Jimmy Kimmel Mocks Oakland Mayoral Candidate Peter Liu

I live about 35 miles south of San Francisco and don’t often make it across the bay to Oakland, so I haven’t been following the Oakland mayoral race, so I was surprised to see this headline about Jimmy Kimmel mocking mayoral candidate Peter Liu:

“Oakland’s most ridiculous mayoral candidate, Peter Liu, was jabbed by comic Jimmy Kimmel Monday night for his wild take on the digital divide in Oakland. Answering a question about equal access to the Internet for the oakmayor2014.com website, Liu said: “The lesson here is this: When your son says, ‘Mommy, Daddy, I need internet access for homework,’ this really translates to: ‘I am gonna masturbate online while my parents at work yo.’” Kimmel also ripped from a Chronicle interview of Liu, where Liu says he was motivated to run, in part, by a relative who “called me a piece of sh–.””

I know current Oakland mayor, Jean Quan, is running for re-election, and is in a tight and crowded race (with 15 candidates running). My impression from watching the local news and reading the local newspapers is that Quan is not well liked and has a mixed record as mayor. One of Jimmy Kimmel’s viewers sent him a video of one not-so-serious candidate (or a candidate hard to take serious), Peter Liu.

After viewing Liu’s videotaped interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, it is a bit hard to take Liu’s ideas and bid for mayor seriously:

In essence, Liu comes across as the political version of William Hung, of American Idol ‘fame,’ or more like infamy…

It’s hard to take Liu seriously when he does not have an official website, though he has provided a photo and candidate statement at www.oakmayor2014.com and has an Oakland Wiki page. But if everything in Liu’s candidate statement is true:

“Peter Y. Liu is a father, service-connected Army war veteran, insurance agent, commercial & residential real estate investor, and rags to riches self-made multimillionaire. Came to Oakland as a poor immigrant in 1987. Went through the Oakland Unified schools at Bella Vista, Edna Brewer and Oakland High. He has a bachelors from the University of California and a journalism diploma from the United States Defense Information School. … “

he’s accomplished quite a bit from humble beginnings for a young 30-something. But I’m pretty sure that Liu won’t be elected as Oakland mayor, or any public office, anytime soon.