Posted on 06/27/2012 12:49:31 PM PDT by BarnacleCenturion
Jim Wilson, the peripatetic, profane, pipe-smoking volunteer for Mitt Romney whose ubiquitous pickup truck was destroyed in a fire last week, has a new set of wheels, donated by the campaign to which he has devoted a year of his life.
Mr. Romney himself will present Mr. Wilson, a 70-year-old Virginian, with a replacement vehicle during an event in Sterling, Va., on Wednesday, ensuring that, until Election Day, Mr. Wilson can keep popping up at campaign stops in a truck festooned with dozens of giant Romney for President posters and stickers.
...
Mr. Wilson, an anti-Obama Republican and former life insurance salesman, had devoted himself with the single-mindedness of a college-age groupie to following Mr. Romney around the country in a beat-up 1998 GMC, logging 40,000 miles, visiting 15 states and attending 150 campaign events. For his fanatical loyalty, he elicited unprintable jeers, tossed tomatoes, honked horns, thumbs-up gestures and letters placed under the windshield wipers from drivers across America.
In the process, Mr. Wilson has brought a humanizing (and humorous) dimension to a candidacy that, for all its organizational prowess and fund-raising might, has sometimes struggled to connect with ordinary voters. He has a penchant for Viagra jokes, carries a three-inch fishing knife and hugs every woman he meets.
Then, last week, his rolling Romney billboard caught fire on a Pennsylvania highway. The cause remains unknown..
(Excerpt) Read more at thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com ...
I am thinking that the flags are laying in the grass because they had been hurriedly pulled out of the burning vehicle. That’s just my guess though.
I sure as heck hope he didn’t buy him a GM or dodge truck. A nice 2012 Ford F250 Super Duty Diesel would be the trick.
When Romney gave him the keys he should have said “Unfortunately, obama is going to collect a gift tax from you.”
What the guy got was a little newer GM pickup of the same model.
Hit send too soon. Anyway, clearly that’s a used truck; they don’t make that body style any more. With those headlights it’s an 03-06 Chevrolet Silverado; the badges say it’s a 4WD and the gray bumper says it’s not a higher level model. It doesn’t have much resale value, so Romney can’t be accused of being Mr. Moneybags; trucks like that in my area cost less than $12-15,000. Looks to be in good condition, though; it’d be a decent return on investment for advertising.
Also, bunch of errors in the original report. One that came to mind was their mention of the guy getting a hydrant from Romney. As the picture shows, that’s not a hydrant, that’s a fire extinguisher. A hydrant would make no sense.
This was the NY Times and yet the comments after the article were fairly scathing towards Obama. That’s encouraging.
US flags saved from the fire.
Were any Dateline NBC crews in the vicinity?
they love burning pickups.
He very well might, which would put him in the same league as any other politician presented with an opportunity to get some good PR.
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