The ‘Victim’ Line Always Clicks
Her single recurring theme, which she knows plays well with her crowd, is, “I am a victim.” Not, you will notice, “I am innocent” or “the Times is lying.” Aging by the hour, she is lip-synching a song borrowed from many dishonest politicians who represent blue-collar neighborhoods that are short on residents as savvy as Ms. Burke thinks she is.
This update is warranted by the fact that a growing number of bought-friends she has done favors for during her 4 terms on the Board of Sups have rushed into print with markedly inelegant defenses of the lady. By the day, she becomes more confident that she has built sufficient capital with enough media-access people so she does not have to perspire.
County D.A. Steve Cooley’s office has threatened to investigate the smart-stepping, but hack-thinking Ms. Burke. No chance, boys and girls. It would be the shock of the decade if the jelly-knee’d Mr. District Attorney moved on her. By the way, has Mr. Cooley, a gutless hack himself, abandoned his habit of wearing a “For Sale” sign around his oft-troubled neck?
It Is Payback Time
In the past 24 hours, two “friends” have paid back Ms. Burke with wild-swinging defenses in print that artfully avoid the accusations. In Thursday’s edition of the Culver City News, a letter signed, and possibly even written, by former Mayor Albert Vera kept pressing emotional buttons without directly addressing the accusation. What a surprise. He said the Times’ story “shocked and disgusted” him. For a penny’s worth of time, I held my breath. Was Mr. Vera going to admit he was “shocked and disgusted” by Ms. Burke’s alleged deceitfulness?
However, once again Mr. Vera did manage to distinguish himself as a sui generis person. In his second sentence, he posed a riddle that is not to be taken seriously: “The question I had when I finished reading was: What was the point and purpose of the article?” Questions such as this have prevented Mr. Vera from being ranked among the top tier of thinkers in Culver City. It was sweet and gallant of Mr. Vera to try and repay Ms. Burke’s alleged kindnesses. But he would have been less useless if he had spoken to the accusation instead of babbling.
The Opposite of a Giant
The journalistically empty but widely read Los Angeles Sentinel, not known for gilt-edged reporting, presented a rambling interview with Ms. Burke as its lead story in yesterday’s edition. To say that Ms. Burke sounded incoherent stretches the boundaries of generosity. Throughout her charmed but seldom scrutinized career, Ms. Burke never has been mistaken for a clear communicator. She smiles, a lot. And she makes a nice appearance. Early in her career, she was so stunning she could have been elected on her looks alone, and may have been. Above the shoulders, the settlement is sparse. ”
Ms. Burke does possess several talents. She is terrific at emulating Ted Cooke, Culver City’s dearly beloved retired police chief. When she is asked by anyone other than a toady to do an interview, she executes a nosedive under her desk. Last time I requested an interview, Ms. Burke ducked and ducked. When her neck and arms tired, she dispatched a flunky to lie to me. At that task, the Sup is sterling. She also has a gift for casting herself as a helpless little victim, and that is what she has been doing the past 7 days.
Is That a Backfire I Hear?
The party-line piece in the Sentinel, intended to denounce the assertions of wrongdoing, is weak and seems to backfire. It was classic dumb-and-dumber. This was my favorite nonsensical question posed by the Sentinel:
“If you didn’t live in the district at the time you were running for office, there is no way you could have been elected. Is that correct?”
Just to prove that ignorance prevailed on both sides of the interview desk, Ms. Burke responded:
“In my case, at all times that I ran for office, I lived fulltime in the district.” If she admits to only residing inside the boundaries “fulltime” on the 4 occasions she ran for office, logic tells me that now she does not.
Another dandy question by the Sentinel toadies: “Do you feel that you are out of touch with your constituents?”
Where’s Reporter When You Need One?
The poster boy for all corrupt politicians, the assassinated Huey Long of Louisiana, probably would still be alive if he also could have found blind loyalists masquerading as journalists to pitch him doughnuts like that whopper.
Meanwhile, Ms. Burke whistles merrily as she skips toward the horizon a year before her retirement, possibly thumbing her nose at the law, confident that she is bullet-proof. She probably is.
