When national politics turn especially weird, remember you live in Pennsylvania | John Baer
Oct. 24--So, a couple things in the political world recently struck me as notably odd, even at a time when all manner of odd is mostly regarded as normal.
Maybe things bump up during the Halloween season.
The first thing was Hillary Clinton -- still haunting her party, to her party’s dismay -- suggesting a long-shot Democratic candidate for president is a Russian asset being groomed for a third-party run to help President Trump win reelection.
Sounds like something made for TV. Like one of the five dozen or so scenarios that play out in various episodes of the recently-cancelled ABC/Netflix political series Designated Survivor.
If you’re not familiar with the TV show, viewing requires lots of suspended belief. Now, apparently, so does listening to Clinton.
The former First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State and presidential candidate was talking about Hawaii U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a 38-year old combat veteran, currently polling at 1 percent in the Democratic race.
Gabbard’s response, served raw, called Clinton, “Queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long.”
Strong stuff. I sought some bipartisan thoughts.
“`Grooming’ her sounds a little far-fetched,” says long-time Philly-based Democratic consultant and analyst Larry Ceisler. “If Hillary Clinton has something or knows something, I think she should put it out there. Democrats criticize Trump and Republicans for floating conspiracy theories.”
And Harrisburg-based Republican analyst Charlie Gerow says, “This about as bizarre as you can imagine. And it’s from a woman my Democratic friends wanted to be president.”
So, basically, bipartisan agreement.
The second oddity bubbling up in the nation’s political cauldron of chaos is the story of “Pierre Delecto,” a.k.a. Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney.
Seems the former governor, former GOP presidential candidate, who spent his two-year Mormon missionary service in France, has been hiding behind his “Pierre Delecto” Twitter account to poke at Trump and praise himself.
Others, including Trump, used fake names (he was “John Barron,” an oft-quoted spokesman for the Trump organization, in the 1980’s). And former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner was “Carlos Danger” during his sexting days.
But, Mitt, you’re a sitting Senator. If you’ve got something relevant to say, stand up on the Senate floor and say it. Why creep around on Twitter?
Says Republican Gerow, “Generally speaking, as a professional communications specialist, this is something I would not advise.”
And, Democrat Ceisler, to the point: “Well, we don’t have rules anymore.”
So it goes. I guess even in (or because of) our strange, rule-free, age of Trump, weird stuff, increasingly, is the order of the day.
At least we Pennsylvanians, who’ve seen more than our share of the politically peculiar, can relate.
After all, we’ve had a justice of our Supreme Court, the late (and impeached) Rolf Larsen, claim a fellow justice, Stephen Zappala, and a state senator, Vince Fumo, tried to run him down in a Mercedes-Benz outside a Philly Four Seasons Hotel.
Fumo denied it, saying if he wanted to flatten Larsen, Larsen would be flat.
And how many states can say they had a GOP House Speaker (John Perzel) and a Democratic House Speaker (Bill DeWeese) in the same prison cell at the same time?
Now that’s unique bipartisanship.
And, come on, we even had the eerie case of an Erie Republican, former state Rep. Tracey Seyfert, accused by an aide of witchcraft and forced to state publicly, “I am not a witch.”
Seyfert resigned and was sentenced to prison; not for witchcraft, but for stealing a government surplus generator to warm exotic birds and their eggs that she kept and incubated on her property.
Hey, it gets cold in Erie.
Point is, especially in this state, we’ve seen oddities in politics before. It’s just that lately, bizarre behavior (even outside the White House) is playing on the national stage.
Just ask Comrade Gabbard. Or Monsieur Delecto.
John Baer may be reached at baer.columnist@gmail.com
Read more politics coverage
Pa. Senate votes to axe perk of taxpayer-provided residence for lieutenant governor
Senate passes bill setting 18 as the minimum age to marry in Pennsylvania
President Trump embraces natural gas industry in Pa. campaign visit
