Posted: August 3, 2012 at 12:42 pm
POLITICO: Schweitzer on List of Top 5 for 2016
Politico includes Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer on it’s list of potential Democrats for the 2016 presidential ticket:
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer
Much like Obama’s 2004 convention speech catapulted him to star status, Schweitzer’s 2008 speech also gave him credibility, buzz and recognition among party leaders. While Montana is not a swing state, its red-state credentials would help shake the liberal label the other 2016 hopefuls might carry. Schweitzer is a fresh face whose oratorical skills are an asset and a liability. U.S.News& World Report wrote last summer that Schweitzer impressed party elders across early states, already laying the groundwork for a primary slog.
Of course, it can’t hurt that Montana has had the highest surplus in the state’s history under Governor Schweitzer with an average ending fund balance of $414 million. The average fund balance of the eighteen years prior to Schweitzer was $54 million.
Also on the list: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, and Martin O’Malley.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Um, why LOL, dipstick? It would seem that it’s YOU reetards, the Pubbbies, who pretty much have given the country an endless list of actual LOL worthy candidates, cupacke. Mittens is simply the latest! Where DO you get’em all? The most recent list of reetards was absolutely hands down the goofiest list of presidential candidates ever! And even most Pubbies said so too!
Try to be more specific, bugnuts.
Rand Paul, Jon Huntsman, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, John Thune…plenty of good options for Republicans in 2016 after Mitt fails miserably.
He should definitely run. It would be hilarious to see what he would do with the TEA Party Congress!
Please let me see some Michelle Bachmann bills VETO branded. Seeing her reaction would be the best. We need a president who isn’t afraid to stand up to the TEA Party and tell it like it is!
If I were a Pubbie, I would be scared to death that the nonimee would be Schweitzer. He’s that formidable! He’s everything that the Pubbies aren’t.
He’s honest. He’s personable. He’s approachable and likeable. He’s uncorruptable. He’s extremely intelligent. He’s FOR the people, and NOT the corporations. He can think on his feet unlike anybody else. And he’s very eloquent. And with Scwheitzer, what you see is what you get! There’s nothing in his background that the Pubbies can use to damage him! Want to know something about Scwheitzer? Well then, ASK him! He will TELL you. He is simply that plainspoken. He ain’t hidin’ NUTHIN’ like all the Pubbies runnin’.
How do the Pubbies deal with a guy like that?
But most of all, Schweitzer doesn’t fear the crazies! He’s much like Ceasar. “Shall I be frighted when a mad man stares?” Shcweitzer ain’t. Unlike Ceasar, he justs BRANDS their dumbasses though!
What to do? What to do? Well, my moronic Pubbie pals, I dunno on this one. I usually have a lot of advice to share with your morons, but you’re on your own now. I would suggest that instead of trying to destroy a Scwheitzer administration, you do much like the Teatards in Montana eventually learned to do. Simply take your lumps and hope for the best in eight years when he’s done!
Go ask the dude from Big Dork, Boob Keenan, who was gonna keep a log book on everything Scweitzer said and use it against him. Ask him how well THAT’S goin’ for him!
You see, there’s sumthin’ unnerving about a dude that walks in a room full of angry crazy opponents and says “well yes, as a matter of fact, I DID come to pick a fight. And now that we have that outta the way, let’s get down to business”!
That’s Schweitazer. He’s gonna do what’s right regardless of what the crazies think. He’s not real intimidated by then. In fact, he’s at his best when he’s mixing it up with them. He’s Butte-like in his approach to settling conflicts!
And that’s why I really, really think that we need him in higher office now. The nazis are trying their damndest to make the crazy the new normal. And Schweitzer is the antidote, the antibody to the crazy. He’s simply the best out there.
Let’s get this party started!
He’d actually crack the republican party in half. The Moderates would like him and vote for him. The Sheet-ed part of the Right Wing would not.
He has a very good foreign policy presence just as a governor. He would also want a single payer in the nation. The last of old white man GOP politics would be very afraid of this man as well as the insurance corporations. He has too much smarts to be controlled. It would be refreshing Larry, and the liberals in our party would grow a backbone for the first time in 50 years.
In a way, this makes me very sad. Larry is right. Schweitzer is popular, hugely popular, and not just in the state of Montana. He would stand a far better than average chance to take the White House in 2016. What’s sad is that the more articles of this type written, the less the chance that Brian will run against Max in 2014. No wonder Max has a some confidence …
Rob is right.
BS not running against Max increases the chances that he gets beat by a Republican.
