John David Dyche Exposes Jack CONway's "PHONINESS". I Say: Amen, Bother David.
Can Conway stage a stretch run in Senate primary?
By John David Dyche
U.S. Senate candidate Jack Conway took time off Saturday from trying to convince commonwealth Democrats that he is a common man who understands their problems. What would tempt an “ordinary Joe” like Jack from the campaign trail when polls have shown him trailing his primary opponent, Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo? Like any average, run-of-the-mill Democrat, Conway was watching a racehorse he co-owns win a Derby prep race.
So there was Conway in Keeneland's winner's circle straining to get his photogenic face on NBC's camera for some valuable free media. The resulting picture of privilege played perfectly into Mongiardo's strategy of portraying Conway as an out-of-touch elitist.
When Conway is not savoring the Sport of Kings or relaxing in his $1.7 million Glenview home, however, he is campaigning “hard, hard, hard.” If you doubt it, “All you have to do is look at the bags under my eyes,” he says.
His reference to personal appearance unwittingly reinforces another negative perception — that his handsome looks are his major qualification for high office. MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who has gushed like a schoolgirl over Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, was recently smitten. “I think you're pretty impressive!” exclaimed Matthews after a Conway interview.
Respected state Auditor Crit Luallen recognizes that perception of her protégé as just another pretty political face poses a problem. “He's one of the most intellectually gifted people I have ever seen in public service,” Luallen asserts. His campaign has yet to show it (causing caustic criticism in the commonwealth's influential liberal blogosphere).
By emphasizing his rural roots and laboring class ancestry, Conway emits a phoniness that Holden Caulfield found insufferable in Catcher in the Rye.
“Lawyers,” complained Caulfield, don't “go around saving innocent guys' lives all the time.” Instead, “All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink martinis and look like a hot-shot.” But, he added, “How would you know you weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn't.”
Conway was phony at Fancy Farm, the campaign's first big event. Desperate to dispel doubts about his readiness for a rough campaign, he declared himself “one tough son of a bitch” at that Catholic family function. It backfired badly.
Laughably, Conway has described himself an “independent Democrat,” especially after Democrats lost the Massachusetts seat arrogantly referred to as “the Edward Kennedy seat” (just like Conway calls the seat he seeks “Wendell Ford's seat”). His record reveals him as anything but. Conway has yet to demonstrate character traits or policy positions that distinguish him from the Democrats in Washington who dependably back Obama's big government and appeasement agenda that is anathema in the Bluegrass.
Phoniness also flows from the fact that Conway covets a Senate slot before serving out his term as Kentucky's attorney general, his first elective office. Further complicating Conway's quest is that he hails from Louisville, as does Kentucky's senior senator, Mitch McConnell. Kentucky's provincials may not cotton to having both senators come from the big city.
He lacks Conway's money and movie star visage, but Mongiardo actually embodies much of what Conway merely claims to be. Mongiardo grew up in rural Eastern Kentucky, regularly tangled with Republican leader David Williams during multiple state Senate terms, and took on Jim Bunning when other Democrats lacked the guts. His longtime legislative interests in health care and Kentucky coal are unquestionably authentic.
Mongiardo seems a fighter, not a phony. Kentuckians can imagine him standing up to Obama to protect state interests. As for toughness, he and his young wife have endured crass political cheap shots with class. More ugliness is in store now that Conway is spending liberally on negative ads.
With the Derby and the Democratic primary both looming, Conway looks like a bigger longshot than his horse. Can the candidate stage an impressive stretch run like his colt did Saturday? Kentucky Democrats will soon decide if Conway is the talented political thoroughbred he has long been touted to be or just another favorite that flops.
