By Bob Gaydos
Some lessons last longer than others. My first job with a daily newspaper was with The Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y. I was the police reporter.
David Bernstein was editor, publisher and owner. He wrote the editorials, too. A terrific writer. People loved or hated his editorials.
One of the rules he had in writing about people's deaths, in stories or obituaries, was never to use the word "suddenly" in describing the person's death. Everyone dies "suddenly," he explained. You're here one minute and poof, you're gone the next. He didn't use the word "poof."
However, people do die "unexpectedly," went the logic. Seemingly healthy people with no major health issues often die unexpectedly. Others react with surprise, sadness or other emotions.
Such was the case when Lindsey Graham died at 71 on Saturday, July 11. The Sunday morning social media sites were awash in reports of his "sudden" death. The New York Times followed Bernstein's rule. Graham died "unexpectedly" in their stories.
Suddenly, Donald Trump had lost one of his primary fan boys in Congress and Republicans, with Mitch McConnell still somewhere between sudden death and who knows, were close to losing their slight edge in the Senate.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced, two days after Graham's death, that a special Republican primary election would be held Aug. 11, to take Graham's place on the November ballot. He also said, unexpectedly, that he would temporarily appoint Lindsey's younger sister, Darline Graham Nordone, to finish her brother's term.
A day later, Ms. Nordone, who has no apparent political experience, unexpectedly announced that she would run in that special election in an effort to keep her brother's name and work alive in the Senate.
Suddenly, South Carolinians are faced with the prospect of a novice politician replacing a four-term senator in Congress and Trump, who encouraged Ms. Nordone to run for the office in her late brother's place, sees an unexpected opportunity to try to groom yet another woman from a conservative family in a conservative state in the Deep South to come to Washington to carry his laundry.
Suddenly, Graham's unexpected demise doesn't have the same resonance.
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I expect David Bernstein, as liberal as they came, would have approved of this column. I also suspect that Mr. Bernstein borrowed his rule from The New York Times.
