Comments
Mmmmffffeeerrrr t1_iu9dbfq wrote
That’s how they bring you in. Make a obvious good point then stretch them to illogical conclusions.
Kixeliz t1_iuaxixd wrote
He doesn't appear to understand consent and how kids can't give it.
https://mobile.twitter.com/LiamAwakening/status/1586183547886268417
> I gave $ to my son: legal. Asked him to support my campaign: legal. My wife and I gave our own $: legal. All within legal limits. All so they'd let me debate. My wife's biz is sole proprietorship, not Corp, meaning, it's our $, not a corp. Meanwhile Balint gets $1.7MM from lobby.
His son was born in 2019.
Kixeliz t1_iud7v2s wrote
Update: He's now stating this story, based on public comments he made, is a "farce of a story about my so-called campaign finance violations." Which in the very first tweet in the thread he also admits were "inadvertent." Well if the violations were inadvertent, they wouldn't be "so-called"? States there's nothing saying a 3 year old can't consent to give money to a campaign, and think that's a solid defense. The story is so baseless in fact, that he felt the need to draft a letter to the FEC stating just how baseless the accusations are while also including in the letter that Balint got PAC money like the FEC will give a shit?? This man won a major party nomination for a seat in Congress. Oh and he's also bickering with people criticizing him on Twitter. You really can't make this up.
https://mobile.twitter.com/LiamAwakening/status/1586564589210181632
Phantereal t1_iuake3n wrote
Not to mention that the agreeable parts of his platform like rank-choice voting are either promises that are very easy for him to renege on or they are stuff that he will never get a majority of Congress to agree on.
nbelang t1_iu987kp wrote
Thought he looked familiar. I went to school with that guy.
Quirfg t1_iu8rtvx wrote
It's sad that you don't even need to know who they are to know it's a Republican. It's always a GOP scumbag.
Norse-Gael-Heathen t1_iu9df8s wrote
As someone who ran for congress on a minor party label in 2016, I can tell you that the entire federal campaign finance law system is geared towards helping major, highly-financed candidates and winnowing out independents and the "little guy." Big money candidates, of both parties, avoid the system entirely through the use of PACs that are not supposed to communicate with the campaign (Ha! Really?! Does anyone believe that?!).
Meanwhile, the forms one has to submit must be done online in a system that is wonky, complicated, and full of idiosyncracies. Many necessary entries functions actually lack buttons (you're just supposed to know that you have to click in an unmarked white space for it to come up), and it frequently times out or crashes while entering data. It is designed specifically to force you to hire someone who "knows the system" to make the entries.
While this is not directly related to what Liam did, it is an indication of the use of the federal laws to 'catch' the little guy or newbie while the major party candidates avoid the 'system.'
VTGREENS t1_iu8wfwg wrote
Not defending republicans, however, if you read the article, he is only running as a republican to get noticed. He stated he wouldn't caucus with them if he won, thus not getting their financing and expertise to avoid situations like the one he's currently in.
thisoneisnotasbad t1_iu9k63a wrote
It’s a bummer that in order to avoid being downvoted to oblivion you need to qualify your post with “not defending republicans”. Like people see a D or R and make a call before bothering with facts or context.
FuckEtherion195 t1_iufkjui wrote
Funny how that happens, when the Republican party goes full fascist and attempts a coup.
Tends to make sensible folks preface their comments a bit, when there's a danger of being misinterpreted as supporting white supremacists and fascists.
you_give_me_coupon t1_iuiksme wrote
> Funny how that happens, when the Republican party goes full fascist and attempts a coup.
The very wealthy will never permit a fascist coup unless it benefits them financially, and it's hard to see how it would - the status quo is massively profitable, and implementing an authoritarian state would cost money both now and in the long run.
-_Stove_- t1_iue90um wrote
They also said they wouldn't support him..so it's not like he's "taking the high road" or anything.
Romanovs_Penguin t1_iuefyub wrote
> He stated he wouldn't caucus with them if he won,
Correction: He has stated that he will try to caucus with republicans one cycle, democrats the next. Or something like that.
Left-Link5070 t1_iu926vk wrote
I am a registered Democrat. You are fooling yourself if you think this is a Republican problem.
VoyageursWitch t1_iub3juj wrote
I wouldn't say democrats don't engage in bullshit, but it's 15:1 republicans.
Mmmmffffeeerrrr t1_iu966s5 wrote
He isn’t really a Republican. He is a conspiracy theorist who ran as a republican because he couldn’t as a dem.
Quirfg t1_iu971o0 wrote
What's the difference between conspiracy theorist and republican?
Mmmmffffeeerrrr t1_iu97w6j wrote
Lol! True. Check his Twitter feed full of fake leftists like Katie halper and Aaron mate discussing fake shit meant to discredit America. Seems to be oblivious to any issue impacting Vermont.
Romanovs_Penguin t1_iueg2ml wrote
> He isn’t really a Republican. He is a conspiracy theorist who ran as a republican because he couldn’t as a dem.
