Just say it. Whatever it is. Just say it!
There seems to be some confusion...somewhere.... about what Gov. Pawlenty said yesterday regarding Dean Johnson. Why, I don't know. It sure seemed clear to me. But these are the times of politicians and political spin and a lot of simple use of the English language gets sacrificed. Noun. Verb. Noun. Verb. It used to be such an easy concept.
Let's take a look at what Gov. Pawlenty had to say yesterday about Sen. Dean Johnson.
"From my standpoint, it should be handled like this: Senator Johnson has admitted that he's not been truthful. He's asked for forgiveness and second chance. We should give it to them and we should move on," he said."
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Later, the governor issued a news release saying this:
Senator Johnson was not truthful in describing conversations he says he had with Minnesota Supreme Court justices. He has asked for forgiveness and we should forgive Senator Johnson and give him a second chance. But I also believe a full explanation is needed.
OK, great, governor, but what about that strategy you outlined if you were handling it? The one about ... moving on. Where did that go? And if it changed, why did it change?
In the Pioneer Press today, Patrick Sweeney wrote this:
Later, Ron Carey, the Republican state party's chairman, said Pawlenty had telephoned to talk about the Johnson controversy, but Carey said the governor did not ask for an end to the party's criticism of the majority leader.
"This is certainly not the governor saying we should all just forgive and forget and let this all die and go away," Carey said
So let's see if I'm following this. The governor has a news conference and announces he's going to call Ron Carey later on and suggest, shall we say, a different approach.
Then he puts out a press release that suggests that a full explanation is needed. Then Carey says Pawlenty did call but it doesn't look like any sort of different approach was suggested. Huh?
So did the governor tell the news media one thing and Ron Carey another? Does the governor think his comments were misrepresented? Or am I just missing the nuance of the word "forgiveness?"
You decide. Here's the governor's own words. And, yes, he knew the tape recorder was running. Listen in RealPlayer.
This whole controversy has been yet another example of how politicians do immense damage when trying to engage in damage control. They're terrible at it. Just terrible. I pointed it out after the GOP marriage CD controversy. The smart thing then -- and the smart thing now -- would've been for the person making the "mistake" to slap themselves on the head and say, "you know what? I screwed up bigtime. What an idiot I am." People understand that. People are smart that way. Sometimes politicians are loathe to admit that people are smart.
Instead, for the second time in a month, we see politicians and political parties falling over themselves trying to talk their way out of something... and just looking more and more foolish to the real world in the process. Did the "definition of 'is'" debate not register as being completely ridiculous anywhere inside political circles? Because I'm pretty sure everyone else figured it out pretty fast.
It's amazing, sometimes, why so many consultants get rich advising political parties and politicians on how to communicate. They're really not very good at it.