Line of the Day (Evaluating Responses to Charges of Scandal Edition)

“I have a basic rule about politics. If it’s better than it looks, they’ll tell you. And if it’s worse than it looks, they won’t. So if he has a story to tell which improves the image we’re getting of this somewhat murky case, he’ll let us know. And he hasn’t.”—Chris Matthews on Meet the Press commenting on the Cain campaign’s response to revelations about sexual harassment settlements in Cain’s past.

Quite honestly, this strikes me as a reasonable standard.  At a minimum, the Cain campaign has left the lingering suspicion that the whole story has not been fully shared with the public.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Dean says:

    Would Chris Matthews hold the Obama administration to the same standard for Solyndra and Fast and Furious?

  2. @Dean:

    Indeed. After his appallingly biased performance during the 2008 elections, I have a hard time taking Chris Matthews seriously anymore

  3. @Dean: @Doug Mataconis: But, of course, the issue is not who said it (credit is given because, well, that’s what one does) but rather whether the utterance is fair or not.

    And it may well be that the dictum does apply to Fast and Furious and Solyndra.

    I really find the “dismiss the statement/idea/quotation/whatever” based on of who said it, rather than the quality of what is said a rather tiresome response.

  4. And that response is a bit testy, for which I apologize.

  5. Dave Schuler says:

    I really find the “dismiss the statement/idea/quotation/whatever” based on of who said it, rather than the quality of what is said a rather tiresome response.

    It’s the ad hominem fallacy.

  6. @Dave Schuler: Indeed it is.

  7. For the record, I don’t disagree with Matthews’ statement, I just find it unfortunate that a guy who ten years ago was a well-respected political commentator has turned into a cable news hack.

  8. Rick Almeida says:

    @Doug Mataconis:

    He was always a hack.

  9. Just nutha ig'rant cracker says:

    @Steven L. Taylor: You don’t need to apologize, Doug’s partisan blather is a little hard to take sometimes. Actually, Doug’s partisan blather is a lot hard to take all of the time.

    Doug will grow up to become the Chris Matthews of the blogosphere.

  10. Moosebreath says:

    Rick Almeida has it right. Matthews was always a hack. I suspect Doug did not recognize this as he was supportive of what Matthews was saying as a hack until recently.