Joe Pitts: “reputations are earned. They take a long time to acquire, as one develops and improves his abilities. Like those in…”

“reputations are earned. They take a long time to acquire, as one develops and improves his abilities. Like those in centuries past who told tall tales about Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill, it takes a certain talent to stretch the truth. Well, there is another tall tale reported in the papers this morning that was spun some 20 years ago. It is a tale told by a Washington politician who liked to fancy himself a farmer. He told his friends that he was once a chicken farmer. He said, ``I have raised chickens myself, 10,000 at one time, 5,000 in each of two houses.'' The politician who told this tale was also the son of a politician so he grew up in Washington, not on a farm. True, he would go back home to Tennessee once in a while to visit, but all those chickens, they were on another farm that he did not visit. He certainly did not raise 10,000 chickens. This candidate has earned a place among the best spinners of yarns in America. He tells some of the best tall tales today. The tale of the 10,000 chickens is just one more tall tale from Tennessee. Al Gore spins a good yarn.”