Cowboy Confessional

Will Rogers once accurately quipped “All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.”

Will was nearly on target about a major failing of our modern political melee, one where world views were once provided by three network news offices and whatever substituted for your local paper.  In Shooting The Bull I note that between AM talk radio, multiple competing 24×7 news networks and the Internet, the media as we once loathed it is no longer in control of the national conversation.  That job now belongs to the citizen’s media, and there is a very strange yet wonderful side affliction growing.

Will Rogers would have loved it.

Some politicians are increasingly willing to rely on a substance previously unfamiliar to their ilk, namely plain talk laced with a growing degree of honesty.  There have been a dozen sign posts on the road away from oratorical duplicity and deceit, though Barack Obama appears to have revived that practice.  In this age where every utterance by candidates or office holders are analyzed by millions of bored cranks, and each prevarication is pilloried across the Internet (though sadly those politician are not being pilloried in person), a few politicians are getting elected by being unfunny Will Rogers.

The latest, and perhaps oddest incarnation is Herman Cain who scores more strongly than any other Republican presidential contender in the pack.  Regardless of whether or not Herman stands a chance in Hades of getting the Republican nod, he is charming the electoral panties off GOP regulars by not being a professional B.S. artist.  In a recent debate, the moderator pitched a topic to Cain with which he was not familiar.  Rather than acting like all political hacks, he admitted he didn’t understand the topic, and later said admitting ignorance was better than faking it. The following exchange occurred in an aftermath interview with Sean Hannity:

“A lot of people think you didn’t understand the right of return,” said Hannity.

“They are exactly right, Sean. Chris [Wallace] caught me off guard. I didn’t understand the right of return,” said Cain. “That came out of left field. And of all the questions that I anticipated him asking me, I didn’t even conceive of him asking me about the right of return. I now know what that is.

“The thing that you’re gonna learn about Herman Cain, if he doesn’t know something, he’s not going to try and fake it, or give an answer that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Being “straight with people” has always been a hallmark of honorable men, which is why everybody thinks politicians are dishonorable.  Yet in recent cycles there have been a few candidates who were elected primarily because they don’t beat bushes, told the truth even when it was uncomfortable, and didn’t equivocate.  New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is as plain spoken as he is humongous (seriously Chris, leave a few of the donuts for the staff).  Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is also pretty blunt in his assessments of what is going wrong and who needs to take a haircut in order to fix it.  The biggest plain dealer on the circuit is Florida’s new Congress Critter Allen West who doesn’t mince words about anything, from the federal budget to global jihad to why Florida is uninhabitable by mortals.

Like or loathe these folks, their straight shooting is what makes them popular in a profession where everyone is mistrusted, despised or suitable for target practice.

Which brings us tidily back to the politician-media complex and other brothels (though in this one, picking the prostitute is problematic). During a radio interview this week, a caller asked me about how Brian Williams bent a news story.  I recited my spiel about the media no longer being in control of the national conversation, noting that anything Brian utters is under scrutiny (and frankly, nobody with multiple functioning dendra takes Brian’s word about much).  The media as well as the politicians are responsible for Cain, Christi, Walker and even Sarah Plain.  In a world where everybody knows they are being spun, but now have the tools to expose, report, debate and excoriate professional liars, politicians who don’t con constituents are getting traction. No degree of oratorical eloquence will win against intelligent yet blunt articulation.

Which means if the Republicans want the White House in 2012, they better pick a person who Will Rogers would have tossed back a brew with.

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This entry was posted by Guy Smith on Thursday, May 26th, 2011 at 7:07 pm and is filed under Culture, Media, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.