Sorry not to have blogged in the last few days; I worked all weekend on a consulting project, and I’m still finishing it. But as I waited for someone to send me back something related to that, I checked my e-mail, and found this at the top:
June 30, 2009
News Release – For Immediate ReleaseToday, Democratic candidate for Governor Mullins McLeod made the following statement regarding the latest developments in the deepening Governor Mark Sanford scandal.
“Let’s not forget that the most important crisis we have right now remains our 12% jobless rate. The sad and disturbing Mark Sanford crisis is another order entirely. Our politicians in Columbia are busy tearing themselves apart with this scandal, focusing on their own political ambitions, while too many South Carolinians are losing their jobs. The hard working families of this state deserve better than this circus.”
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Nothing particularly wrong about this release, except that it tries yet again to strike that “I’m the guy who cares about what the Real People care about” tone, and again fails to connect. I don’t know; maybe y’all think its fine. But it strikes me that of the three at-bats I’ve noticed Mullins having in this ball game, he’s yet to get a hit.
If you’re only going to put out a press release every once in a while, it seems like you’d wait until you have something clear and useful to say. But his statements so far seem to be, I don’t know, muddy. If he were putting out several a day, this one wouldn’t strike me as odd, but when I get this after a silence of days or weeks, and it’s so blah, I wonder why he bothered.
For instance, when he says, “The sad and disturbing Mark Sanford crisis is another order entirely,” what does he mean? Does it mean it’s worth talking about whether Mark Sanford should continue to serve as governor or not? He seems to suggest not, but he’s not clear. Note that he sent this out about an hour or so after AP reported that the governor got together with his girlfriend five times in the past year, not three, and that he’s “crossed lines” with other women, but not gone, you know, all the way. So is Mullins reacting to that, and saying we shouldn’t be talking any more about such salacious stuff? Or was he unaware of those developments, and just saying we shouldn’t talk about Sanford at all? Or what? “Another order entirely” doesn’t tell me anything.
He also seems to be suggesting (but nothing clearer than suggesting) we should be talking about unemployment instead of Mark Sanford. Which, come to think of it, is the same message Andre Bauer’s putting out — saying that if the governor quits and he takes his place, he’ll focus on “jobs, jobs and jobs.”
Andre went on to say other things that sound oddly like what Mullins is saying:
“My thought is that we’ve got to take politics out of it. We have got to move it forward as a state. Somebody’s got to show some leadership…”
Maybe Mullins has a different position from Andre’s, but I can’t tell. I can’t even tell if he means to hold Gov. Sanford responsible for the high unemployment, which would explain why he juxtaposes the two concepts. But he doesn’t say.
Like I say, there’s nothing really wrong with this release, but there’s nothing right about it either. And I’ve pretty much gotten that same impression from this campaign’s previous efforts. His releases seem to be generic, boilerplate, stuff politicians (whether they’re Andre or Mullins or whoever) say all the time. They don’t say ANYthing about why we should be interested in Mullins McLeod and what he has to say specifically. And this strikes me as odd.
The Republican version of McLeod seems to be Gresham Barrett, who after weeks of trying to get an interview with him really didn’t have any reasons to offer why he, in particular, was running.
Here’s hoping Mullins has more to say next time he makes an announcement. And that we start hearing more worth hearing from all the candidates. We need some substance here, people.
Related Posts
Help! I’m losing track; who is (or maybe in this thing?
Dems
Sheeheen
McLeod
Ford ?
Ott ?
Rex ?
Reps
McMaster
Barrett
Bauer
Haley
Nelsen
I know I am leaving several out. Who?
should read (or may be)
At this point, hopefuls will make a comment even if it is vanilla in nature. They want to get their name in front of the voters, early and often.
Mark Sanford keeps digging the hole deeper and deeper each time he talks to the press. Is there a law to prevent this idiot from shooting himself in the foot on a daily schedule and embarrassing the entire state while at it? Can a muzzle be placed over his mouth to prevent him from humiliating his wife in public with his inane, sophomoric meanderings about his romantic liason(s) with other women? Does this tell us the man is not quite with us anymore and even if we have to endure 18 months of Bauer, can it be any worse than it has become over the past couple of days?
Are we living the old choice of either having Sanford continue as governor or poking ourselves in the eye with a sharp stick. The stick looks more and more appealing. By that, I mean having Bauer finish Sanford’s term.
Bauer has the gall to call the horrible lapses in judgement “missteps?” His comments seem to show he has remorse only in that he got caught acting like an out of control teenager instead of an adult.
As much as I believe Sanford should resign, I hope he does not to prevent Bauer from attaining the office of governor.
Heck, I wasn’t sure who Mullins was until you reminded me. Not good….
If you’d said McLeod, I doubt I would have done much better. Now, Mullins McLeod I’d have scored, but that’s mostly because the name sounds like it was made up from a South Carolina Names refrigerator magnet kit. Poor guy. Maybe Jenny Sanford could run HIS campaign….
I like calling him Mullins because it’s a great name. And Mullins (the town) is right next door to the county of my birth.
Folks, I’m sorry y’all had trouble posting your comments. For some reason, with WordPress, every once in a while it just spontaneously switches the setting to “An administrator must always approve the comment.” And the first warning I have is a bunch of e-mails asking me to approve comments. I think it’s fixed now.
All of the other threads still have closed comments.
Hmmm… earlier I didn’t have to log in to leave a comment; now I do. Don’t know if that has anything to do with your WordPress issues…
Anyway, Nathan Ballentine posted on his blog that Sanford needs to go and I hear that Harvey Peeler is calling for his resignation. Add those possibilities to the list above.
I know Sanford always insists on calling his own shots, but the man is in serious need of a handler now… or maybe a strong sedative. What the heck is he thinking???
Mullins McLeod seems to have the usual talking style – like Obama and Bill Clinton, he talks about the problems to get people nodding their heads, but then offers no solutions.
The unemployment rate in SC is 17%.
The politicians ran off textiles and other factory jobs where high school graduates could work. They killed tobacco farming and all farming with high taxes and regulations, where the drop outs could work.
The anti-business tax policies, and anti-technology attitudes of our mayors and legislators has run off engineers, entrepreneurs, and bright young college students.
So what policies are any of these politicians going to CHANGE in order to undo the wreckage they have caused?
I wonder if Peeler is the crack in the dam. I can’t wait to hear what Linsday “adultery is ok if it’s my friend” Graham says after the newest revelations from the AP interview.
I was ashamed to have Speed Racer as Lt. Gov and as bad as he would likely be, Sanford remaining in office is detestable.
By contrast with Mullins mushy un-news release, Vincent Sheheen has left no doubt where he stands, at least. He’s called on the governor to resign:
Oh, and check this other post for the growing number of GOP senators calling for the same thing…
If someone want to make the silly accusation that Mark Sanford is responsible for high unemployment in South Carolina, they need to also
1. Tell us exactly what the unemployment rate would be with anyone else in office at this time, or no governor at all.
2. Tell us exactly what Governor Sanford did to put people out of work in the private sector.
3. Tell us exactly what Governor Sanford failed to do which would have kept people working in private sector jobs.
4. Tell us what any would-be governor would do to create more private sector jobs. If they are already in office, why haven’t they already done these things?