It takes a lot to get me to feel sympathy for a Democratic spokesperson.
But Claire McCaskill has done it.
You’ve read the articles, but have you heard the audio of the McCaskill campaign’s “explanation”? (1)
Yikes!
Last week, I wrote of Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson: “Spence is not so great — how could he be? — when he is forced to explain dumb mistakes made by others in the administration.”
The same can now be said for Adrianne Marsh and the actions of her boss. (2)
Put yourself in Adrianne’s shoes for a minute. Your campaign puts together an event for local Democratic activists. Like activists of all political persuasions, the most vocal and least productive ones are constantly whining that the candidate does not spend enough time with them.
Whoever is working the door at the meeting somehow keeps the face of the new St. Louis Democratic Party (state Sen.-elect Jeff Smith) out, but lets a guy with a video camera in. (3)
Operation Placation gets underway, and your candidate begins talking. She should, you think to yourself, politely listen to these men and women complain, pretend that their demands for more of the campaign’s time and attention and money are important, and be on her way to an event that actually matters.
But unfortunately, your candidate decides to play Moses and wanders into the rhetorical desert. She tries to show she relates to the black folks in the room — remember 2004, when she famously said that Matt Blunt was “dissing” St. Louis? — and then she says it:
“George Bush let people die on rooftops in New Orleans because they were poor and because they were black.”
If a candidate slips and no newspaper reporter is around to see it, does anyone end up reading about it? They do if an ambitious blogger was in the room. (4)
The lessons of this fiasco are many and varied. And when Claire’s staffers move on after the election, they will impart those lessons upon their next boss and hope that the candidate listens.
Claire has surely apologized to her spokeswoman by now, but words can only do so much. Did you hear Adrianne’s voice during that interview? Somebody needs a hug, Claire, and it needs to come from you.
(1) Besides being totally not-believable, the “many people felt” argument wouldn’t even make it into a Wikipedia entry (see ad populum arguments).
(2) I think it’s inaccurate to call Claire’s statement a mistake, because I don’t think she was being dishonest; I think she got caught saying something she really believed, and she didn’t think it would leave the room.
(3) This is what literary types call “foreshadowing.”
(4) Will candidates ever learn that with some people, there’s no such thing as “just between us”? Do they realize that it’s foolish to assume that party loyalty trumps all other considerations? This lesson is at least two decades old.
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