Alvin Greene Interview Video: South Carolina Senate Candidate Asks 'Can I End This?'

The media whirlwind that South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Alvin Greene stirred up with his shocking primary victory on Tuesday may be getting to him.

Shortly after news of Greene's felony charges become public, reporters from local station WMBF in the state showed up at Greene's door to ask him some questions.

Greene appears visibly uncomfortable throughout the interview, and less than a minute in asks, "can I end this?" He later seems to hit his stride, however, and gives the reporter a little bit of information about his campaign platform, which he sums up as "jobs, education and justice."

On Thursday, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) accused Greene of being "someone's plant" and encouraged the U.S. Attorney's office to mount a probe of his candidacy.

Watch the interview:

In a later interview with ETV, a South Carolina PBS affiliate, Greene appears to be revolutionizing the definition of "hard work."

Asked to explain how he won Tuesday's primary, Greene rambles for a bit and then concludes, "just hard work." The interviewer then follows up, saying, "You didn't hold any campaign functions, you had no campaign signs, no campaign literature, no website, how did you work to get the name out, I mean what did you physically do?"

Greene responds, "I did just simple old fashioned campaigning, nothing fancy or expensive." Pressed further, Greene continues to speak in broad strokes and neglects to elaborate.

Watch the second interview

Comments

[Mark Trail]

04:08 AM on 06/16/2010

I am disgusted by the way the Democrat party is treating Alvin Greene the Democrat nominee for Senate!

FACT: Alvin Greene is BLACK so by Democrat standards he should be immune from criticism, but they are doing nothing less than politically LYNCHING Alvin Greene!

FACT: Many BLACK voters, voted FOR Alvin Greene and they now want to toss out the election results and disenfranchise those BLACK VOTES!

FACT: Alvin Greene is a Democrat who served in the Military and using the John Kerry model, he should be immune from criticism as well, but the Democrats are "Swift Boating" Alvin Greene!

FACT: They say he has been accused of a crime, but there are plenty of WHITE Democrat Senators and Congressmen who have been accused of crimes and the Democrats stand by them!

FACT: They say he doesn't seem very smart, but Joe Biden is a complete idiot and they didn't have any problem making him the Vice President because he is WHITE!

The only reason they are going after Alvin Greene is because he is a BLACK VETERAN! Bunch of anti-military racists make me sick!

Where are those Uncle Tom's Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? This BLACK MAN is being LYNCHED by the Democrat Party and they are sitting on their hands!

[jwoolman]

06:41 PM on 06/13/2010

It does sound like a vote hacking experiment, and the Republicans in this case would be the prime suspects (obviously no Democrat benefits from it). My guess is that the man doesn't entirely understand the deal but rather was manipulated into being the candidate - he doesn't seem to have shared his views with anybody in particular, not even a letter to the editor, and doesn't seem at all comfortable talking about it. I know plenty of "regular people" who would do quite well in such a situation, so it's not that he's outside the usual political environment.

The vote pattern is odd - is South Carolina a state where you can vote in a primary without being registered as that particular party? If so, that would explain some of it although an awful lot of people would have to be involved and somebody's bound to talk.... But if South Carolina relies on voting machines - a better guess might be just plain hacking, as I'm sure was done in 2004 in Ohio and also probably on a much larger scale than realized in 2008 (I suspect Obama won bigger than the vote counts suggested, since he outran the hackers). We're really in trouble with these voting machines, which were pushed so quickly into place after the 2000 election and typically make recounts practically impossible.

[Privatepractice]

11:24 PM on 06/13/2010

You are so correct yet frightening! Are we going to be in for another 2000 and 2004 again real soon?

[devans00]

11:58 AM on 06/13/2010

South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Alvin Greene, patsy or coconspirator? Leaning towards arm twisted collaborator.

From what I can glean, "somebody" picked Mr. Greene who superficially looks good (veteran, unemployed) but has a little dirt (facing a pending felony charge) that can be exploited later when voting day gets closer. That way, he can lose big and ugly but go away with a little cash in his pocket.

The sad thing is, the future used and abused Alvin Greene knows a lot more about what it means to be an everyday American than Jim DeMint, his Republican opponent, ever will. So even though his candidacy is suspect, Greene would make the better Congressional Senator as far as I'm concerned.

I hope this whole scheme comes back to bite whoever set it in motion in the booty. It would be awesome if Greene did unseat DeMint. I'd laugh for days.

[Privatepractice]

11:16 PM on 06/13/2010

The problem is Green is obviously being paid to do what he did and cannot account for the upsurge in cash when he was dirt broke a few weeks before. He is unable to explain himself and the votes which were cast by ghost because he received more votes than what was registered and when the FBI and IRS comes a knocking and a looking it is time to put aside the B.S and tell them what happened.. BUT we all know his "associates" have already cleaned their hands and the paperwork trail has been erased so Mr. Green will be left on his own. PLUS if Green is smart enough to keep something back from his "associates" there will be the "why would you trust a felon," outcry then there will be the other paid off informant saying green acquired the money from shady deals all on his own. So Mr. Green is between a rock and a cesspool! I hope he can swim!

[reno1190]

10:16 AM on 06/13/2010

talk about the spook who sat by the door (rethugs have no shame) this is a joke

[Privatepractice]

11:18 PM on 06/13/2010

They don't care. Their mantra is: MONEY POWER MONEY POWER MONEY POWER MONEY POWER..... AND SEX!

