Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman
May 16th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Ever write an e-mail when your blood is running hot, click “send,” and then instantly regret it?
We’ve all been there — and whether the letter’s going to a boss, an ex-girlfriend, or the Capitol press corps, the best course of action is always the same: deny everything.
And if you’re lucky enough to have your own communications staff, blame them instead.
Which is how, on the day after Lt. Gov. Dewhurst got on the fighting side of the entire Senate — when he was probably hoping to lick his wounds and move on — he found himself surrounded by reporters and TV cameras in a corridor, denying that he ever called Democrats’ behavior “an outrage against all Americans,” or said Sen. John Whitmire “tried to make himself a victim” Tuesday.
Parts of the letter, e-mailed to newspapers early this afternoon, sound like someone venting frustration after a rough day. The letter runs the gamut from garden variety voter fraud stats (if yours is a Republican fantasy garden) to disbelief that Senate Democrats could be so obtuse. Dewhurst (or whoever really wrote the letter) lists the possible forms of ID allowed under HB 218, and asks, “What’s so hard about this? Seriously, how can any American argue that this requirement is too onerous?”
Whether these sound like words that came from a frustrated Dewhurst or a frustrated staff member is up to you. Here’s the original letter as a PDF.
“There were things in the letter that I hadn’t seen before, and hadn’t written,” Dewhurst told reporters after the Senate adjourned. “It was a real screw-up on the part of the staff,” he said, later adding: “I ultimately take responsibility.” Just so the record is clear — it wasn’t his fault, except it was. In fact, why not just forget the whole thing ever happened? “Let’s not get too hung up on this,” he suggested.
Good luck, governor. It was poor timing all around when the letter went out, as five TV crews and a packed press table sat around with nothing to report on except the inflamatory letter. Expecting more fireworks to carry over from Tuesday, an extra-large press contingent was on the floor all afternoon, while Senators caucused in private. The made-for-blogging drama played out quickly online.
By the end of the day, Dewhurst’s office had released a revision, with all the rhetoric of the first letter and half the fun. Accompanying the second draft was an apology of sorts for the first letter, admitting that “the paragraph on Senator Whitmire went over the top.” Dewhurst struck a light note, commenting that Whitmire and Dewhurst are in fact very close friends, and that they go hunting together. “We were planning on letting him use a rifle this year,” Dewhurst writes, sounding very gracious, “so I’m especially interested in Whitmire being real friendly with me.”
