Merged Former Forumite Running For Congress

[Jrrarglblarg]

I wonder if he'll include "everyone who disagrees with me should be dead" among his position statements.

Well, that's good for jobs too, right? Someone has to hose off the pavement, and the dead are either no longer taking up space in the unemployment office or have just opened a position.

Wish I could vote for him, now. That, plus voting for a Republican you know ahead of time is a creep, what's to lose?

 

[Spindrift]

The 3rd Connecticut is currently held by Rosa Delauro-D, who is pretty much a shoo-in for re-election.

 

[Antiquehunter]

You pretty much can. The process varies a little by state, but it's much more open in general than in Canada, where the parties have pretty tight internal control over nominations.

I don't know what the filing requirements are in CT, but probably not more than paying a filing fee and maybe a certain number of signatures.

Obviously there's a big difference between getting your name on a primary ballot and actually getting the nomination, or even being considered a serious threat to the incumbent or party establishment favorite.

For example, anti-abortion nutjob Randall Terry is on the ballot in Florida for the Democratic presidential nomination. (Yes, you read that right.) I don't think Obama's too worried.



The GOP hasn't decided anything of the kind yet. He's only seeking the nomination.

Thanks for this - I don't have a clear picture of how US politics work (clearly). Just seemed odd that a rather 'fringe' candidate would be able to get to this point, considering my understanding of the Canuckistani mechanisms.

 

[Dunstan]

Thanks for this - I don't have a clear picture of how US politics work (clearly). Just seemed odd that a rather 'fringe' candidate would be able to get to this point, considering my understanding of the Canuckistani mechanisms.

Yeah, the thing to remember is that "this point" is not very far along. The Canadian equivalent would be showing up at the riding association meeting and saying "I wanna be an MP!"

It's a little easier in the U.S. for an "outsider" candidate to win a nomination contest because it's a much broader electorate than the party loyalists who participate in riding association politics (and because if I remember correctly, the national party leadership in Canada can refuse to sign a nominee's papers), but it's still relatively rare. That's why it freaked out the Republican party establishment so badly when some "Tea Party" candidates knocked off established candidates during the 2010 cycle. The idea that you could lose your seat, or your chance at one, to some political rookie with an extremely simple-minded agenda was pretty frightening, so they concluded, "hey, we need to adopt that extremely simple-minded agenda ourselves!"

 

[Antiquehunter]

Yeah, the thing to remember is that "this point" is not very far along. The Canadian equivalent would be showing up at the riding association meeting and saying "I wanna be an MP!"

It's a little easier in the U.S. for an "outsider" candidate to win a nomination contest because it's a much broader electorate than the party loyalists who participate in riding association politics (and because if I remember correctly, the national party leadership in Canada can refuse to sign a nominee's papers), but it's still relatively rare. That's why it freaked out the Republican party establishment so badly when some "Tea Party" candidates knocked off established candidates during the 2010 cycle. The idea that you could lose your seat, or your chance at one, to some political rookie with an extremely simple-minded agenda was pretty frightening, so they concluded, "hey, we need to adopt that extremely simple-minded agenda ourselves!"

Put into this perspective, that Dr. Buzzo has the wherewithal and/or the support to put together a website (replete with quirkly text & spelling mistakes) - that at least cuts the mustard is still... intriguing.

Anyways - good luck, I suspect he's going to need it.

 

[tyr_13]

I've always considered posting regularly on JREF to pretty much preclude any run at high office. The things I've let slip here! The positions that could be mined and quote mined! The jokes that can be taken out of context! The horrible grammar and abuse of exclamation marks!

 

[TsarBomba]

Huh. He volunteers at animal shelters. Maybe he's not all that bad. But then again, Hitler loved his dogs.

 

[WildCat]

How does this actually work, from a logistics perspective. I mean, a random person can't just roll up and ask to run for Congress, representing one of the two major parties, can they?

Surely there is some local level politicking and vetting that takes place? Based on how he behaves in public, and with a group of people that are by and large, pretty innocuous, I'm just wondering how the GOP could decide he's the best man to run for this seat?

<whistles a song by Slim Pickens>

When you're in a district dominated by a single party the opposition party has to scrape the bottom of the barrel to field a candidate, if they field one at all.

 

[Darth Rotor]

When you're in a district dominated by a single party the opposition party has to scrape the bottom of the barrel to field a candidate, if they field one at all.

Sounds like you've lived in South Texas.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

I'm sure he'll do well in the creepy lecher demographic.

 

[Delvo]

I was expecting a really creepy smile after reading some posts but it doesn't look that bad to me.

