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Ragsdale picks a fight
Submitted by Number9 on Fri, 2006/09/29 - 7:46am.
Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale talks with WATE's Gene Patterson this Sunday on the political talk show "Tennessee This Week". The program will air at 12:00 noon.
WATE broadcast a teaser last night and it is interesting to watch the Mayor's body language. Watch this Sunday and see if you can spot the "tell".
Ragsdale would have made a decent magician as he is skilled in the art of misdirection. His summary of the entire Tyler Harber saga can be distilled as he, "believes the stories were generated out of a personal vendetta by Betty Bean and Halls Shopper editor Sandra Clark."
Betty calls the Mayor on that balderdash here. An invitation to the parking lot behind Eddie's Auto Parts may be imminent.
The County Mayor has a very simple political philosophy, you are either with him or you are against him. By the way, he wants to be Governor.
Yes, Sandra and Betty are brilliant political mechanics, the way they plotted to get Harber hired in the PO where he says he ran Ragsdale's political operations, and then got him to throw a monkey wrench into a ballot petition, make an ass of himself at a restaurant, hack into the GOP chairman's e-mails, steal a county computer, and get arrested after a high speed pursuit, all to make Ragsdale look bad.
Submitted by Wink Martindale (not verified) on Fri, 2006/09/29 - 9:51am.
having Betty Bean on his show (assuming I've missed it, and she can correct me) to discuss this matter. If you ask me, get it straight from the horse's mouth ;-)
Submitted by Jim Bean (not verified) on Fri, 2006/09/29 - 9:00am.
Ragsdale is working overtime to deny all parts of this story, but even the News-Sentinel archives are evidence to the truth of the Harber story. Harber works for Hammond, Harber works for Stokes, Harber works on all the other campaigns, just to name a few.
By denying the entire story, Ragsdale is actually validating it.
What an idiot. Either way, his political career is dimming.
What an idiot. Either way, his political career is dimming.
Ragsdale's problem is Ragsdale. Live by the sword die by the sword. He thinks this was the best time to confront the problem. The Midway Industrial Park has been approved, the Hardin Valley High School pushed back to the School Board, and all the TIF's have been rubber stamped. There was no vote last Monday for a Grand Jury.
In his myopic world of arrogance and avarice this was the perfect time to confront the problem. Unfortunately for him he is not a skilled liar. If you listen to just the sound of his voice he does pretty well. When you watch him on TV you want to play high stakes poker with him. Few politicians of his caliber have so many obvious "tells". Without Mike Arms it is doubtful Ragsdale could have gone very far. Remove Arms and this political machine will collapse like a house of cards.
The biggest problem you have when you run a political machine by intimidation is that you have an armies of enemies waiting for you to slip up and these days the sixth floor is slicker than greased owl shit.
Submitted by Toad In The Hole (not verified) on Sun, 2006/10/01 - 12:18pm.
neither of which has been exhibited by the Ragsdale administration and to the extent there is a silver lining, Ragsdale's last 4 years in the County Mayor's position, will be the last 4 years of his political career, what once opened with promise and possibility will go down as wallowing in cronyism and political grandstanding trying to beat down the opposition in traditional Nixonian methoods. Nixon has his attributes and some positives, Ragsdale has none.
Submitted by StaceyDiamond on Sun, 2006/10/01 - 7:27pm.
Glad to see him be put on the spot but Gene forgot to ask about the more serious things, the health dept and the Chase restaurant debacle. I liked how Ragsdale said he didn't read the Shopper or the National Enquirer. I agree with him on the 20 month thing, these reporters should not have waited 20 months to ask the questions, but I think people wanted to avoid a Mayor Steve Hall so they waited. Stacey
Yes, Sandra and Betty are brilliant political mechanics, the way they plotted to get Harber hired in the PO where he says he ran Ragsdale's political operations, and then got him to throw a monkey wrench into a ballot petition, make an ass of himself at a restaurant, hack into the GOP chairman's e-mails, steal a county computer, and get arrested after a high speed pursuit, all to make Ragsdale look bad.
having Betty Bean on his show (assuming I've missed it, and she can correct me) to discuss this matter. If you ask me, get it straight from the horse's mouth ;-)
Ragsdale is working overtime to deny all parts of this story, but even the News-Sentinel archives are evidence to the truth of the Harber story. Harber works for Hammond, Harber works for Stokes, Harber works on all the other campaigns, just to name a few.
By denying the entire story, Ragsdale is actually validating it.
What an idiot. Either way, his political career is dimming.
What an idiot. Either way, his political career is dimming.
Ragsdale's problem is Ragsdale. Live by the sword die by the sword. He thinks this was the best time to confront the problem. The Midway Industrial Park has been approved, the Hardin Valley High School pushed back to the School Board, and all the TIF's have been rubber stamped. There was no vote last Monday for a Grand Jury.
In his myopic world of arrogance and avarice this was the perfect time to confront the problem. Unfortunately for him he is not a skilled liar. If you listen to just the sound of his voice he does pretty well. When you watch him on TV you want to play high stakes poker with him. Few politicians of his caliber have so many obvious "tells". Without Mike Arms it is doubtful Ragsdale could have gone very far. Remove Arms and this political machine will collapse like a house of cards.
The biggest problem you have when you run a political machine by intimidation is that you have an armies of enemies waiting for you to slip up and these days the sixth floor is slicker than greased owl shit.
You can watch the Gene Patterson interview with Mike Ragsdale here.
Can you spot the "tell"? Watch the smile.
neither of which has been exhibited by the Ragsdale administration and to the extent there is a silver lining, Ragsdale's last 4 years in the County Mayor's position, will be the last 4 years of his political career, what once opened with promise and possibility will go down as wallowing in cronyism and political grandstanding trying to beat down the opposition in traditional Nixonian methoods. Nixon has his attributes and some positives, Ragsdale has none.
Glad to see him be put on the spot but Gene forgot to ask about the more serious things, the health dept and the Chase restaurant debacle. I liked how Ragsdale said he didn't read the Shopper or the National Enquirer. I agree with him on the 20 month thing, these reporters should not have waited 20 months to ask the questions, but I think people wanted to avoid a Mayor Steve Hall so they waited. Stacey
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