Friday, April 4, 2008
Politics Tuke Talks...Just Not to Me
Posted by Matt Pulle on Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 2:56 PM
So how embarrassing is this? Bob Tuke won't return my calls, but he will chat with the Knoxville Voice. (The link to the story isn't up yet). Reporter Elisha Sauers finally cajoled the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate to talk about his least favorite subject, judicial nominee Gus Puryear. Turns out, Tuke shouldn't have talked to the Voice either, as his thoughts on the Bush appointee are embarrassingly empty, revealing the mind of a disengaged candidate with no hope of winning a race against incumbent Sen. Lamar Alexander:
“I know [Puryear] personally, and he’s a fine person. I’m certainly not going to engage in conversation about that.... I have no opinion on it because I haven’t been in the hearings.”So Bobby, let's talk. Just you and me after the jump: Sen. Lamar Alexander, the man you hope to unseat, has shepherded a divisive nominee through the Senate, provoking nationwide controversy and widespread media attention, and you don't have anything to say about that? Nothing? Have you even taken the time to read his correspondence with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee? Do you think he was being just a little evasive when—and this is just one of many examples—he said that he doesn't think that Belle Meade Country Club engages in discriminatory practices? Then again, Tuke, if you think that Gus Puryear would make a good nominee, then just say so, even if you're affirming one of the most trying moments in Alexander's first term. But please...have an opinion about a major issue, k? Good night and good luck. I talked to Bob Tuke a few years ago for an unrelated story and found him to be smart and honest, but his nascent campaign for Senate hasn't highlighted these qualities. Whether he's clumsily sending out evites to his $1,000-a-plate fundraiser or evading pertinent questions about a federal judicial nominee, Tuke is acting more like he's running for juvenile court clerk. I wonder how he looks in a bathrobe.
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