True, Swede, but not by very much. I submit that the best, and probably only, chance for that seat to go Republican is for Baucus to retire (or be primaried out, which is not likely without Schweitzer). Seriously, who have you got to run against him? Bowen Grenwood? Corey Stapleton? Taylor Brown? Joe Balyeat? The ghost of Bob Kelleher? Only Rehberg, after he loses to Tester, stands any chance, and he’ll squander that by going to work for his son, the lobbyist. Or maybe you’ve forgotten that Max fights dirty, and wins because of it. No, the only way Baucus loses is to not run, or be challenged from the Democratic party. Your boys have proven pretty ineffectual in that fight.
Dylan canceled in Billings a few weeks back. Kinda wanted to hear this song.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.
Missed the entire sixties thingy, didja Ingy? Too bad, dude. It was great! Magical, mystical time. The golden era of this country with the best music ever. We’d be enjoyin’ the fruits of that time now if the CIA hadn’t killed all our leaders in their coups! It’s been fascism ever since. And THAT ain’t democracy, dude.
Before Aurora, Col., the only crazy bastard with a gun slaughtering innocents was the criminal son of a bitch in the WHITE House. Hand picked by nazi prescott bush and the daddy kockh! And the beat goes on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs6aaaJBAv0
Enjoy.
I still gotta tell you folks your wrong about Max, he pretty much saved the Democratic party in this state. He is one of the last lions we have that can cobble a bipartisan bill together we can always improve down the road. It might be as pretty as you all like it, but the man can get things done.
Norma, it is possible that ‘us folks’ aren’t “wrong about Max”, but rather that we just disagree with your assessment of his importance and effectiveness.
I’m guessing Max will retire after all. That’s really the best solution. He can say he had a good run. We can all have our opinions, and we can get someone better who will fight for our values instead of selling them out to the insurance companies.
Max is time and grade, thats it, nothing more, nothing less. Im still mad at him for voting for those bailouts to big business back in 08. Have not gotten over that slap in the face from him and GW Bush just yet. I also did not like the way he caved into the insurance companies during the health care debacle back in 09.
With that said and Ive said this before and I will say this again, Schwietzer is the most effective governor this state has had in my lifetime. And he will probley go out as the best dam governor this state has ever seen in its history. Yes he made some mistakes, Yes I did not agree with all his calls, but hey he is human.
Now here is the third part, part of me thinks Schwietzer is done in politics, after he leaves the governor’s office. He wrote an article either last year or early this year that said he was not interested in running for congress cause the system was broken. And you know what, I agree. Im sorry but our system is broken, and Citizen’s United and the Supreme Court decision on corporate campaign spending proves it. Schwietzer at the end of the day is a Montana rancher, yes he has served as our governor, yes he has a degree in soil science, yes he built huge irrigation projects in the middle east, and probley understands the middle east better then most of the politicians in Washington. But at the end of the day he is a rancher, how does a rancher from Montana beat the corporations.
Right now Im pulling for a dirt farmer from Montana for the U.S. Senate. I seriously hope that he wins re election. Infact I would be devestated if he lost reelection. But here is the thing that dirt farmer is having to run against a mountain of corporate cash. And against a candidate, who is well known in Montana, and experienced in running statewide campaigns. Granted the opponent of my dirt farmer does not give two swings of a rats tail about Montana but still. I know the election will be close, and to be honest, Im scared.
If Montana wants great representation in the United States Senate, then it has to be all hands on deck for Jon Tester. It is the number 1 race, and it is the only race that really matters at this time.
Disagreement is fine. Mr Kailey I have no disillusionment that all my opinions will all be liked! So we can agree to disagree.
We can? Well thanks for telling me what we “can” do. Just so’s you know, that doesn’t mean we will, we have to, or even should. You might want to consider the difference.
Heartless, though you think I may be… to you Mr. Kailey I’ve never claimed to be nice, just to be sensible. I don’t need another version of a marginal person in my life.
Norma: looks like Rob is helping you to develop callouses in all the right places; you will thank him one day.
Not Really, I worked in a Man dominated business successfully for over thirty years. So you wont mind, if I don’t!
I do get called a bitch quite often. What I do NOT get called is pushover, stupid, sweetheart, dear or doormat….
Works for me!
Norma, you might want to look up the term “non-sequitur” just for future reference.
This is 2012. You’re not starring in a Virginia Slims commercial, but rather should be running a campaign. You’re running for office to represent a district in Montana as a Democrat. The only one who keeps bringing up gender as an issue is you. That makes your ability to ‘represent others’ somewhat to highly questionable. Allow me to offer a few suggestions:
Telling people what they will mind or what they won’t is not representative of anything except your self interest.
