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