December 29, 2015

Martin O'Malley: "The very last event of the night, we actually had a whopping total of one person show up..."

"... but by God, he was glad to see me. So we spent the time with him... So I wasn't surprised that he was uncommitted. But I was glad he took the time to come out in the snow to see me. We almost canceled that last event but we were out there anyway, so we plowed through."

Aw. Here's the sweet/dismal/tragic/hilarious scene:


(Via Sara Beckman.)

34 comments:

rhhardin said...

There's an old story about a politician who showed up in a midwest snowstorm and one guy showed up. The politician said this is awkward, what should we do? Cancel the affair?

The farmer said that if he came into the barn and only one cow showed up, he'd feed him.

The the politician gave his prepared speech.

Then the farmer said that he'd feed the cow, but wouldn't dump the whole food supply on him.

Rae said...

I imagine running for president, and making no impression whatsoever is a big hit to the ego.

Wince said...

I thought O'Malley was just campaigning for VP at this point.

"Aw. Here's the sweet/dismal/tragic/hilarious scene..."

The sentiment of this meeting will be lost on Hillary! though if O'Malley can't put asses in the seats.

Bob Boyd said...

Which one's O'Malley?

LYNNDH said...

Good for him. I doubt that H! would have done that. She is way too important to speak to only one person, one on one.

Rumpletweezer said...

Martin replaced a Republican governor who had done a mostly competent job but who had been hamstrung by an overwhelmingly Democrat general assembly. Martin brought casino gambling to the state and raised the sales tax. He's the poster boy for bad public policy.

Brando said...

I don't really know why aside from the racialist militants the rest of the Democratic party hasn't embraced O'Malley. He's a pretty consistent liberal, and while his record is dismal, he's graded on a curve (it is Baltimore we're talking about) and the things that most voters wouldn't like about him should be pluses among liberals. He doesn't bring the stench of corruption that Hillary does, and he can't really be accused of triangulating (except arguably on crime).

So I attribute his failure to (1) the racialists vetoed his candidacy; (2) the "first woman thing" really sucked the life out of any non-Hillary candidacy this year; or (3) O'Malley's charisma and appeal just aren't there. I don't think the racialists are even really aware of O'Malley, and the "woman thing" isn't keeping Sanders from getting at least some traction, so I'm going with (3).

Etienne said...

At least he didn't have his sleeves rolled-up like he was pretending to be a working mans friend (re, Jeb and Sanders).

rhhardin - hee.

Fabi said...

I find it impressive. Would any other candidate have continued, let alone publicized it? Good for him.

Whirred Whacks said...

More comments here than O'Malley rally supporters there!

Hey Ann and Meade: Thanks for a good year of interesting blog posts! Happy 2016!

Balfegor said...

Re: Rae:

I imagine running for president, and making no impression whatsoever is a big hit to the ego.

Who would have thought that a former Mayor of Baltimore would have a tough time selling his fitness for the presidency in this year of all years? After all, the news from Baltimore this year has been nothing but positive, and surely O'Malley did his part to lay the foundations for Baltimore's present shining success when he was mayor 8 years ago. And governor of Maryland for the past 8 years. Truly, Maryland is an example to us all. Who wouldn't want the whole country to be run that way?

In some ways, it's a mercy no one takes his candidacy seriously. I can't think how he could sell his record to the voters. Really, I don't know why he bothered -- he has to have realised that once Gotham was ashes he was finished, at least in this cycle.

Mattman26 said...

"By God, he was glad to see me."

Yeah, he looks pretty enthused.

Big Mike said...

Yet right now he's the only Democrat candidate with executive experience and even the slightest grasp of economics in the real world. Says something about the Democrat party that only one person showed up.

mccullough said...

I give him some props for this. Besides, why be president if you don't like individuals?



tim in vermont said...

I would vote for Trump over Hillary, but this guy over Trump.

Bay Area Guy said...

O'Malley is such a lightweight - it's embarrassing.

The problem though is that this helps Hillary a smidgen, so I should just shut up and cheer O'Malley's dogged spirit or something.

eric said...

What other signs do you need that it's time to drop out of the race?

Carol said...

Well that's nice in a way, but you're really supposed to hide this kind of thing.

Quaestor said...

Fulfilling his campaign pledge to the Seelie Court, President Martin O'Malley engages in hardball diplomacy with Santa Claus over working conditions in the famous toy tycoon's notorious North Pole sweat shop.

MAJMike said...

Soooooo, he couldn't convince even one person to vote for him. The burn. It hurts.

