Michael Putney The Miami Herald

Michael Putney
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, Florida 33132-1693

RE: All those mean politicians! Why don’t they play nice? Some comments on your column in today’s Miami Herald

Mr. Putney,

“That’s why, over the last three years, there was total
gridlock in Tallahassee, even if nothing got done.”
The Miami Herald
Today
You

And that‘s without snow? Imagine how much better off we would be if the capitol would be declared a drowning polar bear safe haven. They would be like the turtles we protect on the beach. No one could go there. Peripatetic politicians, intent on “doing” something, would be at risk of being eaten. Oh happy day!

At the risk of dating myself isn’t your statement like a letter high, off speed batting practice pitch to Henry Aaron. A snap of the wrists, a crack in the night, and the ball is in the parking lot.

Why the urge to get something done?

Government, any government, has a tendency - how to say this delicately – to mess things up. Think of the Post Office, two car funerals, education, wet dreams, the motor vehicle department, public housing, teenage obesity, the war on poverty, inter alia. “The triumph of hope over experience” is writ large above every legislature.

Continuing the baseball analogy Earl Weaver, the Oriole manager [does the word “feisty’ come to mind?] said, “The best play in baseball is a 3 run homer”. If legislatures go deep it is always a foul ball.

You say that the Republican Senatorial primary is “petty and banal”.

Why?

Candidates present themselves to the public for their consideration. They try to catch cheers with a well turned phrase. Candidate Kennedy said in 1960 that there was a “missile gap”. He also said that the wanted to “get the country moving again”. Not exactly Demosthenes but for the electors, with a bit of help from King Richard the First of Chicago, it was enough. Franklin Roosevelt promised time and again in 1932 to balance the budget.

Would it be “mean spirited” or, worse, “petty” of me to point out that 3 Presidential candidates ran in the 20th century promising to “keep American boys from fighting in foreign wars”?

Like Dr. Johnson said about lapidary inscriptions campaign promises are not “upon oath”.

When asked what was the most important qualification to look for in a candidate for public office James Madison always replied “Character”. I hope the lunacy of our campaigns reveals the character of our candidates.

I don’t know if, as you say, “Florida deserves better”.

Would our state be better served if the candidates were to debate on the Jerry Springer Show?

I am upset that you are upset that the Republican primary does not meet the standards of Putney’s Principled Primer on Partisan Primary Politics.

I ain’t so young anymore. I, the Republic, and the state will get over it.


Kevin Smith


PS – If you are familiar with investment nomenclature some Crist leaps, having been ferociously bid down, would be suitable for the aggressive investor.