About Nice Guys In Politics…
It’s already national news, so I’ll keep the intro short. UGA’s Dean of Journalism had the temerity to call Secretary of State a “nice guy” on Twitter. Some found this unacceptable, and the professor has apologized for the tweet. There’s so many directions to go with a “hot take” on this. There’s so little time…
I’m going to cede my opinions on the matter and instead post the following from former State Representative Mike Dudgeon.
I so strongly feel that politics should not divide us personally that the “UGA Dean friend not allowed with Kemp” story has really stirred me up.
So I want to share some things about just a few of my Democratic former colleagues. Scott Holcomb and Stacey Godfrey Evans, and Elena Parent Brisendine were in my “freshman” class and are brilliant and just good people. I had fun working on education policy with Margaret Kaiser, Rahn Mayo, Valencia Stovall, and Alesha Morgan. With each I can remember lots times of smiles and good camaraderie. I learned how to be a good committee member by watching how Kathy Ashe examined bills. And Stacey Abrams now running for Governor did me a big favor in Rules committee (its very technical to describe), but she did it publicly and I thanked her publicly. She was always very nice to me in person.
I am not voting for any of the above, but that shouldn’t matter on a human level. Jefferson and Adams fought at times very hard in the political arena but went through life as the closest of friends. Lets passionately debate ideas and philosophy, bills and regulations. The Gospels are a good source to check if you are not sure – “Love your neighbor as yourself” and The Good Samaritan come to mind.
These words again were from Former State Representative Mike Dudgeon. Former State Rep, but always a Statesman. Thanks Mike.
About Author
Charlie
Founder of GeorgiaPol.com; Now weekly columnist Very interested in Georgia and Georginas. Interest in politics is waning daily.
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That’s a lovely post by Representative Dudgeon, but it misses the point. The Grady Dean is posting on the context of a Governor’s race, he’s a state employee, and he is representative of everyone who attends the Grady School of Journalism and and everyone who has attended it. Which, you will not be surprised to learn, contains many journalists. So for him to praise Brian Kemp, who uses the phrase “Fake News” and chastises the media for legitimate coverage, is not appropriate. For him to suggest that he’s a “nice guy” and “kind to a fault” suggests that criticism of him that goes to his character is inaccurate and unwarranted.
He did not live up to what’s required of him as the Dean of the School of Journalism or as a state employee.
Yea, free speech doesn’t apply to him. Just what the journalists have been learning in recent years.
What, so NOW conservatives want to call a truce?
If he posted from an official government account (he did), it takes the effect of being official speech of the government.
So, he just should have used his personal account.
Davis said “I should not have used a social media account associated with UGA to post a message that some construed as political.” He’s right. If he had praised Abrams or Cagle using the same account he would still deserve criticism for poor judgement.
Good on Dudgeon for his note.
“UGA’s Dean of Journalism had the temerity to call Secretary of State a “nice guy” on Twitter. ”
Was it his official Twitter account or a private account? If it was the official account, did he Tweet something nice about Ms. Abrams?
I concede that he shouldn’t have used a UGA account but the backlash wasn’t about which account he used. He was attacked because of what he said. Its no different than when the CEO of Twitter was forced to apologize for eating at Chick-fil-A. If you don’t stand up for the principal of free thought when you don’t agree with the thought, the concept is meaningless.
I’m not planning on voting for Kemp. I’m disgusted by his election strategy and his embrace of a man I consider a demigod. But, he could still be a “nice” but flawed guy, just like me!
I don’t know. Nobody forced him to do anything as far as I can tell. If he had posted this from his personal account we would be having the same discussion.
He has a right to say what he said, and critics have a right to respond.
If you can’t stand the heat, don’t do the crime. Or something.
But…he didn’t do a crime. If we can’t eat at Chick-fil-A or call our friends “nice” without a torent of vitriolic backlash, Trump has won and we have lost.
Point taken, but I don’t see a negotiated de-escalation on the horizon, and a unilateral disarming will just be taken advantage of. Sad, but it is where we are. Someday maybe we will have a new leader who can broker a peace treaty, but both sides have to play.
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Having said that, I think it is a relatively small percentage of people who participate in that sort of thing (I may be wrong, just a guess.) But the world is different now, and it’s just a harsher environment out there now, you know? If your neighborhood turns violent, just wishing it were different isn’t going to help anything. You have to fight back, or at least defend yourself.
Be the change you want to see.
As has been said on multiple occasions, it didn’t become a war until fighting back occurred.
Sincerely hoping you meant that you consider him a demagogue.
“Some found this unacceptable…” I don’t do Twitter. How many is some? If the number was only a 2 would it still be enough to count as “some” and make it a national story on FoxNews? I’m reminded of last week’s “viral” designation on a Democratic party defection that truly only earned the title of viral when [alt] Right sites jumped on it and linked it.
The Dean himself has made the issue clear as crystal with this tweet:
“To clarify, neither UGA nor its administration had any role in the retraction of my earlier message. I should not have used a social media account associated with UGA to post a message that some construed as political.”
If you will pardon the pun I see nothing here to warranting the high dudgeon from either side. Whole groups cannot be held accountable for the online social comments of a few, well, except for the Trumpists marching to the tweets from Dear Leader.
As for the “nice guy” comment there is a broad divide between that term and who I would want for a governor. I don’t take that as an endorsement myself. The Dean just knew him back when. I’m making no comparisons here so before you get your shorts in a bunch, don’t bother, but I would point out that by all accounts Ted Bundy was a nice guy, well, most of the time.
What xdog and Will Durant said.
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A small, regrettable, corrected and quite forgivable lapse.