The Senate's blowhards and brains
Back in the mid-1970s, Sen. William Scott, a Virginia Republican, called a press conference to deny a magazine charge that he was the dumbest member of the Senate.
Of course, calling the press conference was a really dumb idea, since it only brought attention to an otherwise obscure story. Scott was ridiculedsomething all politicians dread.
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John W. Mashek covered politics in Washington for four decades with U.S. News & World Report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Boston Globe. His primary beats were Congress, the White House, and national politics. He covered every presidential election from 1960 to 1996. He was a panelist in three televised presidential debates in 1984, 1988, and 1992.