MIKE MOORE: In search of a pitcher who pours straight talk

By Mike Moore
Journal Times

Thursday, July 31, 2008 11:55 PM CDT

Thirsty for straight talk, I showed up early.

On other days, there are lots of places I could go to quench that thirst. A friend’s house, for example — one I can count on to let me know when I’m being an idiot.

Definitely not the campaign trail. Straight talk is typically impossible to find within miles of those things. It’s buried too deep in ads and speeches carefully crafted by too many hands.

Thursday promised to be different. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his famous bus, the Straight Talk Express, were coming to little old Racine.

Outside Memorial Hall, protesters and backers warmed up by exchanging a little straight talk of their own. Mild stuff, really, not like the Cubs fans smacking around the Brewer fan who chucked beer at their bus.

Even undecided voters mentioned they like that McCain “says what he feels.” That’s the McCain I came to hear. The guy who called a snarky kid a “little jerk” for asking if he’s too old to lead. The guy who escaped a bunch of auto executives and factory workers after telling them they weren’t making efficient enough cars.

Here, the candidate did talk up his independent streak. Now that he’s their show horse, he can brag about all of the times he has honked off his party’s bigwigs.

“I haven’t always won the title of Miss Congeniality every year,” McCain said.

He also tried to separate himself from the poll watchers whose views hinge on the latest memo by some joint named Zogby or Ipsos. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., stressed his purity, too, when he brought his road show to the Belle City earlier this year.

Of course, straight talk means more than just insults at each other. It means telling even us normal folks when we’re wrong.

McCain did a little of that, in a polite way. One guy asked if he feels bad about a vote he cast on some Native American mining issue.

“In all candor, that is not the appropriate description,” the senator replied, obligingly giving the Cliffs Notes background for Racinians who had no clue.

A real straight talker might’ve told some of the goonier questioners where to find a reasonably priced therapist. McCain played nice, tiptoeing around the questions with vague support of “inalienable rights.” He dodged a question about his Paris Hilton attack ad.

Oh, well. Can’t say the Obama-mania fully matched the hype in person, either.

I wasn’t one of the media types picked to board the Straight Talk Express and quiz McCain on the ride to the airport. Had to settle for the security guard.

“Once you’re out, you’re out,” he forcefully and repeatedly told one guy trying to re-enter to find his mom.

Outside, 32-year-old Kevin DuJan was overflowing with straight talk. Wearing a blue “DeMcCrats for McCain” T-shirt, he drove up from Chicago to hear his adopted candidate.

A year ago, making the 1½-hour trip “would have been like a vampire being doused in holy water,” he said. But his top choice, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is out of it and he isn’t impressed with Obama’s results in Illinois.

Comparing this race to a business, he said “You don’t suddenly get promoted to CEO when you haven’t done anything as a computer programmer.”

This is more than a protest vote, DuJan said. He respects the Republican’s experience. That and all of those lonesome “maverick” stands.

“To be honest, I don’t think I’ve got the guts to do that,” he said.

In a way, he has, enduring constant verbal jabs from buddies and strangers who see the shirt. We need thoughtful voters willing to cross party lines when needed. Both ways.

Because drinking the Kool-Aid rarely quenches a thirst for straight talk.

Mike Moore can be reached at (262) 631-1724 or

mike.moore@lee.net

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