Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) for President 2016

[Larkspur]

SNIP

Speaking shortly after a meeting with President Barack Obama, in which they insisted the topic of Wisconsin had not come up in any substantive detail, the Democratic governors backed both collective bargaining and inclusive governance.

"If you are a successful CEO of a company or of a state, the most important thing you can do is to build morale of the people who work for you," said Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-Mont.), citing his experience bargaining with Montana's public-employee unions, which agreed to forgo a salary increase two and a half years ago to avoid layoffs. "It is the people that work for you that make you successful, and when you do that to morale, you are cutting your own throat."

SNIP
Democratic Governor To Walker: 'You Are Cutting Your Own Throat'

I love this man. He is inspiring. Personally, I think he is the 21st century Teddy Roosevelt. He knows how to ride a horse and kick economic royalist asses too.

[earthside]

1. 2012 n/t

[WolfoftheWild]

8. sorry, pal, Obama's got that all sealed up

[tabatha]

2. I don't like his environmental policies.

They suck. I think he may be a DINO.

[Larkspur]

14. What do you know of them?

I know he supports turning plants, like switchgrass, into biodisel. I have no problems with that.

Yes, he has also advocated for clean coal, but he also knows he can't sell it to the public unless it is actually clean and efficient. One of the main reasons he supports clean coal is that it would get the USA off of foreign oil. He has advocated turning coal into petrol as the way to wean the USA off of foreign oil. One question to ask is "Are wars environmentally friendly?" By weaning the USA off of foreign oil, the USA would be less inclined to invade countries like Iraq.

[tabatha]

17. I don't know if this is to appease Republicans or not.

Joining Wisconsin, Montanans Protest Tea Party Assault On Workers And Environment
Protests over the radical Tea Party agenda have spilled over from Wisconsin into Montana, where hundreds rallied on the state capitol steps on Monday. Republicans gained control over both chambers of the state legislature in 2010, and, like their colleagues in other states, are challenging Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) with budgetary plans to cut health, environmental, and labor programs in order to pay for corporate tax cuts. Supporters of a safe and healthy middle class rallied in Helena yesterday to protest the “unprecedented GOP attacks on public services and education and laws that protect land, air, water and wildlife”:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x483167

There is something else but I can't find it now.

[Larkspur]

42. Your quote says the Republicans are challenging Schweitzer

with budgetary cuts to health, environmental and labor programs. Schweitzer isn't leading the charge on them.

Schweitzer opposed the REAL ID program that Chertoff was promoting under the Bush Admin and Schweitzer has helped organize bus trips for seniors to Canada to get cheaper prescription drugs. Schweitzer is no DLC Dem.

[LAGC]

3. Hell yeah!

I love the entire Montana Democratic delegation, both Senators Baucus and Tester voted against the Patriot Act renewal as well.

[madinmaryland]

4. I prefer our Governor, Martin O'Malley for President in 2016.

Just starting his second term, he will have two years after he leaves office in 2014 to run for President.

[ZombieHorde]

5. I would be curious to see how the Republicans would attack him.

He speaks Arabic, maybe they will call him a secret a Muslim too.

[Larkspur]

36. Read David Sirota's article "Top Billings" to understand the futile attacks

the Repukes made against Schweitzer. Here's the link to the article Top Billings

[meow mix]

6. he's got a veto branding-iron stamp.... instead of a pen

we'll see how he weilds it against the current legislature which has gone insane. and has been ignored by the media

they want to repeal gays, medical marijuana, healthcare, immigrants and about everything else they can think of.

[ClarkUSA]

7. You love a DLC "New Dem of the Week" who days ago OK'd shooting endangered wolves?

No thanks.

"Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer OKs Shooting Endangered Wolves"
http://www.newser.com/story/112386/montana-governor-brian-schweitzer-oks-shooting-endangered-wolves.html

<<I love this man. He is inspiring. Personally, I think he is the 21st century Teddy Roosevelt.>>

Again, no thanks. Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican.

<<He knows how to ride a horse and kick economic royalist asses too.>>

Ronald Reagan knew how to ride a horse, too. As for kicking "economic royalist asses", you do know the guy is a DLC star, right? He talks a good game, but let's remember he was "New Dem of the Week: http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254497&kaid=104&subid=116

[cilla4progress]

11. I don't know the details, and I find the idea of shooting

endangered wolves equally disturbing. But really? You are going to break with someone who has 1 policy you disagree with? Really? Good luck finding a candidate you could stomach~!

[Keith Bee]

13. One very large policy

Thumbs down on him.

