The stupidity of Alan Schlesinger: the press conference edition

It's Friday so lets have some fun and goof on the Republican nominee for senate, Alan "double-down" Schlesinger.

Here's your lesson for today. Follow these easy steps...

1. Read this article. In fact, I'll help you with by highlighting the key part of the article.

Schlesinger, who alternated between being defiant and dismissive during a Thursday morning press conference, said he'd done nothing wrong by giving a fake name to obtain a wampum card at Foxwoods in 1992, when he was serving as a state legislator from Derby. The cards reward casino patrons with meals, rooms and merchandise.

On Wednesday, Schlesinger said he didn't use his real name because he wanted to preserve his privacy and didn't want to be subjected to marketing from the resort. By Thursday, he had expanded his reasons: He was concerned about identity theft and didn't want people to think he was biased toward the tribal nation that owned the casino because he was gambling there.

Schlesinger said he didn't use a fake license or other form of identification to obtain the card, and that he never made enough winnings at the blackjack table to report them as income to the IRS.

Schlesinger also said he hadn't remembered using a fake name while gambling at Foxwoods in the 1990s until he received a July 5 e-mail from Bradley Beecher, a former state police officer once assigned to the casino unit.

[...]

But Schlesinger had some reason to remember it: A state police source who worked for the casino unit in the early 1990s said Schlesinger was confronted by a casino police officer on the false name.

Schlesinger came to the attention of casino authorities shortly after Foxwoods opened in 1992, the police source said, because he was suspected of counting cards at the blackjack table.

A state trooper went to the high-end blackjack tables and approached a man who identified himself as Alan Gold and handed the trooper a wampum card with that name on it. When the trooper asked the man for more identification, according to the police source, the man refused to give it.

The encounter ended with the man admitting that he was using an alias and that his real name was Alan Schlesinger. He then produced a valid driver's license and told the trooper he "didn't want anyone to know who he really was," according to the source.

Schlesinger was not arrested, but the trooper filed a report of the incident that led to the state police opening a criminal intelligence file on him, the police source said.

Okay, did you absorb all that info? Good, let's proceed.

2. Watch the video. Now, you don't have to watch the entire thing in order to proceed to step 3...you should be all set after watching about five minutes of this political car wreck (the video clip is about 20 min in length. I couldn't bring myself to editing it as watching Schlesinger dodge questions is too damn funny).



3. Take the poll.

What phrase best describes Alan Schlesinger
	Alan Schlesinger is a lousy card counter
	Alan Schlesinger is the worst candidate in the history of Connecticut politics
	Alan Schlesinger is the worst liar in the history of Connecticut politics
	The Republicans want Joe Lieberman to win the election
Free polls from Pollhost.com

I'll have the results for everyone later.

UPDATE: Whoops! So much for the identity theft excuse. You see, as Alan said in at the news conference, the Wampum card is used for marketing purposes BUT what he didn't mention is that those cards are not used for collecting personal data just marketing data. (Hat tip to an old friend and faithful reader).

When it comes to defining data for identity theft bills, the Direct Marketing Association says lawmakers on Capital Hill aren't on the same page. Which is why John Greco, president/CEO of the DMA, says his group needs to help lawmakers understand what is and what isn't data that would cause a security breech.

During the DMA's List & Database Council luncheon in New York on May 25, Greco said that personal, identity-specific data such as social security and credit card numbers is often confused with "marketing data" based on shopping habits and purchase history. It's up to the DMA, Greco said, to make lawmakers aware of the difference.

[...]

"For direct marketers, it's vital that we stop that from happening. It's critical to build awareness that marketing data can't be used to steal identity. So as we hammer that message home on Capitol Hill, direct marketers must be even more responsible than ever in handling their marketing data. We can't afford to become a 'poster child' for data security."

Someone should of gave Alan the heads up on this info before he pulled the "identity theft" claim out of his ass when he "expanded" on his excuse Thursday.