Is Tom Gordon an Angry Guy?
Did anyone see the Delaware Tonight debates between Coons and Gordon on Friday? (You can see the fireworks by clicking on the 8/8/08 show link and going to minute 12 or 13 to start. There is a web-only continuation in the middle of the page.)
The thing that just jumps out at you is the body language. Gordon could barely bring himself to look at Coons — looking alternately at the moderator and then at his papers (occasionally looking off camera someplace) — and at the end (you have to see the web piece) he is packing up his stuff noisily while the camera is still rolling. I could hear a fair bit of disdain in his voice, while trying to push the idea that Coons simply has not been caught in his corruption yet. Gordon sounds upset that he is still answering questions about his leadership during his administration, that he still has to answer for Sherry Freeberry’s behavior and that no one will separate his track record from the shenanigans that Gordon and Freeberry were asked to account for. Contrast that with Chris Coons, who was calm, comfortable — he took no bait that Gordon threw out at him and certainly was not angry or surly. As I listened to folks talk about Gordon, it sounded as though this was a guy who was good and effective at selling his case to you, and perhaps I did not hear his partisans correctly. There was little effective (IMNSHO) about this appearance by Gordon. This looked (again, to me) like someone running solely because of sour grapes and not only was every bit of it on display, it certainly didn’t inspire any confidence in his leadership.
Even though I was living here when this stuff happened, I was mostly resident at out-of-state project sites and did not see the day to day detail on the Gordon and Freeberry mess. (And as an aside, is there a good rundown of this story someplace?) So while I can’t score either man on rhetorical accuracy, it sure looked to me that Coons won this debate hands down just by being in control of himself and by NOT being surly or angry.
So did you see this? Is this a one-off for Gordon (everyone has a really bad day) or can we look forward to a debate season that looks just like this between these candidates? What did you think?
Tags: Debates, NCC County Exec
Gordon apparently HATES Coons.
Cheers to Coons for showing New Castle County which person is the more sane, rational and reasonable candidate. And it ain’t Gordon.
I vote below-the-canal NCC secedes from the north.
Gatling guns on the C&D!!!! Aim for the Teamster jackets and greased back hair!!!
* years of county improvements no increase in taxes and he left Coons with a surplus. And remember all you good dem’s what Bush’s Justice department did to the U.S attorney who would not drum up charges on dem’s they got fired. So it appears that our U.S. AG was a bushie and the federal Judge in Philadelphia saw that most of this case was chicken shit and tossed theses charges out.
There has never been a more corrupt adminisitration in the history of government in New Castle County than the government under Tom Gordon and Sherry Freeberry. I cannot think of one other administration that has caused so many problems or wasted so much money….can you?
Yes Rick Collins
Wow, if Gordon’s body language, bumbling answers, and outright desperate attacks didn’t paint the picture of what he is all about for the public, we have one pathetic constituency.
You know there have been many articles written about folks voting against their own interest. A lot of folks like to blame Clinton for shit and really don’t like him. But he gave us a balanced budget a surplus and gas at under $2.00 a gallon. Also my 401K was worth twice as much then as it is today, The same holds true for Gordon 8 years of no tax increase new Libraries and parks balance budget and a surplus. so stick with Coons who has raised your taxes and squandered the surplus. Much like Bush has done with the surplus that Clinton left him. Believe all that shit that the Journal printed about him but when it came time to put up the US attorney had to settle for a chicken shit charge. Which didn’t have the weight of a parking ticket.
“But he gave us a balanced budget a surplus and gas at under $2.00 a gallon.”
I believe the words you are looking for are, “He coincidently rode an long overdue economic upturn and passed it off as his own, and happened to be resting his buttocks in the oval office when the tech sector finally boomed”
“Also my 401K was worth twice as much then as it is today”
I believe the words you are looking for are, “Unfortunately, I suck at picking mutual funds, my company does too, and God obviously hates me.”
Gordon can get intense.
I think that he is reading too many blogs.
Remember, the question was posed as one of ethics problems. A frank subject with frank answers. Gordon did seem to get pretty defensive [where he went into the ‘surly/angry’ posturing that Cassandra found so unsettling].
