| Days after proclaiming his local GOP convention to be "nothing more than an illegal, illegitimate publicity stunt", creative self financer Greg Ball has gone the full wingnut and decided to throw his very own Teabaggers Ball. This, of course, is in no way a publicity stunt. This, friends, is about FREEDOM!
From Ball's actual press release, not from The Onion:
--All emphasis mine.
The People's Convention will be held in the heart of the 40th State Senate district and is open to all taxpayers, voters and patriots. "I've never been the candidate of the good ol' boys and I'm proud to be the Albany outsider in this race," Ball said. "The same hand of Albany's Republican Leadership that handpicked Pedro Espada is now picking their puppet in our backyard. Albany needs independent leaders, not puppets. My grassroots outsider message of limited government and supporting constitutional freedoms has enormous support in this district. I didn't go to Albany to make friends, I went to Albany to make a difference. What the elitists in Albany's ivory tower don't get is that voters of all persuasions are ready to take their state back, away from the same corrupting special interests that I fight everyday."
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In his email to Cox, Ball revealed that he had not been invited to the Republican Convention to nominate a candidate for the 40th Senate District, and that he learned about it third hand. Ball said he will instead seek the nomination of the People's Convention. "We will host the People's Convention on July 24th to listen to the people, and to address our concerns of immigration, lower taxes, corruption and government spending," Ball said. "I will be proud of this historic moment and movement as it will represent the will of the people." The People's Convention will feature many great speakers and every political candidate and public official who speaks will be required to sign a Tax Free Pledge.
Terrorist killer, American Patriot and Successful Author, U.S. Senate candidate Gary Bernsten, will serve as the Convention's Key-note speaker. "I look forward to being in Patterson to witness the people's nomination of my good friend, Greg Ball, to be the choice of the people," Bernsten said. "Greg's a military guy just like I am. He served his country, and he will serve our country and our state again, proudly." "Our hope is to take the passion that is out there, the passion you see at Tea Parties nationally and at Town Halls locally, and turn that into real political action," Ball said.
An open "Shout Out" Forum will be held with guest speakers as well as regular voters and taxpayers. Voters from throughout the State Senate district and beyond will be allowed to nominate a candidate of their choosing. "New Yorkers are over-taxed,frustrated, and they are voting the only way they know how: with their feet," Coleman said. "Greg Ball is doing what no one else cares to do, to give the people their voice and give people input into the nomination process. For four years, the people were overwhelmingly behind Greg Ball, and Greg Ball and his legions of supporters of all parties were ignored by political insiders. Now, Greg Ball will give the people power in the nomination process with this rally and convention."
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An independent poll in 2010 demonstrated that Ball is once again poised for a landslide victory against the Leader's anointed candidate. He leads by 40 points. Yet Greg Ball says he will continue to run like he is 40 points behind, not ahead, and he is relying upon one-on-one voter contact and a growing grassroots infrastructure.
Not that it should surpprise anyone, but it appears that Ball is pulling a Paladino and fully embracing the Teabagger circus.
Oh, and who is the "terrorist killer" Patriot that has signed on for this thing? He's the ex-CIA spook who just announced a run against Chuck Schumer. All fine and well. But check out the way one of his supporters described him today:
"If you were to waterboard Chuck Schumer and ask him who he does not want to run against in November, he would gurgle the name Gary Berntsen," wrote D. Patrick Mahoney, the president of Iraq Veterans For Congress PAC, which sent out the email announcement.
Nothing says Freedom Fries like waterboarding a sitting U.S. Senator... |
