U.S. Midterms: Political Freak Show

I'm you, dear readers. Well, actually, I'm not. But I'm also not a witch, so at least I've got that going for me.

The above is of course a reference to Delaware's favourite Wiccan of Wilmington, Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell, who began her most recent television advertisement by assuring viewers that she, indeed, is "not a witch." In past political years this might have been considered a bit low-brow, to actually have to assure the voting public you didn't spend most days at dusk swooping over the heads of the Lollipop Guild.

The bar has been raised among this year's crop of weirdos and wackadoos seeking higher office in America. If you don't have the Second Amendment tattooed on your buttocks or actually think you're The Walrus, don't even try and claim to be among the craziest third of aspiring politicos on the current American landscape.

Jay Leno may have once called politics "show business for ugly people." But the larger truth these days is that a run for political office is a surefire way for those seeking a moment in the spotlight, but lacking any discernible talent or a handle on the truth, to have their hour in the headlines. It's show business for crazy people.

Let's take two brief examples. First, we have Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino in New York, whose fits of fury and chest-thumping bravado makes Jimmy Hoffa seem like Boy George.

CONTINUE...

 

 

 

Follow Cliff Schecter on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cliffschecter

Comments

[hifiguy]

04:41 PM on 10/18/2010

McCain opened the door to the Crazy Attic by picking Griftin' $ister $arah in '08 and the kooks have been pouring down from it into polite society by the dozens ever since. The Teapublican party resembles nothing so much as a vast open-air lunatic asylum these days.

[Rogan]

06:41 AM on 10/18/2010

Not to split hairs, but not even crazy politicians are so confused as to actually think they're the Walrus. I mean, everyone knows that the Walrus was Paul.

[lboucher]

12:36 AM on 10/18/2010

Star Parker's speech !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48T1GaQSi_E&feature=player_embedded

[PaganKMcK]

04:23 AM on 10/18/2010

So what is the difference between her and and Al Qeada.

[veteran1964]

11:55 AM on 10/18/2010

She is a WITCH!

[army193]

08:45 PM on 10/17/2010

The Republican Party is the Tea Party they just changed the name. Remember there is more caffeine in tea than coffee.

[HowardScottPearlman]

02:42 PM on 10/17/2010

This is what happens when Republicans nominate the Lowest Common Denominator !

Republican candidates are the reason we need STEM CELL research ......

....... particularly Brain Stem Cell Research !

[Pleroma]

11:08 AM on 10/17/2010

Great to see you here Cliff. Always had fun with you on AmericaBlog. You were a bright spot.

[IMOPINIONH8D]

08:49 AM on 10/17/2010

My first requirement of any politician is they be at least as smart as I am. Thats why I vote for democrats.

[anoldgrouch]

11:02 PM on 10/16/2010

Sadly, if you try to engage a conservative about this, you are greeted with anger and hostility. Could it be that they actually know that the right is backing some loonies?

[CreepingDeath]

12:54 AM on 10/17/2010

Yeah, there are some strange people running this year, doesn't mean their message isn't right. Just because they don't meet your standards doesn't mean you should vote for them. It's really not that hard. I got past the paradigms of parties long ago.

[cuardai]

04:32 AM on 10/17/2010

Umm, what message? Small government for everybody but them and the rich? Low taxes for the rich but no one else? Health care for them but no one else? Oh and keep your hands of my medicare and social security, we can't possibly forget that. I would not care how "freaky" they are if they were consistent, they aren't. Joe Miller's wife got unemployment but we can't give it to other people and a lot of other candidates in the Tea/Republican party are the same. Sorry I'm not buying that they have a message. They don't.

[okim5150]

10:10 AM on 10/17/2010

What message? O'Donnell hasn't worked in years. Is the message that you don't need to work to get by? Angle rails against government health insurance reform, but she has government health insurance herself. The message must be Angle is a giant hypocrite. Palin couldn't make it through half a term as governor, is the message get out of the kitchen if you can't take the heat? If there is a paradigm for the Republican party, it must be "the sane need not apply".

[JayRobThom]

06:27 PM on 10/17/2010

No, conservatives thrive on feeling that they're martyrs to a cause, without ever sharing the humility of actual martyrs. That's what kept us going back in the '70s and '80s, and they've simply upped the dosage of resentment & stupidity, producing a kind of political crack for the white underclass . . .

[Nick Santiago]

05:27 AM on 10/18/2010

"Political crack for the white underclass"

- Classic!

