Okay, this is one way to pass a lazy afternoon. I've been watching this plant/trainwreck, got off from work early, just started following Greene's twitterfeed, and because it's probably going to disappear in a hurry, decided to act on a few of the suggestions the candidate shared. I called his "campaign manager," a fake former Illinois Senate wannabe candidate Daniel Vovak from his personal number I got off of twitter. I called Vovak and had a surreal conversation with each of us trying to stifle laughter.
I got home from work early today, found Greene's twitterfeed (of which I've taken a screenshot screenshot of, since it will probably all come down soon), and called Greene's new campaign manager at 202-367-4835 (which Greene shared on twitter). I asked if I was speaking to the Greene campaign, and a guy answered the phone and said, "Huh? One second," put me on hold, and then answered. (He probably had Laura Ingraham on the next line).
I said I'd like to donate money, and to see where the campaign address was or if I could give via paypal (I really don't). He said "Money?" moved away from the phone and asked someone "Money?"
Vovak then said I should make a check out to Greene and mail it to/in c/o Vovak's Bethesda, Maryland address (which is at the bottom of this press release for the oh-so-timely Clinton/Lewinsky movie, The Blue Dress, Vovak has been trying to have made for quite some time. He then changed his mind and said it should be written out to Vovak, but with "Greene Senate Campaign" in the memo line.
He asked why I wanted to give money. Because I had just seen thisvideo from this diary, I said I wanted to see a reunified Korea:
Vovak then said (not an exact quote), Oh, wait, reunified Korea? and then: "Well I can't quite speak to that, I haven't talked to the candidate about all of the foreign policy issues." Then he asked me how much I planned on giving. I said about $25. He said that's quite generous, and anything helps the cause.
Vovak is a publicity whore who is like an unironic (and exponentially less entertaining) version of Marty Eisenstadt, who--when all is said and done--might have something to do with this. Greene's hiring of Nelson Lewis, a Laura Ingraham producer, is frankly probably a step up for Lewis. Congrats, Nelson Lewis!
Anyway, is Greene a plant? Are elections in South Carolina fair? I don't know. He could just be a joke-candidate who is scrambling for a hook right now, and all of the Segretti-esque zebra mussels of the young GOP have hitched invasive little claws unto his sinking ship.
That being said, ten bucks says James O'Keefe is involved by dawn tomorrow if he's not already.
UPDATE, 6:30 CST: Some very astute comments re: forgery, non-verified account, etc. This isn't probably going to end up being a "serious" story in the end, but I just decided to chase down Teh Info. This isn't the Murkowski amendment in terms of seriousness, but it is a stinkbomb of a situation. I got a good laugh out of it a couple hours ago, but watching the interviews with him, you really feel bad for the guy in a way. At any rate, not exactly epically important, but I just wanted an excuse to post a twitter screenshot since, if this spirals into weird territory--and it's South Carolina, so of course it will--the facts as they were available will be easily findable and linkable. Now if you'll excuse me, it's 8 dollar steak night at one of my favorite restaurants.