It doesn’t get any better than this. I’ll let James Taranto over at the OpinionJournal do the talking, with all apologies for copying and pasting. This is just too funny…
On May 10, we noted that Brad Blanton, who was seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, was running into trouble because he had to explain–well, we’ll let Blanton finish the thought: ‘People are concerned because I have run workshop groups involving nudity, used profanity in my books, have a comedy routine about establishing a new religion, ‘Futilitarianism,’ and have been arrested a number of times.’
Yesterday we received this email from reader Steven Kush:
As one who reads your column and Dr. Brad Blanton’s new campaign manager, I couldn’t help noticing and reading (with interest) your Best of the Web for May 10, 2006, ‘For Bush critics, the war is all about him. Plus will Brad Blanton bring nudity to C-Span?’
Granted, this email comes somewhat late, but, as I stated, I am Dr. Blanton’s new campaign manager. Indeed, had I been here at the time it was published I would have contacted you then. That said, the answer to the question is, obviously, no, Brad Blanton will not bring nudity to C-Span nor anywhere else for that matter.
In fact, the whole nudity issue was answered in a recent column on the editorial page of the Culpeper Star-Exponent, ‘In Defense of My Candidacy: Don’t let editorial attacks and Dempublicrats win the day.’ You can read it here.
In that column Dr. Blanton writes, ‘Of course, Republicans would certainly, in the course of a campaign, mention the role of nudity in my work. It is not ‘nude psychotherapy’ by the way, that is a distortion started by a reporter at another publication. Voters have a right to know about this, and I have nothing to hide.’
‘In fact, nudity is an important part of the leadership seminars I use to teach business and community leaders about how to distinguish between noticing and thinking. Some very talented and successful people pay well to attend these sessions, and nothing out of the ordinary occurs during them except some self-discovery and awareness.’
He then goes on to explain that his book ‘The Truthtellers’ documents the effectiveness of his seminars in the words of participants.
The fact is, this nudity ‘issue’ was blown way out of proportion and the campaign has taken the proper steps to set the record straight. Hopefully, you will read the above referenced column to gain a complete understanding of the ‘issue.’
As Blanton’s reference to ‘Dempublicrats’ suggests, he did not win the Democratic nomination, but he’s still running as an independent. He must be hoping residents of Virginia’s Seventh District aren’t clothed-minded.