It is starting to get, well, kind of bad. The San Francisco Chronicle – not precisely a hotbed of conservative activism – has collated some of the things that Stark has been saying lately:
- Accused a primary opponent of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes;
- Accused one of the Chronicle’s own (conservative) reporters of contributing to his primary opponents campaign;
- And… well.
The 80-year-old Democrat, in a meeting with Chronicle editors and reporters this week, appeared to be confused about Solyndra, the Fremont solar power company whose collapse has fueled Republican criticism of the Obama administration’s energy policies this election year.
“I wish I had enough expense allowance to get one of those new S’s that Solyndra’s going to make down there – the electric car,” Stark said, after being asked about the company. “They run $60,000 to $90,000.”
Stark is obviously talking about the Tesla, which does make an electric car within that price range, and in isolation just a mistake could be passed off as, well, a mistake. It’d be a big, honking one – there’s no excuse for a Congressman to not immediately know what the heck Solyndra is. And there’s especially no excuse for a Democratic Congressman not to know what the heck Solyndra is, given that it’s the Democrats’ fault that the company sank to the bottom with my tax money still attached to it. But still just a mistake.
But this isn’t the first time that the subject has come up.
- Stark had some responses to his obligatory (well, it’s obligatory for Democratic politicians) tax evasion investigation that were consistent with him having cognitive issues.
- Stark has had a particular history over the last decade of using sometimes violent rhetoric. Sometimes worryingly so. Often bizarre.
- The rhetoric has not gotten less violent in recent years. Or less worrisome. Or less bizarre.
Pete Stark is… not as functional as he seems to think that he is. Somebody close to him should sit him down and explain the situation to him. Soon.
Moe Lane
PS: I am a proud and unrepentant partisan Republican hack. I do not support the Democrat over the Republican in a contest; if the Democrat is really that good – oh, hi, Cory Booker! – then he or she can jolly well switch parties. Just the way it is**.
Still… here.
**And there was going to be a link to the Republican in the race, except that it turns out that he’s actually running as a ‘conservative independent;’ so he clearly doesn’t want any help from a proud and unrepentant partisan Republican hack anyway. That’s fine: you don’t want to be associated with my party, you don’t have to be.
Pete is NOT the Stark who we need in Congress!
Moe, I live in Stark’s district and can give you some insight as to the thinking of his non-Republican opponent. You see, here any candidate with an “R” next to it will NOT get elected. I’ve met this ‘opponent’ and he IS a conservative Republican, he just can’t run that way and hope to win.
@MikeCG
That is certainly true, but how are we going to get Tony Stark across whatever trans-dimensional portal it will take to get him to run for Congress? Or, for that matter, how would we convince him to give up the power and esteem necessary for him to be a Congressman? And would he wear the suit and repulsion beam those clowns in Congress when he gets there?