Last August, Mark Barabak profiled the stunt presidential campaign of Fred Karger. He was a Republican consultant who came out very late in life. He was willing to burn through thousands of his own money to stump at New Hampshire Republican events and build websites making fun of Mormon beliefs.
The piece ran to 1684 words. Until last week, Karger hadn’t even won 1,684 votes. Then came Puerto Rico, where Karger campaigned for a week and won 1,702 votes. He bested Ron Paul. Buddy Roemer, aided by a position at the top of the ballot and a first name that sounds like an 80s plush toy, did even better – 2,622 votes, better than Newt Gingrich. As of now, Karger has won 3,272 votes across America, and Roemer’s won 8,157.
At this point I will point out that Randall Terry, in his pro-life campaign against Barack Obama, won 20,291 votes in the Oklahoma primary, and has won 22,753 so far. He’s the most successful fringe candidate of 2012 so far. Stick that in your pipe, Americans Elect.
“We are about to go to Kansas, Wyoming, and Alaska,” says Terry. “I am not smoking dope. They are all caucuses, they are all ‘open caucuses’ to one degree or another. I can win in Wyoming with 500 or 600 votes.”
The Terry outreach plan: It’s just outreach to conservatives. That’s not much different than what Karger’s been trying, with almost zero success.
Terry’s version of this: A spirited defense of Rush Limbaugh, pure Republican bait, co-written with his wife Andrea. Read below the fold.
The “slut” and “prostitute” comments by Rush Limbaugh are still making waves. The Obama administration is now pondering cutting off Rush from the Armed Forces Network radio stations. Is our Commander in Chief now moving toward thought control of the military?
The hubbub surrounding Rush’s comments will clearly play a roll in the political debate for the rest of this election cycle. For that reason, it behooves those of us who still possess a functioning ethical compass to defend Rush, and call out the President for his horrific roll in this political drama.
Rush Limbaugh treated Miss Fluke as a worthy adversary. She stepped into the political ring to rumble; she decided – as the seasoned pro-abortion feminist activist that she is – to become the “poster prostitute” of “free love.” She decided – of her own free will – that she would become the lightning rod for all the poor little girls who want to “sleep around,” and have the rest of us pay for their birth control and abortifacients. Rush treated her as a worthy opponent, and responded to her with rhetoric equal to the battle.
Ms. Fluke chose her role as the protagonist/political prostitute. That means she has to take her licks like a big girl, and hold her own. Miss Fluke can’t have it both ways; she can’t be the adult in a fierce debate, and also be the little girl who is getting picked on. She cannot be both sultry superwoman and helpless damsel in distress. She cannot cry foul because a great political voice treated her public and political statements as political “free game.”
Enter President Obama. He pretended to be her “Knight in Shining Armor” but in fact acted as her Political Pimp. He has shamelessly used her for his political agenda. By telephoning her and lionizing her he further prostituted her for his sake, not hers. For Ms. Fluke, this is the height of being used, objectified, and “politically pimped.”
But then President Obama really crossed the line: he used his own daughters to further this agenda. Ponder it well: Obama said, “I thought of my daughters when I called Sandra Fluke…I wanted Sandra to know that I thought her parents should be proud of her, and that we want to send a message to all our young people that being part of a democracy involves argument and disagreements and debate.”
I (Randall) raised two little girls. When my daughters were young, neither heaven nor hell could have compelled me to use them in an illustration where they were sexually promiscuous, and then publically demanding that tax payers fund their immoral behavior. I do not know a father who would say this. And I am certain – as one dad to another – that President Obama does not want his daughters as “sexually active” unmarried girls sleeping around, calling out to tax payers to pick up their birth control/abortifacient tab. If they were, he would not be proud, he would be heartbroken. As an intelligent man, President Obama knows the heartache and dangers that attend sexual immorality.
So why did he say it? Because this was about a political agenda for getting votes; it was not about sexual ethics or good parenting. Obama prostituted Fluke in order to motivate and mobilize a small but important part of his base; fornicating college students who want to keep their beer money for beer, and get their birth control and abortifacients for free. Obama had great enthusiasm with young voters for “hope and change” in 2008; since those promises have proved illusory, he is now opting for the lower road of drugs and orgasms.
Rush is a brilliant thinker; he treated Ms. Fluke as a worthy opponent. Obama treated her like a political prostitute. History will bear Rush witness that he was right. And believe me, fathers all over America are hoping they never see their daughters pimped for the cause of sexual immorality, birth control, and drugs that kill the unborn.
