I first discovered him when he announced that he was running for President as the "Anti-Obama".
That was bad enough but I wanted to understand what he meant by that.It was a bizarre claim for any Democrat to make.Not to mention someone who is not a Blue Dog (Schweitzer is considered as a "left" libertarian)
Right off the bat Schweitzer invoked racial politics by claiming that the only positive thing he could say about President Obama was that he was the first black president.Adding that Obama ceased being relevant / useful the moment he took
office.
The question was simple enough: Is there a single thing President Obama has done that you consider a positive achievement?http://www.msnbc.com/...Finally, he spoke.
“My mother, God rest her soul, told me ‘Brian, if you can’t think of something nice to say about something change the subject,’” he said.
....Eventually, he paused to acknowledge Obama’s historic role as the first black president. But by that standard, Obama’s usefulness ended the day he took the oath of office.
Many people (including myself) saw that as a passive aggressive way of saying President Obama was a worthless affirmative action figurehead as President.Someone who hasn't contributed anything to the country or the office other than being a token.
Then I found out that Schweitzer (a mining executive) was a staunch supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline.Going so far as attacking people who opposed it.
I found it truly bizarre that a certain type of "liberal" was showing him so much love considering the fact that these same folks were concern trolling President Obama over the very same issue.
Then comes Schweitzer's high rating with the NRA and his opposition to the very type of gun legislation proposed by Democrats & liberals around the country.
Again it was bizarre that the most ideologically strident members of the left had overlooked such an important issue.One that they consistently bash the President and congressional Democrats for being too "weak" to tackle.
Now we find out that Schweitzer has been visiting Romney supporters and praising Mitt (while again bashing Obama). To make matters worse he also tossed out gratuitous homophobia at Eric Cantor for some strange reason.
My overall questions are...
1) Do you think that seeking/ earning the support of Black folks, The Gay community, Women etc is irrelevant to Democratic electoral success?
2) Should you be allowed to intentionally poke these groups in the eye and still receive praise from liberals?
3) Is trying to make inroads in to the disgruntled white male demographic by distancing yourself from key Democratic constituencies a smart / palatable strategy?
In my opinion Schweitzer is the exact type of candidate we DON'T need and one that we shouldn't even want in the first place.
And yet when he announced he was running many of President Obama's most hostile opponents on the left cried out in excitement.
"Finally we've got our kind of candidate"
In case anyone asks or cares...
I support Elizabeth Warren
