Congressional Candidate Blasts Elephant Piñata With Shotgun In Campaign Ad

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Democrat congressional hopeful Estakio Beltran published a rather unique campaign ad on YouTube. In the video he declares: “They call me a long shot. They say I can’t win in this district. But what happens to an elephant when it stands around, doing nothing, for too long?”

The camera panned to an elephant piñata, and then back to Estakio, who blasted it the face with a pump-action shotgun.

“My name is Estakio Beltran,” he said. “And I approved this message.”

He then rode off on a donkey toward a sign pointing toward the U.S. Capitol.

Estakio is vying to win the 4th Congressional District seat to be vacated by long serving Republican Doc Hastings who is retiring. His campaign removed the video from YouTube but that certainly did not stop the Streisand Effect from casting the video into stone via copying by other YouTube fans.

His spokesman afterwards put out more spin than a Trap Machine throwing clays:

“The purpose of the video was to call attention to a do-nothing Congress in need of a kick in the butt,” campaign spokesman Grady O’Brien said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “Now it’s time to move forward and focus on the issues that are important to the people of this district: jobs through innovation, education, and accountability in Washington, D.C. Estakio’s message of bringing a fearless new energy to Congress remains the same.”

His attempt to appeal to Eastern Washingtonians with his shotgun prowess most certainly failed, especially considering the 4th Congressional District is heavily Republican and is not likely to take kindly to the symbolism, much less the general idea of shooting something cute in the face. Teddy Roosevelt would have surely considered it unsporting.

Toward the end of the ad, Estakio declares, strangely, that he is a “good shot.” But most wouldn’t consider it good bragging rights to say you can hit an elephant at twenty feet with a shotgun.

Finally Estakio rides off bareback on a rather small donkey; ready to take on DC. Shotgun in hand, this young buck’s campaign might go down, but not without a blaze of glory. He certainly rid Eastern Washington of its elephant piñata menace. We can be at least thankful for that.

By Darren Smith

 

Sources

KIRO TV
Streisand Effect

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