Recipe for Murphy stew: Hizzoner, Otter and McCain
Commentary by PAT MURPHY
Tsk, tsk. Ketchum Mayor Guy Coles should show more respect for old things.
The abandoned Louie’s Restaurant has become a burr under
Hizzoner’s saddle. In his latest rejoinder, he testily called the venerable,
century-old church-turned-restaurant-turned-preserved icon a "junky old
building," even as preservationists are apace with plans to save and restore it as an
historic structure.
Gracious. How would the mayor feel if people began dismissing him as too
"old" (he’s in his 70s) to keep around?
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If Idaho’s big-talking lieutenant governor, Butch Otter, makes it to
Washington as a freshman congressman, his swagger will leave the capital city crowd
unimpressed.
Washington has seen Butch Otters time and again—the swashbuckling
westerner astride his horse in campaign TV commercials, his Stetson jauntily cocked on his
head, promising voters to tell Washington bureaucrats where to get off.
Oooooooo! Can one imagine 534 other members of congress, the cabinet and a
couple hundred thousand Washington bureaucrats shaking in their boots as Otter arrives in
town?
As a freshman congressman, Otter would be accorded the courtesies shown
any greenhorn—which is to say he’d have less influence for awhile than most
staff secretaries.
Outgoing Idaho Republican Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth was known in
Washington for trying to bring the feds to their knees with such dire vows that
they’d exercise authority "over my dead body."
Surprise. The feds went right ahead despite Rep. Chenoweth’s threats.
They’re still in Washington, she’s returning to Idaho.
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When John McCain returned from a Vietnam POW prison cell, the intoxication
of so much freedom got the best of him. His affairs with other women cost him his first
marriage, he admits.
Now the intoxication of so much attention during his failed run for the
Republican presidential nomination seems to have clouded his good judgment again.
McCain is taking the wraps off his celebrated "Straight Talk
Express" bus and will ride it to the GOP convention in Philadelphia, inviting news
reporters along the way to come aboard and chat with him.
"There’s some arrogance there," grumbles GOP strategist Lyn
Nofziger, who was Ronald Reagan’s political adviser. "John McCain is having a
tough time understanding that he lost the nomination," he told The Arizona
Republic.
And from another corner: "This is just another example of
McCain’s ego," says Larry Sabato, a University of Virginian political scientist.
"This is being done for his real constituency—the national press corps. They re
his real fans."
This may explain why George W. Bush isn’t rushing to invite McCain to
be his vice presidential mate. McCain’s boorish final attempt to poke Bush in the eye
illustrates how he’d be less than loyal as Veep.
Pat Murphy is the retired publisher of the Arizona Republic and a former
radio commentator.
