Oklahoma Republican Weird
This man could be the next governor of Oklahoma if all the other candidates were euthanized
Chris Barnett is a very serious Republican candidate running for governor of Oklahoma. And he would just like you to know that he never said on Facebook that he thinks any poor people should be euthanized! He says his account was hacked, and all the other stories of awful people insisting they were hacked should not dissuade you from thinking he's full of it. Honestly, based on his not terribly professional looking campaign website, we're willing to believe he may have picked a Facebook password like "chris" or "1."
The disputed posts on the now-removed ChrisForGov campaign page started with a bizarre campaign promise that certainly suggests somebody was "playing silly buggers," as they say in the Shire :
That pile of nonsense would certainly lend credibility to Barnett's claim he'd been hacked. Or maybe he made a really shitty joke post and later removed it?
There's also this perfectly Republican-seeming poll question asking if people receiving food stamps should have their benefits ended if they refuse to look for work, or turn down any job offered to them:
Some troublemaker pointed out that most people receiving SNAP already work, or are unable to work because they're elderly or disabled, or because -- a not inconsiderable percentage -- they're kids:
The account replied, duh, if they're not contributing, then why do we even keep feeding them , huh?
Honestly, it's not all that far away from the sort of thing real Republican governors have proposed, like when Georgia's Nathan deal said no more ER visits for poors. Or that 2011 Republican debate when Wolf Blitzer asked Ron Paul if a hypothetical uninsured guy should be allowed to just die -- and the audience whooped, shouted YEAH!" and applauded.
OK, one more: Someone else asked -- with authentic Tea Party Capitalization -- whether he was saying her son's father (why aren't you married???), who has a spinal injury, should just be left to die. The reply, to be fair, appears to be to another question, but also says, yep, you bet! Let 'em die!
Barnett later insisted to local TV station KFOR he had nothing at all to do with the posts on Facebook, and that his account had obviously been hacked:
And I’m reading some of these things, and it’s appalling. Hitler euthanized people, and I just loved how they’ve put this together and they’re trying to make me into Hitler.
Barnett also said he'd received "hundreds" of calls threatening to kill him, which seems... unlikely? Like, yeah, people on the internet are definitely assholes, but hundreds of calls? Yes, really, says Barnett:
There are people saying they want to shoot me, they are going to assassinate me, they are going to shoot me, they are going to blow us up.
Guess those dang liberals like shooting people, then. But don't worry -- Barnett vows he'll stay in the race, and no one can scare him into dropping out (he's one of 10 Republicans running to replace a term-limited Mary Fallin).
Barnett says Facebook has been completely unresponsive, and that he hasn't yet contacted the police about the alleged hacking because he's waiting to hear from his legal counsel.
On his campaign page, Barnett offers this authentic frontier gibberish, with, yes, center alignment:
Facebook is at again. They are trying to sway another election. I have not had any access to my Facebook page for several days. When this took place, myself, nor my husband were even remotely on the internet or even our phones. We were celebrating mothers day, all day long with our family. Thank you Facebook. Facebook needs to have a dedicated team to help its victims who have been compromised and pay a special level of attention to political candidates because timing is everything for elections. Facebook, are you going to pay for my continued security detail?
It is sickening what has happened to me running for office. My husband, nor myself have not been able to access Facebook and they have done nothing about it. We will not use Facebook any longer. To anyone that tries to make good on your threats to kill me... please don't.
That's followed by "Who ever accessed our accounts did a great job at posting things I've said in the past, such as below," and then two paragraphs of rants against the evils of Tulsa State University, various faculty members, a Tulsa law firm that supposedly hates free speech, and the "child molesting lovers" at the ACLU -- with no blockquotes or quotation marks to indicate what parts were written by the alleged hacker and what parts are Barnett now. This gets weird, particularly since that introductory statement appears to be sarcastic -- but maybe it's literal? For example, there's this -- we assume he's saying that the first sentence was written by the hacker?
The University of Tulsa also pushed an agenda of euthanizing all students who did not meet their arian race agenda. This is amazing to read as I never said this, nor did The University of Tulsa. Again, more evidence that our Facebook page was compromised.
I need your help to continue this fight as its just getting started. Please contribute to my campaign. With your help, not only will I become the youngest Governor of Oklahoma in history, I will also be the first openly gay, married Republican Governor in history.
To further complicate matters, Chris Barnett and his husband George Barnett were involved in a kerfuffle over free speech with the University of Tulsa in 2014. It's a huge rabbit hole, and involves -- surprise! -- lots of agita over Facebook posts! George Barnett sued the university, then in 2017 took a page from a Frances McDormand movie: They rented three billboards to publicize the lawsuit. It's nuts, and we lost far too much time trying to make sense of it.
And now the campaign website includes what appears to be candidate Chris Barnett trying to enlist voters' help in a quest -- unless its more stuff from the "hacker," and who can tell because Barnett doesn't know how to use quotation marks:
I also ask that you help me shut down The University of Tulsa. They breed hatred. Have you seen other opponents spend anywhere near this amount to stand up for free speech and protect your rights? Not even the ACLU has stood up to protect anyones rights in Oklahoma. The ACLU is more concerned with Pedophiles than protecting free speech.
Barnett (or the hacker) insists he is "the front runner" in the governor's race, and he will not be shut down by his enemies:
Let's keep Oklahoma red. I truly believe that every Oklahoman should own firearms... not just one, but several.
I'll be done campaigning when I'm being sworn in as the next Governor of Oklahoma in January 2019. The Democrats have promised to assassinate me if I'm elected.
So yes, vote for the Free Speech guy. Or maybe the hacker!
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[ RawStory / KFOR / Tulsa World / Tulsa World / Chris Barnett for Governor ]