When Reality TV and the Virginia Governor Race Collide

First, and foremost, let's get one thing straight. I am very interested in serious Virginia state politics. And will soon seriously begin to bring up some of the state political issues on this blog.
And what I am about to say, I say seriously. But it must be mocked in the process.
 White House party crasher, and now-estranged husband of a "Real Housewife" and tabloid fodder, Tareq Salahi, wants to run for Governor of Virginia. And he says he has "huge support."
In his own words,"As a Virginia native for the last 42 years, I am troubled to see how our current political figure heads continue to waste tax payer dollars during these difficult economic times! I'm a big believer in limited government, keeping taxes, regulation and litigation low." Oh and apparently he's a Republican.
He's off to a bad start though. According to CNN, on his application to run for office he put the wrong date down for the November 5, 2013 election. His application says November 6. Or maybe he just has bad handwriting?
As of late Wednesday morning, the State Board of Elections in Virginia has not yet received a declaration of candidacy from Salahi, a board spokesman confirmed.
The candidate form is generally not filed until January 1, 2013, at the earliest, Justin Riemer, the spokesman, noted. (Source: CNN)
Just like the presidential candidates, petitions for office must be signed by 10,000 registered voters in the state with a minimum of 400 from each of Virginia's 11 congressional districts.
Now, just to be fair, before I get to the mocking part, let's take a quick look at his credentials. Is he just after more fame? Or does he have a shot in politics?
First, don't be fooled by his "Real Housewives of DC" fame. He's not "DC" in the least. He lives way the heck out of DC, in Virginia wine country, in an area you cannot call DC suburbs. So no, he's not DC by nature, not that that qualifies you for anything either.
He served on the Virginia Tourism Board from 2006-2009, when then-Gov. Tim Kaine asked him to resign after the White House incident.
Before that he served on the all-powerful Virginia Winery Board, except that it isn't all that powerful or well-known in the state at all. His business background includes his family's vineyards. But rumor has it he and his wife drove the business into the ground, and the vineyard is now in bankruptcy. So yes, please, let's give this guy the password to the state's finances!
Maybe he'll be tough on crime? After all, he was very quick call for help when he thought his wife had been kidnapped. Except she had really just run off with Journey guitarist Neal Schon. But this is the state that did elect John Warner, husband of Liz Taylor, multiple times. So that may not rule him out to have a crazy, drama queen, sort of wife. And you never know, maybe soon-to-be Ex Mrs. Salahi will be the next Elizabeth Taylor. Or maybe this will save their marriage when she comes running back for the fame and prestige of being a candidate's wife.
But really, I think it might be his name that will make it tough to take him seriously. Does anyone actually know how to pronounce it? Tark? Tair-eck? Tark-ick? Sah-la-hee? Suh-lay-hee? Maybe I should have watched more Real Housewives of DC when it was still on.
Enjoy more mockery courtesy of the AC360 Ridiculist.

 

Family Roots

Last week Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, a democrat, said,
“[Romney’s] family came from a polygamy commune in Mexico, but then he’d have to talk about his family coming from a polygamy commune in Mexico, given the gender discrepancy. [....Women are] not great fans of polygamy, 86 percent were not great fans of polygamy. I am not alleging by any stretch that Romney is a polygamist and approves of [the] polygamy lifestyle, but his father was born into [a] polygamy commune in Mexico.”

What he said tonight on Anderson Cooper 360
AC: You raised a lot of eyebrows in a comment to the Daily Beast saying that Romney's family comes from a polygamist commune in Mexico. Is that fair game? Is that fair to talk about?
BS (hey, it isn't my fault those are his initials): People took it way off base. I didn't say anything about any religion. I just said, as you mentioned earlier, that the Mormon religion hasn't accepted polygamy in 120 years. Mitt Romney, and his family, that I know of, doesn't accept polygamy today. The concern is that he took far right turns during the primary, including with immigration. And his opponents criticized him... (he then goes off on self-deportation).
AC: But in this interview you mention 6 or 7 times that his family was born into a polygamy commune in Mexico, repeatedly mentioning that. It was Romney's great-grandfather that practiced polygamy in the 1800s. Is that fair to raise that? Because Democrats were outraged when people brought up Obama's grandfather.
BS: People are taking this far away from what I was discussing. Romney currently has a problem with Latino voters. It is ironic that his father comes from Mexico. He should embrace his roots.
AC: But you were saying he had a woman problem because he doesn't want to talk about Mexico because of polygamy connection.
BS: He has both a gender gap and he has a Latino gap. Probably bigger than anyone who has run for president in recent years. The point is, now how can he reach to the middle?

INTERJECTION- why the heck is a Democrat governor from Montana even talking about the ways a GOP candidate should appeal to the middle, and complaining that he took "right turns?" Ironic that most Republicans cite Romney being too middle and moderate for their taste. Again, I ask, why is this guy offering advice?!

Ralph Reed then joined the conversation, really taking Schweitzer to task for bringing up religion, and called the dog and grandparent issues in the campaign silly. Cooper again brought in some tough questions, and Schweitzer responded by getting very defensive, and called Reed "cowboy," and continued to claim he wasn't making religious references. To which Reed said if comments like that keep up it would come off as a whisper campaign by the Obama side.

What do you think? You obviously know what I think.


Also worth pointing out, while CNN/AC360 may have come down tough on Gov Schweitzer, they also did a several minute piece from Mexico, talking to Romney's distant cousins, who have never even met him. And really dug in on polygamy roots and Mormon colonies. 

And the Ridiculist was awesome. The Family Research Council saying the "break up" of Mike and Ike candy is the divorce of a gay marriage? We are talking about candy, right? Two faceless pieces of candy are now in a gay marriage? Talking about taking something too far.