And yet he won the Republican primary.
nyc2vt84 t1_iu9a2li wrote
Corruption / campaign finance certainly isn’t a one side issue. The republican scandals usually are dumber or to tilt elections vs straight greed (William Jefferson) or to get legislation passed (Cuomo) for democrats though. Certainly seems to be proportionally more campaign finance violations for republicans though.
nlpnt t1_iuapg7j wrote
He's only been one for a few weeks and already playing money games like Donny himself.
Americ-anfootball t1_iueglzf wrote
He's literally not even a member of the Republican Party. He successfully won their primary as a protest candidate, without their backing and the VT GOP refused to endorse his candidacy following his win in the primary because he would not agree to caucus with US House Republicans were he to win the general. You don't have to like the guy, but you're going to need a different reason not to.
PestoChicken_Bart t1_iu8vzu4 wrote
Not to mention the New York Times article linked in the story, where a democrat does a similar thing in New York.
browsing_around t1_iu94kkx wrote
What?! Did you read either article? These are very different things. One is a clerical error that was resolved. The other is a man funneling personal business funds through his family to juke the system.
PestoChicken_Bart t1_iu96lf5 wrote
Yeah I did. Both are campaign finance violations. Did you read the New York Times article? Giving favors and state money to developers in exchange for campaign donations is probably worse than illegally throwing your own money at a race that you can’t win.
Don’t pretend like both parties don’t break campaign finance laws.
browsing_around t1_iu97d3f wrote
Clerical error. They had reported the payments in other areas. It was a mistake and corrected. What Madden did was intentional.
PestoChicken_Bart t1_iu98262 wrote
Okay great. Both parties commit campaign finance violations. To attribute it to one party is pretty stupid. Not that hard to follow.
browsing_around t1_iu9ajwg wrote
I’m not saying one does and one doesn’t. I’m saying these two instances are not the same. Yes they fall under the same law but they are very different.
PestoChicken_Bart t1_iu9byq8 wrote
The post I replied to said “It’s always GOP scumbag”.
It should be pretty agreeable that both parties commit campaign finance violations but I guess we can’t even do that.
browsing_around t1_iu9caqq wrote
Again, I’m not disagreeing that both parties commit campaign finance fraud. What I’m saying is that the way in which the two parties did so as outlined in the articles is not the same.
PestoChicken_Bart t1_iu9de8r wrote
Correct. Just like the linked story from seven days where the lt gov from NY was arrested for taking state money and funneling it to a developer for campaign donations. It happens in all magnitudes for both parties.
Quirfg t1_iu8zq60 wrote
Hey you found one. Good for you.
PestoChicken_Bart t1_iu90zli wrote
Pretty easy to hammer the right on their polices or election fraud lies if you want. No need to lie yourself
-_Stove_- t1_iue9at1 wrote
What exactly is your bar for "similar thing"?
PestoChicken_Bart t1_iuevqjs wrote
Illegally funneling money into a political campaign.
But yeah what Lt. governor did in ny was much worse… giving favors to developers in exchange for campaign donations hurts public trust more than illegally funneling your own money into a campaign.
Mmmmffffeeerrrr t1_iu960um wrote
He is such a clueless douche bag.
vinsalducci t1_iucy0e2 wrote
Another criminal mastermind from the hills. Super.
ArkeryStarkery t1_iudpc19 wrote
> Madden insisted that the scheme is legal. Asked who told him it is legal, he said, “It's just, I read the FEC rules.”
the arrogance
[deleted] t1_iu94b32 wrote
[deleted]
suzi-r t1_iua4kai wrote
Liam lies…he maddens anyone who expects integrity in their statespeople.
SirAidandRinglocks t1_iu9ef7z wrote
Still better than Balint bringing in a million dollars of dark money to win a primary.
thisoneisnotasbad t1_iu9kiy3 wrote
That annoyed me.it annoyed me more that I honestly believe that story was sat on until after the primary to help Balint win. It put a dent in her story of the LGBTQ community financially supporting her to get her name out there. She is better then Liam but now she owes a couple crypto bros in a big one.
It also shows very clearly, money = votes.
SirAidandRinglocks t1_iu9l36m wrote
She lost my vote when she did that to defeat an identical candidate. I'll vote Liam just out of protest.
FuckEtherion195 t1_iufkxzu wrote
"this one played politics well, so I'm voting for the guy who admits to election fraud!"
Ok buddy.
SirAidandRinglocks t1_iufmwqu wrote
Corruption doesn't get my votes
alphabet_order_bot t1_iufmxu6 wrote
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,136,461,182 comments, and only 222,274 of them were in alphabetical order.
pv_punisher t1_iu9745v wrote
I really want to like him, I do align with some of his platform... but he's wades into the Kovid-Kook conspiracy waters too much for me. His website has a covid section (for some odd reason) and it reeks of closeted conspiracy theorist.