Does this look like a guy that's about to heckle Meg Whitman?
You Be The Judge
As any good conspiracy theorist would do, I did some cursory Internet sleuthing. And at first blush, it appears that Ed Buck is a Democrat. He's donated to Democratic campaigns. He likes animals and hates eminent domain development. And he's heckled before. According to LA Weekly, May 25, 2006:
Concern over campaign contributions erupted at a City Council meeting in February. Ed Buck, a West Hollywood resident, confronted [Abbe] Land and said she had accepted more than $40,000 from entities involved in one council agenda item.
There's just one thing... Abbe Land is a Democrat.
That's just the kind of thing that would send a conspiracy nut off the wall. Then I found this:
Time Magazine, November 9, 1987:
Says Ed Buck, a gay Phoenix businessman and conservative Republican who launched the recall movement last July: "Perhaps their support finally drove the point home to Evan Mecham that this is not a band of homosexuals and dissident Republicans.""CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN!!!" Ed Buck!
And yes, it is the same Ed Buck.
So the question then becomes: Why did Ed Buck heckle Meg Whitman? Is it that he's a tea party style disgruntled Republican? Was he, as Meg Whitman suggested, a plant by her Democratic opponents? Or, far more sinister, was it a plot by Whitman and Christie to boost both their profiles?
Alas, without any smoking gun, say, a signed check from Whitman to Buck, I'd say we probably have to conclude the first probability. Ed Buck is a politically active, fiscally conservative but socially liberal person, who didn't like the fact that Whitman had an event in which she refused to take questions. He's been a vocal proponent of transparency in the past. A Democratic plant seems like a stretch-- this guy beats to his own drum, and clearly is an equal-opportunity heckler.
But that shot of them holding hands.... well. I'll let others do the digging for me.
One last thing. Lets just note Christie's hypocrisy. He talks about bringing America together, and not shouting, when he's done the exact opposite in Jersey. Instead of listening to teachers concerns, he's belittled them. He's raged against the working class. His governing strategy is to take money away from everywhere its needed, while maintaining promises to the wealthy people who donated to his campaign. The school system is weaker now because of him, and all but the wealthiest are struggling. People called him "standing up to" a "heckler" chivalrous (because Whitman is a woman, who obviously can't defend herself), but all Christie was doing was stifling discussion and debate, something he's tried to do at every juncture in his time as New Jersey governor.
This is the guy Republicans think is the future???
