Eight days past the St. Jerome Picnic stump speak (conducted on a shaded stage with multiple overhead fans cooling the fevered brows of the pols on the platform) I think my stomach has finally settled enough to let me write about the 2022 entry into a long line of political speeches in the tiny overwhelming Catholic community of Fancy Farm Kentucky.
I am reminded as I am every year that my perception and that of the mainstream media of highlights is as if we were in different cities listening to different speakers on the same day at the same time. The comparison of the blind men and the elephant is apt here. We experienced the same event but some of us saw ears, others felt what appeared to be a tree trunk and a ropy tail. What we describe depends on what part of the animal we experienced.
The print media drove to the Purchase (yeah, we know it's a long way), went to a couple of events, at least stayed longer at the Picnic than Kelley Paul then drove home again complaining like kids on their way to visit grandma.
"Why do we have to go all the way down there?"
"It's outlived its usefulness!" drips the ink of discontent.
After the speeches, a gaggle of reporters was excited to all pose the same question to Republican candidates - did Joe Biden win the 2020 election? Of course, none answered that gotcha question before a GOP primary.
(Note to the press corps: you do know that "gaggle" refers to geese and is not a flattering reference, right?)
The thousands of locals who come to play bingo, visit friends and family and watch the upstaters parade in t-shirts don't much care for whether the political portion of the St. Jerome Picnic goes on in 2023. I wonder if those in the bingo pavilion were polled, if they would agree with print media's opinion. They would have no opinion on whose speech was most compelling, being more interested in getting a mutton sandwich and not losing their spot at the tables.
We saw a handful of Purchase residents around the speaking pavilion (one admitted he left before the speeches). Others were there to cheer on Charles Booker because word had gotten out that the event would be a sea of red with few Dems in attendance.
For the most part, Purchase residents avoid Fancy Farm Saturday unless their uncle lives there and is hosting a picnic. This is not a new phenomena. Since my first Picnic back in the last century, I've seen more friends and acquaintances from upstate than the folks I see at Gregs Market (Where Nice Matters!)
The visual and audio media applauded Mrs. Paul for her rousing speech and complimented Attorney General Cameron for his perseverance through chants of "Breonna Taylor".
The rest of the speeches? Meh.
So who does the St. Jerome Political Speaking benefit?
It is past time to have a seriously honest discussion among the St. Jerome organizers. The event is no longer a policy discussion but a noisy scrum with headlines that appear only to wound candidates, not help their case.
Better to decide now than to let the time honored event stutter out as major hitters like McConnell, Paul and Beshear vote on its future with their absence.
