GORDON BISHOP ON THE ISSUES by Gordon Bishop Syndicated Columnist published May 2, 2002

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THE PROBLEM WITH GOVERNOR MCGREEVEY’S ‘STRAIGHT TALK’

Governor James McGreevey was elected on his campaign theme “Straight Talk.”
The problem with McGreevey’s “Straight Talk” is that “straight” is a cover-up of what he really is.

There is really nothing “straight” about Jim McGreevey. His voting record in the State Legislature and as Mayor of Woodbridge is one of tax-and-spend liberalism.

Now, he’s done an about-face and is preaching like a conservative Republican about cutting Big Government.

If you believe that then you might want to buy some wetlands in Florida for development.

Those who know McGreevey intimately know he is not “straight.” It’s just a word he uses to make him appear exactly the opposite of what he is.

The big question the media avoided asking during the Governor’s race is why McGreevey’s first wife divorced him and moved to Canada with their only child, a girl who’s now nine years old.

Why wasn’t McGreevey’s ex-wife and daughter at his inauguration at the pinnacle of his career, while two weeks earlier Mike Bloomberg’s ex-wife attended his inauguration as Mayor of New York City?

The liberal media has trouble asking hard questions about liberals and their positions and their pasts.

What voters and taxpayers should be asking is, “Will the real Jim McGreevey please stand up?” We’d all like to know who you really are.

There are those in the State Legislature and in Woodbridge where McGreevey served as mayor in the ‘90s who know where McGreevey’s coming from. But they don’t like to talk about it – “straight” talk, or otherwise.

Why? Because no one in today’s politically-correct society will go where McGreevey has gone or ask him about it because, well, it’s just not PC.

So Jim McGreevey’s hypocritical “Straight Talk” – his message to “the people” – stands as is, until only Jim McGreevey is willing to stand up and come clean about who he really is.

As Jerry Seinfeld would say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”

As a life-long journalist who deals in facts, and reality, I simply want to hear from Jim McGreevey. I don’t want to hear it from others about the Jim McGreevey the general public doesn’t know. I want to hear it from Jim McGreevey himself.

The liberals and their cohorts in the media know how to play the game. Bill Clinton was a master at the art of obfuscation and fooling people with words that had no meaning, such as “is” is not “is” or “alone” is not “alone.”

It must be a liberal thing. Use as many words as you want, but never, ever say anything that communicates a true meaning, like “Straight Talk.”

What is “Straight Talk?”

My understanding of “Straight Talk” is that you know exactly what a person is saying.
Not so anymore. Even a cliché like “Straight Talk” has lost its meaning because of the political spin-meisters.

I realize, at this point, that trying to fathom the meaning of real words that take on other meanings becomes confusing. But that’s the name of the game today, especially in liberal politics.

“Straight Talk” no longer means “Straight Talk,” as “oral sex” to Bill Clinton no longer means “sex.”

Then what it is?

Anything you would like it to be.

If all of this sounds ridiculous, or insane, then it is. It’s what us professional writers have to deal with, live with, everyday.

Shakespeare, the master of language, said it hundreds of years ago: “Nothing is but what is not.”

Never hold a politician to his words, especially in today’s politically-correct environment. Because words today no longer mean what they mean. It’s what the spin-meisters want them to mean.

So much for language – and the real world.

(Gordon Bishop, an author, historian and syndicated columnist, is the recipient of 12 National and 15 State Journalism Awards, including New Jersey’s first “Journalist-of-the-Year” – 1986/New Jersey Press Association.)

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