[Badfish]

21. Killing animals for fun says alot about a person.

[ZombieHorde]

46. They are not killing wolves for fun, they are killing the wolves going on their property

and eating their livestock. If you eat free range meat, your supporting things like this. Eating animals is a messy business. There is not a lot of nice ways to kill and eat animals on a massive scale.

[Larkspur]

12. I use to own a horse. If a wolf was going to attack my horse, I would shoot it too

I live in CT, so we don't have wolves, but we have coyotes. We had a coyote who tried to make a den in the loft of the horse barn. It's nesting antics were terrifying the horses under it. We had a neighbor who was a hunter track and kill it so that it would stop being a threat to our horses. We don't support coyote hunts unless the coyotes are threatening our horses. Those with kids who have been attacked by coyotes feel the same.

[ClarkUSA]

18. Flathead Beacon newspaper: "Schweitzer: Wolf Hunts Shouldn’t be Stopped"

He stands w/Sarah Palin who OK'd AL wolf hunts in defiance of the Endangered Species Act:
Source: http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/schweitzer_wolf_hunts_shouldnt_be_stopped/12659/

If you ever shot a wolf, you'd be in violation of the Endangered Species Act and would be arrested and fined. Nice to know you don't mind Schweizter deliberately flouting the Endangered Species Act and asking people to break the law, but I guarantee that this stance makes him dead to the Democratic base outside of his little slice of the electorate. Good thing, too.

[cilla4progress]

23. Did you read the article?

Wolves were taken OFF the endangered species act in Montana before this scheduled hunt.

I hate the idea of hunting them, too, but at least be truthful about the facts here.

[ClarkUSA]

24. Of course I did. The facts are on my side: "Earthjustice's lawyers chastise Schweitzer"

Historic Victory for Northern Rockies Wolves!

On August 5, 2010, a federal judge overturned a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act (ESA), restoring their endangered status and paving the way for these critical predators to rebuild their numbers to ecologically sustainable levels...

Legal Status/Protection:

Endangered Species Act (ESA): wolves throughout the Lower 48 United States are listed as endangered except in Minnesota where they are listed as threatened.

http://www.defenders.org/wildlife_and_habitat/wildlife/wolf,_gray.php

Earthjustice's lawyers chastise Schweitzer for comments on wolf management

By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian | Posted: Saturday, February 26, 2011 8:45 pm

The lawyers seeking to keep Montana wolves under Endangered Species Act protection have chastised Gov. Brian Schweitzer for suggesting people violate the federal law.

"In your Feb. 16, 2011 letter to the Secretary of the Interior, and in numerous follow-up interviews with local and national media outlets, you suggested that Montana did not intend to follow federal law, nor honor its commitments under either Montana's wolf management plan or its memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with respect to wolf management," Earthjustice attorneys Doug Honnold and Jenny Harbine wrote to Schweitzer.

"More troubling, your statements may incite Montanans to violate the Endangered Species Act," they continued. "Wolves are still protected under that act. ... Nowhere is it permissible for individuals to kill wolves in a response to an alleged threat to elk herds."

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_e517eed8-4217-11e0-976f-001cc4c03286.html

As for the 2009 story about his cheerleading for wolf hunting, it illustrates where his true sentiments are with regard to massacring wolves à la Palin despite the fact that scientists believed wolves were still endangered at the time of Schweizter's bloodthirsty and ignorant comments.

Now he's making up shit to rationalize breaking federal law, just as I said earlier. The man is a loose cannon who should stay right where he is.

[cilla4progress]

26. So WHO is pure enough for you?

We'll listen...then we'll let those with equal righteous indignation on some issue rail against him or her... (or the contender will be un-electable).

It's a lose-lose strategy.

Sorry!

[ClarkUSA]

27. A wolf-killer who advocates breaking federal law for trophy hunters' sake is DOA w/me.

Talk about lose-lose strategy. Tell it to the bloodthirsty lawless DLC governor of Montana.

Just the facts, ma'am. Sorry if you don't like 'em.

As for who I'll support in the 2016 primary season, it will depend on who is running but a Democrat who respects the importance of heeding and upholding federal environmental laws would be a prerequisite. Otherwise, I feel it's premature to be setting my sights that far ahead. Thanks for asking so nicely. :eyes:

[cilla4progress]

28. You get my point, though, right?

[ClarkUSA]

31. So because I don't support someone who's a DLC wolf-killing fed lawbreaker - that makes me "pure"?

Hmmm... how amusing. Your bar must be set vewy vewy low.

[cilla4progress]

33. It's set at reality, man

And I don't agree that Schweitzer (or anyone for that matter) is one-dimensional. That is a VERY simplistic view ...