[tyger]

03:11 PM on 06/12/2010

Where did the flag pin come from? This guy is going to sing sing sing when the real story is uncovered.

[Privatepractice]

05:03 PM on 06/13/2010

There is always the option of him falling on a bar of soap and checking out before he is able to sing sing sin!

[tyger]

03:06 PM on 06/12/2010

The Black equivalent of a Palin. This is sad on so many levels. This man and someone else has conspired to take the people's vote from them. I hope there is a full investigation and prosecution of this crime.

[Privatepractice]

11:10 PM on 06/12/2010

And unfortunately he will be the one left holding the bag while his handlers are long gone with no paper trail leading to them. Frankly he is an idiot!

[reno1190]

10:19 AM on 06/13/2010

kinda reminds me of the mafia hit years ago in ny (columbo family) got a black guy to kill then killed the black guy

[planetmondo]

02:13 PM on 06/12/2010

too bad they are from different states a debate between him and sara palin would be hilarious!

[Privatepractice]

01:34 PM on 06/12/2010

Can someone please let this idiot know he is being set up to take a fall and the ones doing the setup has already cleaned their hands of any wrong doing? He will be alone when the investigation comes up with the truth because they have already found out there was vote rigging with him getting more votes than the amount of people who were registered. I feel sorry for him but if he is going to allow himself to be used then so be it.

[reno1190]

10:21 AM on 06/13/2010

lol we are in a depression poor guy needs the money he is un-employed

[Privatepractice]

04:41 PM on 06/13/2010

And will be incarcerated very soon! Then he will make a deal to tell who was behind it and they will exonerate themselves by saying they don't know him and have already gotten rid of the paper trail! That idiot better wake up real fast.

[UneMondeNouveau]

12:19 PM on 06/12/2010

In the second interview, the interviewer is showing no respect for Greene. His questions are irrelevant and patronizing ("Do you own a car?" "Is it new?") and are designed to give listeners a very childish view of Greene ("Did your parents, who you live with, support you??")

Did anyone think that perhaps we should listen to what someone has to say and not just how much money they have? The "Tea Party" is supposed to be a populist movement for commoners in politics; however, all the candidates they endorse have millions to spare. Alvin Greene does not. Who would you say is more in touch with real life in South Carolina -- Greene, or DeMint? Think objectively before answering this question.

Regardless of whether you like him or not, he is the nominee now. So the Democratic Party needs to back him and pay for campaign costs. With a little guidance, Alvin Greene could be a promising candidate.

[tyger]

03:08 PM on 06/12/2010

He is not qualified. Just because he is a common man does not make him good for the people of SC

[reno1190]

10:27 AM on 06/13/2010

right, a promising candidate for demint to get back in

[Privatepractice]

04:44 PM on 06/13/2010

So big bad Demint is so bold and mighty but he is afraid and uses a poor unfortunate felon to get reelected?

[GuiltD]

09:42 PM on 06/11/2010

I feel sorry for him, he doesn't have the fire in him that shows him knowing that he won in a honest fashion. Anybody in this position would be going crazyyyyyy. He also looks very scared. I feel sorry for him. He might be alright.

[Privatepractice]

01:35 PM on 06/12/2010

I too feel sorry for him but if he is going to allow himself to be used then discarded that it is his own fault when the axe comes down.

[GuiltD]

08:23 PM on 06/12/2010

I agree if it is a set up. Innocent till proven guilty. But we also don't know whats happened, maybe they threatened him in some way, or made a promise influencing the trial?

[cvbnm67]

07:14 PM on 06/11/2010

This is sad.

Alvin Greene has the mannerisms of a person who is carrying gilt or shame. Maybe it was the war, maybe it is his lack of political polish, that so many politicians seem to have, or maybe it is his lack of integrity that requires so many politicians to need political polish?

The thin and sparse statements made by Mr. Greene do not lend themselves to honesty. Alvin Greene did better in Republican districts than in Democratic ones, the numbers just don't add up. How can anyone convince an electorate to vote for them with such a poor set of communication skills.

Lack of communicative skills should not disqualify anyone from participating in the political process, however Mr. Greene should also not blame the jury when his lack of convincing and credible testimony gets him convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison.

[freelancerighter]

06:25 PM on 06/11/2010

I must be missing something here...somewhere...

[outsidethemainstream]

05:14 PM on 06/11/2010

with the political happenings in South Carolina, Kentucky, Nevada, and so on, Louisiana doesn't look so weird any more.

thanks, y'all

[charleshugh]

05:11 PM on 06/11/2010

This kind of reminds me of "Meet John Doe" with Gary Cooper.

That fact that Mr. Greene could get 100,000+ votes says something about the state of our politics. But this is also an indictment of our news media. How is it that with hundreds (possibly thousands of reporters) who covered this election cycle, no one bothered to ask about this person. More evidence that our media is simply a vast echo chamber.

[PAposter]

04:22 PM on 06/11/2010

Involuntary Honorable Discharge...so he's either gay or mentally ill.

[robXdion]

04:37 PM on 06/11/2010

There's no such thing. Even creating such a title shows that he's a lil loony or simply hiding something. The only thing that could mean is a General Discharge Under Honorable Conditions or an Involuntary Administrative Separation which could mean a Medical Discharge (for obvious reasons). Either of which he's probably trying to get retroactively bumped up to a regular Honorable Discharge.