Not Senate—president.
I listen as he tells me who, and what prompted this, and then onceI have him off the phone I immediately jump online to watch the video.
Kevin Markos—well-respected and mostly conservative TV news journalist—has melted down on live TV like a snowball on I-4 through Orlando in the middle of July.
Wow.
I kind of feel bad for him, too. He literallyjustinterviewed me Wednesday evening down in Tampa. A fellow native Floridian from the Tallahassee area, he’salways treated me nicely, although I did catch that interview of his with Owen Taylor a few years back. He flubbed that, but later it turned out one of his producers was more to blame than he was.
Kevin Markos is also not hard on the eyes. I almost get a sort of subby vibe from him, though. Nothing wrong with that, of course.
Kevin Markos makes some valid points in his rant, showing that, socially,at least, he’s more liberal than the average Republican. But then he starts going after Democrats, and campaign finances—and the network.
You know, just when I started to think Christopher might be the perfect man for me, he comes out of left field withthis.
Sure, maybe Christopher sees or knows something about the situation that I don’t, but I don’t understand how he extrapolatesthishotmess I’m watching into Markos becoming my campaign manager.
No one is going to take me seriously with this guy running my war room. Not after this fiasco.
Still…
I know Christopher is a very careful man, very cautious, almost to the point of obsession. At this time, he’s been in the Secret Service something like twenty-three years. Based on his job duties, seeing the larger playing field iskind of a requirement. Knowing secret details is critical, too.
All of his other choices of people for me to speak with have been perfectly reasonable, and me saying no to them is more about me and the vibe I feel with them than a true failing on their part. Unless you’ve run a presidential campaign before, you really don’t have experience running one, so that’s not the issue, either.
What’sup Christopher’s sleeve?
I don’t know, but I guess I’ll find out when I can talk to him tomorrow.
I finish getting ready, because my car will be here for me soon. In retrospect, I’m glad Chris called me, because Kevin Markos’ televised self-immolation of his career is topic number one at the charity dinner.
It also allows me to do a little digging, and learn a few things.
Like what might havetriggered his on-air tantrum.
It’s hard for me to reconcile the pleasant, polite, knowledgable, respectable journalist I dealt with a couple of days ago with the man who almost seemed to tap into a different emotional dimension for a few minutes on live TV.
The reasons, I learn, are likely compounded. Full News Broadcasting isn’t exactly a stellar gig anymore. The other broadcasters, exceptfor Kevin Markos’ ex-wife, Lauren Baltazar, have been trying to literally whitewash two white attackers who went after two gay black Hill staffers. The network probably pushed Markos to give the father of one of the attackers some airtime and positive PR.
And the mother of one of the victims died not long before Markos went on the air, and he’d been told about it.
All contributing factors.
At least one thing is now certain—Markos is out of a job, and has a non-compete clause for another two years that will keep him off the air at major news networks in the US.
By the time I head home that evening, I’ll admit I’m…curious.
Christopher wouldn’t tell me over the phone why he came to his conclusion about Markos being perfect as my campaign manager, but he’s coming by in the morning,and then we’ll talk about it.
After he spanks my ass and fucks my ass, that is.
I’ll leave the questions until then.
Because boy, do I havequestions.