WNJ online has a lot of Coons’ surrogate supporters attacking Gordon on those exact topics and it was like he was playing to that.
Truth Teller you are absolutely right on! These democrats still can’t “wrap their brains around the fact that Connoly was sent here to do the job against the democrat” who people liked, who was good for the citizens.
Sherry Freeberry is another thing all together. You would think that since the courts threw out all those bogus allegations, the democrats would embrace Tom Gordon a man who is STILL very well liked and supported by many, including me.
Chris Coons has a lot of baggage and there are many county workers complaining that Coons has threatened county workers who are supporting Gordon. Can you say “little tyrant”.
There is one thing for sure Tom Gordon will be double crossing every “I” and every “T” after all the crap he has been through. Tom was great for the County a real people person. He did a lot for people down on their luck and never patted himself on the back or looked for his “kudos” from others, he did it because he truly cares about people, and they will remember on election day.
Yes Liz people get their personal feelings in the way of things that are good for them. What a shame.
Just like the TROLL above who can’t give credit to Clinton for the good that happened during his 8 years compared to the screw up that’s occured during the last 8 years.
Sherry F took a lot of money as a ‘loan’. She did not disclose it on a mortgage application. She and Boss Gordon were pushing people around for political gain.
Did she attempt to defraud an old woman withmore money than sense?
Was it a bribe from an old woman with a rezoning request that could bring her millions more?
Or was it a token of appreciation for kind words when the son of the donor was charged with hiring a hit man to kill a prostitute?
Any answer reeks of sleaze and the mildest would raise the question of whether there was an evasion of the Federal gift tax.
Did the hand of Karl Rove really enter into the picture? Why would he care about a rather corrupt county?
Why was a judicial geezer wheeled out to give a slap on the wrist for a felony conviction? The ‘senior judge’ was an LBJ appointee.
“Just like the TROLL above who can’t give credit to Clinton for the good that happened during his 8 years compared to the screw up that’s occured during the last 8 years.”
Sorry, bub, I voted for Clinton twice…thought GHWB was out of touch, didn’t think Dole was right.
But I aint’ dumb enough to think Clinton brought prosperity. Lucky timing, nothing more.
I guess Monica didn’t swallow everything. Wipe your chin.
What’s funny here is that if you had to vote based on what you saw on Friday, there was no leadership on display (what leader is that angry and surly) and certainly not even a full-throated defense (or even exposition) of his accomplishments.
I asked whether this behavior is emblematic because it was startling to see a politician perform so badly in a public forum. And, frankly, I think that Gordon would be way better off telling folks how he is going to get back all of those good times and surplus living full on in the BushCo economy where revenues are way down in almost every government and expenses are way up for almost everyone.
Kurtz
Speaking of wiping ones chin you must have spent a lot of time in those booths with the glory hole. so wipe off your knees
Eewwww….what do you perverted liberals do that involves knees????
I don’t even understand the geometry of that. I still can’t figure out how you teabag yourselves while making a goatse!
Kurtz
I knew you were a troll and never voted for Clinton .
Just another Ditto head who worships RUSH the Junkie
I guess you’re not ready for my brand.
But…twice for Clinton, I assure you. Easy to drop GHWB–he never fulfilled my faith in him over Dukakis–never thought much of his executive ability over his four years, but I still figure it was better than Mike’s.
It was harder to say to Dole as a person (his wife might have done better), but that campaign was devoid of all life.
Never listened to Rush more than 15 seconds. Can’t stand the sound of him. Not sure if he knows how to write, but I suspect I wouldn’t warm to that either.
Nope, I’m a hostile independent. Grrrr…..
I would say that Gordon is an horse’s ass, but that would be derogatory to all the horse asses out there.
Just another Ditto head who worships RUSH the Junkie
There are drug addictions that come fr0m seeking a chemical high or low. There ae also ‘innocent addiction’ were the goal was the management of severe pain. This was first observed in wounded Union Army soldiers whose m0rhine addiction often lasted the rest of their life. With the drug cheap and legal, the problem remained clinical rather that criminal. There was a later wave of innocent addiction resulting from use of symptom-masking ‘miracle elixers’ that were laden with opiates.
Then came the Harrison Act and the War on Drugs began. Anyone see any light at the end of that tunnel?
n.b. – I am not anyone’s ‘ditto head’ and am rather contrarian at times.
