Governor Daniels Will Be A Cowardly Lion

For your Friday reading humor comes this late breaking news from the Indianapolis Star: Governor Daniels and his wife will live in the Governor’s residence after all, and Governor Daniels will be dressing up as the Cowardly Lion for Halloween so he and his wife, Cheri, who will be dressed up as Dorothy, can hand candy out to visiting children. Daniels told the Star: "Let's just say I never thought of myself as lacking courage." But he tells the Star that he wasn't given a lot of choice in the costume.

Advance Indiana can only ponder whether Governor Daniels should dress up as the Tin Man instead. He or whoever made the decision for him obviously has a tin ear to decide to dress up as the Wizard of Oz's Cowardly Lion in the wake of the criticism he has taken from the GLBT community, Advance Indiana, bilerico and others for selling out this past week to the Christian right on gay civil rights. But then again, if the shoe fits wear it. Also, one can only imagine the ensuing comments from the fact that the Governor and his wife have chosen to dress up as friends rather than a real couple since some people already have their doubts. Taking Down Words should have a lot of fun with this fall fodder.

Back to the residence issue, the Star tells us that the Governor and his wife plan to move into the residence next June after the ongoing renovations are completed. You may recall that Daniels initially announced that he and his wife would not be living in the official residence; rather, they intended to build a palatial home in a gated Carmel community. The Governor quickly aborted that plan, however, after a friendly reporter reminded him of the requirement in the Indiana Constitution that the Governor reside in the state’s capitol city. For his wife’s part, she has begrudgingly assumed some duties as the state’s first lady after initially dropping hints that she might not bother to serve the role at all. She seldom accompanies the governor to official events, or much of anywhere for that matter.