Confess All And Swear Allegiance To The King So That He Might Show You Mercy

By Kleinheider Posted on December 18, 2008 at 6:16 pm

Our esteemed Executive Editor penned a column this morning on the “three blind mice” who are currently running pre-campaigns for Governor awaiting former Senator Frist’s decision whether to enter the race. In it we are reminded of Rep. Zach Wamp’s not so shocking admission that he had, in his past, sampled the yayo from time to time.

Now, in the the modern political climate where we have a president who has not denied the use of cocaine in his past and an incoming president who has explicitly admitted such use, it is an open question how big a deal it is.

Regardless, Wamp’s decision to go public was an astute political move. The last thing Wamp wants is stories and rumors floating around about this subject while the actual campaign is going on.

Now, in December, during the holiday season before he is an official candidate, is the perfect time to make it a story.

One, it is good that he offered it up rather than have to admit it in response to stories and rumors. Owning up to something like this preempts the story and makes it seem like no big deal. Once it has been a story and considered no big deal or at least on old deal, reporters are not likely to led their stories with the information or mention it at all.

Patrick Buchanan did a similar thing in 1988. That year he was seriously considering entering the primary for President against Bob Dole, George Bush the Elder, Pat Robertson and others. However, during his college days he had had an altercation with police which, in his word, could reasonably have been described resisting arrest. Instead of having the media uncover it and confront him, he included it in his autobiography.

Obama did a similar thing putting his cocaine use in his autobiography, although noone can be sure whether he had any reasonable expectation of running for President when he penned the admission. By telling the story oneself, the story is told but in the best possible light and is no longer as newsie as it would be otherwise.

Although, it is no doubt difficult, politicians are almost always best served breaking stories about themselves rather than letting them be uncovered. The only risk is, of course, is that you reveal something about yourself that would not otherwise be uncovered.

However, in this age, where almost nothing is unprecedented or unforgivable, it probably doesn’t hurt to go ahead and get out in front of something of this nature. Response and the inevitable equivocation that comes in reaction to accusation is almost always worse that the clarity that comes from an uncoerced confession.

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Tags: admission, Bill Gibbons, Bill Haslam, cocaine, confession, news cycles, Zach Wamp  

Blowback And Culpability

By Kleinheider Posted on April 23, 2008 at 6:20 pm

Don Williams spied what he believes to be a major admission by a member of the Bush Administration — that America became embroiled in a War in Afghanistan because of previous failures in U.S foreign policy:

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee April 10, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made the following jaw-dropping statement:

“We were attacked from Afghanistan in 2001 and we are at war in Afganistan today in no small measure because of mistakes this government made — mistakes I, among others, made in the end game of the anti-Soviet war there some 20 years ago. If we get the end game wrong in Iraq I predict the consequences will be far worse.”

That’s an astonishing confession. OK, he didn’t use the word “blowback,” but by definition, that’s what he’s talking about. A certain radio commentator in this town once all but called me a traitor for saying the same thing — and I didn’t use the B-word either. Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been denounced all over the country for suggesting Sept. 11 was caused in part by failed U.S. policy. So why are Big Media virtually silent about Gates’ admission?

Katie Allison Granju, however, thinks Williams may be overstating the case a bit. She says that it is a stretch to assert that what Gates is says here is an admission of U.S. culpability for 9/11.

But is that really what Williams is saying? Is there not a difference between admit culpability or guilt and “blowback.”

“Blowback” implies a realistic determination of cause and effect. Culpability implies guilt, it makes a moral judgment. Is pointing out that the difficulties we are having now in Afghanistan is a result of our past interventions an admission of guilt? Are we say we are culpable?

Or are we just recognizing a cause and effect?

Is there a difference?

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Tags: admission, Blowback, culpability, defense secretary, Robert Gates, why do you hate America