Being Sort of Prepared

Sometimes, the old Boy Scout motto "Be Prepared" can be taken a wee bit too far.

Consider the case of GOP firebrand Richard Mourdock, whose name became a household word* when he defeated veteran Republican Senator Richard Lugar in the Indiana GOP primary election. Mr Mourdock is a man who knows what he believes**, and one of the things in which he believes, according to a campaign spokesman, is being prepared. He is so prepared that he recorded - and his campaign accidentally posted to YouTube a bit too soon - three different reactions to the pending Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of President Obama's health care reforms: one crowing that the court had made the right decision by declaring the reforms unconstitutional; one bemoaning that the court had been crazy enough not to declare the reforms unconstitutional; and a third rallying the troops to greater efforts in the event of a split decision that found only parts of the reforms unconstitutional.

Mr Mourdock wasn't going to be caught short the instant the ruling was announced ... he was going to have a canned, fully-vetted for no bloopers press release ready to go. No grass growing under this man's very conservative feet.

Don't go looking for the videos, though ... they've been taken down. You'll probably be able to see the correct one, though, when the court announces its decision, expected this week.

I'm having a flashback here.

Back in the fall of 1968 the yearbook committee of the North Allegheny Junior-Senior High School (my alma mater) was working assiduously to prepare the copy for the final, printed yearbook. The problem was that the copy had to be submitted to the printer before the traditional Homecoming football game against rival Churchill High. As a result, the committee sent two versions of the article about Homecoming to the printer, with instructions to wait for the final word before deciding which to use.

What happened? It was a Mourdock Moment, 43 years earlier. Here's what the 1969 issue of Safari, the North Allegheny yearbook, said about the homecoming game:

The game with Churchill filled the afternoon air with shouts of elation and joy as the NA Tigers emerged victorious over the Churchill team (or, with shouts of elation and then disappointment as the Churchill players emerged victorious over the NA Tigers)***.

See how far ahead of the times we were? I'm amazed that none of us ever tried running for the Senate.

But then, we're probably happier ... bloopers and all.

Have a good day. Be prepared ... but not too prepared. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

* At least in Indiana.

** Whether it makes sense or not.


*** As I remember we did, in fact, lose the game.