ABC News has an interview up with Alvin Greene, the mystery Senate candidate from South Carolina. And well, it's just weird. And I can't say that it really gives me any clearer sense of what the hell is going on here than I had before I watched it.
But there is one point I thought I'd mention. In the video the interviewer is walking around the house with Greene. And Greene is showing him different memorabilia and pictures of himself as a kid. And the interviewer presses Greene, who says he's a veteran, about whether he can show him any pictures of himself in uniform.
Greene sort of dodges and the question and hems and haws. And it's pretty clear that the implication of the editing is that maybe the whole military service part of Greene's bio is made up. And at this point, there's not much I won't believe with this story. But here's the thing, as long as you're keeping score at home: our Justin Elliott spent the afternoon trying to figure out what the hell was going on with this guy. And one thing Justin was able to confirm is that Greene did serve in the Air Force for three years.
See the interview after the jump.
--Josh Marshall
Carly Fiorina forgets she's on an open mic and spends some time making fun of Barbara Boxer's hair, ragging on Sean Hannity and waxing nostalgic about cheeseburgers. According to Fiorina, Boxer's hair is "soooo yesterday."
--Josh Marshall
There was a lot of talk last night that GOP bigwigs would pressure runner-up Gresham Barrett to drop out and let South Carolina's Nikki Haley have the nomination for governor. But he doesn't seem to be going anywhere. He just released his first ad: He's a good "Christian Family Man Who Won't Embarrass Us."
--Josh Marshall
AT&T; suffers worst security breach. 114,000 iPad owners exposed.
--Josh Marshall
Okay, I'm not buying this.
As you may have heard, last night had a big surprise in the Democratic Senate primary in South Carolina. Probably no Democrat would have much of a chance against Sen. Jim DeMint (R) this year. But the main candidate was Vic Rawl, a judge who's also served four terms in the state legislature. He'd raised $186,000. Against him was Alvin Greene, a rather unorthodox candidate. And Greene won. (The best theory people have come up with is that no one in the state had really heard of either guy and Greene's name came first on the ballot; and that gave him an advantage.)
Greene's unemployed, recently out of the Army and living with his parents, and has an outstanding felony arrest from last year for showing obscene photos to a college student.
--Josh Marshall
Father's Day is just around the corner, and Blackwater's retail division has the perfect gift for the special mercenary in your life:
--David Kurtz
"It's a beautiful day, the beaches are open and people are having a wonderful time."
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour? No, Amity Mayor Larry Vaughn, from the movie Jaws.
Jon Stewart does the honors.
--David Kurtz
It's not just South Carolina Republicans who bring us more than their share of The Crazy. That no-name Democrat who didn't run a campaign to speak of but still managed to win the party's nomination to challenge Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)? Well, he has an outstanding felony charge against him for allegedly showing obscene photos to a South Carolina college student.
Honestly I'm not sure what that charge is. Showing someone an obscene photo? I'm not sure I've come across that being criminally charged before. The AP story doesn't make any reference to the student being a minor. We're trying to figure our more on this. But there's your Democratic Senate nominee in South Carolina.
--David Kurtz
BP share prices have gone off a cliff today. Earlier this afternoon, they were as low as they've been since 1997, but they've declined farther since then.
--David Kurtz
Nikki Haley was on Fox & Friends this morning. Let's just say it wasn't an inquisition. Watch.
Special Bonus Feature: Dana Perino was guest hosting on the F&F; sectional sofa.
--David Kurtz
The tea party insurrection -- part grassroots movement, part co-opted astroturfism -- made some inroads last night. Whether Republicans or, indirectly, Democrats were the beneficiaries of the tea party successes will be the real story come fall. We take a look at last night's tea party losers and winners.
--David Kurtz
It's funny how things can be sitting there in plain sight but only to get a lot more attention when a candidate wins a nomination or gets pushed to the center stage of a campaign. Our reporter, Evan McMorris-Santoro, interviewed Sharron back at the Tea Party Express meeting in DC in April. And during their talk, Angle told Evan that she was a member of the far-right "Oath Keepers."
When we did some more reporting on this yesterday, it turns out that because the "Oath Keepers" have some pretty arcane membership rules -- you actually have to be serving in uniform -- she may only be an "associate member" rather than a "member". The idea behind the Oath Keepers is that you pledge that as a soldier or law enforcement officer you won't obey any orders that conflict with the Tea Party interpretation of the Constitution, including rounding up ordinary Americans into concentration camps. But she says she's a member and she's actively solicited their support in her campaign.
--Josh Marshall
Incumbent Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) was forced into a runoff for the Republican nomination by a more conservative opponent.
--David Kurtz
Orly Taitz lost the GOP primary for California secretary of state.
--David Kurtz
Tea party fave Sharron Angle has been fighting the dangerous encroachment of government in all its dictatorial, concentration-camp-building scariness since the water fluoridation battles of the early '90s.
--David Kurtz
It was pretty clear Sen. Jim DeMint was going to win reelection this year. But now it looks like he won't even have a challenger.
--Josh Marshall
Former Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), a TPM fave and bête noire of environmentalists, sputtered across the finish line in third place last night in the Republican primary as he sought to return to Congress.
--David Kurtz
Harry Reid campaign manager Brandon Hall: "Sharon Angle is a Rand Paul-type candidate. In fact, I would say she's more extreme than Rand Paul."
--David Kurtz
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