John F. Kennedy's 1960 Presidential Bid: Man Of The People

John Fitzgerald Kennedy's Inaugural Address: Delivered January 20, 1961


Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens:

We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom -- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning -- signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe -- the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge -- and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do -- for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom -- and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required -- not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge: to convert our good words into good deeds, in a new alliance for progress, to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support -- to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective, to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak, and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course -- both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.

So let us begin anew -- remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms, and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

Let both sides unite to heed, in all corners of the earth, the command of Isaiah -- to "undo the heavy burdens, and [to] let the oppressed go free."¹

And, if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor -- not a new balance of power, but a new world of law -- where the strong are just, and the weak secure, and the peace preserved.

All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

Now the trumpet summons us again -- not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need -- not as a call to battle, though embattled we are -- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation,"² a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility -- I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.


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Sources: American Rhetoric, TIME, Youtube, Google Maps

Alvin Greene's 1st Speech Moved To Hold Large Crowds

Alvin Greene's First Speech Moved To Accommodate Large Crowds


U.S. Democratic Senate (SC) nominee Alvin Greene is set to give his first major campaign speech this weekend.

Sunday, the surprise U.S. senate nominee is speaking to the local chaper of the NAACP. The event is open to the public.

The event was originally scheduled to be held at a local church, but an anticipated large crowd prompted organizers to move the venue to accommodate more people.

The speech will now be held at the Manning Junior High School gym at 4:30 p.m.

Greene is set to challenge Republican Jim DeMint and Green Party Candidate Tom Clements this November.




Alvin Greene Making First Public Speech Before Local NAACP


A month after his surprise win to become South Carolina's Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, Alvin Greene said Monday he was finally making his first public speaking appearance.

Greene told The Associated Press he has been invited by a local branch of the state conference of the NAACP to speak at the group's monthly meeting Sunday in his hometown of Manning.

"Jobs, education and justice, the campaign for the general election," Greene said, when asked what he planned to discuss. "That's what I'm focusing on right now."

Greene has given a series of awkward, often terse media interviews since June 8, when he won an unexpected victory over former state lawmaker Vic Rawl. Greene will face GOP U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint in the fall.

An unemployed military veteran who lives at home with his ailing father, Greene has called himself "a true American hero" and suggested last week the creation of action figures of his own likeness as a way to create jobs in South Carolina.

Greene had no website until two weeks ago and did not do any campaign fundraising before the primary. On Monday, Greene said he plans to do more campaigning but did not have any other events scheduled.

Greene said the event will be held at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church.

Officials with the NAACP did not immediately return a message Monday. The day after Greene's primary night win, the president of the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said he had not met Greene or heard of him before the election.

Greene won another victory Friday, when South Carolina's state police said they would not charge Greene over how he paid his $10,440 U.S. Senate filing fee, despite reporting just over $1,000 in monthly income on court paperwork and being appointed a public defender to represent him on an obscenity charge.

When agents reviewed Greene's bank accounts, they found recent deposits of military pay and state and federal tax refunds that matched Greene's story that the 32-year-old candidate, who has been collecting unemployment benefits since he left the military in August, was able to afford the fee because he saved his money and lived frugally.

Police also wanted to look into whether Greene had misrepresented his financial situation in court by accepting the court-appointed attorney to defend him on a felony charge of showing obscene Internet photos to a University of South Carolina student.

Greene said he didn't ask for a court-appointed attorney or intend to mislead anyone about his financial situation. Police say Greene cooperated with their investigation, and the candidate feels vindicated by the results.

Democratic Party leaders were stunned by Greene's 18-point primary victory and called for him to withdraw from the race after AP reported his arrest. But Greene, who has not entered a plea or been indicted, has declined to comment on the charge and says he's staying in the race.

In addition to DeMint, Greene also faces anti-nuclear activist Tom Clements, a Green Party candidate.


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Sources: Midlandsconnect.com, The Grio, The State, Google Maps

Alvin Greene Cleared Of Election Fraud Charges

Greene Cleared In South Carolina Investigation


South Carolina's top law enforcement agency announced Friday that it will not file charges against Democratic Senate nominee Alvin Greene.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) had been investigating how Greene, a political newcomer who could not afford a lawyer when facing criminal charges last year, came up with the $10,440 needed to get his name on the Democratic Senate primary ballot.

"After a thorough investigation, SLED has concluded that there is no evidence of wrongdoing, criminal intent or deception to the court when Greene applied for a public defender last year," the agency said in a statement Friday.

"During the course of the investigation, SLED determined that monies spent for Greene's filing fee were the candidate's personal funds and therefore, no laws were violated in association with Greene's payment to the South Carolina Democratic Party," SLED said.

Greene has long maintained that he tapped into his personal savings to pay the filing fee.

Greene's June 4 Democratic primary victory stunned politicians in the state because they had never heard of him and saw no proof he had mounted any type of campaign. His primary opponent, Vic Rawl, tried to have the election overturned, saying there were voting machine irregularities, but the state party denied the request.

