Ya Gotta Love Roy Temple ...

... much like ya gotta love a good root canal or anal probing!

For those of you who don't know him, Roy Temple is the former Chief of Staff for the late Governor Mel Carnahan, who continued his own personal legacy by following Jean Carnahan to Washington, D.C. after Mel's non-win in the United States Senate race in 2000.

Now, I suggest that it was a non-win, because once Carnahan died in the plane crash, he ceased being a legal person in the state of Missouri. Since his death was merely three weeks before the election, ballots could not be reprinted in order to replace his name with a replacement candidate. Furthermore, it is my personal belief that the replacement of a candidate on a ballot is legally the responsibility of the state party committee, not the sitting governor. The governor may appoint a replacement officeholder who dies or vacates, but not a candidate once the candidate has died or withdrawn. The Republican Party, once the widow Carnahan's name was revealed by then-Governor Roger Wilson as the heir-apparent to the ballot position, chose not to challenge the legality of such a move so as to avoid looking heartless.

We all know the rest of the story ... the whole "keep the fire burning" campaign put forth by Temple and others, which ended up actually bolstering Carnahan's name ID from someone that was double digits behind then-Senator John Aschcroft to an illegal victory in November. Jean served two years in the senate, often wondering what she was doing there, until Jim Talent promptly removed her in 2004. (It all worked out, though, because Ashcroft served as United States Attorney General during part of the Bush presidency.)

But, I digress. Temple had a really bright future ahead of him in democrat politics as a top aide to a governor and a sitting United States senator. Instead of continuing with his personal success, he came home to Missouri with Jean and set up his own blog site, dedicated to blasting every republican he can get his hands on. And he seems to be awfully proud of himself.

Last year, Temple got the Federal Elections Commission to grant him a media waiver, basically stating that the rants on his blog did not need to be disclosed as in-kind contributions to candidates. After all -- how could you put a pricetag on such things?

Now, it seems, Ol' Roy thinks he's a bon-a-fide reporter! Prior to a public bill signing ceremony by Governor Matt Blunt this week, Ol' Roy decided to show up "as a member of the press," and elbow his way into the office. As Temple should know, while he refers to these as "public bill signings," they are anything but public. They are tightly controlled as to who attends, because often times, those in attendance are given opportunities to speak on the record as to the bill and its impact on the citizens of Missouri.

Did Ol' Roy forget this? Or could it be that Temple was seeking a desired result and got it? After all, let's not forget that Temple was the Chief of Staff for a governor. Surely he knew that adversaries of the governor were not to be invited into the office for such events.

As it turns out, Temple was there to "cover" the signing of Senate Bill 1014, which requires photo identification for voting. Dems across the state (and nation) have tried to gang up on this bill, suggesting that it will disenfranchise voters. In fact, "disenfranchise voters," seems to be the battle cry against this bill. (My guess is that most of those suggesting it don't even know how to spell it, let alone know what it even meant prior to receiving the talking points from the party.) As Temple was recognized by Blunt spokesperson Spence Jackson, whom Ol' Roy affectionately refers to as Spaz on his blog, Jackson refused to allow Temple into the office. Ol' Roy had such a "Temple Tantrum" about it that Capitol Police had to be called to remove him from the office. After all, delusional Temple actually believes he is a member of the media!

Now, at this point, charges probably could have been filed against Temple for his refusal to leave, but the governor's office chose to just have him removed. Should be the end of it, right? Noooooooooo way!

Temple then called every REAL media outlet in the state to alert them of the vicious treatment he had been given by Jackson, who childishly referred to Temple as having "Timothy McVeigh-like fantasies," and did what he could to make a media circus out of the event. I can place some blame squarely on Jackson, but Temple did this on purpose.

One has to wonder what Temple really would have done or said had they allowed him to stay. Of course, all the libs are adding their two-cents' worth throughout cyberspace that Temple's free speech was violated, the Sunshine Law was violated, Freedom of the Press was violated, etc ... it's enough to make you laugh if it weren't so stupid.

WAKE UP, ROY! YOU'RE NOT A MEMBER OF THE MEDIA -- YOU JUST DON'T HAVE TO DISCLOSE IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS THAT YOUR RANTS CREATE FOR YOUR CANDIDATES!

Sorry, just had to make that clear.

We'll see, as time goes by, whether or not Ol' Roy is going to buy himself a notebook, pen, overcoat and one of those fancy hats that the old reporters used to wear while he continues to live in his little fantasy-world. Hey, as long as he's fantasizing, maybe he'll get an email from Denise Richards, too!