Perhaps a few decades ago, politicians could deny they had made vicious remarks and get away with it. But ever since the internet came into being, it’s growing increasing harder for them to do so. There’s YouTube, Vimeo, and so many, many iPhones and other recording devices — and yet, they still try.
Take Scott Lively, a Massachusetts independent candidate for governor.
On September 17 of last year, Lively laid out his vision of a very dystopian future:
“Regional war breaks out and at the same time, because of that, the global economy collapses, crashes,” he told “citizen reporter” Rick Wiles. “That begins the serious pain for the entire world that the globalists actually want to prepare them for the global, one-world system. They already have the economic system to bring in; just nobody is ready to accept it. So at the right time, after there’s been enough pain, what happens is the Antichrist—I won’t name any names here but he is heading the largest superpower of the world today—steps in at the right time and does three things. He declares a global jubilee in which all the debts of the world are eliminated, this is after there’s been massive numbers of people who have died.”
The good folks at Right Wing Watch captured Lively’s comments (and we, of course, also reported them):
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/111095048&color=ff6600&show_artwork=false
In his report today on Scott Lively, Michelangelo Signorile, the Editor-at large of Huffington Post’s Gay Voices, asked Lively about his having called President Obama the Anti-Christ, and Putin the savior.
“No, oh boy, that’s quite the leap you’re making,” Lively responded. “No, I’ve never said either of those things… I did not say that Obama is the Anti-Christ.”
So, Signorile, armed with audio, played it for Lively.
“So, who’d you mean, the leader of Canada?,” Signorile quipped.
No, that’s Obama,” Lively was forced to admit. Of course, it was all “hypothetical.”
Yeah, right.
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?visual=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F141891177&show_artwork=true
Lively’s opponents shouldn’t have any trouble squashing his candidacy.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Lively as a Republican candidate, based on a petition on his campaign site. Lively technically is running as an independent.