Plainly Behind

State Rep. Lee Anderson makes no excuses for being a plainspoken man. In fact, he’s made something of a political career on it. But when the Grovetown Republican, who’s running for Georgia’s 12th District, answered a question about the Federal Reserve the other day, he reinforced what many have felt for a long time — that he’s just a plainspoken man and not the wisely plainspoken man he’d have you believe he is. What would he like to do about the Federal Reserve? “We must build our reserves even stronger than what it is now,” he told a forum in Statesboro. In the old days, a candidate might plausibly complain that he misunderstood the question or was misquoted. But in today’s camera-saturated world, it’s not quite so easy — especially when video of the forum pops up online, in this case on the <<IT>>Statesboro Herald’s<<IT> website. So now the plainspoken man from Grovetown is saddled with this very obvious example of how he doesn’t really understand the big issues that Republicans like to frown over. You used to hear it when he was running for General Assembly — he’s just not Atlanta material. If he’s not Atlanta material, does he really belong in Washington? Which isn’t to say that the other candidates for the 12th are necessarily wowing voters. According to some on the campaign trail, Wright McLeod’s fighter jock persona is so pronounced that he sometimes seems to swagger from the backseat to the front seat of his old F-14, which isn’t necessarily a good quality for someone that starts out with enough confidence to fill just about any sized room. And then there’s Rick Allen, who while known as a wealthy man and contractor, has yet to distinguish himself as a politician. When too many work too hard to convince you how good someone is, you start to wonder why he doesn’t just tell you himself. Maria Sheffield might be making hay in other parts of the district, but her tentative start and lack of local name recognition have local Republicans wondering just when she’s going to show up and give it her all.You Might Also Like: