In an ideal
world, the reporter would have been Jim Gray-ed.
Instead, Andy
Hiller, a reporter for WHDH-TV, the NBC station in Boston, got big
headlines. He asked GOP candidate George W. Bush a series of four
questions. Name the heads, asked Hiller, of the following countries:
Taiwan, Pakistan, Chechnya, and India.
George Bush
stumbled and fumbled, naming only one in four. When the reporter
asked him if he could name the president of Chechnya, Bush said,
"No, can you?" Big story. Bush, a governor, who, by definition,
pays far less attention to foreign affairs than domestic, found
himself on the defensive. "Not ready for prime time,"
suggested the headlines. Bush, some now say, demonstrates a Quayle-like
lightweightedness.
A few days later,
Democratic candidate Bill Bradley, observing the George W. Bush
fallout, refused to answer a question asking him to name the head
of North Korea. Said Bradley, "I’m not going to get into this.
I’m not going to play this game. I think these are pop questions,
and I don’t think they illustrate, really, the qualities that are
important to be president." George Bush’s failure to answer
the questions landed him heavy ink. Bradley’s refusal? Consigned
to the back pages.
Sports journalist
Jim Gray, a few weeks ago, received a national spanking for questioning
Pete Rose at a ceremony honoring baseball’s "All-Century"
team. "Inappropriate," "Unfair," "Poor
timing," screamed the critics at Gray’s impertinence. Yet,
many in the media do not question the sense, relevance, or appropriateness
of asking a presidential candidate to name the heads of states of
countries of which the average political science professor could
not name.
The late John
F. Kennedy, Jr., flunked the New York Bar twice. Still, media personalities
like Barbara Walters questioned him about his future political plans,
dismissing the relevance of John-John’s bar exam difficulties. Which
disqualifies more—failing to know who runs Chechnya or twice failing
the exam to determine one’s competency to practice law?
And, as a senior
at Harvard, Edward M. Kennedy hired someone else to take his exam.
The school did not graduate him. Despite this, the University of
Virginia granted him admission, and he finished his law degree there.
Did Kennedy’s cheating disqualify him as a senator from Massachusetts
and as a 1980 presidential candidate? Guess not.
Vice President
Al Gore, still the Democratic front-runner for the year 2000 nomination,
once bragged of inventing the Internet. He did not. Gore also said
that he and his wife, Tipper, served as the models for Erich Segal’s
book "Love Story." They did not. Do Gore’s fabrications
disqualify him as a candidate?
And, a few years
ago, Gore toured Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. He saw
a group of busts, and said, "Who are these people?" The
tour guide said to Gore, "That’s George Washington, on the
right."
Do we really
want to play this game of "So who wants to say something stupid
next?" Question: According to Al Gore, the single greatest
threat to mankind is: (a) nuclear proliferation; (b) global warming;
(c) over-population; or (d) the internal combustion engine. Answer:
(d). In his best-selling book, Earth in the Balance (page
235, copyright 1992), Gore writes: "We now know that [automobiles]
have a cumulative impact on the global environment [which poses]
a mortal threat to the security of every nation that is more deadly
than that of any military enemy..." That’s right. Vice President
Gore perceives a lesser threat from North Korea’s Kim Jong-il than
from the Ford Explorer.
Do the voters
care that Bush flunked his name-the-heads-of-state quiz? In 1986,
former member of the Reagan administration, Linda Chavez, ran for
U.S. Senator from Maryland. At a news interview, seventeen candidates
were given a five-question impromptu quiz. Name the prime minister
of Israel; give a definition of Stinger missiles; identify the cause
of the U.S. bombing of Libya; name the leader of the African National
Congress; and where does Maryland rank, as against the other states,
in the amount of federal grants received by the state. Republican
Chavez bested her opponents, correctly answering four of the five
questions, missing only the last one. She lost the race. Does this
mean the voters of Maryland instead elected a boob?