In my tenure producing these virtual pages, I’ve often (and, I think, justifiably) referred to Senator Sanders as the loony old socialist from Vermont. And his protege from New York City, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, can also be presumed to be a bit daffy, at least on economic matters.
But there’s a difference between loony and absolutely, barking batshit nuts. This guy is the latter. Excerpt:
A Green Party candidate for Congress in Ohio’s nail-biter contest who won nearly enough votes to throw the race into an automatic recount – gave a speech-slurred interview this year in which he couldn’t remember his own website address.
Joe Manchik also says he’s descended from aliens and hails from the town of Hell, Michigan.
In Tuesday’s closely watched special election, 1,127 Ohioans chose him over Republican Troy Balderson and Democrat Danny O’Connor.
Balderson’s apparent margin of victory was just 1,754 votes. Presuming Manchik’s base would otherwise have been O’Connor supporters, the result without him would have been a hair’s-width away from triggering an automatic recount.
And:
The native of Hell, Michigan says he traces his lineage back to a more far-off place.
‘My distant relatives originally came to planet Earth from a planet orbiting a star in the Pleiades star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus,’ Manchick writes, boasting that he was ‘voted “Class Musician” by my High School graduating class.’
He did not respond to a message left Wednesday at his personal phone number, which he posted on Facebook.
Wow. Wow.
I suppose the GOP should be happy to take their spoilers where they find them; Pols are hardly the most stable folks in general, after all, a certain level of narcissism seems to be a minimum requirement. But the candidates in both parties should be pretty embarrassed to have lost even a single vote to this nutbar.
Maybe, though, there’s a little campaign strategy possible here. Finding candidates crazy enough to stand out like this guy does is a challenge, sure, especially given the amount of crazy to be found in both major parties. But think about it – obviously, at least in swing-state Ohio, there are enough bugnuts voters to make this guy a spoiler.
Worth a try?