Telling people what ‘works for you’ when you haven’t won a single election shows the same self-interest.
Passive aggressive claims of gender bias while promoting gender bias from your own view? You guessed it. Self-interest.
You might, just once, break out of yourself to question what it is that the Montana voter really needs. Norma, what I need is for more and better Democrats in the state and national legislature. That doesn’t mean people who raise money for other Democrats coincidental to promoting themselves. What I don’t need is someone self-interested who thinks themselves above reproach just because they support brand Democrat or womanhood. I don’t really need Max. And frankly, I don’t really need you. You’ve shown no interest in ‘working’ in politics to actually better our government. You’ve shown no interest in actually running a campaign to work in government. How can you work as a representative of the people when your default response to disagreement is ‘fuck off and get a life, oh and I am woman hear me roar’?
I’ve said it before, but you’re just too self-interested to listen. Larry is right. I’ve been trying to help you, Duffy, because that would ultimately help me. I’ve expected no thank you’s, because more and better Democrats is what I want, and what you held the weak promise of providing. That you can’t even see the situation for what it is proves you to be stupid (OMG, no one calls Norma stupid!) Whatever promise I thought you offered was apparently my mistake.
Lastly neither of you answered my questions, you just talked around it… or basically ignored them and kept peddling your crap.
Just goes to show you that we on the left. have assholes as well Folks. Self Important, Wise-cracking, Idiots that spend far more time talking about themselves then the issues.
I feel for you two. Absurdity must be in the genetics!
I always tell people to remember that as a candidate you can never please everyone, and especially people who have already made up their minds. You can persuade the persuadable-undecided voters, and that’s it. Hang in there Norma!
Exactly what questions were those, Norma. I went through the replies you made to me and couldn’t find any questions.. just you ranting. Please point out the unanswered questions so that we can respond..
Thank you Jennifer, Your right!
let me make this as plain as possible for you since you like writing and I don’t want you to cramp your chubby fingers Rob….. Your trolling me. You have been doing it for a month now.
It has nothing to do with anything else…… your just a man who’s little feelings are hurt. Grow up!
Lastly putting untrue content out there about me, and crap you cant prove…. doesn’t irk me in the least. It probably might help your blood pressure to vent, but you the one, acting immature.
Your Assumptions are baseless, without fact, and verging towards pretty “damn dumb.”
I cant believe a man of your supposed stature, would ever just flat out lie about a person he doesn’t even know.
I realize Politics, might be your hobby. but it isn’t mine. I didn’t come to the table to schmooze politics, I came to work for my constituents.
Sorry but I care for all Republicans and Democrats of Beaverhead county first and foremost, not just the Kaileys.
You don’t live here. I do. And I spend my time trying to find out from everyone I meet in MY DISTRICT, what they believe their needs are.
My Campaign is actually going pretty well, with no need of help from an outsider to our community.
Lastly, I am not gonna please everybody, so if your still looking for me to appease you…..? Stop, because it isn’t happening.
Move on.
My stature? About 6’1″, and thanks for asking. That comment is just too funny to pass up. My stature? I’m a working Montanan, with more than just passing skills at communication. That’s all I’ve “trolled you” with is the idea that you could get better at communication to achieve goals that both of us share.
As to your command to “move on”? I’ve clarified a number of times, Norma, I don’t do requests.
Stature has 2 meanings Rob!
1. The natural height of a human or animal in an upright position.
2. An achieved level; status.
I thought you were a school teacher? Thank goodness not for my kids in Dillon.
If you thought I was a school teacher than you’re kind of an idiot. I’m not. ‘Never claimed to be.
And, since it is so full of humor potential, exactly what “achieved level” do you think I’ve “supposedly” reached?
He is not trolling you. He is simply saying (and nicely, I might add) what we IN YOUR DISTRICT have been saying for months. You aren’t listening. That is fine. You will go down in ignomious defeat just like every other marginal Democrat that has ever run in this district – Mosoph, Carol… all the ones before you. You may think your campaign is doing fine but I am here to tell you, it isn’t. In fact, you are seen as kind of joke here. People simply aren’t saying to your face like Rob is. I will be surprised if you pick up even 30% of the vote. You have certainly guarenteed that none of the three registered voters in this household will be voting for you.
First of all, Mr Kailey, Your brother Rob doesn’t live in HD72 and while you do…. according to MY sources they say: YOU are seen as the joke of the community…. In fact, most if not all Officials in Dillon cite you as bad news.
Obviously, I think our mayor has unresolved issues with you, but a Clear majority of other People here have told me they dislike your attitude.
