So by now you’ve probably heard of Basil Marceaux, who’s on the ballot for the GOP primary for governor in Tennessee. There’s a video of him appearing on local station WSMV that’s gone viral. He’s our Alvin Greene.
There’s an emerging debate about him not unlike the one about J***e F***o in the Gaming forum, which goes like this: Is it okay to make fun of someone who obviously has some sort of disability, because he put himself on the ballot, or is he off-limits?
Our local alternative paper has a story about him (well, about the viral-ness of the video), and the comments thread engages this very question.
The really scary thing is that two of the three “legitimate” candidates on the GOP side are pretty damned crazy themselves (especially current Congressman Wamp), but they’re taken seriously simply because they don’t slur their words.
His webpage is also worth a look. I like his motto and (presumably) platform. “VOTE FOR ME AND IF I WIN I WILL IMMUNE YOU FROM ALL STATE CRIMES FOR THE REST OF YOU LIFE!”
Education ,let us put phonics back in school if you can not read you can not do History, Math, English. And that where we are now. Let make it mandatory in high school to read the minutes to the U.S. Congress , the Congressional Globe the real history of the U.S
2.Equal Health care
a. a free gift program
b. take a look at and redo all mandtory insurance programs
c. See why dental is not in most plans a tooth aches hurt more than a back aches and no teeths depresses people.
Judging from that video he’s speaking from experience here.
Make sure that if national insurance is put in place, I will make sure the roots of such bill with not inclued any type measuring of the waist like other counties. quoted on 1/3/09
Sadly, I think I may have to support this man.
Well, that and the homemade Marine Corps (?) uniform.
He’s going to be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight,or so I have heard. Move over Arizona! Marceaux is in the house! Or as he would say, “Houses, I in it, and fly flag right, then kill the prisoner before jail him and execute.”
I can’t vote in Tennessee anymore, my home is in Georgia, five minutes from the TN/GA border. The few Dems that are in this area aren’t organized enough to pull something like that off, IMO. We’re a proud and hearty people, we Southern Democrats, but we risk oppression and home visits from surrounding church members if we reveal our true beliefs too loudly. And honestly, I’d rather be in a firefight than have to fend off doorknocking Baptists for more than a few hours. Those people have so much patience as they stand at your door, it’s like a scene from Das Boot…
I have to say that the mockery makes me feel a little seedy… but it makes me laugh as well. It seems like there’s some sort of line though… I mean, Michelle Bachman is nearly this dumb but not quite, and I don’t feel bad about laughing at her. But this guy seems like he has a brain injury. Laughing at him feels more than a little shameful, somehow.
But is the laughter really at him or his absurd positions?
If he were up there mumbling and bumbling through well reasoned positions, I don’t think many people would give it much attention. The thought would likely be “here is a guy, with, perhaps, some deficiencies trying to do what he feels is right”. In fact I think he would be admired for trying to make a difference against more traditional and polished candidates.
But with platform planks such as no waist measurement, your vote = criminal immunity, “I believe we must hate the U.S. Flag because we fly the wrong one and when we fly the right one we and the government fly it wrong”, “stop Slavery at traffic stop”, etc. it is hard not to laugh regardless of the candidate, but especially so when delivered by the candidate that is basilmarceaux.com.
I think it’s a mix of both, and that’s why there’s something a bit uncomfortable about it. I mean, that’s right, a policy of “stop slavery at traffic stop” is properly laughable. But that policy wasn’t the product of a sharp but eccentric mind - it comes from someone who’s incoherent enough to border on having a thought disorder. So, yeah, I don’t know, it’s not as if I’ve got some incredibly clear idea of there being a line somewhere and that we’re on the wrong side of it. I guess I just feel like I’m close enough to being on or over that line that I feel a bit uncomfortable laughing at him.
Who can argue against making Chattanooga more Constitutioner?
Somebody give that man an Oscar.
As for the whole open primary thing, that certainly helped us out back in 1998, when retired dairy farmer turned actor Fred Tuttle beat Massachusetts carpetbagger Jack McMullen 53.6% to 44.1% in the Republican primary. The winner got to challenge Pat Leahy for the Senate.
Fred subsequently endorsed Pat, who went on to win reelection, 72.2% to 22.4%.
