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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMontana GOP candidate reeling from blowback after body slamming Guardian reporter
THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2017 07:42 AM EDT
Montana papers are pulling their endorsements of Montana GOP candidate Greg Gianforte after he attacked a reporter
MATTHEW ROZSA
The Montana congressional election was already much closer than many Republicans wanted, so the last thing they needed was for their candidate to be recorded and observed body-slamming a reporter Ben Jacobs of The Guardian who did nothing more than ask a tough question.
Now newspapers that endorsed GOP nominee Greg Gianforte are pulling their endorsements.
If what was heard on tape and described by eyewitnesses is accurate, the incident in Bozeman is nothing short of assault, declared the Billings Gazette as it pulled its endorsement of Gianforte. We wouldnt condone it if it happened on the street. We wouldnt condone it if it happened in a home or even a late-night bar fight. And we couldnt accept it from a man who is running to become Montanas lone Congressional representative.
The Helena Independent Record, like the Billings Gazette, noted that Gianforte has made threatening comments about the media in the past. In the past, he has encouraged his supporters to boycott certain newspapers, singled out a reporter in a room to point out that he was outnumbered, and even made a joke out of the notion of choking a news writer, and these are not things we can continue to brush off, the newspaper writes. It adds that, because of Gianfortes attack on Jacobs, we cannot in good faith continue to support this candidate.
The third Montana newspaper that had endorsed Gianforte also pulled its support.
The Republican candidate for Congress not only lost the endorsement of this newspaper Wednesday night when, according to witnesses, he put his hands around the throat of a reporter asking him about his health care stance, threw him to the ground and punched him, wrote the Missoulian, he should lose the confidence of all Montanans.
more
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/25/montana-gop-candidate-reeling-from-blowback-after-body-slamming-guardian-reporter/
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)LisaM
(27,802 posts)Everyone knows it happened.
Happyhippychick
(8,379 posts)Again, party before country. The media outlets should be ashamed of themselves if they support a single republican who blasts the media and interferes with freedom of the press.
So that's my way of saying F you to the newspaper - they shouldn't have endorsed him in the first place.
vi5
(13,305 posts)...this will only serve to endear him more to the mouth breathing neanderthals that vote Republican.
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)Besides conservatives gravitate to bullying
dalton99a
(81,455 posts)Exhibit A: 2016 elections
lapfog_1
(29,199 posts)with the base Repuke voters.
These are the people running around with "Visualize No Liberals" and "Open Season on Liberals - No Limit" bumper stickers.
A few decades of hate radio and Fox News has done this to our nation. Education and reason are devalued, conspiracy theories replace them. Even in my previously mostly moderate to left leaving family...
JudyM
(29,233 posts)We can fight this and win.
http://www2.democracyforamerica.com/dfadialer?source=em170524-ourrev
janterry
(4,429 posts)and folks were - mostly - just reflecting a party bias. The republicans were saying, basically, good for him - and about time .
That reporter was being a reporter - and asking, btw, an important question. Gianforte had his hands around the reporter's neck. He could have killed him -
Golden Raisin
(4,608 posts)Gianforte wins after this. Most Republican politicians and voters would cheerfully jettison and spit on both the First Amendment and reporters in general.
librechik
(30,674 posts)ain't the Wile West great?
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)Nope. The real framing of this is conservative squashing free speech just like brown shirts did in 1920s...it's not about assault, it's about American freedom
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,325 posts)There were several eyewitnesses, audio recording, and a victim in an ambulance.
No reason he should have taken a ride in a police cruiser
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)Orrex
(63,203 posts)I doubt this will have any significant impact on his chances. His supporters, by and large, seem to see it as a "Libtard snowflake media whore getting his due." I've even seen some people arguing that the victim should be jailed.
Surely this is the best of all possible worlds.
ProfessorGAC
(64,998 posts)I'm thinking this is the kind of thing that changes the minds of centrists and independents. No?
Orrex
(63,203 posts)I honestly can't imagine that a so-called Centrist or so-called Independent, at this stage of the game, would be swayed by any revelation about him. I mean, if they couldn't see the writing on the wall before this, then they've clearly already accepted him warts and all.
Short of something Earth-shattering, like he's friends with the Clintons or he voted for Obama, I'm confident that they'll find a way to rationalize their vote for him regardless.
Parenthetically, that's basically how I predict that most Trump voters will justify their Republican votes in 2018 and 2020 despite the non-stop catastrophe wrought by the GOP.
ProfessorGAC
(64,998 posts)But, we know "it" got away with the excuse of "locker room talk". Body slamming people isn't "locker room talk". It's actually willfully trying to hurt somebody. Don't know if there is an excuse that centrists would buy, when it comes to beating someone up for doing their job. And i know assault is assault. Not sure if other people all see it that way.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)the pussy grabber tape, yet enough centrists and independents didn't let sexual assault bother them
Orrex
(63,203 posts)Sadly, we have that clear and recent precedent to show us how much "Centrists" and "Independents" are willing to overlook in order to elect a Republican.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)ashamed to call themselves Republicans, but not ashamed to vote for them--disgusting deplorables
Orrex
(63,203 posts)In my life I have known a great many self-declared "Indepedents," and all but one or two of them voted Republican in every single election. They simply wanted to pretend that labels don't apply to them.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)The lot of them
Greywing
(1,124 posts)Sorry ... don't have FB, so I'm just asking a serious question.
Orrex
(63,203 posts)And you're right that I shouldn't presume to speak for Montana. It is indeed the usual trolls, and my generalization, alas, was fueled by the fact that the Republican herd seldom defies the sentiment of the usual Republican trolls.
Still, let's hope that's a premature assessment...
book_worm
(15,951 posts)if they did HRC would have won by a landslide.
Thrill
(19,178 posts)leftstreet
(36,106 posts)Deprive people of healthcare, food assistance, social safety
BUT OMG HE PUNCHED SOMEONE
I just don't get it
peggysue2
(10,828 posts)a large portion of the vote was already cast before this damning incident. Last night there was a reporter who was in Missoula when the incident occurred. He went into a convenience store and asked the clerk what she thought. Her reply?
'Sounds like my kind of candidate.'
Stunning. But this is what happens when the head of the Republican party consistently demonizes the press. DT ranted against the press during the campaign. To wild cheers. He continues to berate reporters and 'fake news' when the headlines are negative, which they are now, nearly universally. The press is the problem, Trumpsters believe. Reporters are the scum of the earth, they'll chant. So this takedown of a reporter is consistent with the message.
Which makes the countering message all the more important: Resist.
JudyM
(29,233 posts)Tarc
(10,476 posts)and they estimate that half turned in early ballots.
DeminPennswoods
(15,278 posts)you voted by absentee ballot (the only "early voting" allowed), you can still show up at the poll and vote. The election board will invalidate the absentee ballot and your in person vote will be the one counted.
catbyte
(34,374 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)I assumed he was too busy winning the election.
Don't we expect law enforcement to mysteriously drop the charge?