It wasn’t Neese: An allegory for owning your audio

Sunday, August 30, 2020

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COMMENTARY

So the dust has settled, and the primaries are finally over. Here in Oklahoma, there were some shake-ups for local offices and a particularly heated battle for a national one.

The Republican primary runoff for Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District ended with State Sen. Stephanie Bice victorious and her opponent, Terry Neese, perhaps wondering what could have been done (better) to combat the tidal wave of controversy surrounding her past.

After the only runoff debate the Neese campaign agreed to earlier this month, she turned to the immortal words of late-90s reggae fusion superstar Shaggy by implying, “It wasn’t me,” on the awkward employee training tapes that had been leaked to the press.

“These are tapes that have been doctored, and I’m sure everybody will understand what that means,” Neese told News 9‘s Aaron Brilbeck. “This is pure politics!”

Six days later, Neese fell about 3,000 votes shy of Bice, who will move on to the general election.

Is there a moral to the story? Maybe it turns out that claiming ignorance of the truth — while it may have worked for RikRok in the hit song — isn’t a viable strategy in the real world.

I have a feeling things are really going to ramp up for this congressional seat in the next month or so. If the attack ads against incumbent U.S. Congresswoman Kendra Horn that play before every YouTube video I watch are anything to go by, we may be in for an even more wild ride before Nov. 3.