When I stand before a microphone and address a politician, I always like to open with a compliment. "Thank you for your efforts on behalf of economic freedom," or "Thanks for standing up for smaller government," or "I really appreciate your service to the country." That way I have them softened up for a substantive question.
Its a little tougher when I face a leftist.
When Martin Heinrich's telephone town hall called, and ask us to push star-3 if we had a question, Sherry handed the phone to me and I did immediately that. Then I was stuck for a compliment. I racked my brain. What was I going to say to him? Questions were easy. The compliment was hard. It has been suggested that I should have said "You've got really nice hair for a hippie," or "You are a lot smarter in person than I expected for a pretty boy." But in such a venue, you must think of those others to whom you are speaking, and who you might influence.
I finally settled on "I am grateful for your willingness to serve." Faint praise indeed, and more than I really believed, but it had to do. Never mind the question. I had my opener.
Right now, after watching the Republican Presidential Debate on CNN, I have settled on the compliment I will give President Obama if I ever get to question him in public.
Any one of those seven people who stood up tonight before the citizens of New Hampshire and the rest of this nation to give short answers to difficult questions would be a fine standard bearer for the cause of economic freedom.
If I ever face President Obama having been granted the opportunity to ask a question, I will begin "Thank you, Mr. President for giving the Republican Party back its brand, for stirring its soul, and for loosing its voice of freedom."
