Mr. Mayor, George W., enjoy a column by ‘the biggest jerk in
town’
Commentary by PAT MURPHY
For journalists, being cursed by politicians is a sign they’ve made
it in life.
But for a politician, a curse can be a nightmare.
Such as George W. Bush’s open-mike obscenity (it rhymes with
"brass pole") about New York Times reporter Adam Clymer.
Bush seemed to contradict his pledge to "change the tone of
Washington to one of civility and respect."
Politician insults aren’t confined to Washington, however: they occur
even in tranquil Ketchum.
A few days before the Bush episode, Mayor Guy Coles identified me as
"the biggest jerk in town" to state Rep. Tim Ridinger, R-Shoeshone, as I dished
out hot dogs for Wagon Days parade participants.
Like most politicians with a perpetual burn for journalists, what makes
Bush and Mayor Coles bristle is truth.
The Times’ Clymer has covered eight presidential campaigns. He’s
a respected Washington reporter. The Bush camp had two silly complaints about
Clymer—that he wrote a tough story about Bush without telling Bush’s advisers,
and about an error caused by a Bush spokesman. So Bush’s obscenity was infantile
pique.
As for Mayor Coles, he just may be a born grumbler.
Remember his recent crotchiness over the church-cum-Louie’s
restaurant, which a citizens group is restoring? He grouched that the structure is old and
useless. Then he didn’t like seeing that quote in print. Then he seemed unhappy when
public support forced him to change his position.
In my years as reporter, editor and metropolitan publisher, I’ve
learned that politicians mostly are peeved because news folk don’t perform like
trained cheerleaders.
Apropos, an Arizona writer, Jack August, flew into Ketchum a couple weeks
ago to interview me for a book about Evan Mecham, the Arizona governor who was impeached
and ousted from office in the late 1980s.
To this day, Mecham blames me personally, as then-publisher of The
Arizona Republic and The Phoenix Gazette, for his downfall less than two years
after taking office.
Mecham ignored evidence—violating campaign contribution laws and
misuse of a governor’s slush fund. Instead, he blames sinister forces allied with
me—bankers, pornographers, utilities, disloyal fellow Republicans and drug
traffickers, to name a few on his enemies list.
While he was still governor, I asked Mecham for proof. He arrived for
lunch with a stack of photocopied clippings—480 pages, as I remember—that he
claimed proved newspaper wrongdoing.
His handwritten margin comments told the story.
Editorials were "unfair" (editorials are opinion and not
designed to be "fair") and news stories were (in his words) irrelevant,
unimportant, not worth Page One, and other picayune personal reasons unrelated to factual
accuracy.
The only inaccuracy was about Arizona National Guard maneuvers in
Honduras: the date was incorrect.
Just as Bush probably convinced followers that reporter Clymer is an
"a-----e," so, too, ex-Gov. Mecham convinced loyalists he was the victim of
false newspaper stories.
And Mayor Cole’s followers probably believe I’m "the
biggest jerk in town."
Pat Murphy is the retired publisher of the
Arizona Republic and a former radio commentator.
