by jacquelyn horkan, editor
But down the entire street there was whiskey and beer, and
nothing else... This was Last Chance Street - last chance for a drink or a girl before
Cuba.
Charles Johnson Post, The Little War of Private
Post
"The political bug bites people
and makes them interested in politics in varying degrees. In some cases the bite is
well-nigh fatal and causes the victim to spend every waking hour running for office,
sometimes for several offices at the same time."
How to Win in Politics, by Fuller Warren
After his election as governor in 1948 and while waiting to take
over his official duties, Fuller Warren wrote a book called, How to Win in Politics, a
topic the governor-elect knew well since, by his own admission, he began running for
office at age 13 and never stopped.
For Warren, politics was enjoyment, avocation, and
a noble calling. It was also hard work. "Action counts," he advises novice
politicians. "Gesticulate wildly."
He counsels the use of "an array of euphonious, alliterative
adjectives." For example, he suggests
calling a mean man a :snarling, snapping monstrosity." A sweet voice becomes a
"soft, susurrant, satisfying accent." An opponent is not vicious; he is a
"lying, libidinous, lecherous libertine.", A
graduate of the Roget school of oration, quickly repudiates Mark Hanna’s advice to
"use a lot of fancy words and say nothing." Instead, Warren recommends
"taking a positive and unequisition on all pertinent issues."
A victim of his own innocence and honesty, Warren left office
touched by scandal and failure. After one more bid for the governor’s mansion in
1954, he retired from politics to a life of genteel poverty. In 1973 he died alone in an
apartment on Miami Beach, leaving behind little more than a dim memory of one who brought
high idealism and joy to the business of politics.
Sept/Oct 1998 -- Florida Business Insight, PO Box 784,
Tallahassee, Fla. 32302
(850)224-7173, insight@aif.com |
