Tea party vision for Montana raising concerns

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41768730/ns/politics-more_politics/

HELENA, Mont. — With each new bill, newly elected lawmakers from the loose-knit, largely conservative anti-tax tea party coalition are offering Montanans a vision of the future.

..Their state would be a place where officials can ignore U.S. laws, force FBI agents to get a sheriff's OK before arresting anyone, ban abortions, limit sex education in schools and create armed citizen militias.

It's the tea party world. But not everyone is buying their vision.

The nullification debate reached a fever pitch this week when tea party conservatives mustered enough votes in the House to pass a 17-point declaration of sovereignty.

The political movement that caught Democrats by surprise at the ballot box also caught them flat-footed at the Legislature.

At first they rolled their eyes, but now they are quickly ramping up their opposition, even recycling a slogan once leveled by conservatives against liberals protesting the Vietnam War.

"I say to you: 'This is America: Love it or leave it,'" shouted Rep. William McChesney, during the sovereignty declaration debate.

Some Republicans have turned against the more aggressive tea party ideas.

"You are scaring the you-know-what out of them with this kind of talk," veteran Republican lawmaker Walt McNutt said. "This needs to stop and stop now. Stop scaring our constituents and stop letting us look like a bunch of buffoons."

Schweitzer, meanwhile, is getting ready for the bills that may arrive on his desk. On Wednesday, he got a new cattle brand from the state livestock agency that reads "VETO." A branding iron is being made.

[Kurovski]

1. "...stop letting us look like a bunch of buffoons."

Too late. Y'all look dangerous and nuts, too.



fight teabaggery before it defeats you.