I am still recovering from last Sunday's 60 Minutes tear-jerker.
In case you missed it, the Leslie Stahl segment proved beyond much of a doubt that the next Speaker of the House, Representative John Boehner, is a real blubberer.? Not just a tear here and there, but ?full-bore crying,? as Stahl says. ?And he does it a lot.? ?(Just Google ?Boehner crying.?)
It used to be a huge ?Get? for a journalist to get a public official to even choke up.? No more.
?I'm a pretty emotional guy,? says Boehner, who couldn't finish the 60 Minutes sentence about his commitment to education and ?making sure these kids get a shot at the American dream??
?So authentic,? says Stahl.? No kidding.
In fact, Boehner, as Mike has reported (here and here) is ?no slouch as an education-policy shaper,? so the crying condition could have an impact on education policy.? (I will not speculate further.)
If nothing else, Wikipedia will have to reconsider its entry for poor Edmund Muskie, whose single snow-stained tear over news of his wife's cancer earned him a ?broke down and cried? legacy that ?shatter[ed] the candidate's image as calm and reasoned.?
Apparently, we've come a long way, baby.
?Peter Meyer, Bernard Lee Schwartz Policy Fellow
