So: which tea party candidate is going to lose it and actually knock someone out before Election Day? With so many potentially dangerous hotheads (or at least candidates who appear to be interested in coming off that way) running for office on the conservative side of the Republican ballot line, this is a very important question for campaign volunteers, political opponents and anyone else who may find themselves in close proximity to some of these folks.
From New York to Alabama, this year has produced some of the gun-totin’est, threat-makingest, just-plain-wired-to-blowingest crop of potential members of Congress and governors in a long time. And most if not all of the of the ticking time bombs come from the tea party crop. So strap on your black belt, grab your pepper spray, dial 9-1 (be prepared to press the final “1” when necessary) and let’s meet the Most Dangerous Men In Tea Partydom.
Carl Paladino
New York’s Republican nominee for Governor is less conventional politician than he is assault and battery charge waiting to happen. [Note for lawyer’s reading this: not really.] From some of his earliest appearances on the national stage to his campaign ads, Paladino’s public image is full of in-your-face, confrontational imagery. And then of course there’s the direct promise to “take out” reporters he doesn’t like.
Here’s what that looks like:
On Monday, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly — not one to slink away from a fight himself — warned Paladino to keep it clean out there.
“Don’t hit anybody, O.K.?” O’Reilly told Paladino, according to the New York Times.
Ken Buck
Buck, the Sharron Angle of Colorado, is probably less likely to KO a critic than Paladino. But the Republican nominee for Senate in the Centennial State has shown himself to be hungry for a fight when the moment calls for it. In one case, that moment was when a Democratic tracker Buck mistook for a tea party fanatic (AKA his base) asked about President Obama’s birth certificate. That didn’t end great.
Paul LePage
Maine’s Republican gubernatorial nominee is from the Paladino school of Tea Party Republicanism. That is, he’s virulently pro whatever he’s for, manically against what he’s against and completely at home threatening the personal space of the reporters assigned to cover him. Questions over his primary residence and property taxes have raised skepticism among reporters in Maine, and LePage has handled the topic with the kind of calm, cool demeanor you’d expect from a 1990s MLB slugger after his daily ‘roids shot. Two press conferences from last month that show LePage successfully finding his quiet place:
