My talk radio co-host, Tom Finneran, is a former Speaker of the House in Massachusetts. He’s upbeat and outgoing – a bright and engaging city “kid” who joined the legislature in his twenties and came of age under the golden dome of the state house, mastering the dance of relationship and power.
When Tom is discussing someone of influence of whom he approves, I’ve observed an unconscious grading system in operation. Most anyone he served with in the legislature, for example, is affably referred to as being a “Good Guy.”
For Tom, of course, being a “Good Guy” is a badge of honor – an acknowledgement that the recipient operates with agility and guile in pursuing the People’s Business. Good Guys are mostly smart and hardworking in Tom’s experience, and are forced to suffer the indignities of media smears, unreasonable ethics scrutiny, and voters’ ignorance of how tough their jobs are.
Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, as Tom is still called by the loyal, likes a guy so much that he slips in a second “good,” as in, “Ah, that Joey Mac, he’s a good, good guy.” And, on rare occasions, there have been those who he deems to be (slowly, and with a smile) a “good, good, good guy.”
In my mind, and on the air, I’ve branded each “good” which Tom bestows upon a lucky recipient as symbolizing a year earned in the pen. I’m assuming the Good Guys have made unacceptable compromises to earn such hearty praise from one who rose to the top of a world defined by compromise.
But, I concede, I’m a cynic who can’t comprehend the world of the Good Guy. Instead, I am labeled “a punk” by my co-host. Punks are bottom feeders – akin to theater critics – heaping piles of stench upon those who “serve” without having the courage to enter the fray themselves. Anyone can throw insults.
I don’t mind being a punk, though, because I believe the nobility in this fight belongs to us. As I see it, we’re in a war to protect the country from the plague of the “Good Guys,” those who would trade away what The Founders built in a game of legislative marbles. They are so involved in practicing their craft that any larger purpose has been long forgotten.
My favorite punks were the revolutionaries, who risked their safety and prosperity in order to shake off the constraints of British rule. Overwhelmed as they were by the might of the Redcoats, they claimed victory by changing the rules of the game, and thereby gained the power to launch an idea that became the most important model ever for human organization.
My hope is that all voters will become punks – that is, conscious of the need to reign in the Good Guys and restore our nation to the brilliance and potential of its design.
The Tea Party movement is, it seems to me, just such a collection of punks – my kind of people – and it seems to have taken a solid hold amongst a good-sized segment of Republican voters, a reality reflected in the latest GOP polls.
According to a CNN poll that came out on Friday, Rudy Giuliani is now the most popular candidate amongst likely Republican voters nationwide, a surprise considering that Rudy only recently began floating the idea that he might be interested in running. Mitt Romney can’t be too happy – he’s been working hard, if quietly, for many months to lay the groundwork for his second attempt at the White House. Rudy’s rise is testimony to the softness of Mitt’s hold on voters.
The search for a frontrunner is a media game, however, and it’s one that is largely irrelevant. There’s something far more important hidden in that poll, yet it gains little attention. That story is the stunning popularity of those who aren’t promoted as frontrunners. The Tea Party crowd. The Punk Candidates.
Despite continued news media disdain for Sarah Palin, she’s running third in the CNN poll. Why? Because Palin is not a back slapping, go-along politician. She is outspoken in her support for traditional conservative values and for the Constitution.
There’s no one in American politics who is less of a “Good Guy” than Ron Paul. In past years, he was discounted as a crank for his devotion to small government principles, but now CNN finds him just one point behind Palin nationally. And he’s in second place in a tally of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire.
Even more remarkably, Herman Cain, a former pizza chain CEO who is a relative unknown, is running right behind Paul. Cain speaks with Trump-like conviction in his defense of conservative values, a quality that generates spine tingles amongst those who’ve grown tired of standard political fraud-speak. He might be the biggest punk candidate of all.
While the punks may not be ready for prime time, their voters seem dug-in. As a result, the Good Guys have much to fear from The Punks. Consider: if you combine the tallies for Sarah Palin, Herman Cain and Ron Paul in the CNN poll, the total represents 35% of the Republican vote nationally – beating the combined power of the poll’s two frontrunners, Giuliani and Romney, 35-31.
If one punk candidate emerges as the go to guy for voters who believe in fiscal responsibility and living by the constitution, we have a shot at stopping the Good Guys from getting the nomination.
If not? Remember that one of the good things about the Good Guys is they don’t care about policy, they care about winning. If we stand strong and stay true to our principles, then they’ll need us to win. And to get us, they’ll gladly shape themselves into something that pleases us.
Because that’s what Good Guys do.
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