Keller @ Large: Pandering Is Part Of Political Life
BOSTON (CBS) - When politicians are out seeking your vote, do they pander to the crowd, and take positions that are inconsistent with their own track record or, sometimes, just plain out of touch with reality?
Listen to Jon's commentary:
Podcast
I hear you laughing sarcastically, just bear with me while I explain why I'm stating the obvious.
I spent the last two days in New Hampshire, watching first Ron Paul, then Newt Gingrich go through their paces.
Both men are experienced politicians who know full well the depth of public cynicism about campaign rhetoric, and who often trash President Obama for the glaring inconsistencies in his record.
But all that didn't stop them from indulging in the cynicism-provoking behaviors I mentioned.
I caught up with Congressman Paul at a restaurant in Plaistow, which sits just a few hundred yards from an oil dumping site that the Environmental Protection Agency is cleaning up using federal Superfund money.
The pollution threatened local well water, but the owner of the site ignored state efforts to force a cleanup, so the feds had to step in.
But when I asked Paul about it, he said there's no way taxpayers in other states should have to pay to fix Plaistow's problem.
Or rather he put it this way – New Hampshire taxpayers shouldn't have to pay to cleanup an oil spill somewhere else.
Clever, huh?
Then there was Gingrich, speaking to New Hampshire Republicans who are eager to see their state adopt a right to work law prohibiting mandatory union dues.
As House Speaker in the '90s, according to the National Right to Work Committee, Gingrich was no help to the right to work movement.
When I called him on that, he said he didn't want to pick a political fight with labor that might have been risky.
Profiles in political courage?
I'd say not.
But they're not doing or saying anything really unusual.
Untenable rhetoric and equivocation is a part of political life.
The real question is – why do we ever expect otherwise?
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
