Oct

Strange Bedfellows

Fri Oct 14th 2011 @ 3:20 am

Over 100 years ago, author Charles Dudley Warner wrote that ‘Politics makes for strange bedfellows.” In my experience, Mr. Warner SHOULD have said, “Politics makes for ugly bedfellows.”

Some years ago, when I owned an advertising agency, I was approached by some affluent friends of mine who were supporting a young, aggressive county attorney running for the Governor’s office. They wanted me to handle the advertising for his campaign. I had never heard of the guy, but I agreed to meet with him: statewide political races can generate tons of money for ad agencies.

When he walked into my office, I admit; he was impressive. The guy LOOKED like a Governor, he walked like a Governor and he spoke like a Governor. He had charisma. He was tall and good looking with a great smile and steely gray hair. He was Bill Clinton before Bill Clinton was Bill Clinton!

I told him that, according to my research, he didn’t have much chance to win. I believe I mentioned a snowball in hell. He had zero name recognition outside his home county. He told me he wasn’t running to win; just to get his name out so he could mount a serious effort four years down the road. Sounded like a plan to me, so I agreed to handle his campaign. That’s when I found out how much money we had: very little. I’ve run city council races with bigger budgets.

Another old saying: Necessity is the mother of invention. With no money, we became incredibly creative with our branding, with our ads and commercials, and most importantly, we created an innovative new way to purchase TV time. Amazingly, it all began to work and we started moving rapidly up in the polls. Moving up so dramatically that the candidate began to believe that he could actually win this thing… if we just had more money for the campaign.

And that’s when it started. Suddenly, all the true believers, mostly volunteers, were pushed aside and replaced by political lifers; hacks who could generate contributions from their cronies. Then came a parade of shady businessmen, contractors, developers, lobbyists, and sleazy special interest guys. They were drawn to the campaign like flies are drawn to a manure pile. When we jumped up in the polls, they saw a chance to slide in and perhaps, own a winning candidate on the cheap.

They saw something that we had missed: they saw that our candidate wanted to be a Governor so badly that he was willing to sell out everything he supposedly believed in and crawl in bed with the Devil. I guess political weasels have a sixth sense for that kind of blind ambition. All I know is that a crumbling of his scruples began from the moment he started smelling a possible victory. You could see it on his face. The closer we got, the more desperate he looked as he searched for one more handful of campaign cash.

Deals were being made left and right: political appointments, jobs, chairmanships, legislation, state contracts…they were all for sale. Sadly, I had a front row seat to watch this total moral collapse of a gubernatorial candidate right before my eyes. When I tried to talk to him about it he would shush me, shake his head in denial and mumble that everything would work out when he got into office. After a time, he simply made himself unavailable to me. I should have quit, but I didn’t; the campaign owed me a bunch of money. Doesn’t speak too well for me, does it.

He lost the election. He lost the respect of his closest friends. Most of all, he lost a chunk of his soul. Character is the firm foundation stone upon which one must build to win respect. Just as no worthy building can be erected on a weak foundation, so no lasting reputation worthy of respect can be built on a weak character. On the outside, he had the good looks, the charm and charisma to be a winner: on the inside, his lack of character turned him into a loser.

Of course, politics doesn’t have an exclusive on ugly bedfellows: sadly, the world is filled with men and women with little or no character. Sad to report, I was one of them for a period of time. I like to think that witnessing this moral meltdown helped start me down the path towards redemption. I got my money but the whole thing left me feeling dirty; apparently I was beginning to develop scruples. Yikes! That could cost me money!

Epilogue

Four years after that election, the candidate came banging on my door. He was running again for Governor and wanted me to come back and handle his campaign. I declined. Those pesky scruples. Sure enough, this time around he won…and started handing out those state contracts and political appointments to his shady associates.   When I saw all those dollars flowing into the pockets of his cronies, I must confess I felt some pangs of regret. A bunch of that dough could have been mine. Sometimes principals can indeed cost you money. But then, it all blew up. The corruption was exposed for all the world to see and the Governor went to prison…along with a bunch of his cronies. And I’m guessing that in the slammer, they got to meet some REALLY ugly bedfellows.

