GOP Victory in Montana Means Dem Landslide in Next Elections?

[FORD]

[FORD]

[Terry]

At this point that seems like a prettly plausible strategy...

Yes, but it'd be better for the Democratic Party to start bringing the various ideological factions within the party together, throwing some thought and muscle behind Red State races and actually displaying some intestinal/testicular fortitude as political competitors.

All of that would likely fire up the base (and bring more independents around) far better than the slogan: We're the other major political party, we're not currently in power, but we'll be there for you if and when Trump and the Republicans come crashing down due to their hubris!" And all of that is also needed on local and state levels if they're going to start recouping their decade-long losses. The mindset being that removing Trump in and of itself isn't going to get the Democratic agenda firmly in place in local municipalities. Look at the resistance to the Affordable Care Act in Red States.

It's the clerks and bureaucrats who implement to the legislation. Am thinking along the lines of Kim Davis. Knowwhuduhmean?

[FORD]

[Terry]

To be clear, Quist was far from an ideal candidate (if such a person even exists), but I found it telling that Gianforte couldn't win the Montana governorship last fall - running well behind how Trump performed in that state - and only found himself on the ballot now as a result of a special election needed as a result of that congressman being appointed to Secretary of the Interior.

Equally telling was that Gianforte was virtually a supporting cast member of his own campaign this year, and required the help of Trump's son and Pence to go out and vigorously campaign for him (to be sure, Quist had Sanders stump for him, the difference being that Montana isn't exactly what would be called a Blue Stronghold, thus a Democrat with no name recognition like Quist needed all the help he could get) for the simple reason that even a lot of self-identifying Republicans in Montana just don't like Gianforte, and those feelings were held well before the Guardian reporter incident. That this race even came within a single digit spread (again, before the reporter incident) and even required the RNC to pump money and party star power into it is less a testament to how fast the afterglow of 2016 has began to fade as it was Gianforte's net negatives as a candidate...I mean, this is fucking MONTANA, ok? This special election should have been a no-brainer/low-effort glide into victory for the Republican Party. That the candidate ended up being, in effect, a Trump Republican (I'm sorry, but initially distancing yourself publicly from him via comments only to later turn around and embrace his policies and the campaign assistance of administration/family members...can't have it both ways: Gianforte is now a Trump Republican) and it STILL took all the money and effort from the national party apparatus to make sure Quist didn't prevail...that would is sort of loosely analogous to Hillary having needing Obama and Biden to stump for her to secure a victory in the District of Columbia or New York City.

One disturbing part of the altercation with the reporter simply has to do with basic self-restraint and discipline as a political professional. Look, by the eve of the election, it was clear Gianforte had won. Although the race was doubtless closer than it should have been, it wasn't going to be a nail-biting squeaker. Gianforte was asked a question that wasn't out of bounds by any reasonable standards of political journalism. A question that any politician should have, at minimum, been able to have answered. OR, barring that, any politician could have simply declined to answer at that time. Gianforte started to do that. For whatever reason(s), Gianforte at the turn of a dime physically lost control of himself.

Put all of Gianforte's ideological, political and religious beliefs (basically all of which I disagree with) to one side. Is there not a basic level of composure and civility people expect their elected representatives to publicly comport? Shouldn't that level of composure just be expected from a 56 year old man?

I mean, lose your shit in private if you have to. Take your frustrations out on your staff. Lose your cool verbally with the press if you have to blow off steam. Maybe DON'T physically assault reporters?

Ugh. Fuckin' amateur political populists. Maybe that type of behavior is endemic to successful businessmen. Doesn't tend to serve them well when they try to transition into political office. I mean, you didn't see Jessie Ventura pile driving his journalist adversaries when an interview was going bad, right?