Political Stories: Ivory Towers
I think I’ve only spoken to Jim Hunt once in my life – after the fourth debate.
Jesse got better in each debate but a slip in the third debate set off a small powder keg: The head of the Veterans for Foreign Wars (VFW) had endorsed Hunt and it rankled Jesse. It got under his skin and it was like an irrational germ. Jesse was sure he was going to lose the votes of every veteran in the state.
He also figured Hunt was sure to bring up that endorsement during the debate and, when he did, Jesse wanted to say, Well, which war did you serve in Jim? Mr. Ellis saw that as a cheap shot that would backfire – so it was shelved. Or so I thought until the middle of the third when Jesse finished giving a monologue about the bills he’d supported to help veterans and Hunt quipped, Well, Jesse, if that’s so why did the head of the VFW endorse me and not you?
In a heartbeat Jesse shot back, Which war did you fight in Governor?
Governor Hunt just about came out of his shoes – for a moment it looked like he was going to leap right over the podium and throttle Jesse; mad as a hornet Hunt snapped Jesse had questioned his patriotism and he wasn’t going to put up with that and sitting in the studio watching I had the idea Hunt had been lying in the weeds waiting for Jesse’s faux pas and all that outrage was crocodile tears – but Gary says that’s not so that Hunt was as mad as he’d ever seen him – so Hunt’s throttling Jesse must have been spontaneous.
Hunt’s folks threw Jesse another curveball in the final debate: Instead of asking long questions they asked one-line zingers like, Senator Helms why did you vote against Social Security? – which didn’t give Jesse enough time to find his file folder. But by then he knew most of the answers by heart. I’d say Jesse won the last debate but Gary can give you a good argument I’m wrong; either way, when it was over, I was standing on the side of the stage (sure I was never going to get within a mile of another debate) waiting for Jesse to finish talking to reporters when the crowd suddenly shifted and I found myself face to face with the devil himself – Jim Hunt.
My first thought was, I ought to be polite, but before I could say a word the devil stuck out his hand and half-laughed, Well, Carter, at least twenty years from now no one can say we spent the election sitting in our ivory towers…
To be continued… Birth Control Pills.
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Political Stories: Ivory Towers
I think I’ve only spoken to Jim Hunt once in my life – after the fourth debate.
Jesse got better in each debate but a slip in the third debate set off a small powder keg: The head of the Veterans for Foreign Wars (VFW) had endorsed Hunt and it rankled Jesse. It got under his skin and it was like an irrational germ. Jesse was sure he was going to lose the votes of every veteran in the state.
He also figured Hunt was sure to bring up that endorsement during the debate and, when he did, Jesse wanted to say, Well, which war did you serve in Jim? Mr. Ellis saw that as a cheap shot that would backfire – so it was shelved. Or so I thought until the middle of the third when Jesse finished giving a monologue about the bills he’d supported to help veterans and Hunt quipped, Well, Jesse, if that’s so why did the head of the VFW endorse me and not you?
In a heartbeat Jesse shot back, Which war did you fight in Governor?
Governor Hunt just about came out of his shoes – for a moment it looked like he was going to leap right over the podium and throttle Jesse; mad as a hornet Hunt snapped Jesse had questioned his patriotism and he wasn’t going to put up with that and sitting in the studio watching I had the idea Hunt had been lying in the weeds waiting for Jesse’s faux pas and all that outrage was crocodile tears – but Gary says that’s not so that Hunt was as mad as he’d ever seen him – so Hunt’s throttling Jesse must have been spontaneous.
Hunt’s folks threw Jesse another curveball in the final debate: Instead of asking long questions they asked one-line zingers like, Senator Helms why did you vote against Social Security? – which didn’t give Jesse enough time to find his file folder. But by then he knew most of the answers by heart. I’d say Jesse won the last debate but Gary can give you a good argument I’m wrong; either way, when it was over, I was standing on the side of the stage (sure I was never going to get within a mile of another debate) waiting for Jesse to finish talking to reporters when the crowd suddenly shifted and I found myself face to face with the devil himself – Jim Hunt.
My first thought was, I ought to be polite, but before I could say a word the devil stuck out his hand and half-laughed, Well, Carter, at least twenty years from now no one can say we spent the election sitting in our ivory towers…
To be continued… Birth Control Pills.
Click Here to discuss and comment on this and other articles.