If I was a Republican, I'd vote for Dave Spence for Missouri Governor.

In. A. Heartbeat.

I admit that's a little like explaining what sort of tree I would be, if I was forced by a cosmic joke to make a choice. Okay, okay. If it comes down to it, I'll be an Oak. I don't think Paul Simon was actually advocating a literal choice when he said he'd rather be a hammer than a nail, but you can still get his point, so to speak.

I confess I like Dave Spence. His problem is he's being managed into the ground.

This was once a guy everyone said was no good at much of anything. He studied at college, but his grades were so bad the University of Missouri told him he could only have a diploma in Home Economics. He became embarrassed about it. For years, when asked, he would tell folks the degree was in economics. It was literally true. It let him focus on what he turned out to have a talent for.

That's the real story.

After he graduated, he wrangled a Small Business loan and started his own company. Three decades later, his firm is world famous. Any one of over 800 people will say "Yes sir, I sure am" when he asks if they're doing okay. That's 800 folks with jobs created by Dave Spence. That's not some Mitt Romney count-the-pluses-not-the-minuses math trick. That's 800 jobs.

It's a wonderful story. And it kind of goes like this:

Okay, folks. You got him. He got a little embarrassed over the years by his low grades, and the fact that he had a silly sounding degree. But it turns out the big bad mega-University that told him he wasn't qualified for anything else, and those who still laugh at him today, were ... and are ... a little on the dark side of the curve. He came from behind and won. Big.

The young inept guy was not inept at all. In fact he was REAL ept.

So let's all laugh.
Ha ha ha. Home Economics. And he managed to do WHAT?!?

Of course his campaign is being run by unmitigated boobs. Instead of making this into the wonder story it could be, they have gone defensive, insisting Home Economics really is the same as Economics, if you look at it while wearing the right spectacles. Besides, if you want to get technical, the college program was long ago renamed "Consumer Economics." Which makes him a Consumer Economist.

Seriously. That's what they're saying.

All of which amplifies howls of derision. I know this fellow is a Republican, but this is way too much.

Now another laugh has begun. Seems that he was being interviewed on the radio, taking phoned in comments. A few callers made disparaging remarks about President Obama's stimulus package. Remember that waste of taxpayer's money that never created a job anywhere? The socialist program gone bad?

Those callers are kind of like bloggers whose balloon thinking I don't much mind witnessing as it is popped with ... you know ... facts. But I wouldn't want to face this fellow in a debate without a lot of preparation. He uses a brutal tactic that public conservatives seldom realize is available to them. He's honest.

I've wondered how a conservative might criticize Obama in a way that did not deny little details like reality. I've thought of a few approaches, but few of them would work in the real political world. Conservatives are hammered by inconvenient truths. Obviously, the life-and-death economic crisis began before the President took office. It did get worse in his first six months, before his hasty, emergency policies could go into effect. Things are getting better. If it hadn't been for Obama's quick actions, a huge part of the United States would be standing on street corners selling apples to survive. That's a fact, Jack.

If you are a conservative, and honest, you could still make the case.
You could say the stimulus was expensive. It was
You could say that the root problems remain in place, unresolved, waiting to happen again.
They do, they are, and they might.
You could make the case for a bright conservative future.

You could try the way Dave Spence went at it.

You know, we've taken in close to four billion dollars in stimulus funds in the last three years.

It has masked the problem.

And it is over, the gravy train is over. The depression started in the first place, but the Obama administration jammed it down everybody's throat.

And it saved our bacon to tell you the truth. However, that's over.

Wow.

Everybody is calling it a gaffe. But huge doors can open for someone who acknowledges the truth, then pushes past bare facts to future implications. His approach is quick and incisive:

Government financed prosperity can't continue. It isn't sustainable. We have to move on, we have to adopt sensible policies, conservative, conservative, conservative. Onward toward heaven and Reagan.

Yeah, the approach is mistaken. And yeah, we can find good rebuttals. But this guy put a cogent case together off-the-cuff, did it without substantial factual distortion. He did it in under 20 seconds. He would be a conservative Elizabeth Warren except for one dependable part of his current life. Thank you, Lord, for that one factor.

The same white knuckle campaign staff that blew away the story of his amazing comeback is blowing this as well:
Spence Campaign Says Stimulus 'Saved Our Bacon' Clip is Out of Context.

These guys aren't trying to win. They're just trying not to lose.

Next worship service we should pray to our Redeemer for the continued health of Missouri Republican managers. And in our trembling liberal hearts, we should realize this fellow may have a very large political future if he fires just a few of them.

If I was a conservative Republican, I would vote for Dave Spence.
I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.