Thought for the Day

In the end, a person is only known by the impact they have on others.           Jim Stovall

Listen to God & Ed’s Excellent Adventure on the Radio. Monday through Friday at 4pm on “The Word,” 98.5/99.3 FM. Or listen on-line at KLGO.net. It’s the place for Christians of all varieties to hang out and be loved, entertained and uplifted.

A semi-interesting fact

The average human body is covered with 20 square feet of skin. This amount of skin weighs about 6 pounds.

Speaking of skin:

Ever wonder why your fingers and toes get pruny after a good long soak in the tub? Science may have found the answer: wrinkly fingers improve traction. Raisin fingers and toes work just like tire treads. In a new study, a neurobiologist took a long, hard look at about 30 volunteers’ prune fingers. Everybody in the study had the same wrinkly pattern on their paws. On closer examination, the study said the wrinkles let water drain away as fingertips are pressed to wet surfaces. That gives you more contact and a better grip. So that you're not slippery when wet.

Joke Du Jour

The barn at Larry and Susan's farm burned down, and Susan called the insurance company.
Susan: "We had that barn insured for fifty thousand and I want my money."
Agent: "Wait just a minute, Susan... it doesn't work quite like that. We will determine the value of the old barn and provide you with a new one of comparable worth."
Susan, after a pause: "I'd like to cancel the policy on my husband."

Cool Music
Cool songs you’ve never heard on radio. Check the player on the upper right, click and brighten your day.

Questions I ask myself

If people from Poland are called "Poles," why aren't people from Holland called "Holes?"

Really?? Actual News Stories

SuperVaclav!

A new superhero has emerged in the Czech Republic – to wage war on dog owners who don’t pick up their pets’ messes. The caped crusader, complete with tights, helmet and a mask to protect his secret identity, patrols the parks of Prague. He says he was spurred into action after city was named the “Dog Poo” capitol of Europe by a major newsmagazine.
“I am SuperVaclav, and I have decided to take action against the indifference and hypocrisy in society,” he declared on his website. ‘“It’s my mission!” One video posted on YouTube showed him grabbing a handful of dog poo from the ground and pelting a dog’s owner with it. “His only super power seems to be running really fast because that dog owner was furious and sprinting after him threatening to kill him,” said one observer.

Polling America: Where do you get your news? A survey from the Pew Research Center has found that when it comes to the most widely followed sources of local news, word of mouth tops every other new and traditional form of news media except for television. That includes newspapers, radio and the internet. By word of mouth, they mean "through friends, family, neighbors and colleagues." Fifty-five percent said they get their local news via word of mouth at least once a week. Compare that to 74 percent for television, 51 percent for radio, 50 percent for the local newspaper, 47 percent for the Internet, and 9 percent from a printed community newsletter.

It’s a steal

How bad can the real estate market be when a Malibu mobile home located in Paradise Cove just sold for $2,000,000 cash? The home came on the market a few months ago at $2.5m with many people debating whether or not the price was justified. The home sits on a bluff overlooking the Pacific. There are several other units available for sale ranging in price from $500k to $1.5m. Says the realtor, "It's one of the most fun places to have a weekend beach home in Malibu." For two million bucks it had better be.

A toilet paper roll rejected by The Beatles for being too “hard and shiny” is expected to sell for $1550 a sheet.

Proving that even the world’s most famous could be picky; the legends rejected the roll while recording the Abbey Road album. The band was also unhappy that the TP had a record company logo stamped on every sheet.
It comes complete with a letter of authentication which reads: “Most things went very smoothly with the Beatles at Abby Road – but not this roll of toilet paper which they complained was too hard and shiny. They also thought it disgraceful that the management should stamp each sheet of paper with the logo. The paper was immediately withdrawn and things became much smoother for staff after that”

A stiff price to pay A watchdog report claims that the federal government has paid out more than $600 million in benefit payments to dead people over the past five years. The payments are intended for retired or disabled federal workers, but sometimes the checks keep coming in after the employees die because their deaths are never reported. In one case, a man's son received checks for 37 years after his father's death, getting more than $510,000. The mistake wasn't caught until the son's death in 2008.

Point to Ponder
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success." Emerson

Are you kidding me???

Dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible, and lions 55 times, but domestic cats are not mentioned at all.

Groaner
How Do You Get Holy Water? You Boil The Hell Out Of It.

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Remember, Christianity is more about walking than about talking