Substance and style at the Neshoba County Fair

By By Sid Salter / syndicated columnist
July 28, 2002
CABIN #16 There's no one on this planet who enjoys a good Hell fire and brimstone political speech more than this writer and there's no place I'd rather listen to one than at the Neshoba County Fair.
In a lifetime of coming to the fair, I've heard my share. Talking with an attorney friend last week, I was reminded of perhaps the meanest speech I ever heard at Neshoba. It was in the early 1990s when then-State Sen. Terry Jordan of Philadelphia stripped the bark from then-Lt. Gov. Eddie Briggs' political hide in the famous "Nurse Dixie" speech.
Jordan used his fair speech to smack "Fast Eddie" around on everything from accusations of embellishing his fair speech ("He's got a basic character flaw in that when things do not go just exactly as he wants them, he just makes up whatever suits him. I thought if he'd had another two minutes yesterday he'd have taken credit for founding the Neshoba County Fair," Jordan thundered) to failing to support teacher pay raises, trying to close the Vet School at Mississippi State, vacillating on committee assignments and other perceived shortcomings.
Then there was the reference to a Jackson party Briggs allegedly attended that featured a female exotic dancer.
Hair today, gone in 1995
Briggs is about as bald as I am.
The Jordan speech predicated on a personal political flap between Jordan and Briggs over a Senate leadership appointment clearly hurt Briggs in east Mississippi and marked a turning point in Briggs' political fortunes.
The point is that unlike perhaps any other venue, there is a delicate balance of style and substance in political speaking at Neshoba. Too little substance, a speaker is dismissed as a lightweight or a panderer. Too much, a speaker is dismissed as 10 pounds of fertilizer in a 5-pound sack.
It's a subjective analysis, to be sure.
The 1995 debate between Kirk Fordice and Dick Molpus is a prime example. Very few of the 3,000 people who attended that debate recall the substance of the discussion.
What they remember is that Fordice and Molpus got after each other in what was in some instances intensely personal and acrimonious exchanges. In a very real sense, it was the political equivalent of a tractor pull or a wrestling match.
The great fair speakers by general acknowledgement are the late Ross Barnett, who amused his audiences, Ronald Reagan, who swept them off their feet, and John Arthur Eaves, who sold his politics like tent revival salvation.
Stakes high for both men
In the Thursday debate between 3rd District congressional contenders Chip Pickering and Ronnie Shows, expect to once again see the clash of style and substance from both candidates. There are so many issues abortion, guns, family values, etc. in which they agree and mirror each other's voting records.
To counter that, both candidates will likely bring out the heavy artillery in attacking the record of the other. Expect to hear a frank discussion of campaign contributions, national party allegiances, philosophical quirks and other differences. They'll get after each other.
That's what a debate's about. While neither Pickering nor Shows are as colorful as Fordice, both are capable of mixing it up. The stakes are high for both candidates and thanks to ETV, a statewide television audience will be watching.
Here's hoping substance prevails in the debate. But I wouldn't bet on it. Substance matters, but style's just more fun. That's tradition at the fairgrounds.