But please, politicians out there, spare us the feeble non-denial denials such as the one Jim Webb offered up on today's Morning Joe. Isn't Webb supposed to be Mr. No-Nonsense Macho Man? After all, he was on the show to tout his new book, A Time to Fight, and to talk up his rough 'n tumble Scots-Irish roots. But judging by his wimpy response to the Veep question, perhaps the book should be renamed A Time to Fumfer. His reply to Mika Brzezinski's question on his interest in the Veep nomination has to go down as one of the lamest of an already-lame genre.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I'm going to start at the top. I'm going to start with the question you were asked at your party the other night, and that is, some say that an Obama-Webb ticket is in the realm of possibilities. If asked, would you accept to be Barack Obama's running-mate?
JIM WEBB: That's just sorta, something that hasn't been discussed, and, um, something that I really haven't focused on that much. Here's a good little data point for you: when speaking of oil going to $130, we should all remember the month that Congress approved this war in Iraq oil was $24.
BRZEZINSKI: Wow. Can you imagine that?
Let's break Webb's statement down.
- "That's just sorta, something that hasn't been discussed." The question wasn't whether the Obama campaign has discussed it with you. It's whether, if asked, you'd accept.
- That's "something that I really haven't focused on that much." So you've focused on it. You've even focused on it "much." Just not that much. OK, so what did your much-of-a-focus lead you to conclude?
- "Here's a good little data point for you: when speaking of oil going to $130, the month that Congress approved this war in Iraq oil was $24." Huh? World's worst segue.
And what about Mika? Instead of posing the obvious follow-up along the lines "so, would that be a yes or a no?" she let herself get distracted by Webb's oil-price non sequitur.
