Death of a Pickup Truck: Wasson Shows Sensitive (and Sudsy?) Side

Pickup truck owners, a moment of silence, please, in sympathy and solidarity with GOP U.S. House candidate Thad Wasson, who makes public on his campaign blog his grief at the untimely passing of his 1982 Chevy pickup. Wasson heart-wrenchingly likens the death of his truck to losing the family dog.

Who says ex-Marines don't have a sensitive side?

On the down side, we should note one other telling passage in Mr. Wasson's lament:

This truck had only 90,000 miles on it and was a great pickup to throw hay in, drink a beer in, and over the 4th of July, watch fireworks in [Thad Wasson, "Me and My Chevy," campaign blog, 2009.11.13].

Beer in the truck? Hmmm... I'm trying to picture what would happen if our incumbent Congresswoman mentioned cracking open a cold one in the cab of Grandpa's Old Blue. Someone call the campaign manager!

But wait: maybe this isn't a case of message mismanagement. Maybe Wasson knows exactly what he's doing. He shows his sensitive side (and I'm 100% with him on the value of expressing one's grief and showing one's humanity), but at the same time, he makes a clever play for the hearts of the GOP anti-nanny-staters. Those red-meat Republicans read Wasson's lament and think, "Darn right! Why can't a man choose what to drink and eat and smoke in his own pickup truck? Government has no right to tell him what to do in his God-given property!"

Again, I extend sincere sympathies to candidate Wasson on his significant and expensive loss. But I recommend asking about beer-can holders in the replacement.