From time to time, any political party will find themselves with a candidate for public office that is, frankly, an embarrassment. Lets take a look at how the two parties deal with such embarrassments. The embarrassment for the GOP is Sharon Angle.
…It’s not at all surprising that National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX) is trying to make this race about anything but Sharon Angle:
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn on Wednesday downplayed the importance of new Nevada Senate nominee Sharron Angle’s conservative issue positions, saying the race will continue to be a "referendum" on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
… when he gets in touch with Angle, they won’t be talking about issues but rather mechanics.
"We’re going to talk about do you have the campaign manager that you need, do you have the pollster, and those sorts of things," said Cornyn. "Winning an election is not rocket science, but it does take some discipline and it does take some organization. That’s what we will hope to add value to."
Leaving aside Cornyn’s inadvertent acknowledgement that Republicans lack discipline and organization, it’s not surprising that he wants to discuss yard signs and envelope lickers rather than the issues according to Angle… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Daily Kos>
Rachel Maddow and Las Vegas investigative reporter Jonathan Humbert discuss how the GOP is trying to bend her from obtuse angle to right angle.
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So here, the GOP has a candidate that makes Rand Paul seem normal, and they’re trying to hide the extremity of her Teabuggery instead of admitting, as they should, what an embarrassment she is.
The embarrassment for the Democrats is Alvin Greene.
Alvin Greene never gave a speech during his campaign to become South Carolina’s Democratic nominee for Senate. He didn’t start a website or hire consultants or plant lawn signs. There’s $114 in his campaign bank account, he says, and the only check he ever wrote from it was to cover his filing fee.
During a three-hour interview, the unemployed military veteran could not name a single thing he’d done to campaign for political office. Yet more than 100,000 South Carolinians voted for Greene on Tuesday, handing him nearly 60 percent of the vote tally and a resounding victory over Vic Rawl, a well-known former judge who has served four terms in the state Legislature.
"I’m the Democratic Party nominee," Greene said at his father’s rural home in central South Carolina. "The people of South Carolina have spoken. We have to be pro-South Carolina."
Things have gotten stranger since Greene’s win.
First, The Associated Press reported that Greene faces felony obscenity charges for allegedly showing pornography to a University of South Carolina student last November. Greene says he’s "not guilty."
Then, the state’s Democratic Party chairman called on him to withdraw from the general election. And House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. — who has questioned whether Greene might have been planted in the race by Republicans — is calling for federal and state investigations.
"Here is Alvin Greene, unemployed, he goes into the Democratic headquarters and pays $10,000. That’s no little bit of money for an unemployed person," Clyburn said… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Seattle Times>
Keith Olbermann interviewed Greene.
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During the interview, Greene’s lawyer was advising him off camera.
Clearly this man is not Senatorial material, and the Democratic party is doing the right thing, by trying to remove him.
The possibility that he was a GOP plant entered my mine as well, but what baffled me was how he could have managed to get 100,000 Democrats to vote for him. Then I learned that South Carolina is an “open primary” state. That means anybody can vote for anyone. Then I understood. Greene’s votes must have come mostly from Republicans. With DeMint running unopposed on the GOP side, Republicans could cross-over and vote for Greene without risk. I join Clyburn’s call for investigations.
Some of you may remember that I opposed open primaries in the last election. Now you know why.
15 Responses to “A Tale of Two Embarrassments”
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Again, great minds . . . : -) There’s also the factor that he got kicked out of the army. He may not look like a Republican – too dark – but he sure talks like one. I don’t know if he has a speech impediment or is mentally challenged or both but the guy obviously has some problems. I have no doubt that he is a plant and will definitely love it if this is the case.
By open, does that mean you don’t have to claim a party for the primary as well as the general election?
Leslie, open primaries mean that any voter can vote in any party’s primary, regardless of political affiliation.
This whole thing is very weird but, agree with you, wouldn’t put it past the Republicans planting this guy. Let’s face it, it’s the only way they could win in many cases.
Welcome Leo. I think DeMint would have won in any case. Now he won’t have to work at it.
Re: Gray in SC, I guess they really didn’t like the other guy.
So what’s the problem? He needs a job and the SC Dems need someone who will get more votes than ‘the other guy’ who was apparently widely hated.
Sounds like a win/ win to me.
sorry, Greene, not Gray. Whatever, same analysis.
spinn: would Dems vote for someone they’ve never head of or much less seen? Only Republicans are that stupid.
This isn’t a Tea Party rally where people are paid to attend. Or a Palin book signing where people are paid to buy multiple copies of her book.
Good point, Leslie. See my reply to Spin.
Welcome Spin. The other guy was well respected. It turns out that in some districts the Diebold votinbg machines counted more votes for Greene that the total number of people who voted. The GOP SC Secretary of State controlls access to those machines.
Holy shit – and I thought Sarah Palin took the cake for kookiness. Sharron Angle should be locked in a nice padded cell not running for Senate.
Greene is obviously a plant – he’s unemployed, has a felony conviction hanging over his head, didn’t run a campaign, etc. Something really stinks in SC, but then it is SC who have some of the weirdest politicians ever.
Lisa, make that one with double thick padding.
Looks like Diebold contributed to Greene’s win.
My outrage at republicans and idiots with warped senses of humor is tempered by Illinois’ open primaries. We can ask for either a Democrat or republican ballot. My side has pulled the republican ballot a few times to jack with them. They got us real good in a local election once.
A big part of the blame goes to the lazy idiot running against Alvin Greene in the primary. The party elders should know this crap happens. One year a couple of Lyndon LaRouches disciples managed to sneak through the Democrat primary and get on the ballot for Sec. of State and Lt. Governor. Adlai Stevenson had to leave the party and run as an independent and it cost us the governors race that year.
Practice due diligence candidates.
Truth, your point is well taken, expeciually given that SC is notorious for such dirty tricks.
I got a full set of fingers and toes and I don’t have enough digits to cover all the wingnuts in the GOP. I mean they are infested with vermin, and I think it will take them down in the fall. Oh the insanity of these folks is palpable.
Sherry, if you add all the hairs on your hubby’s arse to those fingers and toes, you’ll still come up short. 😉