His smile strikes me as more artificial than creepy.

Ya, the picture's fine, nothing's wrong with it. They even took the trouble to put a CGI suit on him over whatever was there in the original photograph.

Thanks for this - I don't have a clear picture of how US politics work (clearly). Just seemed odd that a rather 'fringe' candidate would be able to get to this point, considering my understanding of the Canuckistani mechanisms.

He might seem like a fringe candidate to people who know him from JREF, but he could seem more normal to other people who meet him elsewhere, and most voters have never met him at all, whether face-to-face or online. And to anyone who isn't aware of anything particularly odd about him, he wouldn't be "fringe" but just unknown.

Farther up in the thread, someone posted a link to a video of an even more obviously hopeless candidate for a local office: a mentally underdeveloped man who would probably have trouble with the complexities of a job as a cashier in some retail stores. He was a candidate because he'd found the office where the names are put on the ballots and submitted his, and there was apparently no more to it than that.

 

[Chaos]

I'm sure he'll do well in the creepy lecher demographic.

You mean those who thought Herman Cain was far too puritan and mature?

 

[Spindrift]

When you're in a district dominated by a single party the opposition party has to scrape the bottom of the barrel to field a candidate, if they field one at all.

The other districts in CT are usually competitive, but the 3rd is about as Democratic as it gets.

The Republicans occasionally nominate someone who can walk and talk to run against her. They did last time, but she still won with something like 65% of the vote. She's never gotten less than 63%.

 

[Mooseman]

I think the other candidate seaking the nod is a motivational spearker. Neither have a chance to win but they will run someone.

http://waynewinsleyforcongress.com/

 

[Doubt]

I wonder if he'll include "everyone who disagrees with me should be dead" among his position statements.

Well, if he gets elected, I suspect he will try to start a war with Australia to try and reclaim his one true love and to kill off the villain that stole her away.

 

[ravdin]

All kidding aside- I know I'm in a small minority on this one, but even knowing the full history of Steve's creepy behavior and his shabby treatment of many members of this community I can't help but admire him just a tiny bit for the quixotic effort. So he's foolishly naive for attempting a run for office with no money or connections. All the same, he knows there's something wrong with the system and he's trying to get involved to do something about it, even against impossible odds. It's a lot more than I'd be willing to do and I can't fault him for that.

Also, and I really mean this- there are many politicians in Congress who are a whole lot less fit to be there than Steve.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Well, if he gets elected, I suspect he will try to start a war with Australia to try and reclaim his one true love and to kill off the villain that stole her away.

Why would he want to attack a small country in Europe?

. . . No. Wait. Never mind.

 

[Chaos]

All kidding aside- I know I'm in a small minority on this one, but even knowing the full history of Steve's creepy behavior and his shabby treatment of many members of this community I can't help but admire him just a tiny bit for the quixotic effort. So he's foolishly naive for attempting a run for office with no money or connections. All the same, he knows there's something wrong with the system and he's trying to get involved to do something about it, even against impossible odds. It's a lot more than I'd be willing to do and I can't fault him for that.

Also, and I really mean this- there are many politicians in Congress who are a whole lot less fit to be there than Steve.

I think "quixotic" is exactly the right word.

I may smile while I shake my head about his efforts, but at the same time, I am glad that it is not someone more sympathetic who is going to crash and burn here.

 

[MattusMaximus]

All kidding aside- I know I'm in a small minority on this one, but even knowing the full history of Steve's creepy behavior and his shabby treatment of many members of this community I can't help but admire him just a tiny bit for the quixotic effort. So he's foolishly naive for attempting a run for office with no money or connections. All the same, he knows there's something wrong with the system and he's trying to get involved to do something about it, even against impossible odds. It's a lot more than I'd be willing to do and I can't fault him for that.

Also, and I really mean this- there are many politicians in Congress who are a whole lot less fit to be there than Steve.

This ^

Despite my personal view on Buzzo (echoed here by many), I have to give him props for having the guts to stand up and run for Congress.

We need more skeptics/atheists to follow his lead, even if he goes down in flames.

 

[bookitty]

This ^

Despite my personal view on Buzzo (echoed here by many), I have to give him props for having the guts to stand up and run for Congress.

We need more skeptics/atheists to follow his lead, even if he goes down in flames.

I agree with that last (and even have a few day-dream candidates in mind) but if more "out" skeptics/atheists do run for office, hopefully they'll be the types who use critical thinking as as a teaching tool instead of armor.

And a little less racism/misogyny would be a nice touch.