CNN reported earlier Friday that Greene retained a private criminal defense attorney against charges he showed pornographic images to a college student last November.

The existence of those criminal charges surfaced after the primary win. State Democratic leaders called for him to step aside, at the time afraid he would not mount a serious campaign against incumbent Republican Sen. Jim DeMint.

Neither he nor the attorney, Eleazer Carter, will disclose whether Carter is being paid. Carter told CNN he is an acquaintance of Greene's father and took on the case three weeks ago.

Greene has not had to enter a plea, and no trial date has been set. He has remained tight-lipped regarding the charges.

"I'm innocent until proven guilty. And like I said, I'm concentrating on my campaign issues, jobs, education and justice," he told CNN in an interview in his Manning, South Carolina home last month. He refused to answer any more questions regarding the allegations.

Though the law enforcement agency said it determined that Greene used his own money to pay the party's filing fee, the South Carolina attorney general's office told CNN that it never received a request from SLED to subpoena Greene's bank records.


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Sources: CNN, Google Maps

Alvin Greene Unplugged! An Intimate Look At SC's Democratic Nominee

Alvin Greene Unplugged!

Instead of laughing why not give him kudos for having the Courage to run for Public Office as a regular citizen?

Its a shame how the media (national & abroad) is trying to make this young, Black brother appear to be some kind of buffoon. At least he had the courage to run against a well-known, Incumbent, Career Politician! His election should inspire more "regular" citizens especially Blacks, to run for Public Office. As Tom Joyner did (publicly) I say its time we give him our support and show him some love. Let's keep Alvin Greene from S.C. in our prayers.

Check out the interview article below.








Alvin Greene: America's Most Unlikely Politician


The journey to the home of one of the most enigmatic figures to emerge into the American political scene involves a drive deep into rural South Carolina. The road, bullet straight and lined with tall firs and pines, continues for miles with only an occasional Jehovah's Witnesses church to break the monotony.

The entrance to Alvin Greene's house, which doubles as his political headquarters, is marked only by the street number stamped on its metal postal box. At the end of the driveway his brother, James Greene Jr, is cleaning a small collection of vintage cars in the blazing heat. He asks my business, then leads me through the garage to the back door which he knocks on loudly. Then he knocks again.

"What you doin' here so early?" comes a muffled voice from inside.

The door opens and James says: "There's someone to see you."

"Oh, yeah, OK. I said he could come," replies Alvin, who is wearing blue tracksuit bottoms and a grey T-shirt with an ARMY logo across the chest. Inside, the television is on, tuned to a news channel, in front of which an old man with frizzy white hair is sprawled under a blanket on the sofa. He looks asleep, or comatose.

Greene hurries me past and into a living room. I'm about to launch into questions, but he stands suddenly. "I've got to take a break," he says, then disappears into a back parlour.

A month ago nobody had heard of 32-year-old Alvin Greene. An unemployed army and air force veteran from Manning, South Carolina, he spends most of his time looking after the old man – his 81-year-old father, James Sr – and is not often seen outside the house.

At least that was true until 8 June, when the results were announced of the Democratic primary race to choose the party's candidate for election to one of South Carolina's two US Senate seats. To the astonishment of most who had followed the race, the party's preferred candidate, Vic Rawl, a retired judge who had run an aggressive campaign with a war chest of $250,000 and an army of volunteers, came a miserable second with just 42% of the vote. Trouncing him, with more than 100,000 votes and 59% of the total, was one Alvin Greene.

The South Carolina Democratic party was sent into a tailspin from which it is still recovering. Where did this Alvin Greene come from? He had never run for public office and had no experience of political campaigning. He doesn't own a computer and uses the one at the local library. He didn't have a website through which to marshal his troops. Come to think of it, he didn't have any troops. He had no mobile phone or donors, though he did print flyers. His name recognition among South Carolinians was close to zero.

So what happened?



Questions began to be asked, conspiracy theories cooked. The leading Democratic congressman in the state, Jim Clyburn, came up with the idea that Greene must have been planted into the race by the Republicans to destroy the Democrats' chances of winning the election proper in November. Others likened Greene to Forrest Gump and questioned his mental stability.

To cap it all, it was discovered that he was facing criminal charges for allegedly having shown pornography to a female college student. Local and national newspapers had a field day. He was dubbed the "mystery man" and the "Manning-churian candidate". The banner headline in a local paper perfectly captured the mood: "Who the hell is Alvin Greene?"

An excellent question. And having come all this way to find the answer, it is a little distressing to see him vanish before the interview has begun. Several minutes later, he returns to the living room and slumps into a claret-coloured plastic sofa.

I begin by extending congratulations on his victory. How is he feeling?

"Good," he says, but no more comes.

I try a different tack, asking him what his life has been like since being thrown into the limelight.

"Busy." This time, happily, he goes on. " I didn't expect so much so soon, but I'm getting used to it."

It was a pretty big deal, I say.

