Posted by Wrapping up some bits and pieces…
I didn’t get around to noting the mention of the Political Parlor in Bob Martin’s syndicated column last week before now. Martin is the editor and publisher of the Montgomery Independent, and I appreciate when folks take note of what is going on here in the Parlor.
His advice in that column to our Attorney General? “If the rumor is untrue [...] , it would be to speak out soon and often.”
Speaking of which… A fire seemingly under control can explode if it hits an accelerant, but the optimistic view expressed here last week by someone close to Troy King, that the rumor had peaked, appears to this point to be about right.
For a while though, it was an inferno, holding to the basic law of rumor I ran across which states that “a rumor’s strength is approximately equal to its importance to the individual concerned times the ambiguity of the evidence.”
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Dany I think he has ridden it out for now. I would be surprised if any newspapers go with it in the near future.
That doesn’t mean I think there was nothing here. But I do think that the evidence is weak at this point. Doesn’t mean NO evidence – just not publication-level. And it could be even less evidence than that. But something kindled this . . .
Long-range it just throws more goofiness into a truly bizarre political career and that cannot be good. And I firmly believe King’s odd career up to now was what made these rumors stick to him like napalm. The advice he got to stay quiet was very sound.
From doing a quick glance at the Locust Fork Journal, the main person pushing this story publicly, the Troy King resignation story has been removed or at least is no longer on the front page.
Has Mr. Wilson decided to let this story go for now?
Maybe King has learned humility, maybe folks have learned how to separate wheat from chaff and maybe we’ll have Amish buggy races during Race Week in Talladega.
For what it is worth, there was more spreading of the King rumors at Sinclair’s, the Brew Pub, and Jubilee Sea Food than on any blog. The blog story was that the rumor was wide spread, and that story was absolutely true.
I don’t believe this story was made up out of whole cloth, and I certainly don ‘t believe “gays and liberals out to destroy Troy King” made it up, although it is in character for King to believe in conspiracies of that nature – just another reason that Bob Riley is right when he privately states that the Troy King appointment was “(his) biggest mistake.”
There just wasn’t enough hard evidence to publish on this. Not enough sources would put their names behind their words. And that is how journalism should work.
Rumors are still circulating around Montgomery, but not with the fevered pace of two weeks ago. Interestingly, TK appeared without his wife at Ronnie Gilley’s reception for George Jones before his concert Saturday night.
King is not Riley’s biggest mistake. In fact, He was the only Riley appointee that got elected.
#7 I was only quoting Bob Riley. HE considers Troy King “my biggest mistake” and has been quoted as saying that by media.