Two years ago, Stacey Dash’s Oscars appearance was one of the most painfully awkward moment from any awards show. Move over, Kanye.
Now, the actress and controversial conservative pundit is appearing somewhere else: a ballot.
That’s right, folks. Stacey Dash is running for Congress. This is real life.
Back in the ’90s, Stacey Dash starred in the cult classic film, Clueless.
It’s a beloved film, but some of its stars haven’t fared so well.
There was the tragic death of Brittany Murphy.
Alicia Silverstone is alive and well … but wrote a parenting book that espouses views characterized as anti-vaccination. That’s never a good look.
And then there’s Stacey Dash who emerged in 2012 as a conservative pundit whose outlandish and often unsupported statements made headlines and made heads turn.
Stacey worked for Fox News for a while — she’s both a beautiful woman and a conservative, so she really fit their brand — but the network did not renew her contract in 2017.
Stacey Dash is now, however, running for Congress.
Yes, the Congress of the United States of America. She filed the paperwork to run in California’s 44th district, looking to unseat Democrat Nanette Barragan.
And yes, she’s making “Dash to DC” a real thing.
It’s worth noting that the district tends to vote for Democratic candidates, and includes Compton, Watts, San Pedro, and North Long Beach.
Some guess that Stacey Dash believes that a beautiful woman of color (and celebrity) might have a fighting chance in flipping the district.
Stacey Dash’s history calls that into question.
See, Stacey Dash wasn’t always an outspoken Republican. In fact, she wasn’t always a Republican.
She apparently supported Barack Obama during 2008. Over time, however, she came to believe that Obama’s policies were “socialism.”
(This is in part a result of the polarization that causes people on both sides of the political aisle to view free market capitalism as the only form of capitalism, as if welfare capitalism isn’t sitting right there)
At that point, she decided that she wouldn’t be “pressured” into supporting Obama or other Democratic politicians simply because she’s black or a woman.
She supported Mitt Romney in 2012 and has continued to be an outspoken conservative ever since.
Stacey Dash running for Congress might be a surprise to anyone who expects people to make good choices, but she’s actually been threatening to run for office for a little while now.
On February 9th, she tweeted:
“A number of people online and off have suggested I run for political office. I wanted to see what my online community thinks of this idea as I mull the possibilities. Thoughts?”
On February 22nd, she tweeted: “Things are taking shape.” She followed that with “Soon.”
Fans and followers who saw those vague tweets could only conclude that she was either making good on her threat to run for office or constructing some sort of laser on the moon. It was the former.
We don’t know what her strategy for flipping a district that voted 83% for Hillary Clinton in 2016. That will be interesting to watch.
As for Stacey Dash choosing now to run … we suspect that February being Black History month has little to do with it.
She’s stated — or, as some characterize it, she’s parroted racist criticisms in a bid for acceptance from white conservatives — that Black History Month shouldn’t exist.
(Forgetting, perhaps, that without such occasions, some people find it all too easy to focus on white accomplishments. Spending the shortest month of the year to pay attention to the struggles and deeds of a minority isn’t too much to ask, right?)
Stacey’s taken a number of controversial stances that don’t even have to do with race — such as suggesting that transgender people should “pee in the bushes” instead of using bathrooms with cisgender people. Yikes.
Some ask if Stacey Dash is making this run to try to build her brand. Others wonder if she just wants attention — though surely she’s read enough mean tweets about herself by now.
