Word: silbering
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Later in the evening, when Silber's defeat was apparent to all, I faced an especially hostile partisan. Standing with a reporter's notebook in hand, I was speaking quietly with a Harvard Silber supporter, waiting for the defeated candidate to appear onstage and deliver his concession speech...
SUCH incidents leave one with the troubling doubt: Was the anti-media fervor of silber followers based on a rational and well-considered critique of campaign coverage? Or was it, instead, an unthinking monkey-see-monkey-do mimicking of Silber's anti-press tirades...
...zealot told me, with no supporting evidence whatsoever, that William F. Weld '66 would "ruin" the state. If so, then Silber would surely have done the same, since his positions were not fundamentally opposed to Weld's in any substantial manner. Both want to cut spending in the legislature (one by fiat, one by delicate trimming), both want to decrease regulation and increase incentives in education, both have proposed increasing the emphasis on hospice and home health care as opposed to nursing care...
With the latter group of supporters, Silber could be replaced by anyone and they would still be classic followers. If Silber were Bush, they would be liberal-bashers. If Silber were Kennedy, they would be the voice of a new generation. If Silber were Mao Ze-Dong, they would be the Red Guards...
...first group raises the more interesting questions. Surely they are correct in contending that the press focused on personalities rather than issues during the campaign. Headlines during the weeks leading to the election usually read something like: "Silber Offends Elderly in Televised Remark" or "Weld Ties Silber to Sen. Bulger" rather than "Experts Study Silber's Education Plan...