Silly Season

Politics is by its very nature a mix of the sublime and the absurd. I can't decide which one applies to the Idaho GOP primary for governor.

In Idaho's Republican gubernatorial race, it's politics as unusual, a situation evidenced by a recent debate that brought attention to the broad spectrum of candidates in contention.

"It's a race between a cowboy, a curmudgeon, a biker, or a normal guy..."

Reminds me of the Village People - or Saturday Night Live. To show you how absurd it is, the incumbent governor's name is Butch Otter.

Seriously.

The backgrounds of the candidates are as diverse as their debate apparel, with qualifications including being a great-grandfather, a professional engineer, a state Republican Party leader, and the incumbent governor.

Harley Brown was a Seabee in the Navy, trained as a professional engineer and worked as a public works officer. (He's the biker in the quartet he mentioned above.)

State Sen. Russ Fulcher has a degree in business and is the chairman of the GOP caucus.

Walt Bayes has 70 years of experience living in Idaho under his belt, and is a proud great-grandfather.

Then there's incumbent Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, in office since 2007.

Can you match the candidates to their picture?

Some sample quotes from the debate:

Harley Brown's introductory speech begins at 4:43, complete with colorful hearkening back to his games of bang-bang as a kid: "Don't think I'm crazy, 'cause I'm not!"

Here's his take on gay marriage:

"Discrimination! Let me tell you about discrimination. In 1990- uh, belay that- in 1964, the blacks got the Civil Rights Act passed. We bikers! Discrimination? We are cop magnets, like a Playboy Bunny wearing' a miniskirt gets hit on all the time! They pull us over without probable cause, and they bring up the sniffin' dogs and they search us and our bikes, even when we're not flyin' our colors. If you're a leather-clad Harley Davidson driver, you know, the cops are gonna zero in on you like a heat-seeking missile.

Okay. Discrimination. I used to drive taxis in Boise for 20 years. At night! And I've picked up my fair share of the gay community. And they have true love for one another. I'm tellin' you, they love each other more than I love my motorcycle. And you know, they're just as American as a Medal of Honor Winner. And, uh, liberty and justice for all! Equal protection under the law! I'm glad that judge made that decision, and I'm glad they wanna get married and live like that."

Hard to argue with that logic.

Walt Bayes has his turn immediately after, at 5:51: "I stand on principles. I went to jail for homeschoolin', and my kids turned out pretty good. I've got four sons that made rodeo cowboys, and one daughter."

Not bad, but good ol' Harley Brown had the line of the night:

"I'm about as politically correct as your proverbial [piece of excrement] in a punchbowl and I'm proud of it..."

Harley just may have won my vote.

You can watch a video of the debate at either of the previous links. It will waste about an hour of your life, but it's more entertaining than most one-hour television shows.

And I thought Texas politics was strange...