“Chuckles!” Where you been at, man?

That's "Chuckles" Gidley in the background, during a 2006 editorial board meeting. See how he got his name?

I was delighted to see this passage in the paper this morning:

Santorum will boast of his focus on the Iranian threat to peace while other lawmakers were fixated on Iraq. He will brag that during his 12 years in the U.S. Senate, he never voted for a tax increase and pushed for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
And he will note he did those things while representing Pennsylvania, a sometimes liberal state, without “giving up his conservative principles,” according to Hogan Gidley, Santorum’s national spokesman.“He did not have to morph and change himself to win elections,” Gidley said, a not-so-subtle jab at GOP front-runner Mitt Romney’s record while governor of Massachusetts.
Hogan Gidley! Chuckles! Where you been at, man?

My calling him “Chuckles” dates from when he was handling Karen Floyd’s campaign for state superintendent of education. I’ve seldom had a campaign aide glower at me in quite that way before. Karen hated the camera, but at least she smiled for it now and then.

All in good fun. Chuckles likes his nickname. At least, I think he does. Of course, I once forgot that he was executive director of the state Republican Party, so I might have forgotten his opinion of the nickname, too…

6 thoughts on ““Chuckles!” Where you been at, man?”

  1. Brad

    That was his Michael Corleone look: “But if Clemenza can figure a way to have a weapon planted there for me… then I’ll kill ’em both.”

    I think he’s mellowed since then. Hope so, anyway…

  2. Steven Davis

    As in Chuckles the Clown???

    Chuckles the Clown is a fictional character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (CBS, 1970-1977).

    Chuckles was known for his popular philosophy in verse: “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.”

  3. Norm Ivey

    And didn’t he meet his demise by being stepped on by an elephant while dressed as a peanut? And everyone in the newsroom thought that was funny (“You know how hard it is to stop after just one…”) except Mary, who finally lost it and burst into laughter at the funeral. Great episode.

  4. Kathy

    Is that Karen Floyd in that picture? Wow! I knew she had been enhanced to look younger, but I didn’t remember she looked THAT much older just a few years ago. I barely recognized her. It is truly amazing what money can buy these days. It’s going to be interesting to sit back and watch some other people “de-age” in the future! Just think what great photo collages will appear: age 18; age 25; age 30; age 40; age 22; age 28; age 35; age 16; age 10; age 4!

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