The Voice of Treason

“He was for the joke before he was against it.”

– Richard B. Cheney

“So you don’t know where you’re going
But you want to talk
And you feel like you’re going where you’ve been before
You’ll tell anyone who will listen but you feel ignored
Nothing’s really making any sense at all, let’s talk
Let’s talk, let’s talk
Let’s talk…”

– Coldplay

kerfuffle:

1. commotion, disturbance, disruption, fuss
2. a disorderly outburst, tumult; hurly burly, to-do, hoo-hah
3. what happens when one attempts to tell a joke but forgets to include the punch line

refudiate:

1. a non-word that combines two actual words: repudiate and refute
2. a non-word used by politicians after another politician commits a kerfuffle

Politics - and I don’t think this can be refudiated - is all about talk. Campaigning, debating, press conferences, addresses - it’s all talk. People are hired to write releases and speeches because politicians are so busy talking that they simply do not have time to write all the words that come out of their mouths. Words that sometimes don’t mean things.

Tune into C-SPAN and you’ll see politicians talking. They are especially fond of talking when there is a camera pointed at them. Some take to the floor and talk and talk until half the people they’re talking to get up and take a dinner break or drift off to sleep. This is called “congress.”

What’s so strange is that when some politicians are given an opportunity to talk - something they generally do non-stop and without any thought or preparation - they suddenly go mute. An example is when our Attorney General was asked by our Congresswoman to engage in five televised debates. The AG did participate in one televised debate and talked a lot, saying nothing. But, ironically, it was when she wasn’t talking that she was really saying something. And that has provided one of the best political ads of the midterms.

Similarly, FNC has invited several candidates to talk this week and it’s interesting to see who has accepted and declined invitations. Jim Talent accepted, Claire McCaskill did not. Rick Santorum accepted, Bob Casey did not. Mike DeWine accepted, Sherrod Brown did not. Michael Steele accepted, Ben Cardin did, too.

Our AG was invited to talk on local talk radio. When it was convenient for her. The host would be friendly - a Liberal Democrat. The AG would even be given the questions in advance so she would be able to have her staff prepare answers. Still she declined.

And today, a Senator who committed a kerfuffle this week and was scheduled to talk on behalf of several candidates, has been refudiated by members of his own party and his invitations have been withdrawn.

It’s never good when politicians talk, but it’s probably even worse when they don’t.