I had lunch with the Twickenham Republican Women yesterday. "Special guest" Parker Griffith didn't. Griffith didn't even stay until the meeting was called to order. Both of us made the paper.
When I arrived Parker Griffith was standing near the door talking to some folks, press among them. When I left the room to get my lunch, he was by the door, giving an interview. When I returned he was still by the door, giving an interview, facing returning traffic. It took him an instant to recognize me as I approached the door wearing my best smile, but he quickly recovered from the shock and stuck out his hand. Marc McCarter captures the moment in the Huntsville Times:
As Griffith chatted on the fringe of the crowd, a woman - "one of my Democrat friends," Griffith would say - walked up and greeted him.
One hand held a salad plate. One hand was held out.
"Who," she demanded, "do I contact to get my money back?"
That was me. Of course, Parker shifted me off to a staffer who supplied me with a phone number -- y'all email me if you're still trying to get your contributions back and I'll share. And I strongly recommend that you attend one of his campaign appearances and ask him for a refund in person -- it's much harder for him to brush you off that way and since he's in a contested primary he HAS to make campaign appearances.
A few minutes later Griffith was giving an interview to someone with a tv camera when countrycat came through the door and froze him with her special look. She said the reporter actually turned around to see who he was staring at.
Less than a minute later the presiding officer came to the podium and said the Congressman had to rush away to catch a plane but wanted to say a few words before leaving. Mind you, this is before the meeting was called to order, before the group had taken their seats and while some guests were actually still out getting food. I dived for my camera and, as you can see from the video below, Griffith was already speaking literally before I could get the lens cap off and turn it on. He's talking about having to catch a plane there at the beginning.
I've never seen a political appearance quite like this one. Griffith rushed to the podium, spoke for less than two minutes and then bee-lined for the door without taking a single question. Maybe seeing not one but two Democrats in the crowd rattled Griffith -- he was certainly looking our way a lot while he was speaking -- but he needn't have worried; countrycat was too smart to give him any money.
Marc McCarter's story says:
Oozing charm, U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith (D-, er-oops, R-Huntsville) worked the crowd. It was the day after a crowd worked him over.
Perhaps he worked the crowd before I arrived, but it looked to me like he was only talking to the press and people who sought him out as he stood near the door. He did not work the room in the traditional sense of going table to table greeting everyone. He was definitely oozing something I'm sure he hoped was charm, but there was a little desperation around the eyes ...
As for Griffith's allegation that his old party doesn't support manned space flight, that's ridiculous. Democratic administrations set Americans to the moon. A Republican administration gutted NASA after that success. Jimmy Carter stabilized NASA funding as the shuttle program was developed. This is probably what Griffith was referring to:
[House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] told reporters that NASA faces sharp “competition for the dollar” in 2011 spending bills and a “fierce determination” by Democratic leaders to reduce the deficit.
Any agency funding increase, which was recommended by a recent presidential commission, would have to be measured against other priorities that create jobs.
“I, myself . . . not been a big fan of manned expeditions to outer space, in terms of safety and cost,” Pelosi told reporters at a roundtable on the year’s legislative accomplishments. “But people could make the case; technology is always changing.”
Meanwhile, in a meeting Wednesday with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, President Barack Obama reaffirmed his commitment to space exploration, according to White House officials.
Obama said he wants to keep the country on the track toward achieving its goals in space.
The problem with funding for the space program is that George W. Bush spent all our money on the wrong war and Republicans who aided and abetted him are now crying for balanced budgets. Yep, NASA faces sharp competition for money, just like every other federal agency. Bush essentially bankrupted the country but it sounds to me like Barack Obama still supports the space program. As usual, Parker Griffith is spinning so hard the charm oozes off him.
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