Rep. Chris Cannon: Another Gaffe Bites the Dust

Oops, he did it again

By Tracy Medley, 7-09-07

Utah Representative Chris Cannon’s latest gaffe landed him on MSNBC anchorman Keith Olbermann’s Worst Person in the World list. Of course, Cannon only brought home the silver, but still – way to make Utah proud, Canny.

His offense?Well, over the weekend, during an appearance of the “Fox News Sunday” program, Cannon argued that U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was forced to resign not because of political reasons, but “because he’s an idiot.”

Wow. What a persuasive argument, Chris. Of course Cannon is used to making infantile, off the cuff remarks like this one – and what’s more Utahns are used to hearing about them – Has anyone forgotten how he flippantly blamed the teenage interns for the harassment perpetrated upon them by former U.S. Representative Mark Foley? No, this isn’t the first time and knowing Cannon, it won’t be the last.

Cannon spokesperson, Fred Piccolo, who is arguably the hardest working cleaner in the business, claimed that the comment was merely Cannon “shorthand.” “It was a succinct way of saying [Iglesias] was fired for just cause,” Piccolo said. Succinct? Uh huh.

Piccolo went on to explain that Rep. Cannon was just responding in “the heat of the moment.” I don’t buy it. He thought he was being cute, but, Cannon is a grown man – way past the cute phase and frankly his antics are an embarrassment to our state.

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By Tracy Medley, 7-09-07 | comments (6) | email story | print story

Comments

By Marshall, 7-10-07

A Gaffe? Isn't a Gaffe when a person inadvertently uses the wrong language when trying to make another point? This wasn't a gaffe, this was Cannon being Cannon, he had no other point to make.

By razor, 7-10-07

As Marshall said, it's only a gaffe if the langauge is wrong therefore the first question that need to be answered is whether Mr. Iglesias is an idiot. If he is, then no gaffe, just truth.

By Tracy Medley, 7-10-07

Actually, according to Webster's a "gaffe" also can be defined as "a social or diplomatic blunder," which more than applies in this case.

Main Entry: gaffe
Pronunciation: 'gaf
Function: noun
Etymology: French, gaff, gaffe
1 : a social or diplomatic blunder
2 : a noticeable mistake

By seth, 7-10-07

Cannon has no case; if he says Iglesias was incompetent, he must address the good performance reviews and Sampson's own words endorsing Iglesias. If he says that Iglesias should have fallen on his sword and taken one for the party, then he is just one more Republican seeking to duck accountability for Justice's high-handed abuse of executive authority.

By bearbait, 7-12-07

US Attorney is a patronage job. Bill Clinton asked for and got the resignation of all US Attorneys at the start of his administration. They are political appointees, and be un-appointed for political reasons. That is not against the law.

Any political appointee can be an idiot. And among the legal profession, there are plenty of practicing idiots. It is how the good attorneys make a living. They challenge and correct the advice of the incompetent, and do damn well at it.

All that sloppy law passed by the various elected bodies of the country is vetted by attorneys. All the poor work, the left out words, poorly placed punctuation, garbled logic, is the work of attorneys, some of whom rate the evaluation of idiot.

I find it rather refreshing that an elected official has the mind to say that a US Attorney, or a former US Attorney, is an idiot. They can be idiots, you know. We need to know that. So do the offending attorneys.

By Marshall, 7-13-07

I would find it refreshing if Cannon would keep his pie hole shut.

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