"I was hoping that it would be big so I would be able to get my message out to as many folks as possible: getting South Carolina and America back to work, bringing South Carolina and America back. And it's not just America. We have got to get the world back to work and bring the world back. So it's a message that has to reach folks and it's something that I'm pursuing and it's going good."

It becomes clear fairly early in our conversation that Greene is not the greatest orator. He is not in the mould, say, of one of his heroes, Barack Obama. When I ask him whether Obama, as a fellow African-American, had been an inspiration behind his own decision to enter politics, he says, "Yes, I mean there's something that, you know, I knew so I just knew that. It was in my mind, I knew that, that, that, that the voters really, they really, that they really, erm, followed the candidate. That they really wanted substance in a candidate . . . "

It is clear, too, in the course of the two hours I spend with Greene that he has some pretty wacky ideas that, were he to win in November, would put him among the more unpredictable members of the senate. At one point, he lurches off on his big idea for how to create jobs in South Carolina.

"Another thing we can do for jobs is make toys of me, especially for the holidays. Little dolls. Me. Like maybe little action dolls. Me in an army uniform, air force uniform, and me in my suit. They can make toys of me and my vehicle, especially for the holidays and Christmas for the kids. That's something that would create jobs. So you see I think out of the box like that. It's not something a typical person would bring up. That's something that could happen, that makes sense. It's not a joke."

Similar statements made by Greene in the days since his victory have allowed the media, most recently on the Huffington Post yesterday, to present him in precisely that way – as a joke. Pundits have scrambled to explain how he pulled off his win. The voting machines must have been faulty; his name came before Rawl's on the ballot; the spelling of Greene is a black spelling that drew African-American voters; voters confused him with the singer Al Green.

The tone of some of the comments has bordered on cruel. The Democratic party elite tried to force him to stand down as duly elected nominee, but backed off when they realised they had no power to do so. Two Democratic politicians from the South Carolina assembly – both African-Americans – went to see him and tried to talk him out of his candidacy, and when he politely refused they suggested he was mentally impaired.

I ask him how the welter of conjecture and insinuation has affected him. He won the election handsomely, yet nobody seems able to accept it. "I just have to tune those things out. It's like people are in their own imaginary world and they want to hear what they want to hear."

Were the voting machines faulty? Is that why he won? "Nope. I got 60% of the vote, and 60% of the vote is decisive. That's more than Obama won this state with in the primary in his presidential bid. He got 55% of the vote. This is not a mistake. That's not a fluke."

What about the fact that he's facing charges for having shown obscene pictures to a university student? He hints that he has offered a deal whereby the prosecution would drop the charges in favour of a lesser non-custodial punishment. "First-time non-violent offenders should be entitled to pre-trial intervention programmes, like seminars or courses that would expunge the charges. I applied, I met the criteria. They could have dropped the charges."

And the suggestion that he is mentally ill? "That's an insult!" The answer is barked out, with distinct anger. But it doesn't come from Alvin. It comes from James Sr, who is shuffling past in his slippers just as we reach this point.

I turn to him and ask why he thinks such insults, as he sees them, are being levelled at his son. "Back in my day black people who registered to vote were turned away. They called the doctor and treated them as crazy."

Alvin's father, as a younger man, stood for office in the local council, but lost. I ask him whether he faced the same insults and opposition.

"Oh yeah."

What things?

"They told me I would never make it."

Then Alvin's brother, James Jr, the one with the vintage cars, joins in. "They are trying to scandalise my brother. They think he can win and they are trying to bring him down. They are making out he's slow. He's not slow. They say he's running for someone else. But he's running for himself. He's been talking to me about running for the past two years."

I'm starting to get the impression that the Alvin Greene-as-Forrest Gump narrative is falling wide of the mark. How about the line that he is a Republican plant? In that case, how to explain the certificate that he proudly points to on the wall for the politics degree he gained at university? Or the fact that he spent 13 years in the military, in both the army and air force, and though he was involuntarily discharged (no one yet knows why), it was honourably so.

Or the tell-tale signs that he was brought up by his parents and teachers to respect public service – the line of plastic model presidents from Washington to Nixon that his late mother collected, lining the mantelpiece, and the photograph of an eight-year-old Alvin asking for the autograph of Charles Bolden, then a general in the military and now the administrator of Nasa. Conspiracy theorists have pointed to the $10,400 registration fee Greene had to pay to run, and questioned how he could afford it – to which he says simply he had saved up from his long military career.

"I followed politics as a child," he says. "I remember when Jesse Jackson ran for president when I was nine years old. He's a South Carolinian native. I made a campaign sign out of construction paper and put it out on the highway so folks could see it as they passed by."

He says he has wanted to run for election ever since he can remember, and that the idea got serious when he was posted to South Korea, from where he watched the implosion of the US and world economies and felt he needed to do something. "I thought I would start locally and work my way up," he says, "but it happened to work this way and I'm taking advantage of it."

