This just in: Zach Galifianakis endorses Billy Kennedy

Posted at: Greensboro News & Record blog
Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010

This just in from our Wilkes County bureau, aka government editor Margaret Banks:

Democrat Bill Kennedy, who is running against Republican U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx’s in the 5th Congressional District, picked up a bizarre yet important endorsement on Thursday:

Zach Galifianakis.

You know … the comedian? The weird bearded guy from “The Hangover?” The dude who shaved his beard on “Saturday Night Live?”

Galifianakis posted this entry on his Facebook page: “Hi, NC. Just a reminder of who Virginia Foxx is. She is not cool and no relation to Redd Foxx. Vote Bill Kennedy.”

Below that, he posted a link of Foxx on the House floor in April 2009, discussing Matthew Shepherd, the University of Wyoming student who was tortured and murdered after being lured out of a bar by two men. In the oft-played You Tube clip, Fox says Shepherd was killed while committing a robbery, not because he was gay – sparking outrage across the country.

So why does Galifianakis care? He’s from Wilkesboro, for starters. His parents still live there. He owns property in the county. And he has deep family ties to the Democratic party. His uncle, Nick Galifianakis, served in the N.C. House and the U.S. House, and ran unsuccessfully against Jesse Helms for U.S. Senate in 1972. In fact, it was Nick Galifianakis’ Greek heritage that prompted Helms’ famous slogan: “Jesse Helms: He’s One of Us.”