At first, I did’t listen to them, I gave you a chance to speak to me as a regular-joe, a person of the community not unlike myself.
But when you both went off at me, because of Mark’s BS and his meltdown…. well that’s another story altogether. I am not Mark! Nor will I be your whipping boy, while you look for a replacement.
Time for both of you to grow up, Your perceived self importance, within this community is only in your own heads.
The community of Dillon does not revolve around you.
I haven’t seen you doing anything for this community lately but show up at a Democratic dinner.
I haven’t seen you at a MSTI Meeting, a BLM Meeting, No one remembers you even offering your free services as a board member to the county.
No one has seen you do anything for our area lately but complain, “It isn’t done right.”
Really? When are you gonna roll up your sleeves and pitch in?
Again, anytime you want to see where I stand on issues, it is printed clearly and precisely on my Candidate web page.
Otherwise, like I told your brother move along.
That’s the funniest part of all, Duffy. You’re attacking him when he needs nothing from you. You, on the other hand, need his vote as well as the votes he can influence. Do you think you can get those votes by insulting him? Really? Do you think you can win the election by insulting anyone who isn’t important enough to meet your standards? Apparently.
Yet again, let me point out a few things of significance to you.
1) Politics is not a “hobby”. Electing representative leadership is an American duty. Voting for someone who thinks it a “hobby” for the hoi-poloi is exactly voting against one’s self-interest.
2) Attacking anyone who numbers among your potential constituents really shows your claim of being concerned about all the Rs and Ds to be a lie. Parse the sentences you wrote, if you’re able, Norma. Trust me, I already have. What you wrote is that you promise to be concerned about every party voter in Beaverhead county *except* the Kaileys. If you would deny those few people your wealth of beneficence, than what is to stop you from denying it to others? Absolutely nothing, and that’s why word of mouth can be so damaging to your campaign.
3) You are completely incoherent when bringing up some mythical “Mark meltdown” as the start of this row between us. What started it was that I simply pointed out that you need an editor (still a great suggestion.) Don’t accuse me of lying when you haven’t a clue what is actually happened.
4) Bringing it back to the point of the post, this is the biggie. Bad candidates can have two effects. They cause people to vote for the other person, or they cause people to stay home. Baucus has entered the ‘bad candidate territory’. As a candidate in Montana, are you a good one or a bad one? I suggest the latter. And every person who rejects your defensiveness, your clamor, your caterwaul of self-importance makes a choice to vote against you or stay home. Those who stay home fail to vote for Obama (not that it will make much difference in Montana), they fail to vote for Tester, they fail to vote for Bullock or any other candidate running to better the state. While you pompously tell others to “go away”, “move along”, “You’re wrong” or “fuck off and get a life”, you’re actually hurting good candidates, like Brian Schweitzer should he run for President. You are actually hurting Montana. If you weren’t so stupidly self-interested, you might actually recognize that fact.
5) You need to learn some Montana political history. I’ll keep it recent so that you can keep up. Self-important Republicans tend to get elected. Dennis Rehburp? James Knox? Judy from Mars? Those who don’t slink away and may or may not run again in the future. Self-important Democrats, on the other hand, tend to blame everyone else for their often epic failures. Steve Kelly? Melinda Gopher? You bet, it was everyone else’s fault. That’s precisely what I see in your future, Duffy. It will be the fault of the Montana Democratic party, or the Kailey boys or anyone else save your own stupid presentation, which could have been improved if you’d'a just fricking listened instead of blaming “mens” for your own blind spots.
My brother pretty much covered the high points, but I do want to point a few misconceptions you may have.
My “bad odor” with the Powers that Be here in Dillon is a direct result of my reporting on their less than honorable behavior. I was video taping their crap and posting about it online. My “reward” for doing so was that the Mayor of this fine town – in collusion with the City Council member that my wife was running against – had me investigated and subsequently arrested. This made statewide news. Apparently that must have been while you were too busy fighting the “man’s world” at work.
Of course the powers that be dislike me and of course Mayor Malesich has a chip on his shoulder over me. I couldn’t care less. I don’t live my life for them.
As far as what I do for this city, you have zero idea. I will leave it at that. I don’t need to toot my own horn as I am not the person running for office. I do not think the world revolves around me (and that is very much a Mark kind of argument so you will have to excuse me if I see you as another Mark). MY world revolves around me, my wife, my house and my life. I see you as someone that would negatively effect that life and as such, I will not only NOT vote for you, I will actively work against you getting elected. You convinced me of that a while ago.