Perhaps the ridicule that Greene has received from the TV networks and press is not entirely merited. That sense thickens when I head into town. Like many small towns in the south, Manning is dominated by a monument outside the central courthouse to the Confederate army and those who died in the cause of upholding slavery. Just off the central square Spencer Tindal is minding his barber's shop, shaving the heads of elderly black men. Tindal has known the Greene family for years, so how would he describe Alvin?

"He's a quiet person, but he's educated and he can do anything he wants to do. He has a politics degree."

And then Tindal reminds me that Greene is the first black person to be taken on as a candidate for a US Senate seat in South Carolina since the days of reconstruction immediately after the civil war almost one and a half centuries ago. "He's made history. And for black people like me of my generation, that's good. In our area, people like me don't have a chance to move up or make history. And he's doing it, he's trying to make a difference."

Back at Greene HQ I ask him whether he sees his election victory as a blow struck for South Carolina's black and under-represented voters. "Yes, that's part of it. Regular voters identify with me, the ordinary folks, the people who work every day, the everyday average typical person identifies with me more than any of my opponents, the leadership, the people behind the desk."

I leave feeling as baffled as when I arrived. Greene, South Carolina's Democratic candidate for the US senate is a mix of glaring inadequacy and raw political conviction. He repels and inspires, moments of lucidity interspersed with moments of the complete opposite. Next stop will be the main election in November in which he will face Jim DeMint, the Republican senator who will deploy all the firepower of an incumbent. Greene will be outgunned, outwitted and humiliated. He will lose in a landslide.

Now where have I heard that before?


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Sources: Black American Web, Fox News, Guardian.co.uk, MSNBC, Google Maps

Democrat Senatorial Committee Leaders Mum On Alvin Greene's Win

Dem Senate Campaign Committee Stays Out of Alvin Greene Controversy


At least one prominent Democrat in Washington is calling for an investigation into the legitimacy of the Democratic Senate candidate in South Carolina, but the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is staying out of the fray so far.

Alvin Greene -- an unknown, 32-year-old, unemployed veteran facing pending felony charges -- shocked the political world when he won Tuesday's Democratic primary. His victory raised questions about how an unknown, unemployed candidate managed to soundly defeat a relatively well-funded opponent, or even pay the $10,400 filing fee to enter the race.

House Democratic whip James Clyburn of South Carolina said Greene is probably a "plant", either from the Republican party or some other group, and that the U.S. Attorney's office should investigate the matter.

But Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), chair of the DSCC, said today that it is up to the South Carolina Democratic Party to determine whether there was any interference in the primary from the GOP or anyone else.

"Right now the DSCC is not engaged there," Menendez said, evading questions from reporters about whether the DSCC supports the state party's request for Greene to drop out of the race. So far Greene has said he is staying in the race and has nothing to hide.

The DSCC did not bother investing in the primary since the incumbent, Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, is expected to hold onto his seat.

While Greene's victory was a surprise, Menendez said there have been plenty of surprises on the Republican side so far that improve the Democrats' chances in November -- such as Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle's victory in the GOP Senate primary in Nevada.

Republicans are "in the position now of having to support candidates they didn't want," he said.

In Florida, Menendez said the DSCC is committed to supporting Rep. Kendrick Meek, even though a new Quinnipiac poll shows him in a statistical dead heat with his wealthy primary challenger Jeff Greene among Democratic primary voters.

"We believe [Meek] can win the general election," Menendez said, adding that Meek does not have very much name recognition yet.

Additionally, Menendez said he still expects the support of labor unions this year, even though the party's relationship with the unions has been strained over Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln's campaign.

"I fully expect them to be engaged with us" this election season, he said.


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Sources: CBS News, DSCC, Google Maps

Alvin Greene Won Because He's Black? Who Knows? (Interview Video)

Now Alvin Greene's critics claim he won because he's
Black. Wait a minute! Could this be true? Are Black Voters really that gullible? Perhaps in some regions.

If not what else explains why he won the S.C. Dem. Primary?

After watching Keith Olbermann's interview with Mr. Greene I'm convinced something about this situation
is not quite right.

What say you fine folks?

Check out the video and article below than reach your own conclusions about this crazy political faux pas.










Alvin Greene, being there


Alvin Greene, the unknown, unheralded, un-everything U.S. Senate primary winner in South Carolina, kept reminding me of something -- and somebody. Finally figured it out.

If you've seen Greene on TV, you learn two things: One, his interviews set the Guinness record for awkward pauses, and two, it's clear he doesn't have a clue what's going on. All he does is repeat the same lines about "Sixty percent of the vote is no accident" and "I just conducted a simple old-fashioned campaign," which is especially funny because I'm still not aware of anyone in South Carolina who went to an Alvin Greene rally, or had Alvin Greene come to their house, or even saw him on the side of a road waving a campaign sign like those kids doing a car wash for the glee club.

He might have won the S.C. Democratic primary because he's Black, or he might have won because he was the first candidate alphabetically, or he might be a Republican plant, but one thing is clear -- he didn't win because the people of South Carolina deeply desire to put him in Congress. Although they've probably done worse.

