lawnboy1977 Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 The guy from Love Boat was actually a graduate of Harvard and Exeter. Not that THAT qualifies him, but Fred Grandy was hardly some schmo. (I did hear he once had another congressman's aide fired for stepping onto the elevator with him and saying, "Oh, hey Goph'." ) 411304[/snapback] Yes sir you are completely correct, I lookedit up and according to Fred Gandy's IMDB.com profile, Fred Gandy graduated from Harvard in 1970 with a degree in English. He also attended Phillips Exeter Academy with david Eisenhower, gradson of Ike. The whole point is, what exactly does qualify someone as being a public official? Education? Job history? Family history? People skills? Its actually a very interesting discussion I would love to have without all the political bashing.
KD in CA Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 Exactly my point, you can't say being an actor doesn't qualify someone for holding public office. I was pointing out examples of other actors that have held public office in the past, so saying one doesn't qualify has no affect on saying the other does. 411547[/snapback] I agree. My initial response was to the person who was obviously implying that Reagan had no business being President, apparently because he was once an actor.
lawnboy1977 Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 I agree. My initial response was to the person who was obviously implying that Reagan had no business being President, apparently because he was once an actor. 411560[/snapback] I would actually rather see more outsiders take public office. If you look back to history as a guide, a lot of politicians come from backgrounds other than politics. The founding fathers were not politicians, they were farmers, businessmen, bankers, etc., and when they were done being politicians, they went back to their former lives.
Ghost of BiB Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 Yes sir you are completely correct, I lookedit up and according to Fred Gandy's IMDB.com profile, Fred Gandy graduated from Harvard in 1970 with a degree in English. He also attended Phillips Exeter Academy with david Eisenhower, gradson of Ike. The whole point is, what exactly does qualify someone as being a public official? Education? Job history? Family history? People skills? Its actually a very interesting discussion I would love to have without all the political bashing. 411557[/snapback] The easy word is ability. Very hard to define, and yes, it deserves a thread of it's own. Excellent subject. I think it requires a further distinction as to a "good" public official vs a "bad" one. To another extent, the level of public service. An "able" public official (this day and age) to me is the one who brings the combination of skills to the table that best allows him/her to effect a particular set of agendas, while at the same time understanding a hell of a lot of balances and trade offs. There is no black and white in American politics. If one doesn't understand grey, stay home. One problem to me, is the real dogfights are at the lower level. You end up getting people into "junior" office that start running up the chain to State or National legislature because of who they know and what they will support. Then, when the political prize gets bigger, they are trapped in the middle for a while. The survivors are those who are generally there because they want to be something, not DO anything. I won't paint with a total brush, because I know there are good people out there. But for the most part, welcome to DC. I don't care what your affiliation is. That's the way it is.
lawnboy1977 Posted August 19, 2005 Posted August 19, 2005 The easy word is ability. Very hard to define, and yes, it deserves a thread of it's own. Excellent subject. I think it requires a further distinction as to a "good" public official vs a "bad" one. To another extent, the level of public service. An "able" public official (this day and age) to me is the one who brings the combination of skills to the table that best allows him/her to effect a particular set of agendas, while at the same time understanding a hell of a lot of balances and trade offs. There is no black and white in American politics. If one doesn't understand grey, stay home. One problem to me, is the real dogfights are at the lower level. You end up getting people into "junior" office that start running up the chain to State or National legislature because of who they know and what they will support. Then, when the political prize gets bigger, they are trapped in the middle for a while. The survivors are those who are generally there because they want to be something, not DO anything. I won't paint with a total brush, because I know there are good people out there. But for the most part, welcome to DC. I don't care what your affiliation is. That's the way it is. 411593[/snapback] Thats true and that might be the problem with politics today. Almost everyone who has moved up to some higher level of state or federal gov't has worked at a lowel level at some point. You do see the occaional breakthrough on the respresentational level sushc as congress or state legislature, but its becoming more rare. Seems as though you see anyone holding some sort of publ;ic office before they run for office. Just an observation.
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