So …
Holy shit. Between the audio in that article and the eyewitness account of a FOX NEWS crew…there is no way this goes down as anything other than Gianforte assaulting the reporter. Even the spin the campaign manager tried to put on it (“aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist” - LOLWUT) only makes Gianforte sound more guilty.
If this doesn’t result in his having to withdraw from the race then we know American politics has gone completely insane. I don’t care if you’re running for dog catcher in fucking Pottsville, you can’t simply assault someone because they wouldn’t stop asking you a question you didn’t want to answer.
I hope his press statement is the statement he made to the sheriff so they can fuck him even more
Feels pretty Trump to me.
Are we having a good time?
Ubisoft sure has a good sense of timing.
Withdraw? The election is tomorrow.
Unless there is some kind of magical turn out tomorrow, the guy wins.
The repercussions will not be good. Physically assault a reporter, win anyway.
Is Montana one of those states where you can re-do your early voting ballot by going to the polls?
(or is that not a thing anywhere and just some sort of internet rumor?)
The only way you could re-do your vote is if you voted absentee, and even then I don’t believe it is allowed once you’ve sent in your ballot.
After all on secret ballot how could you prove which way you voted?
Looks like Montana will get another special election once their new Rep is convicted of a violent crime. Oh wait, his own caucus would have to take action first. Never mind.
Mail in ballots are often (always?) an envelope within an envelope. The outer envelope is signed and your signature is checked against a log to make sure you didn’t vote twice.
At some later time, the outer envelope is separated from the inner one, and the inner envelope is thrown in with the rest of the ballots. Presumably, if you recast your vote before the outer envelope was opened, then your mail-in ballot could be identified and discarded.
I think it will be a misdemeanor at most.
The Missoulian and The Billings Gazette have rescinded endorsement for Gianforte.
Gazette:
To those who have voted: Unfortunately, Montana does not allow those who voted early to reconsider and vote again. We’re one of the few states that does not. This would seem to be the best reason why we should urge our state leaders to change that law.
Yes mail-in ballots work the same as absentee and could be recast, although it adds t o the cost of an election… Many states have in person early voting you can allow redo in that case.
Actually, the Gianforte situation is a good example while the trend toward early voting is actually harmful toward democracy. Campaign are designed to have a certain end date and votes should be gathering information on who they want to vote for until the end.
I guess I’m old school but I think there should be absentee balloting and election day voting, period.
For you and I, maybe. But what about a single mother of three who doesn’t have a car? Or a construction worker on a site 80+ miles from his polling station? Or any other number of people that lack the ability to leave work and cast their vote on election day? I think you’d be hard pressed to convince them that early voting is harmful to the democratic process.
Well they’re likely to be Democrats so it’s ok that they have trouble voting, right? Maybe we should have IDs to get rid of that rampant voting fraud too!
The chairman of the Montana DNC has already called for Gianforte’s withdraw over the incident, so yes, technically he can still withdraw, votes will be cast, he will likely get more of them, but his opponent would win due to the withdraw.
Of course that’s not going to happen because America has now become a country in which candidates for one of the highest public offices you can hold are free to physically assault the press and still win election and hold office because “FAKE NEWS!” and “LIBERAL MSM LIES!” .
Five years ago this would have been the end of any political career beyond city councilman for Gianforte. Today it’s likely to not only gain him some votes, but cast him as some kind of right wing hero for beating down the liberal press. The image this sends to the country, the world and most importantly our children is sad and ugly. Fuck Greg Gianforte, fuck Conservative Republicans and most especially fuck the morons in this country who celebrate shit like this, Trump’s rhetoric and the Manchester bombing.
You’ve got it. It’s not like we haven’t seen this play out. For the closest analogue look at Turky under Erdogan.
Yep. Gianforte justified it by characterizing the victim as a “liberal reporter.”
Covering Republican politics is going to take serious courage going forward.
Now here’s an inaccurate headline.
The Daily 202: Five fresh setbacks for Republicans, who just can’t catch a break
… If someone stabs themselves in the foot, cuts off their own nose, and then sets themselves on fire, it’s pretty absurd to suggest they “can’t catch a break.”
You meant D.C., right?