At Georgetown cocktail parties and other Inside The Beltway destinations frequented by only the best sort, there is a right way to do things. And something that Is Just Not Done is giving a straight answer to a straight question.
This is why the people who run up massive deficits, send American servicemen and women to die in pointless wars, engage in massive insider trading schemes, and still have time to enjoy an occasional high-end prostitute or a boozy drive simply just do not care for U.S. Rep. Gary Peters saying that, yes, he is interested in running for retiring Sen. Carl Levin's seat in 2014.
The Hill: One source close to [Debbie] Dingell said Peters disrespected Levin by too quickly showing his interest in the race after Levin’s retirement announcement.
"Gary made some mistakes at the beginning. If he’d slowed down a little he wouldn’t have upset some people, and some people were upset," the source said.
Pearls are being clutched up and down K Street as they read of Peters' horrible faux pas in Capitol Hill's school newspaper the serious journal about policy and governance known as "The Hill."
What Peters' should have done, if he was the right kind of people, was to lie when asked a direct question about his plans. Offer some noncommittal line about dedication to the current job, utter nonsense about listening to the people and doing what's best for the party, and then form a phony-baloney exploratory committee to campaign without actually saying you're campaigning.
Even better, get a friend to talk shit about possible opponents in an inside baseball journal read by power brokers but unlikely to be seen by actual voters.
But acknowledging your intentions and making an honest case to voters? That's worse than wearing white after Labor Day. Were you raised in a barn, Gary Peters? Or, worse, outside the confines of
I-495?
