Here's Something Odd

SEE THE OCTOBER 24 UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF THIS POST

It seems that Senator Robert "Needed Killin' " Wagner's campaign for one of the two Addison County Vermont State Senate seats has, well, all but disappeared.

Why is that, and why more than a month out from election day? The last muddled post at his Senator (he's never been one) Wagner Facebook page made this unsubstantiated, paranoid claim:

"End war... including the 'war on drugs' in Vermont. The State's marijuana-spotting helicopters, which were unavailable for Hurricane Irene relief, could then be turned to humanitarian purposes such as medevac."

Wagner's campaign website hasn't had a campaign post since August.
The one bit of media coverage that Wagner got this past July was in the way of a profile at the Addison Independent is buried behind the Addy's paywall.

Certainly, Wagner's courting of Vermont's own neo-Confederate supporting secessionist movement, his promoting the seizure of private property, his espousal of Teabagger values and his nasty and negative comments about his opponents hasn't been a winning strategy. Maybe this prolonged campaign silence is some kind of strange, desperate tactic - an October surprise of sorts.

Meanwhile, in another matter related to Wagner's conflicting positions, there's been no word yet about whether Wagner will be returning the $288.30 Federal subsidy he received while flying out of the airport in Rutland, VT, which is exactly the kind of Federal subsidy that he "is strongly opposed to" and has argued harms Vermonters that I revealed he'd hypocritically availed himself of (as in sticking his snout in the federal money trough) here. Wagner must publicly give back that subsidy money or he'll be exposed for the hypocritical fraud that many of us Vermonters know him to be.

UPDATE, 10/24/12 4:00PM: What a difference a day makes. Apparently the post above roused the-not-ever-likely-to-be Senator Wagner from his months long torpor. This morning he threw up several by now useless posts stating that he's mounting his long awaited door-to-door campaign this week and next week; he re-iterated his support for Addison-2 independent candidate Tim Ryan and made this statement on Ryan's Facebook page:

"Same here; I asked the incumbent (Wagner's Ripton, VT neighbor, Rep. Willem Jewett (D-Addison 2)) to discuss some facts that I had uncovered about Vermont's finances, and to help me get a chance to testify before the House Ways & Means Committee. He kept changing the subject, said he'd get back to me; but never did. Flatlander is as flatlander does."

"Flatlander is as flatlander does?" What an odd derogatory term for a more recent arrival to Vermont as he is, Brooklyn, NY native Robert Wagner, to use. Perhaps more than a little tellingly, the negativity of his support went unanswered by Ryan. I doubt that Ryan is counting on there being much of a "bump" with support from "Senator" Robert "Needed Killin' " Wagner's comments and endorsement. Fact is, in 2010 Jewett received more votes (1595) in his four town representative district than the votes (1128) Wagner got throughout the entirety of the then twenty-four towns of the Addison County senate district; while Jewett swept the vote (257) in their common hometown of Ripton, VT, Wagner only managed to get a handful of votes (37). Figures.

You can see Wagner's meaningless flurry of lame, negative posts here, here, here and here.

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