could review actions and messages by Mr. Trump over the last two weeks, but I like to keep this blog under 1000 words. Let’s just say that in a matter of days, he could have “won” a lot of these. Enough to rival his collection of Pinocchio’s from the Washington Post every time he was caught in a lie. That number, by the way, is over 1,300 now.
Mick Mulvaney certainly earned one this week. That was about as bad a press conference as we have seen in quite a while. No wonder the Trump administration stopped doing regular press briefings. They still are not very good at this.
By the way, how long can a person be an Acting Press Secretary (or other Acting roles currently in government)? At some point, one would think you just earn squatter’s rights to the office. On the other hand, after this week, we might get a new Acting Press Secretary.
The Secretary of State earned one, too. He actually got tongue tied in an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox. He simply could not think up another twisted phrasing to explain away the Ukraine matter. It was one long silence to a pretty straight forward question.
In Other News…
There were others who did rise to the occasion when called upon. With the sad news of the passing of Representative Elijah Cummings, we saw several clips of him speaking What a dedicated, articulate man. He will be missed enormously. He has rightly been referred to as the Conscience of the House.
Recent polls confirm that Pete Buttigieg had a strong night in the most recent debate, indicating he rose to his moment, at the right time. It’s now a three-person race in Iowa. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/21/pete-buttigieg-iowa-poll-053145
Amy Klobuchar also rose to the occasion and got something of a boost. Joe Biden had a mixed night; some good moments, but some in contention for that Flying Finger.
I expect at least 2-3 on that stage have made their last pass. Castro seems possible as the next mid-tier candidate to fold. A decent, articulate fellow, but his campaign does not seem to be taking root.
Watch closely folks. There is a lot of shifting ground under candidates and that trend will only grow. Add to that, a lot of voters, including Democrats and Independents in Iowa, are still undecided.
Bill Clontz
If you find this blog worthy of your time and curiosity, I invite you to do two things:
(1) Join the conversation. Your voice counts here.
(2) Share the word about this blog with friends and colleagues. Share a link in your emails and social media posts. https://agentsofreason.com Let’s grow our circle.