Again - who could meet your standards, and be elected -- plausibly?

[ClarkUSA]

34. Ah, a strawman argument. I was wondering when that would occur in this dialogue.

"A straw man is a component of an argument and is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

I never said Schweizter "is one-dimensional" so there's really nothing for you to disagree with. What you just did is called "attacking the strawman".

Hey, the next time a GOP governor advocates breaking federal law to appease his constituents, don't complain about his disregard for the rule of law, okay?

Nice to know your bar is set at that enabling that kind of "reality". I guess Republicans are not the only ones who are that multi-dimensional. :eyes:

[ZombieHorde]

47. Wolves are not on the endangered species list. Your argument is fantasy. nt

[ClarkUSA]

48. You're wrong. Unlike you, I have proof of my claim. See my proof at Reply 24.

Link to Reply 24: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=619459&mesg_id=619839

[Badfish]

22. I had coyotes around my barn

... sometimes 4 or 5 at a time at night , A few firecrackers took care of the problem and the animals didn't have to die.

In fact , I could scare the entire pack off by simply showing myself. If I charged around the corner they would piss themselves trying to get out of the way.

I never thought of killing them.

[Larkspur]

16. Teddy Roosevelt was a Progressive and a Trust buster

FDR was a Republican before he switch to Democrat so that he didn't have to primary his cousins for elected offices. It took FDR to help the Democratic Party erase the stench of being the party of slaveholders.

The DLC didn't help Schweitzer get elected. In 2004, the Washington Democratic establishment ignored Schweitzer's race because they didn't think he would win. Progressive writer, David Sirota, was one of Schweitzer's senior campaign aides in 2004 and writes about it in Top Billings -- How a Montana Democrat bagged the hunting and fishing vote, and won the governor's mansion. The DLC article you mention is from 2007. The DLC was a waning power in the Democratic Party then, so of course they would latched onto a successfull Western Democrat, like Schweitzer.

What Schweitzer has that Obama does not is the understanding of how Right wing ideologues attach and how to counter them.

[ClarkUSA]

19. LOL! Putting lipstick on a pig isn't going to cover the stench of the DLC on Schweizter.

It's interesting to watch you bending over backwards to justify your "love" for a grandstanding DLC star blowhard who is loudly encouraging people in his state to violate federal law. For him to flout the Endangered Species Act in this way and furthermore to support wolf hunts is unconscionable in any public servant, much less a governor of a state which supports an endangered species population. What's next? Grizzlies? Mountain lions?

Schweizter also deliberately chose a Republican to be his lieutenant governor, much to the disgust and dismay of liberals across the nation. Gee, that was such a great "counter" to "Right wing ideologues"! Is he going to employ that "counter" again if and when he runs for president in 2016, too? I know! He and Palin could run on a "I Love Wolf Hunting" and "Screw the EPA" platform!

:sarcasm:

As for Schweizter having "understanding" that President Obama lacks, then you obviously didn't watch the outcome of the 2008 general election or the historic and transformative legislative victories of the past two years. Check the DU GDP archives and read the news stories from the end of the last legislative session. Congressional Republicans were groaning about how President Obama bested them again. :D

[Larkspur]

35. The DLC had nothing to do with Schweitzer

It's obvious that you didn't read Progressive writer David Sirota's article "Top Billings".

The DLC didn't help Schweitzer become the first Democratic governor of Montana in 16 years. They may want to ride his coat tails now, but I've never seen Schweitzer speaking at a DLC event. Contrary to the pro-corporate DLC, Schweitzer targeted out-of-state corporations as the problem in Montana and he used their abuse of power to help unite Progressives and those that never considered themselves Progressives -- the fishermen and the hunters -- into a block of his supporters.

I guess you also missed the fact that Schweitzer stole the show at the 2008 DNC Convention from DLC Dem, Mark Warner, who showed how boring and uninspiring a speaker he really is. Warner had been touted as a future Democratic Presidential candidate, but after his boring speech at the 2008 DNC Convention, his stock dropped. His only saving grace is that he's slightly less boring than Repuke Tim Pawlenty.

[ClarkUSA]

38. Don't split hairs. Schweitzer is a DLC Dem who supported McCain for President in 2000.

Schweitzer was a DLC New Dem of the Week in 2007 and spoke at their National Convention in the same year:
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=106&subid=122&contentid=254424

Schweitzer veers right on many economic and social issues: he opposes gun control, favors the death penalty and preaches about lowering taxes and balancing budgets... “He’s as much a prairie centrist as he is a prairie populist,” Bruce Reed of the Democratic Leadership Council told me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08governor.html

I'm not surprised David Sirota put his stamp of approval on Schweitzer. After all, he worked for him as a senior strategist in 2000, the same year Schweitzer supported McCain as President and in 2004. Sirota is patting himself on the back with his writings about his boss, Schweitzer. Sirota worked for DLC Dem Mark Warner, too. There's a pattern here: for all his psuedo-liberal writing (that's where the money is in between campaigns), Sirota clearly hearts DLC Dem stars (that's where the money is, too).

