Finally got around to listening to Cindi do the gig on NPR that I recommended her for earlier in the week. And she did fine. Here’s the link to listen, and there’s a transcript. And excerpt:
NORRIS: So, with all this going on, with the ethics investigation and questions about whether or not the governor might face criminal prosecution, is anything actually getting done in the state? Is there any governing that’s actually going on?
Ms. SCOPPE: Well, I suppose depending on your perspective, you could say unfortunately or perhaps fortunately in the state of South Carolina the governor has very little power. So the business of the state is not being ignored. In fact, Governor Sanford has had less interest in governing than any governor that most people can recall….
Funny thing about that interview… they ended up doing the kind of stuff I would have been comfortable doing myself. I had a good answer ready for the “who’s running the state?” question (nobody, just like always). But I had urged them to talk to Cindi because they seemed to want to get into the technical stuff about the ethics charges. But they didn’t.
Anyway, Cindi did fine.
Note that she mentions her reasoning for not calling on the governor to resign. This is actually one of these critical points where you see the difference of me not being at the paper.
Cindi believes it would be bad for the governor to resign, and bad for him to be removed, because it would put Andre Bauer in power, and that would give Andre a leg up in being elected next year. I believe the opposite. I believe the best way to ensure Andre Bauer is NOT elected is to expose him to the kind of scrutiny that the governor’s office is now under for a year.
The rest of Cindi’s analysis is sound; I just believe she has that backwards. Mind you, I don’t want him to be impeached. But I really, really wish he had resigned while Andre’s offer was current.
I listened to Cindi Scoppe’s interview and she stated that SC Guvernot (my intentional misspelling) Mark Sanford has been the least engaged governor interested in governing South Carolina.
If Andre Bauer is a hindrance to stepping in for Governot Mark Sanford, then why did South Carolina voters elect him twice to Lieutenant Governor? The Vice President steps in if something happens to the President. The Lt. Governor steps in if something happens to the Governor.
I say impeach Governot Sanford and let the chips fall where they may. Andre Bauer is the duly elected second in command.
As Ms. Scoppe said, Sanford was more interested in furthering his political career for President.
Well, Sanford burned his aspirations and political capital when he abandoned South Carolina to visit his soul mate and mistress in Argentina.
If Bauer does as poor a job as Sanford did, well, it appears that he will be elected governor. After all, Sanford was reelected for doing nothing.
But I hope that South Carolina will make the wise choice in the Democrat and Republican primaries to choose the best candidate.
Dum Spiro Spero
I figure a chance to give Andre an audition might not be such a bad idea. He might do a great job–I never expected Henry McMaster to do anywhere near as good a job as he’s done as AG. Andre might really do a bad job–case closed. We can only hope people would be paying attention and actually making reasonable evaluations this time –the flaw in my strategy is, of course, that Sanford was elected to a second term after folks had plenty of time to see what he was made of. Now, *that* could be as much because of the quality, or lack thereof, of his opposition, so….
And Cindi did better then “fine.” Damning with faint praise doesn’t become you, green-eyed one….
Ask any writer I’ve ever supervised: From me, “fine” is about as high as praise gets. I’m not one to gush. I’m also not easily impressed. I’m hypercritical. So if I say “fine,” it means I found nothing critical to say, which is unusual.
Dave Moniz, who used to work for me before he went to USAToday, used to solicit praise from me, just to get me to say something noncommital, which cracked him up. Its like he had a bet down that I wouldn’t say anything overtly positive, and I never disappointed him…
I never believe an editor who gushes. The ones you have to watch out for are those who say your story is “fine” and then they go ahead and monkey with it to the point where they introduce errors.
And, auwe, nowadays a story is “fine” because it fits the predetermined copy hole, not because of the content or style.
Brad–
I feel kinda sorry for folks who had to work for such a stingy boss, but then I figure a kind word (or twenty) doesn’t cost anything and sure can help a lot….
and if I say I really like you or something you do, it’s because I do-I’m not pumping it up or anything. I’m just letting it out.
I figure there’s plenty of good to go around…and everyone can’t be as excellent as I (piano-playing notwithstanding)