If you watch him on TV, you think, what a disaster. But when I figured out who he reminded me of, it started to make sense.

The 1979 movie "Being There" is about Chance (Peter Sellers), a gardener born with "rice pudding between the ears." All he can talk about is gardening. All he likes to do is watch TV. But through a series of events, he ends up in the home (played by the Biltmore House!) of a rich businessman with political connections. And so Chance the gardener becomes Chauncey Gardiner, whose empty-headed homilies about the weather sound like Zen in a different context.


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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, MSNBC, WCNC, Youtube, Google Maps

Who Is Alvin Greene? Now They Want To Know! Ha Ha Ha

Who’s Alvin Greene? S.C. State Asks After Vote


For a few hours this week, it looked as if South Carolina might ditch its never-fail reputation for political scandal in favor of a genuine history-making event.

There was Nikki Haley, a lawmaker of Indian descent, beaming on election night with her husband and children after taking a major step toward becoming the first female governor of the state. It was a feel-good image to obscure the stain of a campaign marked by ethnic slurs, accusations of marital infidelity and yet more national marveling over how a single state can produce a string of political embarrassments as long as the Appalachian Trail.

But then, the television cameras started rolling on Alvin Greene’s overgrown lawn.

“Yeah, it’s been pretty nonstop for a few days,” said Mr. Greene, 32, in a phone interview Friday.

Because everyone wants to know how Mr. Greene, an unemployed Army veteran who had been completely unknown until Tuesday, inexplicably defeated a heavily favored former legislator and judge to become the state’s Democratic nominee for the Senate — and the state’s latest political circus act.

Mr. Greene had just a few peaceful hours to savor his victory in the tiny, ramshackle home he shares with his elderly father along a quiet highway in Manning, where he has been bunkered since election night. Then, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Greene was arrested in November and is facing a felony obscenity charge; he is accused of showing pornography to a University of South Carolina student. He had been discharged “involuntarily” from the Army and showed no signs of having waged an actual campaign in recent months — no advertising, no staff, no money.

Mr. Greene, who declined to comment on the obscenity charge, would not say how he came up with the $10,440 to register his candidacy. Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina and the House majority whip, suggested that Mr. Greene was a “Republican plant” and that the circumstance reeked of the “shenanigans” that have become the state’s trademark.

“We have embarrassment fatigue here,” said Dick Harpootlian, the former Democratic chairman of the state. “If there is an embarrassment equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder, South Carolina has it.”

Even casual observers across the country can recite the recent litany of Palmetto State political antics. The Republican donnybrook between John McCain and George W. Bush in 2000 left more scars than any presidential primary campaign in recent memory. Gov. Mark Sanford’s public swoon over an Argentinean mistress — an affair he carried on while claiming to have been hiking the Appalachian Trail — remains a spigot of late-night punch lines (while Mr. Sanford remains the state’s governor).

The Republican primary campaign to succeed Mr. Sanford featured two operatives claiming to have had extramarital affairs with Ms. Haley (who strenuously denied the accusations) as well as a Republican state senator dismissing her with an ethnic slur.

Now comes Mr. Greene, adding Democratic balance to the state’s Republican-dominated scandal sheets of recent vintage. Mr. Clyburn immediately called for someone to investigate Mr. Greene’s candidacy — who paid for the campaign, who was behind it, how did he ever win?

Mr. Harpootlian, a former district attorney, wants to know why Mr. Greene had not filed any papers with the Federal Election Commission, and Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chairman from South Carolina, said he suspected that someone tampered with the voting machines.

“There is something genuinely mysterious about this whole thing,” said Mr. Fowler, whose wife, Carol, the current chairwoman of the state’s Democratic Party, has called for Mr. Greene to step aside.

Mr. Greene said he had no intention of doing so. He said the whole gambit has been his idea, that he paid the entry fee and that his was — and remains — “a self-managed campaign.” He said he would challenge his Republican opponent, Senator Jim DeMint, to a debate in September. “It will be one hour. Live. On a major network,” he proposed.

Mr. Greene said he was determined to go through with this, which would seem to belie the somewhat shell-shocked demeanor he has projected in several interviews over the last 72 hours. “Can I end this?” Mr. Greene asked in the middle of a brief interview with a local television station in front of his house Wednesday. It might as well be his campaign’s official motto, or wish, at least as far as leading Democrats are concerned.

“Sad,” Mr. Clyburn said, referring to the spectacle that Mr. Greene has become on the cable and YouTube circuits.

Even in Manning, a town of 4,000 where everybody knows everybody, nobody seems to know Alvin Greene. “He just all of a sudden shows up and — boom!” said L. G. Mathis, 61, the owner of L. G.’s Cut and Style, a barber shop downtown.

It is another embarrassment for South Carolina, said Carl F. Jackson Jr, a graphic designer at a local newspaper, The Clarendon Citizen. “Anybody who got beyond eighth grade is a little astounded by this,” Mr. Jackson said, adding his own theory of how Mr. Greene had won. “Maybe voters thought it was the singer, Al Green.”