A guy who was sending out his housekeeper and her boyfriend to score oxycontin is well beyond innocent addiction.
And don’t forget that Rush spent plenty of time on his radio program demonizing drug users and efforts to get them treatment, so he hasn’t earned much in the way of goodwill for his own issues with controlled substances.
Look Rush is nothing but a junkie even sent his maid into the getto to get his fix .
should be in jail if not for the habit but for his island trips for little boys
In my experience, Tom Gordon is not an angry guy. I understand he has a temper, but his normal approach is friendly and open. Maybe he was just nervous.
In all the years Ive known Tom he has always been a normal guy.
However if he is angry just think how angry you would be if you were dragged thru the courts on trumped up charges by a Bushie AG like he was.
1st year under coon’s 3%sewer tax increase,2nd and 3rd year 17%property tax increase,last and final year,hopefully another 3%sewer increase and while hes been doing all this he wanted take away the senior tax exempt ,also pay as we go aproach with more tax increases,ill vote for the other guy anyday ,you do the math.loser coons
Taxes- lets just close down the police, libraries, and let the sewers go to hell–Delawareans don’t know how good they have it with their low taxes–what did they go up by–$60 bucks a year? Everything is going up, get over it. Gordon has no idea what our reality is now and will promise the moon to get a job where he can once again put people through the ringer!
yes delaware does have it good for a reason ,becuz we keep people like you out of here ,it doesnt realy matter what you say the bottom line is taxes people dont like taxes going up especially if your really only getting the basics for them (hint hint)hell i live in kent and I pay less then you guys and get the norm go figure (police fire paramedics parks library I could go on on on on but im not.
actually I lived in all three counties One time or another not to many people can say that,Mr gore has cut ties with other municipalities,like Wilmington they want more money for sewer waste from the county it seem to me there was never problem before,like middletown ncc has to pay middletown for sewer waste,never before actually we pay them to take our waste ,they you used to pay us for police protection,not no more(hint hint)so we pay out and dont get no money in return,what kinda bank account you running
Mr Gore isint really from Delaware,delawarens love delawarens politician,born bleed and breed,lets face it they say the Excutive job doesnt amount to nothing (right).Not this time around if the peopl let this nondelawaren in again they might as well let the whole state go to the bottom,why you say becuz if tom gets in you know hes shooting for bigger and better things later down the road(HINT Governor HINT)I think county excutive handles more and gets paid more than the Governor go figure.
Lets face it, if Coons was railroaded as Gordon was he be just as tense during a debate.
If you are in the business of convincing people of your leadership capabilities you can’t afford to show how tense, angry or whatever you are. And I would think that a pol with Gordon’s experience would really know that.
let’s face it Tom has done a better job in 8 years under pressure than Coon has. Even though Coons raised taxes services went down and he blew the surplus that Tom left him. Remind you sort of like Bush blew Clinton’s surplus.
Sorry I missed the end of this thread — I would have called out “Truth Teller” on his BS before now.
“However if he is angry just think how angry you would be if you were dragged thru the courts on trumped up charges by a Bushie AG like he was.”
Pure bull. None of those charges was “trumped up.” Every one of them was supported by tape recordings, sworn testimony before the grand jury, or both. The judge ruled they weren’t RICO-worthy charges — a dubious ruling to anyone who followed Gordon’s career, which was based almost entirely on the atmosphere of fear and intimidation in the county ranks — but never said a word about whether Gordon had committed those acts. And indeed, Gordon has never to my knowledge claimed any of it didn’t happen. He just has his own spin on it, one in which he’s just a swell guy who happens to care a lot about people. In some cases, he cared so much he illegally “borrowed” some night-vision goggles to spy on his top aide.
“Even though Coons raised taxes services went down and he blew the surplus that Tom left him.”
More complete bull. Tom Gordon gave away $45 million in tax money (with the rubber stamp of the wimps he scared on council — most of whom ran for the exits and quit government when the indictment came down) in his last year in office. Show me the equivalent under the Coons administration.
You wouldn’t know the truth if your anonymous ass tripped over it.
Sorry Al, I am not sure why this comment went to spam.