From Shella’s Blog:
The governor’s Line of the Day at today’s media availability came in reference to the Indiana counties that requested a move to the Central time zone and now wish to remain Eastern. He called them “Emily Littella counties.” Emily Littella is the Gilda Radner character on Saturday Night Live known for saying, “Never mind!” I feel the explanation is necessary because it was clear in the governor’s office that not everybody got it. The younger reporters and staff members seemed baffled by the reference.
You know, that’s not a bad joke as political jokes go. But Governor Daniels is in a uniquely bad position to make it. It was his lack of leadership and ever shifting positions on time zones that got Pulaski County into this fix.
As an out-of-stater myself,I would judge the Govenors joke as a joke by an out-of-state govenor..He made a SNL type joke about his own constituents referring to them as ‘fickle and not knowing what they want’ ( that was the jist of the punch line anyway) Daniels may rue that little joke.
We already knew what our Governor thought of us. To paraphrase his State of the State address, we are soused, chain-smoking and gluttons. We had already learned from him that we are too stupid to see the wisdom of changing time zones (through the magic of DST) twice a year. It really is rich coming from a man who whined to the New York Times about how unfair it all was for folks here in the provinces to use his own clear statements against him.
Being commissioner from one of those “Emily Littella” counties I would like to know the whole context of the Governor’s comments. To make it short and sweet, Pulaski County’s ONLY desire was to be in synch with as many of it’s neighbors as possible. This process was unfair to our County from the beginning.
Thanks for commenting, and I agree. I’m not sure how clear I have been lately, but Pulaski County was put in an untenable position both by the Governor and the General Assembly when they abdicated their responsibility to resolve the time zone issue in conjunction with the Daylight Saving Time issue and by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation when it somewhat inexplicably reversed its preliminary decision with respect to Pulaski County but not with respect to any of its neighbors.
GOV. DANIELS SHOULD REMEMBER WHO HE IS DEALING WITH AND PUTTING DOWN! PULASKI COUNTY IS VERY REPUBLICAN!!! I VOTED FOR HIM ONCE BUT NEVER AGAIN. I THOUGHT THE WHOLE TIME ZONE THING WAS TO PUT THE ENTIRE STATE ON THE SAME TIME. HE SHOULD HAVE MADE SURE THAT WE ALL FOLLOWED INDY TIME OR NOT CHANGED AT ALL. I HAVE LIVED IN INDIANA MY WHOLE LIFE AND REMEMBER WHEN WE CHANGED TIME EVERY YEAR. MOST OF THE “COMMERCE” IN PULASKI COUNTY COMES FROM FARMING SO WE FOLLOW THE “SUN TIME”. I’M SURE THE GOV HAS NO IDEA WHAT THAT IS!! FARMERS WORK FROM SUN UP UNTIL WHENEVER THE JOB IS DONE. MAYBE HE SHOULD LIVE ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FARMER THEN HE MIGHT HAVE THE RIGHT TO CRITICIZE HOW WE DO THINGS. THE MAIN REASON WE WANT EASTERN TIME IS BECAUSE WE HAVE VOCATIONAL SCHOOLING THAT WE SHARE WITH OTHER SCHOOLS THAT WILL MOSTLY NOW BE ON EASTERN TIME. A LOT WAS SAID ABOUT HOW THE KIDS WOULD HAVE TO GET ON THE BUS IN THE DARK. WELL GUESS WHAT, IT DOESN’T RELLY MATTER IN THE DEAD OF WINTER WHAT TIME YOU’RE ON IT’S GOING TO BE DARK WHEN THOSE BUSES GET TO YOUR DOOR!!