George Pataki's End-Of-Campaign Video Is Awkward

Well, another one bites the dust in the gang of GOP presidential hopefuls. Tuesday brought the announcement by Republican candidate George Pataki that he was ending his bid for the White House. And with around a dozen candidates left in the pack, Americans are bound to see a few more "I'm out!" clips in the coming weeks. The latest video announcement will be hard to top, though, since the video of George Pataki dropping out of the 2016 race is pretty much the epitome of a man in denial.

If you bypass the title of the video, you won't have a clue that Pataki is actually announcing the end of his bid for president, until the very end of the clip that is. For the first minute and 30 seconds, Pataki is too preoccupied reminding the American people of everyone's fear of radical Islam as well as all the fabulous credentials that would have made him a great Prez.

I was honored to lead the people of New York state as governor for over a decade. I brought to that job the values I learned growing up on a small family farm in the Hudson Valley — the values of hard work, family, faith, and community.

It's a shame that pretty much no one knew about these credentials earlier, or that Pataki was even running for president.

Fast forward through a sentimental speech about bringing America back to that special place where every person believes the country can accomplish anything. The unequivocal highlight of the video is Pataki saying the next president needs to be able to: 1) defeat radical Islam; 2) shrink Washington; and 3) unite everyone across the nation. Cue a bit about Sept. 11 being an example of the American people coming together. And then Pataki finally slips in the necessary statement:

While tonight is the end of my journey for the White House as I suspend my campaign for President, I'm confident we can elect the right person.

What was missing from Pataki's announcement was an endorsement for one of the other candidates, despite his confidence that someone out there is good enough for the American people. But who, George? Who?

Maybe Pataki's own refusal to believe his campaign is really over is making it too hard to tell Americans to cast a ballot for somebody else. At least the GOP candidate got to film the announcement on what is just about the coziest living room set ever designed. If the campaign trail has to end, in front of a warm hearth ain't a bad place to do it.

Image: George Pataki/YouTube