Well as you saw if you were following the @Save Jersey twitter feed this afternoon, Carl Lewis held his press conference in Mt. Laurel today to announce…nothing, nothing of any consequence anyway. He gave no detailed account into his plans for the future, only stating that there would be plans. We all know what that means.
Here are some highlights from the largely uneventful press conference:
- Carl thanked everyone who worked on his campaign and contributed a ton of energy. Saying its as “all for nothing.”
- He criticized machine politics in LD8.
- Carl Lewis is upset that only 30% of people vote in NJ statewide elections and he wants a higher turnout.
- Carl Lewis is not going away. “Service does not need a title” and he is going to keep hanging around and pushing candidates and issues.
- He claimed he did not speak to the Burlco Dems yet. I don’t really buy that.
- He doesn’t want a write in campaign for him.
- Carl Lewis doesn’t want to run for an office that is a full time position because it would take away from his own life. He will not be running for Governor (as if we had any doubt about that?).
- This is not the end of politics for Carl Lewis (something we have been saying all along).
- Carl is planning to write a book about his failed campaign. He also stressed that his last book is still available if you would like to buy it.
- Lewis closed by quoting Ronald Reagan.
- Finally, Lewis claims that he is NOT interested in running for Congress at all
Anyway, mark my words, this is not the last you are going to see of Carl Lewis in New Jersey politics. Unless of course he goes back to California to run there, you know, where he lives, votes, and pays taxes.
The press conference was pretty anticlimactic. Many of the TV new crews left half way through, if that is not an indication of how much the media cares about what someone who is not allowed to run is doing to do now, then I don’t know what is.
Its a shame that someone like yourself, who is not even qualified to carry his jockstrap, would deride someone who wore the American Olympic uniform proudly and honorably and brought home 10 Olympic medals to the USA. Why couldn't you have just reported on what transpired instead of injecting your own insipid comments into the mix.
Rick, I am planning on posting video from the conference later, but nothing that I posted in this story is inaccurate. The press conference itself covered nothing that could not have been told in a press release. Not only that, but I do not deride Carl Lewis as an American, an athlete, or anything else other than a politician. Lewis was a pawn to the machine, and regardless of his own views, they would have used him to the the end of continuing the status quo in NJ and blocking any true reform for the taxpayers of our state.
Rick, he went to the Olympics. He didn't serve in the armed forces. Chill out. That's besides the fact that how fast he can run or how far he can jump has nothing to do with his qualifications to run for office.
Here is the video of the press conference in its entirety. And the TV crews stayed throughout the entire event.
http://goo.gl/I4aDi
Ditto Jon Runyan
You mean…kind of like being an actor and then running for Governor of California? And then becoming President? Or as the other poster put it …kind of like a football player who never ran for office before and is now a Congressman? You mean those kind of qualifications for office?
The point I am making is that his status as a public figure has absolutely nothing to do with this issue, and he should not be given any special treatment because of it. Whether he won Olympic gold or is a grocery clerk, he is bound by the same laws as anyone else when it comes to running for office. Experience in the politics is NOT an actual qualification for running for office – being a resident of the state you are running in, however, is.
Well said, Victoria!
I see you thought about a backtracking answer in the interim….really, nothing in your new explanation was in the first response. And the point I was making is he wasn't given any special treatment…obviously, since he's not on the ballot and the courts upheld the law. So why keep bashing him? Why not just let him go on with the constant derision that this site does so well. re: Matt Rooney's subsequent post. This man did a lot for the image of this country. Just say thank you and let him be.
Hey very interesting blog!