Just when we need a little leavening to lighten the mood during these final days before the primary, the FP served up something today that more than fills the bill. In a front page feature on the three GOP suitors for a waltz with Peter Welch, we learn that John Mitchell is fond of citing Otto von Bismarck and believes the marketplace alone should decide the fate of small family farms. Another contender, Keith Stern has already had three unsuccessful runs for Congress, in which he never garnered more than 1% of the vote. His "bold" ideas include making Social Security recipients work to "earn" their benefits. It's not hard to imagine how this idea will be received, considering the obvious argument that they have already worked to earn those benefits!
But those two guys do not provide the entertainment value of one Paul Beaudry; aka "Bachelor #3." Even the right-leaning Free Press seems a little agog at his temerity:
Beaudry is the most rhetorically flamboyant of the three, using attention-getting language and sometimes making hard-to-prove assertions.
Examples, anyone? Here we go:
He has asserted that Vermont has enough natural gas and oil under its land to eliminate state income taxes and send every resident a yearly check.
...the federal government is in the process of taking every northern county and merging it into the green Mountain Forest.
Although Beaudry claims to unofficially represent the tea party in the election, that assertion seems pretty dubious. Pat Crocker, a Beaudry supporter who is said to have helped to organize The Green Mountain Patriots (described as a "tea party-like group") is quoted repeating that old standard:
"Government is best when it gets out of people's way."
But one of Beaudry's key positions is his anti-abortion stance which demands that government stand front-and-center in the way of a woman's individual right to choose.
And then there is the small issue of the candidate campaigning on fiscal responsibility after filing for bankruptcy protection in 1997. As Beaudry sees it, this was a learning experience which contributed to his decision to draw a $500. weekly salary from campaign funds to avoid a repeat hardship for his family. Okay. Then how should we interpret his response to the question as to why he chose to run in the first place?
...he says he has been considering a run for several years and made the jump this year for a number of reasons, including the anti-incumbent mood and doubts about the future of his radio shows.
So...I guess we at least have some idea about his approach to his own unemployment crisis.
All in all, a pretty entertaining read. With so little credible opposition, it is to be hoped that Peter Welch will begin to paint with a bolder, more progressive and independent stroke as we intended him to when we first sent him to DC.
250-1
75-1
