Braisted pretty much says almost everything I’ve thought about Chip Forrester’s reaction to the Tennessee Federation of College Democrats endorsing Wade Munday for chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party.
… I said, “almost.”
Most of us would choose a pilot licensed to fly a Cessna over one licensed to fly a 747 but unable to see where he’s going. Chip has had two years to demonstrate leadership/professional competence, and obviously many in the party found him wanting. He could have used these endorsements as an opportunity to prove naysayers wrong with a thoughtful, measured response (if any response at all), but instead he wasted it by sending a condescending letter to a college student … potentially alienating a reliable source of inexpensive/free enthusiastic state-level campaign labor—the College Democrats and, by proxy, the Young Democrats—in the process. Hardly encouraging.
Not only that but, if Braisted’s report is fully accurate, this letter raises some questions about Forrester’s character, and not just because it shows a serious lack of self-evaluation in the assumption that younger Democrats must be endorsing Munday for superficial reasons such as his youth or “beauty.” By being condescending to TFCD president and Union University student Cody Goodman while being cordial with Tennessee Young Democrats president Claudia Weaver, who is also political director for the State Senate Democratic caucus, Forrester has been caught violating the Waiter Rule. As Dave Barry said, “A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.” Swanson’s Rules of Management expounds further, saying it best:
Watch out for people who have a situational value system, who can turn the charm on and off depending on the status of the person they are interacting with. Be especially wary of those who are rude to people perceived to be in subordinate roles.
I don’t think anyone expects people working in politics to be saints, but even a segment of society that includes some who think nothing of accepting million-dollar golden parachutes after poor performance avoids people who do that.
Additionally, I have it on fairly good authority that the TFCD has had a seat at the table in some form or fashion since at least 2004. That stretches well before Forrester’s tenure. Insinuating that he has granted some privilege to the College Democrats by including Goodman is intellectually, if not otherwise, dishonest.
[...] of the show Samantha Y. thinks Chip is burning bridges he can’t afford to burn: Most of us would choose a pilot licensed to fly a Cessna over one licensed to fly a 747 but unable [...]
[...] What Goodman and his peers got was basically the equivalent of “You damn woodchucks quit chucking my wood” from Chip Forrester that was not only condescending but pretty damned laughable. Chip, sweetheart, it isn’t your wood. I will wait and let you go to some young people to read, because I am, alas, not a young democrat but a codger butt, so hear what Sean Braisted, who has been painstakingly and brilliantly communicating this week’s TNDP race and then to Samantha, who call BS as she sees it. [...]