Mystery SC Candidate's Bizarre Keith Olbermann Interview
What the hell? At this point, it's the only reaction we can have to Alvin Greene, the unemployed veteran who beat out a much more-qualified opponent in the South Carolina Democratic Senate primary. Watch his halting Countdown interview for yourself.
It wasn't much different than other interviews he's given on television and in print. These are all marked by a frustrating vagueness about every aspect of his almost non-existent campaign. Tonight he told Olbermann his campaigning consisted of door-to-door canvassing and a couple of "informal meetings." When Olbermann asked how, given his lack of a website and fundraising, anyone in the state knew enough to vote for him, he said: "I think they heard of my name when I was campaigning across the state to pass the word on. Just by word of mouth. I got the word out, you know."
Many people are concerned he's a Republican plant, meant to derail any Democratic challenge to Republican Jim DeMint. Which is strange logic: If the Dems' favored candidate couldn't even beat some random dude, how was he supposed to beat a popular incumbent? When asked about SC Congressman James Clyburn's call for an investigation into whether his was a puppet campaign, Greene told Olbermann, "I've always been a Democrat and I always will be a Democrat and support Democrats." But throughout the interview he paused at great length after each question, apparently being fed answers by someone offscreen. (Olbermann later said it was his lawyer, according to Mediaite.) And he refused to comment on his sexy felony charge.
On the surface, there seems to be literally nothing to Alvin Greene the Democratic Senate candidate. Every interview and profile has so far only deepened this nothingness, begging us to fill it in with our own conspiracy theories—he's a plant! Someone's tricking him! Watching his performance on Olbermann, lobbing almost perfect non-answers at Olbermann's hard-hitting questions, you can't help but wonder if maybe Alvin Greene really is just some random dude.