Well, if he’s following in the footsteps of his Orange mentor, he’ll understand that facts don’t matter with this crowd. The winning formula, Trump-style, would be to ignore his apologies, claim he never actually apologized, and ratchet up the Crazy to about 11 out of 10. His audience and constituency is MAGAts.
I think it was Fetterman who quipped that when Republicans come to Washington, they’re not sending their best.
That’s 2021, when he had something to gain from the apology. In 2023:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/07/20/qanon-shaman-plea-withdraw-rejected/
A judge has rejected Jacob Chansley’s bid to withdraw his guilty plea
Maybe me.
He is running under the Libertarian Party. Not so good to me. But, as you note, his has attacked Trump, so not all bad.
In 2022, the incumbent Republican, who is stepping down, was the only person on the ballot. It looks like the race will be contested this time. Good.
If the only choices next year are Jacob Chansley, the one-time shaman, and a pro-Trump Republican, and I lived in that district, maybe I would consider Chansley. Perhaps I wouldn’t vote for him because I am neither libertarian nor libertarian leaning. But if there was a local candidate’s night, I would attend and try to have an open mind.
Chansley served his time. His criminal past should and would have nothing to do with my decision.
“Serving time” does not equate to rehabilitation, and very often unfortunately results in the exact opposite. This guy’s track record seems to be guided by opportunism rather than principle or any shred of integrity. Those convicted of serious offenses don’t automatically get a pass because “they served their time”. They are often effectively barred for life from many privileges that most of us take for granted, like having a good job or a decent place to live. Surely one of those barrings should be against serving in the national Congress.
If we have to scrape so far into the sludge in the depths of the barrel that Chansley counts as a Top. Man. we may as well just commit national suicide now and save everyone else on Earth the trouble of living through our national death throes.
This kinda reminds me of those random criminals who claim that they would like to become cops. Idiotic on the face of it. But it’s a milieu that their small shriveled brains are familiar with and that they have an active interest in. So, naturally this crackpot wants to be in congress!
I’m positive he will get some professional campaign people to dingle-berry onto him and try to get him cleaned up. And a certain portion of the populace will back him, just for the LOLs.
What about helping to try to overthrow the government? Is that Okeydokey?
This ‘man’ needs serious counselling for the rest of his days. He is unhinged. Like many Repubs in congress.
Like a sex offender trying to work in a junior high school. No, buddy, you just can’t do that now.
In fact, you have to keep a thousand feet away.
A big reason is that ex-cons are cut off from the job market.
The district Chansley is running in is probably a lock for the GOP. And running for office as a Libertarian is a poor job move nationwide.
I wonder if Chansley’s poor conventional job prospects are a contributing factor in why he is seeking a job he has no realistic chance of gaining. This is a question a reporter should ask him. But either way, it would not affect my vote.
Sex offenders in schools should be a rare exception to the rule of allowing ex-convicts employment opportunities.
In the original Batman TV shows, Robin would often ask why some psychopath had been released again when they were inevitably going to hatch some plot again to poison Gotham’s water supply or something. I always raised my eyebrow’s at Batman’s patronizing response that they had “paid their debt to society” and releasing them was the only just course. “Gosh, Batman, you’re right!”
I wish it were intended as a joke, but I think the reality is that the writers of the show had given the matter so little thought that they really did assume that this is the way a justice system is supposed to work, that a criminal “pays” a certain tariff for a crime and whether they are rehabilitated or not is irrelevant.
He isn’t going have the first clue how to act if he gets elected. I sincerely hope we get smarter soon about the people we want to represent us. Oy vey, the world has gone off the rails.
As someone who’s background checks limited employment opportunities (marijuana conviction) I understand the unfairness of the general nature of employment denial. As with the sex offender example, I do understand the specific restriction.
Just from a big-D Democratic standpoint, here’s why there should be no specific restriction.
AZ-08 is rated R +10. So – low chance of a Democrat winning there next year. But maybe not impossible! And who do Libertarians mostly draw votes away from? Republicans! So if the Democrats find a strong candidate, and the GOP nominates a MAGA extremist, and Mr. Chansley does well by Libertarian standards, the Democrat may win! This is the self-interested case for treating Chansley as a respectable serious candidate. It’s not my case – mine is that ex-cons should generally be welcomed – but I wanted to make it.
I don’t believe people that tried to overthrow the government that are looking for jobs in high government positions should be allowed to have positions in government. Do you disagree?
Would you give a convicted bank robber, a job as a security guard at a bank?
I’m 100% behind getting convicted felons back on track for a working, normal life. I would not, however, give an imbalanced arsonist a job as a fire firefighter.
Fwiw, Frank Abnagale Jr. (the Catch Me If You Can conman) later worked as a security consultant for banks.
According to Abagnale, he approached a bank with an offer in 1975. He explained to the bank what he had done and offered to speak to the bank’s staff and show them various tricks that “paperhangers” use to defraud banks. His offer included the condition that if they did not find his information helpful, they would owe him nothing; otherwise, they would owe him only $50, with an agreement that they would provide his name to other banks. With that, he began a new career as a speaker and security consultant.
But I’m not sure the analogy to an insurrectionist working in government is really apt. It’s not as though the insurrectionist’s “skill set” is worth anything. That’s more like a violent abuser getting a job in a women’s refuge, or (as you say) an arsonist getting a job as a firefighter.
There are a grand total of 435 of these “jobs” nationwide. No felon will find their overall employment prospects materially harmed by precluding all of them from ever running for Congress.
I apologize for not being clear enough in previous posts. Yes, I disagree.
Has anyone here heard of James Longstreet? He was a West Point graduate who went on to be a confederate general. After the confederacy lost he became a loyal American and a liberal, commanding Black troops to quell racist rioting in New Orleans.
Is Chansley another Longstreet? Probably not. Few among those who try to overthrow the U.S. government are. But ex-convicts should be fairly considered for government jobs. And if the Democrats again fail to nominate a candidate for the AZ-08 House seat, Chansley just might be the least-bad choice.
ISWYDT. Are you going to send it in Bitcoin?
That’s one of them, yes. Insurrectionists in Congress should be another.