When asked in a phone interview Friday whether he was having “fun,” Mr. Greene quickly answered yes, before asking for clarification.

“What do you mean by fun?”

Without waiting for an answer, Mr. Greene said he was not interested in “fun,” or signing autographs (which he has yet to do) or indulging any of the trappings of his unlikely celebrity. He is interested in sticking to the issues that are important — jobs, education, justice — and to conveying why he is “the best candidate for the United States Senate in South Carolina.”

Before elaborating on why he was, Mr. Greene excused himself, saying that he had to finish another interview.







S.C. State Certifies Greene's Surprising Primary Win


In a building on Devine Street, in a small conference room on the first floor, a man, a woman and three others patched in by conference call Friday certified one of the most surprising election results in S.C. history.

Alvin Greene - an unemployed military veteran facing a felony obscenity charge, unknown by Democrats even in the rural county where he lives - is the official winner of the S.C. Democratic Party's primary for the U.S. Senate, the S.C. Election Commission decided.

Democrat Party officials scratched their heads over how Greene's candidacy moved forward despite that pending felony charge.

His vanquished primary opponent, former state legislator Vic Rawl of Charleston, wouldn't talk to The State on Friday but is reported to be poring over the results, looking for something that might explain how Greene got 59 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, the Green Party's U.S. Senate candidate, Tom Clements, is hoping disaffected Democrats will turn to him as the best hope to unseat Republican Sen. Jim DeMint in the fall.

And the 5th Circuit Solicitor's Office is looking into how Greene was able to get a Public Defender, which normally requires that a defendant be broke, to help him with that obscenity charge, given the $10,400 filing fee that Greene paid to run for the U.S. Senate.

Vanity Fair, CNN, MSNBC and The New York Times were among the media outlets poking around Friday for details on the unusual case.

Greene himself answered the telephone Friday at his home in Manning and repeated what Democratic Party officials did not want to hear: He has no intention of dropping out of the race.

"The people of South Carolina have spoken," he said. "I am their candidate. I want to talk about the issues and not anything else. Jobs, education and justice."

It was a refrain Greene offered often during the course of a 15-minute interview, punctuated more than a half-dozen times by interruptions that appeared to be from his call-waiting system.

Asked what people should know about him, Greene paused, said "OK, OK" several times and added he was born in Florence and grew up in Manning.

He served in the Air Force and the Army, which gave him an honorable discharge he described as "involuntary."

"They should know my campaign slogan is, "Let's get South Carolina back to work", Greene said.

Asked if he had help paying his filing fee, as suggested by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., in a conference call on Thursday, Greene said: "I paid that with my own money."

Greene said he campaigned across the state but offered no details of any particular places where he had traveled.

A pair of state legislators who met with Greene Thursday to urge him to drop his Senate bid came away concerned about Greene's mental state.

Asked if they or the people of South Carolina should be concerned about his mental state, Greene simply said, "No."

On Aug. 16, political parties will certify to the State Election Commission that their candidates for the fall election can or will be able to meet the requirements of the office they seek.

Democrats could not replace Greene on the ballot unless he meets narrow, non-political guidelines for stepping down.

Meanwhile, fingers are being pointed at the state Democratic Party, its leaders and others for failing to check out Greene.

Carol Fowler, chairwoman of the S.C. State Democratic Party, said the party's researcher did look into Greene's background but did not turn up anything unusual.

Greene was arrested in November and charged with obscenity after a University of South Carolina student said he showed her pornographic pictures in a computer lab and suggested they go to her room.

Fowler said she did not find out about the charge until after the primary.


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Sources: CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, McClatchy Newspapers, NY Daily News, NY Times, Seattle Times, The State, Vanity Fair, WCNC, Google Maps

Alvin Greene's Win Is Certified, Feds Launch Formal Investigation

S.C. State Certifies Greene's Surprising Primary Win


In a building on Devine Street, in a small conference room on the first floor, a man, a woman and three others patched in by conference call Friday certified one of the most surprising election results in S.C. history.

Alvin Greene - an unemployed military veteran facing a felony obscenity charge, unknown by Democrats even in the rural county where he lives - is the official winner of the S.C. Democratic Party's primary for the U.S. Senate, the S.C. Election Commission decided.

Democrat Party officials scratched their heads over how Greene's candidacy moved forward despite that pending felony charge.

His vanquished primary opponent, former state legislator Vic Rawl of Charleston, wouldn't talk to The State on Friday but is reported to be poring over the results, looking for something that might explain how Greene got 59 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, the Green Party's U.S. Senate candidate, Tom Clements, is hoping disaffected Democrats will turn to him as the best hope to unseat Republican Sen. Jim DeMint in the fall.

And the 5th Circuit Solicitor's Office is looking into how Greene was able to get a Public Defender, which normally requires that a defendant be broke, to help him with that obscenity charge, given the $10,400 filing fee that Greene paid to run for the U.S. Senate.