[Tau Seti]

09:27 PM on 10/16/2010

The 2010 election political scene has made us the laughing stock of the world; I think 6 billion people are waiting for those running for election this year in the USA to set their hair on fire before the voting begins in order to gain attention and votes. What is amazing to me is that these creatures are even on the ballot, a testimony to the bribes and patronage of the system. The USA has no credibility when it has a group of wingnuts in the governing body; and, that says what about those who would elect them? The world seems to realize that the USA does not need enemies and is waiting for the USA to implode. Bottom Line: "This experiment is over; pull the plug."

[MyFatCat]

01:37 AM on 10/18/2010

Aw, come on. You haven't been tracking sub-Saharan politics, have you. The GOP has cause for shame, true, but there are a lot of nations in worse shape.

[blackraisin]

09:01 PM on 10/16/2010

Have you ever seen a professional wrestling match? Judging by your elitist description, I'd say not.

[IMOPINIONH8D]

08:43 AM on 10/17/2010

I have and its as fake as the teapubs concern for the working class.

[Kiri the Unicorn]

08:47 PM on 10/16/2010

Mr. Schecter, I agree with the substance of your post, but I would like to point out that Christine O'Donnell is not a Wiccan. In her infamous appearance on Bill Maher's old TV show, she specifically mentioned having a picnic on a "satanic" altar, and spoke quite clearly of the presence of a pool of blood. As has been mentioned elsewhere, Wicca is a nature-based religion typified by goddess-worship; the figure of Satan does not appear anywhere within it, and Wiccans themselves eschew blood sacrifice. Wiccan practitioners frequently do refer to themselves as "witches", but this should by no means be confused with the apparent Satanism in which Ms. O'Donnell admits to having "dabbled".
So: please don't identify Ms. O'Donnell as a Wiccan. They're by and large very nice people, and don't deserve the guilt by association.
Further, I suspect that actual Satanists would call Ms. O'Donnell a dilettante, wannabe poser.

[incognito-ergo-sum]

10:56 PM on 10/16/2010

Kiri, no one listens to reality anymore. Conservs think Sharia law is being enforced in Detroit, or Dearborn or some imaginary town in Texas. They say "we will end all this nonsense in November". They are looking forward to the end of something that does not exist.

All the while they are not seeing the end of America as we have known it.

And one of them thinks WE live in unicorn land.

[Kiri the Unicorn]

05:04 PM on 10/17/2010

Yeah, you're probably right, but I felt I had a duty to fulfill. I've known a number of pagans of various stripes. They encounter this sort of thing all the time, and that's not gonna change unless folks are willing to correct the misconceptions.

[Edward Standley]

06:04 PM on 10/16/2010

On the one hand, the entertainment value has been priceless,but there are Americans who will SERIOUSLY vote for these maroons. I am horribly ashamed at what we've become.

[Countess]

03:00 PM on 10/16/2010

The only possible way to preserve your sanity in a dumbed down plutocracy is to accept and enjoy politics as the entertainment division of the military industrial complex. Once you are able to look at it this way the show is unbelievably funny.

[incognito-ergo-sum]

11:01 PM on 10/16/2010

I'm worried, sad and scared. Life after November will be tough for all of us who desperately wanted better for America.

[IMOPINIONH8D]

08:46 AM on 10/17/2010

exactly, if the teapubs get the power......fnndndfvd

[okim5150]

10:13 AM on 10/17/2010

Me too. I wonder how bad it will have to get before people wake up. I wonder if some of the people will ever wake up.

[bccmeteorites]

12:01 AM on 10/18/2010

They do provide lots of material for SNL.

[RockyMissouri]

02:28 PM on 10/16/2010

It's the running of the white-trashe-furry-phreeke shew-- Ed Sullivan style! Dueling chainsaws and wrestling...boy howdy.!...does it get any better than listening to $careePalins' screetchy whining, ad nauseum?? If she were to only be relegated to Fox news, think how much we will miss her...(NOT!) think how quiet the airways will be! (WAY not!) Our lives will be sad and empty! (DEFINITELY, not!)

[coloradodreaming]

01:44 PM on 10/16/2010

Since my first memories of a government began in the Truman years to the present, I can't ever remember this much insanity. It is like a casting call went out across America from the GOP. "We are looking for the strangest, loudest, most uneducated people to run for various offices in the GOP." Kinda makes the casting call for WV hicks look normal. It reminds me of my favorite song (Send in the Clowns).

[RockyMissouri]

02:31 PM on 10/16/2010

You inspired me to make a remake of: 'Send in the clones....'

[RockyMissouri]

02:36 PM on 10/16/2010

In my excitement I plum forgot: it's supposed to be the Sci-Fi version of 'Send in the clones...a love triangle gone pear-shaped, or horribly wobbly...'