Brando said...

"Who would have thought that a former Mayor of Baltimore would have a tough time selling his fitness for the presidency in this year of all years? After all, the news from Baltimore this year has been nothing but positive, and surely O'Malley did his part to lay the foundations for Baltimore's present shining success when he was mayor 8 years ago. And governor of Maryland for the past 8 years. Truly, Maryland is an example to us all. Who wouldn't want the whole country to be run that way?"

In his defense, Maryland's economy as a whole hasn't been that bad relative to other states (though that's mostly due to the wealthy DC suburbs) and during his watch the Baltimore crime rate went down though how much of either of those things have to do with him is debatable. But in the low bar of the Democratic primary, where his competition is a crazed aged socialist and the laughably corrupt and incompetent failure of a Secretary of State, O'Malley has a sterling record. Of the three, he's the only one who ran anything bigger than an influence-buying scheme.

CWJ said...

Meh. If he walked out, what else would he be doing?

Jesse in DC said...

As a resident of Maryland, Owe Malley oughta be glad that one person showed up. He figured out a way to tax the rainfall. He started a "flush" Tax so people with self contained septic systems could pay, just like they were hooked up to municipal systems.In fact, in a state with a significant Democrat voter majority, he sucked so bad they elected a Republican governor. He raised our taxes over 30 ways here, and is likely the most hated Marylander.

Original Mike said...

"Besides, why be president if you don't like individuals?"

I don't know. Let's ask Obama.

Michael K said...

O'Malley's only chance is a sex change. Think of it ! The First Trannie President !

Sebastian said...

Saves AA from having to write the "how O'Malley lost me" post.

FullMoon said...

A day that will live in infamy.

Shit, when I saw the photo on Drudge, I thought it was the dad from "Making a Murderer"
What a dissapointment.
AND, pretty sure the citizen is the type who likes to sit in the back of the meeting and not be noticed.
AND, if the citizen met with Obama or Clinton and asked a question, his life would be
turned upside down.

John henry said...

27 comments and nobody thought of Spinal Tap?

Marty: The last time Tap toured America, they where, uh, booked into 10,000 seat arenas, and 15,000 seat venues, and it seems that now, on their current tour they're being booked into 1,200 seat arenas, 1,500 seat arenas, and uh I was just wondering, does this mean uh...the popularity of the group is waning?

Ian: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no...no, no, not at all. I, I, I just think that the.. uh.. their appeal is becoming more selective.

This brings a whole new meaning to "retail campaigning"

John Henry

rcocean said...

Vote O'Malley - He'll bring Baltimore miracle to the White House.

Kirby Olson said...

Geez, I have a poetry book out, and I thought my turnouts were dismal. In one tiny village called Hamden, a single man came out, but he had brought his two children. They listened to me talk and I had them read some of my poems. His kids knew my kids so I sounded them for information on my kids. I thought it was a kind of record that there were only three. The man said as I left, well, that was the biggest cultural event in Hamden over the last twenty years. We shook hands, and I fistbumped his 9th and sixth grader's fists, and off I went into the cold black rain. His kid even told me a joke. What village in the Catskills do pigs fear the most? Hamden.

Heck, though, that's poetry. You expect it, and it was a very rich combination. The one guy had gotten an MFA in fiction three decades ago, and so he could talk. He could still understand poems, although he's become a farmer. He even writes beautiful, though he finds little occasion to do so. He sells his organic produce down in NYC at Union Square's Farmer's Market. So although half of my poems are set here, and half are down there, he had the geographical and the intellectual keys to grasp everything in the book, and has since written to me that he has finished the book, and loved it. I wonder if this one guy got O'Malley at all. This is hilarious for a nationally known politician to get one person, and they are fence-sitters. I am usually pulling about 40 people, and I haven't ever been on national television. I feel better! Ha ha!

Big Mike said...

@FullMoon, it's much simpler than that. O'Malley thought he was going to get an endorsement from one of the guys on "Duck Dynasty."

Big Mike said...

@Kirby Olson, this is for you.

Rick said...

Michael K said...
O'Malley's only chance is a sex change. Think of it ! The First Trannie President !


I can hear the complaints already. "Even the first female President was a man."

mikee said...

O'Malley, as Mayor Baltimore, "reduced" crime in the city by changing the police methods of reporting of crime.

If you want that sort of slime as an elected official, vote Democrat. Hillary is an even worse corruptocrat than O'Malley, and Sanders hasn't figured out the problems with socialism despite 50 years' experience pushing it.