Earlier today, we broke a story regarding Mary Fallin’s inaugural address, and how portions of it seemed to oddly resemble a report filed last week by KOSU.
Well, the Fallin camp has finally released a statement on the matter. Here it is:
“Years ago, I had the great pleasure to meet Oklahoma legend Will Rogers. One time, while discussing the perils of big government Washington liberals that I continue to fight against for Oklahomans, he told me:
‘Mary, be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.'
That message from an Oklahoma legend inspired me to pursue a career in politics, so as I sit here today cutting government spending and protecting our second amendment rights, I must respond to a lame-stream media driven “controversy” of my exaggerating my encounters with a brave World War II Veteran…”
Okay, okay. That statement is not real. It’s just something that I made up in an attempt at clever sarcasm. Funny, huh? You see, I made it sound like Mary was saying she had met and talked to Will Rogers, even though that would be impossible because Will Rogers died many years ago. I'm so clever.
Anyway, my fake statement is much better than the real one issued by Camp Fallin. Here it is.
“The Governor was moved by Ed's personal story after running into him during the ceremony to dedicate the memorial to the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor. His story, which was recently told as part of KOSU's incredible "Voices of Oklahoma" series by reporter Gail Banzet caught the attention of the Governor's office and led to a discussion about incorporating it into her inaugural speech and ceremony, a large portion of which was dedicated towards thanking our military men and women for their service and sacrifice. We commend KOSU and especially reporter Gail Banzet for bringing Ed's wonderful story to the attention of so many people and we give them credit for helping inspire the mention in the speech yesterday. We also thank Ed Vesey for being an outstanding role model and an inspiration to all Oklahomans and Americans.” – Alex Weintz, Communications Director
Wow. That’s an impressive example of someone using lot of words without really saying anything. Seriously, whoever wrote that should win a medal or something.
Anyway, the whole “do not acknowledge the main issue or admit to any possible wrongdoing” statement is kind of lame, but at least Mary’s team responded to our request for a comment.
Also, I still think it’s cool that Mary Fallin's speech writer listens to public radio. I can’t wait until she starts repeating all the stories she hears on “This American Life.”
