My Grandma Angie always used to say, “Extend the invitation. If they come, they come.” Not sure why anyone would turn down an invite from my Grandma whose meatballs were like buttah, but I guess I can understand why Secretary of State Tre Hargett might turn down our invite for an interview. I haven’t written or said very nice things about Mr. Hargett’s reasons for advocating for the repeal delay of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act or about his intention to suppress the vote. But when I called his office on Tuesday to follow up on our email request for the interview, his communications director asked if perhaps it would have been better if I had asked an interview prior to writing negatively about Mr. Hargett’s position on secure and verifiable elections on the blog or talking about it on the radio show.
Maybe. But there is precedent for this kind of thing. You know, not agreeing with someone on policy, talking about it on the air, inviting the person with whom you disagree to come on the air for an interview, and that person accepting the invitation.
Former Tennessee Democratic Party chairman Gray Sasser used to appear on Steve Gill’s show all the time. More recently, Congressman Jim Cooper went on The Ralph Bristol Show on conservative talk station 99.7 WWTN even though Mr. Bristol certainly doesn’t agree with any Democrats on health care reform. And last night we learned that faux-public interest lobbyist Rick Berman has accepted an invitation to appear on The Rachel Maddow Show next week even though she’s been exposing his deceptive practices and suspect corporate ties for weeks now.
So, the invitation stands for Mr. Hargett: come on Liberadio(!) to talk about secure and verifiable elections.
If he accepts, I’ll even make him some of my Grandma’s meatballs.
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