Rand Paul ‘Celebrates’ Festivus with Supporters
Wednesday morning, Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Rand Paul decided to have fun with his supporters—occasionally at his competition’s expense—on Twitter by “celebrating” Festivus.
The faux holiday parody, written into an episode of the television comedy Seinfeld nearly 20 years ago, has been picked up by a number of fans of the show who want to make fun of the rampant consumerism and commercialization of Christmas. Among the Festivus “traditions” is the “Airing of Grievances.”
This part of the “celebration” is supposed to take place immediately after the Festivus dinner has been served. It consists of each person lashing out at others and the world about how they have been disappointed in the past year.
In the 1997 TV episode titled “The Strike,” the character Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) began the Airing of Grievances by saying, “I got a lotta problems with you people, and you’re going to hear about it!” In keeping with the theme, Paul let loose with quite a few grievances to his followers on Twitter.
He first unloaded a 38-page list of spending grievances to his U.S. Senate website. Then he took to social media to unleash his grievances against the rest of the GOP presidential field, which included a few zingers, such as:
• “My friend @tedcruz has still not pledged to issue exec order declaring Canadian ‘bacon’ is not real bacon. Makes me suspicious. #Festivus”
• “I have no grievances against my fellow doc @RealBenCarson because I have not heard a word he has said in any debate. #Festivus”
• “@CarlyFiorina has ZERO trouble making it back from commercial breaks @HillaryClinton. Just saying. #Festivus #waronwomensrooms”
• “@JebBush is always trying to change the debate rules to allow extra time for awkward pauses in answers. Not gonna happen. #Festivus”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper campaign stunt if there wasn’t a push for campaign contrbutions involved. But there wasn’t any mention of the final Festivus tradition: “Feats of Strength.”
