Big Mistake

On Tuesday, Lamar Alexander spoke out against some veteran's hearings held by Bob Clement. Lamar! claimed they were nothing but political show. Clement excoriated him with the CA adding its own spin.

This isn't Lamar!'s first gaffe -- that was his famous "I want to be President, but the Senate will have to do." line -- and I doubt it will be his last. He, or his advisors, should have known Clement's background better and not trod there. Clement, for his part, saw a golden opportunity and seized the hell out of it.

While most news outlets simply reported it as "Speaking from War Memorial Plaza in downtown Nashville," read how the CA's Richard Locker spun it:

Standing in front of the three larger-than-life bronze soldiers of
Tennessee's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Clement announced the
formation of his Veterans for Clement campaign committee, where he
was joined by the top-ranking Democrat on the U.S. House's Armed
Services Committee, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri. Clement, the U.S.
representative from Nashville, used the ceremony at the War Memorial
Plaza here to respond to Alexander's attack.

Locker also seems to have been intoxicated by all the war trappings. Read this:

The Alexander camp issued a statement that day that the hearings
amounted to the "shameless politicizing of a complicated and emotional
issue" because of their timing during an election campaign.

Clement bristled at the charge Tuesday, contrasting his military service
with Alexander's lack of it.

Lord, boys playing soldier.

Locker then goes on to veer into a discussion of a possible new Persian Gulf War. He quotes extensively from Clement's doubts and questions. He even finds Lamar!'s defeated primary opponent, Ed Bryant, and gets a quote from him that, in context, sounds vaguely questioning. But does he quote from Alexander, who supports the President?

Of course not. Wanna guess how Locker feels about the potential new war?

Until next time,
Your Working Boy