Does Jack Kemp scramble his 'dear friend' McCain's nerves?

While campaigning in Buffalo, N.Y., John McCain made a puzzling comment about a local hero, Jack Kemp.

First he called Kemp -- a onetime Buffalo Bills quarterback who later represented western New York for nine terms as a Republican congressman -- a "dear friend."  But McCain, speaking at an art museum Monday, went on to say that "I haven't met anybody who isn't afraid of Jack Kemp."

It's not clear what it is about Kemp, 73, that might inspire fear.  As footballers go, he wasn't very big. One listing shows that he was all of 5 feet, 10 inches and 175 pounds back when he played for Occidental College in his native Los Angeles.

And while he led the Bills to two championships in the old American Football League in the mid-1960s, his strong suit was his ability to scramble and pass, not to overpower.

Perhaps Kemp got a little scary, at least to some, when he helped shape the Reagan agenda and embraced supply-side economics -- a theory that George H.W. Bush, who later named Kemp his Housing secretary -- once famously called "voodoo economics."  Or maybe McCain's anxieties were raised simply by the memory of what happened when Kemp was the No. 2 person on Bob Dole's Republican presidential ticket in 1996; they were defeated by Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

— Stuart Silverstein

Comments

[NinaK]

McCain talks crazy. He sure makes a lot of gaffes!! McCain said it: I have not found anyone who isn't afraid of kemp.....that means McCain is very afraid of him too! So now we have a 73 year old boogie man named Kemp!! Hey, JOhn why are YOU afraid of Mr. Kemp. Afraid he'll play some voodoo on you?

[wallace]

Or maybe McCain meant that Kemp is a friend and Kemp can be intimidating presence as a tenacious legislator.

Stuart, try not to overanalyze things.

[michaelrcaputo]

THIS WAS AN INSIDE JOKE

The writer makes a big deal from nothing. I attended the Albright-Knox Art Gallery event and this comment went by all of us without offense. Leave it to the reporters, all four of them seated in the back of the room upset they weren't chosen to join the Obama Mideast extravaganza. They were looking at the backs of our heads and couldn't see all of us laughed and none of us cared about the comment. It was an inside joke.

Here's the deal: as a McCain supporter and former Kemp staffer I know a bit. McCain and Kemp were close friends in the House of Representatives, both elected during the national conservative updraft of Ronald Reagan. McCain and Kemp were as combative as they were friendly.

Both men have very similar temperments, including a passionate belief in the battle of ideas. They would go nose to nose on policy issues all the time - often even if they agreed in principle. Sometimes McCain won; sometimes Kemp reigned.

It was fun to watch and even more interesting looking back today on those 80s era meetings of House conservatives. Both of these guys have a lot of respect for each other, and both of them regard the other as tough characters. One thing is for sure: with 150 of Buffalo's top money people in the room, they all knew Kemp well. The vast majority regard Kemp highly but also know he's a steamroller of ideas and a worthy adversary.

I worked for Kemp for several years. I'm still "afraid" of him, in a humorous sense. McCain was making an inside joke the small crowd understood - after speaking at length with obvious fondness for Buffalo Bills QB Jack Kemp.

An inside joke among a crowd of folks who understood and chuckled. Taking it any other way is ridiculous. Presenting it as a jab at Kemp is disingenuous.