Sorry, but I will never like Schweitzer for all of the reasons I have already mentioned. I don't want the man as President, either. If Schweitzer doesn't care about the rule of law with regard to the Endangered Species Act, I doubt he'll respect federal law in other ways when he is CIC/POTUS. The man seems to think he can flout the law as he sees fit.

Ultimately, his attitude is Cheney-esque, only instead of torturing and killing humans illegally, he is encouraging Montanans to maim and kill wolves illegally. WTH does Schweitzer think he is? A power greater than the law of the land? That's detestable, no matter what the issue is.

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[craigmatic]

9. He'll be golden as long as he stays out of the cabinet.

[cilla4progress]

10. So basic, so fundamental, so true -

I got to hear Gov. Schweitzer speak live a couple years ago at our county Democratic Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner (I'm two states over - to the west). We were all very impressed with him. He's one of those rare political people who embodies a range of demographics - cowboy progressive, as it were. Smart, articulate, down to earth, engaging. I would be thrilled were he to move onto the national stage!

[Mass]

15. I'd prefer our governor, Deval Patrick, though I know it is unlikely to happen.

I am no big fan of Schweitzer. He is ok, but not somebody I'd like to see as president.

[Arkana]

30. I don't think Deval has the stomach for national politics.

He's too softspoken. Good governor, though.

[Badfish]

20. The domain name is already taken.

Imagine that.

[NoPasaran]

25. I could get behind him

A pragmatic Democratic governor. Kind of a Howard :loveya: Dean with boots.

[Arkana]

29. I like Schweitzer but I fail to see how he would govern any different than Obama.

[treestar]

32. That's been said zillions of times by zillions of company managers

And inspirational speakers.

It's fine and it's true but just saying it hardly means one is presidential material.

[Larkspur]

37. "Schweitzer for President?" by Progressive writer David Sirota

Schweitzer for President?
SNIP
Here's the deal: Schweitzer is the most talented politician I've ever been around. Period. The people who Cillizza anonymously quotes are most likely D.C. insiders who haven't worked with Brian, because - while the man is human and therefore isn't perfect - the criticism of him is quite literally absurd. The most absurd is the "Democratic strategist" who claims Brian hasn't "surround himself with people as smart as him. All the great politicians do, he hasn't."

I'm almost positive I know who said this quote - but the specific person isn't important. The thrust of the comment is. This is the standard snipe from D.C. people against politicians who don't rely on D.C. people - that is, that only D.C. people are "smart" and those out in the hinterlands are idiots. We saw this theme in much of the criticism by Hillary Clinton surrogates against Barack Obama, much as we saw it in the criticism of Howard Dean in 2004 and Gary Hart in 1984, and so on and so on.

Having worked on a bunch of campaigns now, I can tell you that Brian has actually surrounded himself with brilliant people - and by brilliant, I'm not defining it the same way the D.C. "gurus" who gave us President Mondale, President Dukakis, President Gore and President Kerry define it, nor am I defining it the way the Clinton D.C. "geniuses" who mustered just 42% of the vote in 1992 against one of the most unpopular presidents in history. I'm defining it as campaign people who know how to run grassroots populist campaigns in tough places like Montana (for more on them and their smarts, read here), and people in his administration who know the state backwards and forwards. That a Washington Post reporter quotes other D.C. insiders saying those people aren't "smart" is - to say the least - predictable.

SNIP

Boy Sirota's comment here strongly suggests that its the DLC or Clintonistas who are dissing Schweitzer. Doesn't sound like Schweitzer is a DLC protege. Even if he had been in the past, he realized, like Howard Dean did, that the Washington DLC gurus are politically incestuous hacks.


And here is a good quote that Schweitzer knows how to rhetorically battle the Right Wing

"Because everything she's done since the last presidential election has decreased her job approval all over the country. Did she write any books before she ran for vice president? Did Fakes News have her employed then?," he said, when pressed for his reasoning why the former Alaska governor won't pull the trigger. "Clearly she only stayed governor for two years, that doesn't pay much. What she's doing now pays a lot more."

Schweitzer: No Palin this time, but maybe me next time

I've never heard Obama call Fox News, Fake News, but that is exactly what they are and Schweitzer nailed it.