John David Dyche is a Louisville attorney who writes a political column from time to time in Forum. He is the author of “Republican Leader: A Political Biography of Senator Mitch McConnell.” His views are his own, not those of the law firm in which he practices. Read him on-line at www.courier-journal.com; e-mail: jddyche@fmhd.com
By John David Dyche
U.S. Senate candidate Jack Conway took time off Saturday from trying to convince commonwealth Democrats that he is a common man who understands their problems. What would tempt an “ordinary Joe” like Jack from the campaign trail when polls have shown him trailing his primary opponent, Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo? Like any average, run-of-the-mill Democrat, Conway was watching a racehorse he co-owns win a Derby prep race.
So there was Conway in Keeneland's winner's circle straining to get his photogenic face on NBC's camera for some valuable free media. The resulting picture of privilege played perfectly into Mongiardo's strategy of portraying Conway as an out-of-touch elitist.
When Conway is not savoring the Sport of Kings or relaxing in his $1.7 million Glenview home, however, he is campaigning “hard, hard, hard.” If you doubt it, “All you have to do is look at the bags under my eyes,” he says.
His reference to personal appearance unwittingly reinforces another negative perception — that his handsome looks are his major qualification for high office. MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who has gushed like a schoolgirl over Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, was recently smitten. “I think you're pretty impressive!” exclaimed Matthews after a Conway interview.
Respected state Auditor Crit Luallen recognizes that perception of her protégé as just another pretty political face poses a problem. “He's one of the most intellectually gifted people I have ever seen in public service,” Luallen asserts. His campaign has yet to show it (causing caustic criticism in the commonwealth's influential liberal blogosphere).
By emphasizing his rural roots and laboring class ancestry, Conway emits a phoniness that Holden Caulfield found insufferable in Catcher in the Rye.
“Lawyers,” complained Caulfield, don't “go around saving innocent guys' lives all the time.” Instead, “All you do is make a lot of dough and play golf and play bridge and buy cars and drink martinis and look like a hot-shot.” But, he added, “How would you know you weren't being a phony? The trouble is, you wouldn't.”
Conway was phony at Fancy Farm, the campaign's first big event. Desperate to dispel doubts about his readiness for a rough campaign, he declared himself “one tough son of a bitch” at that Catholic family function. It backfired badly.
Laughably, Conway has described himself an “independent Democrat,” especially after Democrats lost the Massachusetts seat arrogantly referred to as “the Edward Kennedy seat” (just like Conway calls the seat he seeks “Wendell Ford's seat”). His record reveals him as anything but. Conway has yet to demonstrate character traits or policy positions that distinguish him from the Democrats in Washington who dependably back Obama's big government and appeasement agenda that is anathema in the Bluegrass.
Phoniness also flows from the fact that Conway covets a Senate slot before serving out his term as Kentucky's attorney general, his first elective office. Further complicating Conway's quest is that he hails from Louisville, as does Kentucky's senior senator, Mitch McConnell. Kentucky's provincials may not cotton to having both senators come from the big city.
He lacks Conway's money and movie star visage, but Mongiardo actually embodies much of what Conway merely claims to be. Mongiardo grew up in rural Eastern Kentucky, regularly tangled with Republican leader David Williams during multiple state Senate terms, and took on Jim Bunning when other Democrats lacked the guts. His longtime legislative interests in health care and Kentucky coal are unquestionably authentic.
Mongiardo seems a fighter, not a phony. Kentuckians can imagine him standing up to Obama to protect state interests. As for toughness, he and his young wife have endured crass political cheap shots with class. More ugliness is in store now that Conway is spending liberally on negative ads.
With the Derby and the Democratic primary both looming, Conway looks like a bigger longshot than his horse. Can the candidate stage an impressive stretch run like his colt did Saturday? Kentucky Democrats will soon decide if Conway is the talented political thoroughbred he has long been touted to be or just another favorite that flops.
John David Dyche is a Louisville attorney who writes a political column from time to time in Forum. He is the author of “Republican Leader: A Political Biography of Senator Mitch McConnell.” His views are his own, not those of the law firm in which he practices. Read him on-line at www.courier-journal.com; e-mail: jddyche@fmhd.com
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