In the waning days of the presidential election, the third-party candidates are scrounging for whatever celebrity backing they can find, even if the A-list is unavailable.
Jill Stein is touting the endorsement of doctor-comedian-activist Patch Adams. Wearing his trademark clown shirt, but apparently unable to record a video with his head fully in the frame, Adams laments that "the media [acts] like there are only two people running for president." He dismisses the major party candidates as cravenly "running for wealth" while he is "for the people, all of the people." Touting Stein's support for single-payer health care, he says "My heart aches for the huge number of people who have come to me hurt that they can't get care, or they won't care because of the bill." He then says, without obvious relevance, that he once had a nice dinner with Jill Stein's husband in Peru.
That endorsement may be uninspiring, but Gary Johnson had a bigger endorsement fail.
He participated in an interview with YouTuber "Professor Puppet," in which he was peppered with questions about his electability, immigration, global warming and Hillary Clinton's emails by an actual puppet, "Professor Hans Von Puppet" to be precise. And after the interview was over, the puppet was unmoved: "Kind of nice guy, I really liked him. His heart's in the right place, I think. But he just is not really the sharpest tool in the shed ... I'm sticking with Hillary." (Johnson may have lost him when he mistakenly said that people in U.S. territories could vote for president.)
For either third-party candidate to pull off an Election Day surprise, they may need to keep looking for that game-changing endorsement.
Patch Adams Backs Jill Stein
Jill Stein is touting the endorsement of doctor-comedian-activist Patch Adams. Wearing his trademark clown shirt, but apparently unable to record a video with his head fully in the frame, Adams laments that "the media [acts] like there are only two people running for president." He dismisses the major party candidates as cravenly "running for wealth" while he is "for the people, all of the people." Touting Stein's support for single-payer health care, he says "My heart aches for the huge number of people who have come to me hurt that they can't get care, or they won't care because of the bill." He then says, without obvious relevance, that he once had a nice dinner with Jill Stein's husband in Peru.
That endorsement may be uninspiring, but Gary Johnson had a bigger endorsement fail.
Professor Puppet Does Not Back Gary Johnson
He participated in an interview with YouTuber "Professor Puppet," in which he was peppered with questions about his electability, immigration, global warming and Hillary Clinton's emails by an actual puppet, "Professor Hans Von Puppet" to be precise. And after the interview was over, the puppet was unmoved: "Kind of nice guy, I really liked him. His heart's in the right place, I think. But he just is not really the sharpest tool in the shed ... I'm sticking with Hillary." (Johnson may have lost him when he mistakenly said that people in U.S. territories could vote for president.)
For either third-party candidate to pull off an Election Day surprise, they may need to keep looking for that game-changing endorsement.