That Montana race just got more interesting.

[wildeyed]

Appears that Greg Gianforte just body slammed the reporter from the Guardian the day before the special election.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. If the voting district is more GOP than DEM, this guarantees he will be elected.

watch

[wildeyed]

3. It's Montana, which is more Libertarian/Independent than anything,

at least according to what I read.

[kst]

24. The district is the entire state of Montana.

It happens to be the most populous Congressional district in the country.

[BigmanPigman]

30. That's what I was thinking too. That's how the Donald maintains his base.

They love thugs and bullies, it to do with personality not the issues.

[D_Master81]

2. body slammed?

how dumb do you have to be to do that to a reporter?

[wildeyed]

4. Pretty out of control, for sure.

The sheriff is there taking witness statements now, per Twitter. Whoa.

[AngryAmish]

5. The Undertaker is his campaign manager. What do you expect?

Rest. In. Peace.

[GulfCoast66]

6. He will now win

Those Crazy libertarian type like a 'direct' approach.

And the whole thing behind Trump has been lightly veiled violence all along.

[MontanaMama]

7. Gianforte is a thug.

This doesn't surprise me and I wish it had happened before the day prior to the election. Gawd I hope he goes down. He's a bad guy. Bad for women, bad for schools. Bad for Montana.

[Eliot Rosewater]

41. Modern GOP, not traditional conservatives necessarily,

dislike women, gays, brown people, Muslim, etc.

They dont trust or like women, at all.

They seek to maintain their white privilege and are willing to do violence to that end.

[rogue emissary]

8. Chris Hayes is covering it now on MSNBC.

[wildeyed]

11. Missed it. Bleh.

Here's the police scanner recording.

http://heavy.com/news/2017/05/greg-gianforte-body-slam-ben-jacobs-audio-police-scanner-assault-listen-montana-reporter/

[rogue emissary]

12. He said Ben is going to be calling into the show soon.

Sorry not Greg, though that would be interesting to hear his excuse.

[wildeyed]

18. Just missed that too.

Oh well, I'll catch to YouTube later.

[DesertRat]

9. k&r

[LonePirate]

10. More interesting? Maybe. More likely to increase Gianforte's support? Probably.

I think many non-Republicans underestimate how much Republicans support violence against anybody who is not also a Republican.

Also, supposedly 60+ or more of the vote is already in as votes tomorrow will simply be a plurality of the total.

[MontanaMama]

13. I live in blue blue blue Missoula

and Quist is a favorite here. However, Montana almost always goes red and I suspect Gianforte will win but that said, why would a guy who is spending millions of his own money and Koch money be so unhinged that he'd body slam a reporter? I've received at least 10 phone calls for Gianforte in the last week. Rethugs are clearly fretting about Montana going blue. Regardless, Gianforte: Idiot. Thug. Asshole. I've no use for him.

[Buns_of_Fire]

14. Beavis was out there campaigning for him. One asshole deserves another.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/montana/articles/2017-04-12/donald-trump-jr-to-campaign-for-gianforte

[2naSalit]

25. Beavis came out here twice and so did that

holy roller from Indiana, and cheato made robocall recordings.

Bernie was here this past weekend and the crowds were so big they had to find larger venues for those four rallies... dickhead is really nervous. This also happened in purple-ish blue-ish Bozeman, one of the cities Bernie was in.

I'm glad they called the sheriff and an ambulance. Hopefully there will be charges filed and a really fat lawsuit.

[dawg]

42. Why is he Beavis?

He seems more like Butthead to me. I would've taken Eric for Beavis.

[Doreen]

15. Now he will propably win and that will make a large impact

on the "OK" on violence which will further increase.

[D_Master81]

16. was reading on twitter

there's alot of repub idiots literally giddy and gleeful this happened. Either that or they say stuff like "video or it didnt happen". They are so out there crazy they think a small time reporter is attempting to sway an election by planting a false story. You know those false stories that also they plant false police reports and statements as well. I knew the right was dumb when they nominated Trump, but they have gone full on bat sh*t crazy w/ all of these conspiracy theories and then they say stuff like "libtards"

[wildeyed]

21. Jacobs wrote a fairly benign story about Gianforte's Russian index funds.

Gianforte is a wealthy man, so the fact that he owns a few index funds does not mean he is in on the Trump Russia thing. He got punched for asking Gianforte about the CBO scores that came out today. If he can't handle than kind of mild pressure, maybe he is not cut out for the job.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/28/greg-gianforte-republican-candidate-congress-russia-companies

[Snarkoleptic]

17. The reporter (or someone very nearby) recorded audio of the assault...

[wildeyed]

22. WHOA!

That is NOT good.

[ecstatic]

19. If they reward that type of vile, thuggish, violent behavior, then seriously

fuck them. Deplorable wouldn't even begin to describe them.

[MontanaMama]

27. Hey ecstatic!

A lot of us up here in Big Sky Country didn't early vote for Gianforte and many many won't tomorrow. We aren't deplorables and don't deserve the hell he will unleash on us if he is elected. Many Montanans aren't deplorable...just saying.

[Tarheel_Dem]

20. We know how they feel about "the media", so this probably helps Gianforte. Repukes like bullies.

<<<< :shakes head: >>>>

[hunter]

23. Keep showing us your "Christian" values, Gianforte...

.

[MontanaMama]

28. Yeah...

this tool wants my kid to pray in school. This election counts. Big time.

[hunter]

36. He also bought a full Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton for a Creationist museum.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/features/magazine/dinosaur-museum-presents-biblical-view-of-origins/article_1c9ac218-bab0-11de-84f1-001cc4c002e0.html

He thinks all the dinosaurs died in Noah's flood.

So much for teaching our children actual science...

[MontanaMama]

37. JFC.

I hadn't heard this. This motherfucker needs to go down. MSNBC is making a big deal out of it on every show tonight. I'm hoping for a throw down tomorrow.

[flibbitygiblets]

26. Gianforte's campaign just blamed it on the "aggressive liberal journalist"

...said Gianforte was just grabbing the mic to get it out of his face, and the reporter "spun away, pushing them BOTH to the ground". I hope there's video.

[nolabear]

31. Of course they did. It'll GET them votes.

The words "liberal media" were in the statement. Who was it made for, I wonder...

[bucolic_frolic]

39. Yes this may be contrived

You're in a close race, pick a fight with a liberal reporter,
then blame the reporter. i saw a headline "liberal reporter alleges".

It's win-win for the GOP candidate. He can blame the reporter
to grab headlines and motivate his base, and if he loses he has
someone to blame. I doubt this will change many minds at this point,
and may increase his base turnout more than turn them away.

[AgadorSparticus]

33. They did, of course. But their statement didn't match the Audio.

That politician sounds shady AF...wow.

[wildeyed]

34. Ben Jacobs is so aggro, wouldn't put it past him.

Kidding.... Gianforte's account is clearly a lie, but the truth doesn't seem to matter to these people anymore.

[GallopingGhost]

29. Maybe the people of this district

will surprise us in a good way.

What an ass.

[wildeyed]

35. Bunch of the early vote is in already, so who knows.

If he is elected, we can add Stone Cold Steve Austin theme every time he is on the TV. That could be fun.

[GallopingGhost]

40. lol, that works.

He's infamous now. God forbid he's elected, no matter what he says or does, he'll be remembered for yesterday's attack.

[chelsea0011]

32. Hey, he may get arrested tomorrow on the polls

[MontanaMama]

38. Wouldn't THAT be delicious. n/t