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Posted on 11/14/2003 10:50:12 PM PST by kattracks
Not too long ago, I had Arizona Sen. John McCain on my television show and the subject of President Bush came up. I asked the senator how he was getting along with the big guy. His response: "We have a cordial relationship."
I've heard that one before. Many times. Years back, when the president's father met with Bill Clinton for the first time after his defeat, the first President Bush termed their get-together "cordial."
So too Arnold Schwarzenegger after he powwowed with the guy he helped drum out of office, Gray Davis. Their first post-election chat was friendly and "cordial."
I've seen it countless times in corporate America. The guy bumped out as chief executive has a cordial one-on-one with the guy who will replace him. The corporate raider who sends a cordial, but forceful, note to the head of the company he wants out of there. The lawyer who sends a cordial, but firm, letter to the guy he wants to sue.
We're big into cordial in this country. Frankly, I think we should be a heck of a lot more frank in this country.
Cordial is restrained. Cordial is wishy-washy. Cordial is being diplomatic. Cordial is thinking, "I want to kill this guy," but not saying, "I want to kill this guy."
I know I'm giving into my more volatile Italian heritage here, but where is it written we can't be nasty, mean, vituperative, in-your-face maniacs? Because I'll tell you what, confrontations with these people are unforgettable. There's no mistaking their intent or their message. There's no phoniness or false pretense.
This is going to sound impolitic, but I think a lot more of us should be impolitic. We should be less concerned with saving face, and more in your face. I think men, in particular, suffer from this malady. I call it being emotionally constipated -- afraid to tell your wife you think she's the greatest and afraid to tell your co-worker he can sometimes be the jerkiest.
I think it's eating us alive and could explain why so many men (sorry again, guys) get ulcers. Woe to those who don't vent their woes. For example, why would you even pretend to be civil to a knucklehead who's raked you over the coals in the press? I say, let the guy have it!:
"Hey, Joe, you (expletive deleted)-freak! What the hell were you thinking blasting me in The New York Times? Would it have killed you to give me a call first?"
Two things usually happen in response to this approach. First, the guy in question is stunned. And second, he's afraid. It's good to keep your enemies stunned and afraid. Generally, people don't mess with people they fear. Tiptoeing around the subject only adds fuel to their deceitful fire. I say, let 'em have it, then everyone knows where everyone stands.
There's a tendency in corporate America to sort of let bygones be bygones. I'm in the school that says never forget a slight. Don't dwell on it, but don't ever forget it, because the guy who thinks he can get away with it will repeat it, again and again.
I remember when I was a kid, there was this one poor sap named Johnny (I'll leave out his last name, mainly because I don't remember his last name). He rode on my bus. And the guy might as well have had a target painted on his back. He was always getting picked on. I mean this happened every day. Kids would trip him as he got on the bus, throw things at him while he was on the bus, constantly. It must have dragged on for years. Then, wouldn't you know, one fall morning, at the start of another school year, Johnny steps on the bus. The kid must have grown six inches over the summer! He was a monster.
Yet one of his tormenters didn't seem to care, suspecting Johnny was still a wimp, no matter his size. He started teasing him, and all I can remember is Johnny getting up, walking to the back of the bus from where this obnoxious kid was heaving spit balls, picking him up by the collar and literally flinging him like a rag doll across at least four seats. Johnny proceeded to ring off a string of expletives, whose meaning even then I couldn't fathom. The bus was silent. And from that day forward, no one . . . and I mean no one . . . messed with Johnny.
My point is, be blunt. But a lot of us are afraid to be blunt.
I know it's impractical for opposing senators to go into a conference and say of the other, "Look, I can't stand you. You're the closest thing I've seen to a media whore, but what the heck, we have to come to some deal. Either we work it out, or we'll duke it out."
Sometimes it's a bit startling, but it beats being bewildering. So many times I hear workers who suddenly get canned say, "I never saw it coming."
Maybe that's because they were too nice to ask, or too cordial to bother.
©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
This guy always catches me by surprise.
I need to start a Cavuto folder.
I started reading and asked myself: who is this guy?
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Where did he say that? Here we go again with the vilification of McCain. There are many others in the Senate towards whom one should appropriately show disdain before showing it towards JM.
Just because there are a bunch of others, doesn't make calling him one wrong.
L
Every Republican should be on their knees thanking McCain for that. CFR strangled the Democratic Party more than any single thing done by anyone in the last 15 years, and he even convinced the Rats to back it. For his trouble, he gets called a RINO.
What "We have a cordial relationship." ='s to me is---- It should have been me instead of Bush! also-- McCain will make a run for Pres. again.
One day my son came home and told me about him and asked what he should do if he picked on him. I told him to slug him and my son said that he'd get suspended from school for 3 days if he did and I told him to use his own judgement.
A few days later he came home and said that the bully had confronted him but before the bully could do anything my son let loose. He gave the bully a black eye, a bloody nose and a fat lip. Everybody was ecstatic that he did it and no-one ratted on him so he didn't get in trouble.
A while later I started substituting in the school, I got lots of respect from the guys because "her son beat up Manny Mesa!"
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