One is not being careless with the good name of Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania when one suggests that it was reasonable to anticipate the result of the so-called “Christmas referendum” when—and because—Mr. Scott helped conjure it into existence. The “Christmas referendum” was the final event on the liturgical calendar of the last political year. It was supposed to happen, spontaneously as it were, when congressmen and senators were home during the Christmas recess talking, as Mr. Scott put it, “to the folks in the drugstore.” Mr. Scott is the Minority Leader of the Senate.
It is not being mean to Mr. Scott to note that he, as much as any man in Washington, and more than most, is a politician right down to his sensitive fingertips, and, like any politician worth his salt, he does not invite, or focus attention upon, any expression of public opinion unless he is reasonably confident that he knows what opinion will be expressed and finds that opinion congenial.
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