Vanity Fair, CNN, MSNBC and The New York Times were among the media outlets poking around Friday for details on the unusual case.

Greene himself answered the telephone Friday at his home in Manning and repeated what Democratic Party officials did not want to hear: He has no intention of dropping out of the race.

"The people of South Carolina have spoken," he said. "I am their candidate. I want to talk about the issues and not anything else. Jobs, education and justice."

It was a refrain Greene offered often during the course of a 15-minute interview, punctuated more than a half-dozen times by interruptions that appeared to be from his call-waiting system.

Asked what people should know about him, Greene paused, said "OK, OK" several times and added he was born in Florence and grew up in Manning.

He served in the Air Force and the Army, which gave him an honorable discharge he described as "involuntary."

"They should know my campaign slogan is, "Let's get South Carolina back to work", Greene said.

Asked if he had help paying his filing fee, as suggested by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., in a conference call on Thursday, Greene said: "I paid that with my own money."

Greene said he campaigned across the state but offered no details of any particular places where he had traveled.

A pair of state legislators who met with Greene Thursday to urge him to drop his Senate bid came away concerned about Greene's mental state.

Asked if they or the people of South Carolina should be concerned about his mental state, Greene simply said, "No."

On Aug. 16, political parties will certify to the State Election Commission that their candidates for the fall election can or will be able to meet the requirements of the office they seek.

Democrats could not replace Greene on the ballot unless he meets narrow, non-political guidelines for stepping down.

Meanwhile, fingers are being pointed at the state Democratic Party, its leaders and others for failing to check out Greene.

Carol Fowler, chairwoman of the S.C. State Democratic Party, said the party's researcher did look into Greene's background but did not turn up anything unusual.

Greene was arrested in November and charged with obscenity after a University of South Carolina student said he showed her pornographic pictures in a computer lab and suggested they go to her room.

Fowler said she did not find out about the charge until after the primary.







Congressman Jim Clyburn Wants Alvin Greene Investigated



The No. 3 Democrat in the U.S. House called on federal authorities Thursday to investigate how an unemployed South Carolina military veteran won the state's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

"Here is Alvin Greene, unemployed, he goes into the S.C. Democratic Party headquarters and pays $10,000. That's no little bit of money for an unemployed person," House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said. "This guy, who is he? Where did he come from?"

Greene, 32, stunned the Democratic Party establishment Tuesday night when he handily defeated Vic Rawl, a four-term state lawmaker and former judge, for the party's nomination. Rawl, who had campaigned little but already raised $186,000, was forced to scrap a fundraiser planned for Thursday night.

Greene has not reported any fundraising, run any ads, or put up signs in his challenge of Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint. The website AlvinGreene2010.com was established on Thursday, but it was unclear if it was officially posted by Greene's campaign.

He had been considered such a long shot that neither his opponent nor the media bothered to check his background, which includes a November arrest on a charge of felony obscenity.

Greene, who says he left the military last August after 13 years in the Army and Air Force, has said he paid the $10,440 filing fee by saving up two years of his service pay. On Thursday, Clyburn said he's skeptical Greene paid the fee himself and demanded that federal authorities investigate where the money came from.

"You ought not be allowed to subvert the electoral process in this country," Clyburn said. "I really believe that the federal authorities can get Mr. Greene to talk about where he got his money from and what's behind this."

Party officials asked Greene to sit out of the race after The Associated Press reported he faces a felony charge, which stems from a University of South Carolina student's complaint that he showed her a pornographic website, then talked about going to her room at a university dorm.

"I've recovered. I really have," said that student, Camille McCoy.

McCoy said she wanted to speak out after learning that the man charged in the case is now a Senate candidate.

"I felt it was my duty to let the rest of South Carolina know who's running. You should all be on the lookout because who knows what he wants to do," McCoy said.

But Greene insists he's staying in the race.

"I am a legitimate candidate," Greene said Thursday, in response to questions about Clyburn's investigation request. "There's no need for it."

Arriving for interviews at a Columbia television station Thursday afternoon in a dark suit, driven in a hired car, Greene marked a stark contrast to the day before. On Wednesday, Greene greeted a reporter at his childhood home in Manning, clad in a T-shirt and sweat pants.

Greene would be required to report campaign spending to the Federal Election Commission, which regulates federal campaign finances. But the cash for the filing fee itself is given directly by candidates to the state party they wish to represent, and that money isn't subject to FEC filing requirements, officials with the agency said Thursday.

That answer doesn't satisfy Clyburn, who suspects there is more to be learned about Greene's pursuit.

"He's been paid to stay in it, by somebody," Clyburn said. "I just think this is a ploy by someone to dishonor and embarrass the Democratic Party."

Joel Sawyer, executive director of South Carolina's Republican Party, said Clyburn's allegations are evidence that the state's Democrats know they can't defeat DeMint.

"The Democratic Party is grasping at straws, and making absurd accusations to cover for their laughable incompetence in vetting candidates," Sawyer said. "That being said, if they're not even going to bother doing basic things like checking to see if their candidates have pending felony charges, we're feeling pretty doggone good about November already."

