--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, DJ-Anonyme@... wrote:
>
> Richard wrote:
>
> "As is often the case, no one jumps out with an
immediate question
and
> for friends I like to jump into the silence and give
them
something that
> will stimulate conversation."
>
> Isn't that also how you got into trouble with Evan
Hunter? I hope
you
> wore tasty shoes those days, as often as you put
your foot in your
> mouth.
>
> I always enjoy these stories of yours.
>
> Mark
>
Yes, it was pretty much the same with Hunter except Bill
Gault knew he was hanging me out to dry but he couldn't
resist the laugh. It was shortly after those two
episodes--both in the early 1980s--that I had the opposite
happen to me. I was serving a term as president of the Senate
Press Secretaries Association and one of my duties was to
obtain luncheon speakers and introduce them. Most were
journalists and gave a short, usually very short, talks and
took questions. I had obtained conservative columnist James
J. Kilpatrick as the guest speaker. Although pretty much
forgotten today except for the Saturday Night Live parodies
of his 60 Minutes debates, Kilpatrick was a saavy old bird.
He spoke for about ten minutes and then called for questions.
No one moved or uttered a sound and for once, I didn't leap
into the silence. Just before it became unbearable, James J.
turned my way and fixed a stare on me that I felt like a
physical jolt. I remember it like yesterday as he got a
little smile on his lips and a bright light in his eyes and
pointed at me with his right hand.
"Richard," he said at the moment his descending point drew a
bead on my forehead. As everyone had been watching him, they
assumed I had given him a little wave to indicate I had a
question. My mind was completely blank but as I rocked
forward, one came to me and I asked it and the rest of the
session was quite lively.
In some ways it was more nervewracking than the other two
experiences and since then I've tried to always have a
question laid- by in case I might need one.
Richard Moore
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 03 Nov 2007 EDT