"What are your thoughts on the upcoming US senate race?"
Bridenstine then prefaced his seemingly prepared answer by overtly "building credibility" by listing all his defiant actions in congressional politics. Then he said; "It's very difficult to get a better senator than Lankford." he went on to say; "There is not a person out there that has higher integrity, and is going to be more conservative". |
Given the gasps & moans that were quite audible with that statement, Bridenstine then acknowledged that he just "made half the room.. probably more than half upset".
|
This lead more than a few politicos to suggest that this was more of a Lankford stunt to get Bridenstine to campaign at perhaps the most politically dangerous crowd for Lankford. One person said that the entire Bridenstine appearance and speech was just a setup so he could take a planted question and make his stump speech to re elect Lankford.
Bridenstine became the strongest political alternative to Lankford, following Lankford's sudden abandonment of his own pledge at the January 6th congressional drama. But sources close to Bridenstine said that there is no scenario where Bridenstine would oppose the very senator who relentlessly pushed for Bridenstine's eventual confirmation as NASA Administrator. A position that Bridenstine spent less than 2 years at, before resigning on January 20th.
In 2014, I asked Bridenstine if he would consider running for the open seat, himself? He said he'd given it a lot of serious thought & prayer; and sought a lot of advice about. So he was willing to consider a run against Lankford in 2014, but doesn't think anyone can be better than Lankford in 2022?
Now Bridenstine is working in the private sector with aerospace industry investment projects. It appears his own political asperations are ended. But it also seems Bridenstine... whether paid or not, is on the stump for James Lankford. Perhaps with the help of Hopper Smith?
Lankford just scored his biggest Oklahoma endorsement. But we waited a month to write this article, so we could gauge a little of the impact. It seems the activists on the right(The Trump faithful) are very resolved to seek to replace a senator who gave his word and broke it, on the worst day possible. And then he apologized to everyone but the Trump supporters who at that time still had confidence in his word of honor.
Another ancillary mystery is why the video, posted live on OCPAC's Facebook page; is now taken down. We found the video on the OCPAC YouTube feed? We called a couple attendees, seeking further insights, but no explanation was given.