As I type this blog entry, the lead story at HumanEvents.com is John Gizzi‘s profile of freshman U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina.
On the day he was sworn into office for his first term, Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) recalled Human Events coverage of his campaign—from the primary to his big win in the run-off to his eventual defeat of Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell.
“I thought everything was fair and accurate—except when you compared me to Lyndon Johnson,” he said, while winking at wife Renee. He cited our analogy between conservative Republican Hudson and the Democratic president Johnson, both of whom went from congressional staffers to representatives from North Carolina and Texas, respectively.
While understanding the comparison, the 41-year-old Hudson, who has all four volumes of Robert Caro’s epic biography of LBJ, explained he was a bit uncomfortable with it because of Johnson’s ethics problems.
“I always felt that Lyndon Johnson was ethically challenged—very much so,” he said. “Integrity is critical to elective office, I feel. Maybe a better analogy might be to another former congressional staffer who went on to serve himself: my personal hero and role model, Jesse Helms.”
