Brooks Seems to Lack Grace Under Fire

Kay Brooks was at the Howard School Building this morning as the polls opened for early voting. Rather than giving a pass to the inevitable critical comments that candidates tend get if they show up to shake voters' hands, Brooks gives the voters a lecture on the merits of being polite and on how voter rudeness makes her opponent look bad. As NiT points out, the candidate is not exactly forthcoming about what the voters said, so we do not know whether they were really rude or just acceptably critical.

It does not seem to me that talking down to voters is going garner Miss Manners Kay Brooks more votes. The public expects leaders to be more diplomatic, patient, and graceful, even if they actually do face rude criticism from others. Handling criticism seems to come with the territory of running for office. And showing up at the polls to glad-hand the voters runs the risk of facing unpleasant comments from your opponents.

In the final analysis, it is disingenuous for Kay Brooks--who is after all a candidate on the ballot holding her campaign sign for voters to see--to talk as if she was merely showing up to thank voters for "participating in the process." I doubt very seriously that Kay Brooks shows up at the polls to thank voters for merely participating when she is not a candidate for office. She is obviously campaigning, and she insults her readers by indicating that she was there for nobler reasons.