On Thursday, NewsChannel 36 reporter Rad Berky knocked on the door of the home where Greene lives with his father in Manning, S.C.

A Democratic Party activist from Manning, Henry King, who is also a friend of Greene's father, stopped by the house too, hoping to get some answers from Greene.

"I guess politically, people are doing whatever they can to straighten out this mess. I really don't know what to say at this point," King said as he waited outside, hoping Greene would answer the door.

Most Manning residents had no idea Greene was even running, including another longtime family friend, Isaac Mitchum, who voted for Greene, only after seeing his name on the ballot.

Mitchum said he did not know about the felony charge and said it might have changed the way he voted. "But I'd never heard of it," he said. "Far as I know they are fine family people."


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Sources: CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, McClatchy Newspapers, NY Daily News, NY Times, Seattle Times, The State, Vanity Fair, WCNC, Google Maps

Alvin Greene's Win Embarrasses National Democratic Party, Clyburn Investigates

Congressman Jim Clyburn Wants Alvin Greene Investigated



The No. 3 Democrat in the U.S. House called on federal authorities Thursday to investigate how an unemployed South Carolina military veteran won the state's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

"Here is Alvin Greene, unemployed, he goes into the S.C. Democratic Party headquarters and pays $10,000. That's no little bit of money for an unemployed person," House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said. "This guy, who is he? Where did he come from?"

Greene, 32, stunned the Democratic Party establishment Tuesday night when he handily defeated Vic Rawl, a four-term state lawmaker and former judge, for the party's nomination. Rawl, who had campaigned little but already raised $186,000, was forced to scrap a fundraiser planned for Thursday night.

Greene has not reported any fundraising, run any ads, or put up signs in his challenge of Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint. The website AlvinGreene2010.com was established on Thursday, but it was unclear if it was officially posted by Greene's campaign.

He had been considered such a long shot that neither his opponent nor the media bothered to check his background, which includes a November arrest on a charge of felony obscenity.

Greene, who says he left the military last August after 13 years in the Army and Air Force, has said he paid the $10,440 filing fee by saving up two years of his service pay. On Thursday, Clyburn said he's skeptical Greene paid the fee himself and demanded that federal authorities investigate where the money came from.

"You ought not be allowed to subvert the electoral process in this country," Clyburn said. "I really believe that the federal authorities can get Mr. Greene to talk about where he got his money from and what's behind this."

Party officials asked Greene to sit out of the race after The Associated Press reported he faces a felony charge, which stems from a University of South Carolina student's complaint that he showed her a pornographic website, then talked about going to her room at a university dorm.

"I've recovered. I really have," said that student, Camille McCoy.

McCoy said she wanted to speak out after learning that the man charged in the case is now a Senate candidate.

"I felt it was my duty to let the rest of South Carolina know who's running. You should all be on the lookout because who knows what he wants to do," McCoy said.

But Greene insists he's staying in the race.

"I am a legitimate candidate," Greene said Thursday, in response to questions about Clyburn's investigation request. "There's no need for it."

Arriving for interviews at a Columbia television station Thursday afternoon in a dark suit, driven in a hired car, Greene marked a stark contrast to the day before. On Wednesday, Greene greeted a reporter at his childhood home in Manning, clad in a T-shirt and sweat pants.

Greene would be required to report campaign spending to the Federal Election Commission, which regulates federal campaign finances. But the cash for the filing fee itself is given directly by candidates to the state party they wish to represent, and that money isn't subject to FEC filing requirements, officials with the agency said Thursday.

That answer doesn't satisfy Clyburn, who suspects there is more to be learned about Greene's pursuit.

"He's been paid to stay in it, by somebody," Clyburn said. "I just think this is a ploy by someone to dishonor and embarrass the Democratic Party."

Joel Sawyer, executive director of South Carolina's Republican Party, said Clyburn's allegations are evidence that the state's Democrats know they can't defeat DeMint.

"The Democratic Party is grasping at straws, and making absurd accusations to cover for their laughable incompetence in vetting candidates," Sawyer said. "That being said, if they're not even going to bother doing basic things like checking to see if their candidates have pending felony charges, we're feeling pretty doggone good about November already."

On Thursday, NewsChannel 36 reporter Rad Berky knocked on the door of the home where Greene lives with his father in Manning, S.C.

A Democratic Party activist from Manning, Henry King, who is also a friend of Greene's father, stopped by the house too, hoping to get some answers from Greene.

"I guess politically, people are doing whatever they can to straighten out this mess. I really don't know what to say at this point," King said as he waited outside, hoping Greene would answer the door.

Most Manning residents had no idea Greene was even running, including another longtime family friend, Isaac Mitchum, who voted for Greene, only after seeing his name on the ballot.

Mitchum said he did not know about the felony charge and said it might have changed the way he voted. "But I'd never heard of it," he said. "Far as I know they are fine family people."


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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, NY Daily News, Seattle Times, WCNC, Google Maps