Sunday, December 05, 2004

Tommy Thompson and his resignation speech

Tommy is now an official winner of the prestigous "Loose Lips" award, but I have yet to really expound on the man for Jiblog's worldwide audience. Tommy has actually been an enigma to most of the nation as Bush wisely buried him in a cabinet position where Tommy's mouth would do a minimal amount of damage over 4 years. Well America, now you know a little bit about Tommy Thompson. He has a big mouth and he doesn't know when to shut it sometimes.

I should start by saying that, unlike a majority of my fellow Wisconsinites, I was never a big Tommy Thompson man while he was the state's governor. He came down on the opposite side from on an issue I felt strongly about, the right of Chippewa to exercise their right to spear fish. Still, I was never rabidly opposed to him. This state loved the guy, though. The problem is, Tommy was prone to disengage his brain and let his mouth run away from him. One of his most famous gaffes came as we debated in this state whether or not we'd build Miller Park for the Milwaukee Brewers. Talking to an audience outside of the 5 counties that would be assessed a sales tax to pay for the stadium, Thompson told them they should support the deal, as they wouldn't have to pay for it, anyway. Refering to Milwaukee, which many parts of the state see as a money hog, Thompson said, "Stick it to 'em!" 620 am WTMJ still plays that quote. The Bush administration has to be relieved that this was the only mess Thompson created for them, and that he waited until after the election to do it.

After I first read Thompson's comments, I thought that there was no way way he would be able to challenge Democratic Governor Jim Doyle in the next gubanatorial election. Then I caught a little bit of an afternoon show on WTMJ radio. The host asked for opinions on this, and at first it ran heavily against Thompson, but then the tide turned very suddenly. Tommy fans came out of the wood work to defend him. Some said it was a stroke of political genius, because it will force the Bush administration to quickly deal with a problem that Thompson was obviously concerned about. Others had no idea that our food supply was in danger, and thought Thompson did the public a service by informing them of this so they could be vigilant (those individuals have obviously been living under a rock). Still others said this was vintage Tommy Thompson, a guy who tells you the way it is, whether it is popular or not. I left that segment convinced that if Thompson were to challenge Doyle, his arch nemesis here in Wisconsin, that Tommy would probably win, and by a very wide margin.

I'm stupefide by it all. I can only agree with one thing said by the Thompson supporters: It was vintage Thompson. But it wasn't because he was shooting straight or because he was making a courageous stand. It was because it was flat out stupid. Had Thompson said, "I remain very concerned about vulnerabilities of our food supply to attack," I probably never even would have though twice about it, because that is well documented. What Thompson did, though, was very visibly point out what could be our biggest vulnerability, and practically screamed in terrorists' ears, "Hey! Hit us here before we can secure our food supply better!"

Thompson won elections here in Wisconsin because he reminds people of that guy at their local pub that says a lot of things that make sense, and who is a good time to get drunk with. That's it, period. I was always a bit surprised that his name came up when the VP slot opened in 1996 and 2000, because there have been too many rumors and 2nd hand stories for that guy not to have a few skeletons in his closet. On top of that, he's a good state politician, but he is not a guy for the national stage. This week, America, you got to meet our Tommy, who we got to know over 14 plus years. Thank us, because were about to take him back before you get to know him too well.

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