is usually a pathetic sight.
Back when I worked in the Michigan Senate, I found out how helpless many politicians are if they don’t have a prepared script.
Consider, for example, this excerpt from John Edwards’ recent appearance on Meet the Press:
When NBC’s Tim Russert asked John Edwards on Sunday if he, as president, would accept a nuclear-armed Iran, the silver-tongued lawyer got tongue-tied: “I — there’s no answer to that question at this moment. I think that it’s a — it’s a — it’s a very bad thing for Iran to get a nuclear weapon. I think we have — we have many steps in front of us that have not been used. We ought to negotiate directly with the Iranians, which has not, not been done. The things that I just talked about, I think, are the right approach in dealing with Iran. And then we’ll, we’ll see what the result is. . . . I think — I think the — we don’t know, and you have to make a judgment as you go along, and that’s what I would do as president.”
(Quoted from James Taranto’s WSJ article “Reckless Caution,” Feb. 8, 2007)
