I sense that many early voters would have not have voted him after that fiasco. I would not have if I lived in Montana. The numbers are skewed.
Kudos to you for saying you would not have voted for him. But early voting only offers the appearance of an "excuse"... supposedly about a third of Montana voters voted early. So that means two-thirds of the Montana voters did know of the candidate assaulting the reporter before they cast their ballots. I suspect a number of those that voted early would have still voted for him. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...ing-assault-charge-wins-special-election.html Montana republicans should feel ashamed of themselves. Heck, nationally republicans should be shamed... and no, Paul Ryan saying its OK now, he apologized doesn't suggest that party over country wasn't the key theme of republicans across the country. Gianforte has joined the republican congressional club now. They welcome in a violent criminal to the ranks. Because hey, he will vote to overturn ACA.
As disgusted as I am with the people interviewed in Montana that have actually said that the choke slam actually increased their support for him or didn't matter, this is true that 70% of the voter base there already early voted so the numbers are an entire referendum on the whole electorate. There is just no way to know if the choke slam really made that big of a difference.
I'm sure it will come out that he won the vote on the day of the election as well. There are plenty of conservatives defending him, or at the very least mitigating what he did by doing the old "it was bad what he did, but..." It's not by accident that his defenders have made sure to point out that the reporter was "liberal" and worked for the "liberal media." Yeah, he crossed the line, but you know what? These liberal reporters have pushed so far because they know they can. They lie, they twist words, etc. So yeah, he went' too far, but you can kind of understand it. He's not a "go along, get along" kind of guy and he had enough.
I haven't seen the latest numbers but i read he was predicted to win by over 10% before he went all dan doratrik.
Just a question, but how far does "blaming a liberal" really get you with the hardcore Trump crowd at this time? Are we at the point in our society where "blaming a liberal" makes it okay to get away with murder in the court of the GOP opinion? Obviously some forms of violence are now acceptable. Just to note, not all Republicans are hardcore Trump deplorables. Even Keighley Mcnamme on CNN last night was calling for the now GOP Congressman to be dumped by the GOP and to hold another election. The hardcore Trump crowd has been indoctrinated by Right Wing media for the last 6 to 8 months to channel all of their anger and vitriol now that was targeted at Obama and Clinton beforehand to their fellow American Democratic voters and the media in general (that isn't Right Wing). The Right Wing talk radio & media know that their base desperately needs an enemy to keep them engaged, and we (their fellow American citizens) are all that's left to channel that energy towards. Am I the only person here who thinks this is shocking and dangerous to our society? What is next, and what is acceptable action now in society for Trump Hardcore fans if the victim is a Liberal? Where is the line now?
Dude, are you really surprised? Trump admits to sexual harassment at a minimum, assault more likely and it is a total non-issue for his voters because it was him being "attacked" by the media. Essentially every story that comes out about him is completely dismissed now because the "media" is unfair to him. If the special prosecutor finds him guilty of consipiring with Putin to hand of America to Russia people would be ok with it. When Trump shrugged off Putin killing journalists, a lot of his voters agreed, expressing contempt for reporters and doing a "Yeah it's wrong, but maybe they shouldn't..." No you aren't the only person. I don't think anything can be done to stop it at this point. We are falling into the abyss. Partisanship has been replaced by true hatred.
And here you go... Trump calls Gianforte's victory a 'great win in Montana' And... http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/26/montana-special-election-2017-gianforte-trump-238857
What's the big deal about another criminal in Congress? Happens all the time: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/25/15693042/congress-criminals-gianforte To be less flip, I still don't see a big problem with it. Sure, it reflects badly on his character that he'd resort to violence when he's frustrated with someone. But, it'd be damaging to our democracy if we started thinking of crimes as an automatic disqualifier. His crime was not corruption (which is already an advantage over a number of guys in the article I linked). I don't think he has any priors. Let him serve whatever punishment and move on. Now, if he starts beating up other Reps we can revisit.
A deteriorating of characters, moral, basic decency and treatment of press. But again, Trump permanently lowered the bar. Now, it's not a big deal and yes, that's true in the Trump era. But it's also a reflection of each of us when we lowered our own bar.
Wow... we have set such a low bar for the people that govern us that we can't find 435 congressmen and 100 senators that at the very least haven't committed a violent assault on someone they believe disagrees with them?
The problem here is that not only he resorted to physical violence on another human being, but that he also lied to the police about what happened. Look, everybody makes mistakes, but one needs to own up to them. Will Gianforte recant his original statement to the cops or stick to it? The election may be over, but the criminal cases continues...
Another example of how current congressional discourse has fallen... btw, Issa will be hosting a Town Hall soon... and has been accused of trying to stack the room with invited audience members... http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sd-me-issa-meeting-20170524-story.html
We've had 15 years of seeing what a scumbag troll you are here. Talk about ridiculous. You are that bankrupt that you think some idiot winning an election after grabbing someone by the throat and body slamming them is a good thing.
Just about the only thing less popular than politicians is the media so it shouldn't be terribly surprising that he'd still win and possibly even have a bump in his numbers due to taking down a journalist.
seems the hard right is embracing violence against political enemies as acceptable. this is a dangerous direction. Russia might have finally won the cold war and found away to destabilize the country. I am definitely starting to think its time to diversify my investments to be more international and get that second passport as an insurance policy. I can see now that this can continue to escalate into a mass wave of violence against liberals, minorities, and intellectuals. the right actually is cheering this violent act against a reporter and they are celebrating a thug fora criminal act. liberals to them are not the enemy of america, worse than russia. this will not bode well for America. Our country is officially in decline.
I do not comment on Montana as an outsider, only as the keenest observer. As a fellow native of Montana, I do not disagree with your sentiment that Montanans are quite friendly and hospitable. But I have heard the following statements from current Montana residents: "Trump is immortal!" "That current governor needs to GTFO because he opposes banning Sharia Law" "I don't trust a single Muslim in this world. They are all untrustworthy." InfoWars bumper stickers on 2001 Dodge Cummins Diesel Trucks. The ignorance permeates throughout the gorgeous land. I feel lucky to be a native of such a place of great beauty, and a majority of the people are willing to help you at a moment's notice. But the majority remains severely misguided and easily influenced by Faux News and blood-sucking leeches like Alex Jones.
I don't think this is deterioration. We've always had crooks in Congress. And by crooks, I mean literally criminals, not just shady legislators. I don't see this as a Trump era thing at all. But, what I am worried about is the next time a black guy runs for office and people start picking at his criminal record. He was arrested for obstruction as a BLM march, or something like that. Republicans will say criminals shouldn't be allowed in office -- remember when you made such a big deal out of Gianforte getting a misdemeanor assault? Forget the niceties of why this or that happens when you have a cudgel like that. It shouldn't be that hard to keep your nose clean and not assault people while you're campaigning. But, Democrats were hoping for political advantage here that didn't materialize and need to stop being so indignant about it. This is not the hill to die on. It's a simple assault; he'll be convicted; he'll be sued; and he should be able to get back to work.
I think republicans would pick at a black guy's record regardless whether Democrats (and others) are "making a big deal" about Gianforte or not. Heck, I would pick at anyone who physically assaulted someone else... BLM movement or not. I really don't think that is an unrealistically high bar. I just don't see giving this guy a pass. We're not talking about a tussle with counter-protesters at a Right to Life rally twenty years ago (though again, I'd certainly "pick at it.") We're talking about a candidate, two days before the election body-slamming a reporter (and continuing to punch the reporter on the ground) simply doing his job, just because the candidate didn't like the question. We're going to have to agree to disagree here.
