Flake uses pumpkin puns to spice up the national debt
Lay off the pumpkin spice ... Sen. Jeff Flake must have had one too many pumpkin-spice Oreos this week. In what appears to be a folksy attempt to get his constituents to care about the national debt, he sent out the punniest news release Insider has seen in quite some time, maybe ever.
But before we get into it, grab a pumpkin-spice latte. You’re going to need the extra sugar and caffeine to translate this one.
According to the release, Forbes estimates Americans spend about $500 million a year on pumpkin-spice products. In national debt speak, that would require “40,400 fall seasons for the pumpkin-spice economy to pay off our $20.2 trillion national debt.”
Are 40,400 falls really an easier concept to imagine than $20.2 trillion?
And then things get really odd. “Not leafing our kids with autumn of debt is one of a latte gourd reasons to Fall-o-through on the Debt BuyDown Act,” Flake said in the news release.
What will we get next week, the 500 billion “sexy bureaucrat” costumes we’ll have to buy to equal the national debt?
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Not the site you’re looking for ... A 21st century-style prank on Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton resurfaced this week after the Democrat announced his candidacy for Congress.
The web domain that bears his name, GregStanton.com, actually redirects to the official website of President Donald Trump, one of Stanton’s political foes.
The website has redirected to donaldjtrump.com since at least November, according to social-media posts, but it’s perhaps even more ironic after Stanton’s pointed public criticism of Trump in August.
Stanton appeared on a score of national television programs asking Trump to postpone his visit to Phoenix for a campaign rally just a week after deadly violence at a white-supremacist gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump didn’t listen, came anyway and crowds of protesters were gassed by police outside the Phoenix Convention Center where he spoke.
Trump and Stanton are about as far apart on the political spectrum as possible — but they could have the opportunity to work together. Stanton is hoping to take over Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema’s congressional seat in November 2018. She is running for the Senate seat held by Arizona Republican Jeff Flake.
Stanton isn’t the first victim of the increasingly popular redirect prank.
Last year, JebBush.com also redirected to Trump’s site. And TedCruz.com featured a message of “SUPPORT PRESIDENT OBAMA. IMMIGRATION REFORM NOW!” Today it shows a picture of Hillary Clinton and the note, “FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA!!!”
“Rather than spend campaign funds to buy a domain we don’t need, we’re directing people to StantonforArizona.com — where they can learn more about Greg, including his long-standing policy of not feeding the trolls,” Stanton campaign spokesman Andy Barr said in a statement.
The take away for future politicos: Lock down that domain name now.
» Quote of the week
“There are many miles between Phoenix and Washington, D.C., but what separates us most is how we work to solve problems.”
— Greg Stanton, mayor of Phoenix, announcing that he will run for Congress and seek the seat held by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who is running for U.S. Senate.