We thought we'd seen the last of coal company plutocrat Don "Big Shit" Blankenship, the man responsible for the deaths of 29 coal miners at the Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine while CEO of Massey Energy Co. He served less than a year in prison for conspiracy to commit violations of mine safety rules, rules which stood in the way of lining his pockets.
He's out of prison now, and in an interview with a West Virginia radio station, Big Shit said from his home in Las Vegas no less that he's mulling over a run for the U.S. Senate as a Rethuglican:
“It’s always a possibility but more than anything I’m just still trying to figure out how to get the truth out about UBB and of course I do have a lot of love and interest in West Virginia....If I could get some momentum, some help, I might have a chance at winning a Republican primary, particularly."The "truth" about the UBB mine disaster is that he was able to afford lawyers that got him off on a misdemeanor, when he should have been charged with multiple felonies. Before his trial and conviction, Big Shit was fond of dressing up in red, white and blue outfits and demagoguing climate change, unions and "gummit" regulations that he claimed were killing jobs in the mines, as opposed to actual deaths he caused by his failure to enforce those regulations and union-busting. After conning the crowds with his "patriotism" and country cornpone, he'd fly off in his personal helicopter.
Can he win the Rethuglican nomination for Senate in West Virginia? Here's our Rethuglican candidate checklist: sociopath, check. Self-righteous ex-con, check. Amoral liar, check. Ill-gotten personal wealth, check. Big Shit checks all the boxes.