[ClarkUSA]

39. You neglected to add that Sirota worked as a senior strategist for Schweitzer in 2000 and 2004.

The man is hardly unbiased, having been on Schweitzer's payroll twice in four years. He's probably hoping to be a senior strategist for Schweitzer again, this time for the brass ring. What better way to boost his erstwhile boss than a gushing, protective fluff piece? Furthermore, no one knows better than Sirota that the DLC label is a hangman's noose for the Democratic primary base, so I'm not surprised he is fomenting conspiracy theories without a shred of proof to absolve Schweitzer. After all, which two entities are most suspect to liberals than the DLC and Clintonians?

As for President Obama, he went much farther than a jokey play on words and actually condemned Fox News in a very precise fashion publicly and on the record:

Obama: Fox News is 'destructive' to America
By: CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

(CNN) - President Obama is pulling no punches when it comes to Fox News, declaring the cable news outlet to be "destructive to long-term growth."

In a more than 8,000-word interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Obama compared the cable news channel to papers owned by William Randolph Hearst at the turn of the 20th century that unabashedly pushed the media titan's own political views.

"You had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition – it is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view," Obama told the magazine.

Officials in the Obama White House have long made Fox News a punching bag, launching a full blown offensive last year when aides declared the network to be "opinion journalism masquerading as news." Then-White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said the cable outlet "operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party," and top aide Valerie Jarret called Fox "clearly biased."

But the new comments from Obama constitute the president's most direct attack yet on the network owned by business mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Fox News pushes "a point of view that I disagree with. It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world," Obama said.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/28/obama-fox-news-is-destructive-to-america

[Larkspur]

41. Sirota isn't a political whore like the Washington Dem establishent consultants are

He supports candidates and politicians that his conscious supports. That's why he worked for Bernie Sanders first. He worked for Schweitzer because he was impressed with Schweitzer as a person, even if he disagreed with his boss on some issues, like clean coal. Sirota is now a morning talk radio host on Denver's Progressive talk radio station AM 760. He currently lives in Denver, CO. I dare you to find links proving that David Sirota supports the DLC.

In my opinion President Obama is a wimp against the right wing. Just look at how poorly the White House handled the Sharon Sherrod incident. They fired her first because Faux News was ginning up a "reverse racism scandal" based upon highly edited tapes. The White House took days before they fixed this injustice on their part. His interviews on Faux News only help bolster the right wing meme. That fact that he bought into the right wing meme to lower the deficit instead of helping the millions of laid off Americans find jobs, tells me that Obama is no Progressive or is easily bamboozled by the right wing propaganda machine.

[ClarkUSA]

43. Really? Is that why he's been paid to be a "liberal" radio host AND a strategist for a DLC star?

That's what I call a political media whore. You don't have to be part of the "Washington establishment" to be one, apparently. Oh, and I never said Sirota "supports the DLC" did I?

<< Obama is no Progressive >>

Since when does someone who loves a DLC Dem star like Gov. Schweitzer care about whether Obama is a liberal or not? Oh, BTW, President Obama is more liberal than Schweitzer (e.g., gun control). And at least Obama never joined the DLC nor was he ever a New Dem of the Week nor did he ever get chosen to speak at the DLC's National Convention.

It's nice of you to move the goalpost after I showed you President Obama's stinging condemnation of Fox News as being "destructive" to the nation during that Rolling Stone interview I excerpted. That was no "wimp" talking. All because President Obama doesn't act like a folksy jokesy loudmouth blowhard every time he opens his mouth in public doesn't mean he's not deadly tough.

And how do you know what happened in the Sharon Sherrod case? Perhaps it took "days to fix this injustice" because President Obama wanted to know the whole story and it took time to gather all the information? It's not as if the Leader of the Free World is going to drop everything to focus on Vilsack's FUBAR.

Speaking of wimps, how much further do you think Gov. Schweitzer is going to bend over for the gun and hunting lobby Republicans in his state?

"Let's kill wolves who may kill a ten-point elk! Can't have trophy hunters getting mad at us! WTH cares if wolves are endangered? Fuck the EPA!! Screw Washington!"

Boy, Gov. Schweitzer must be a real hero in his state, what with his hand-picked Republican lieutenant governor, his Republican-controlled legislature, and his majority Republican electorate. Such a "Progressive" you've got there! :puke:

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProSense]

45. "I've never heard Obama call Fox News, Fake News..." Not likely to, but

he did say this: Obama: Fox News is 'destructive' to America.

Just noticed that article now has more than 38,000 recs.

A couple of good quotes doesn't exactly make someone a perfect candidate for President.