Trust me. I don’t need either of you! Just keep looking in that mirror boys!
To be fair, it should be pointed out that the reason a democrat hasn’t won in this district is because less than a third of the voters there are dems.
I would have to disagree, Paul. There has been a small but noticable shift – especially in the last half decade toward the middle. This county is still rabidly old world conservative but as the Republicans get crazier and as the older moneyed “Good old boys” are replaced by more forward thinking people, the votes in this county move more toward the middle. Representatives like Debbie Barrett make many of the middle of the road conservative around here nervous and if a moderate Republican or a well known moderate democrat in this county were to run against her, they might win. Turner actually stands some (albeit small) chance of making it a race.
The problem for Norma is that her opponent is pretty popular and well known. She.. not so much. She may think she doesn’t need every single vote she can get, but that is delusion on her part. She stands zero chance of winning the race against Wellborn.
Sadly, the moderate Dems in this town that are popular enough to win the race are unlikely to run. Most of them that I know have no interest in “wasting their time in politics”. That may change if the Republicans that do get elected get any crazier.
Glad to hear you are seeing a shift. That’s what the numbers have said for 15 years in Dillon, but I hope this year is different. Cheers.
I think a lot depends on personalities too. Some of the Dem candidates we have seen run in Dillon would have had a hard time getting elected in a Democratic County. At the same time, many of the Republican Candidates that have run here are pretty popular. Having an “R” after your name helps but with a lot of older people here in Dillon, being known to them is also important. You should hear some of the stories the older people remember about local folk…
Norma-what bill has max baucus “cobbled together”?
I dont know why you guys keep thinking, the ACA bill was not a great start,
I disagree: There will be some good outcomes to this bill besides a healthier Montana.
♦Small Business Tax Credits
♦Reducing the Federal Deficit
♦Preventing Insurance Company Discrimination
♦Helping Seniors With Prescription Drugs And Strengthening Medicare
♦Tax Credits For Individuals
♦More jobs in this states health industry
Consumer protections for individuals!!
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/08/02/628981/flake-insurance-pre-existing-conditions/
While people like consumer protections, there is no reason that they require a massive giveaway to the drug companies and insurance industry. This is why people hate the so-called Affordable Care Act. Not because they don’t like consumer protections, but because we were handed a big pile of manure with them and told it was essential – as in essential to Jim Messina’s deal with PHRMA I guess they really meant.
That short list story was written by someone with a short deadline and a long need for anything to gin up a story. Joe Biden will be 73 in 2016. Hillary Clinton will be 69. Neither will run.
Schweitzer is a possibility, but more likely to be chosen as VP. He’d be a good VP choice. In fact, I think there’s a good chance the 2016 ticket will be Cuomo-Schweitzer: an Eastern liberal and a Western American Original.
I do not see Schweitzer, a man who likes to get things done, and whose personality is suited for executive duty, running for a legislative office. He’d need a double prescription for Prozac ten minutes after being sworn in to the U.S. Senate.
In fact, if something were to happen to Joe Biden before the 2012 election, I predict that Schweitzer would be on the short list to replace him.
I have to agree with you James that would be my pick also Cuomo-Schweitzer or even Schweitzer-Cuomo. I dont see either Hillary or Joe wanting to stay active much more on the inside of politics…. they can do plenty good on the outside too!
This may be a rather odd comment, but I wish that Prez O would have had to compete for his space to run for re-election as the Democratic nominee for a second term. He is no longer my choice. After eight years of Dubya and Cheeney, lots of folks voted for the ‘other’ party even it were led by a black man for the first time. This man’s skin color didn’t dissuade me or millions of others… Yet O’s ‘birther issue’ may still surface big time nationally, and Barry Soetoro (foreign student at Columbia University, NY – 1981) may be forced to step down as a sitting President as he really isn’t a U.S. Citizen.
I listened to a taped speech by a former Navy Seal who was predicting that Hillary would ultimately represent the Dems in this November’s election. Back to the birther issue.
Today, I couldn’t vote my conscience once again for Obama. Nor would I vote for Mitt. If a sitting Democratic President had to re-compete for his slot on the ticket, then Gov. Brian might have made some movement herein. I too would support Brian either as Prez or Veep on the nation’s top Dem ticket.
These are really strange times we are living in. Ten years after 9/11 – most folks still think that those two steel towers feel in a freefall pattern simply because each of them WAS hit by a jet airplane. Wars for middle-eastern oil amid millions of acres of dying beetle-kill? How smart are we?
Donna Jackson, Billings-born
You Listened to who, to make this statement? Obama was born in Hawaii a sovereign state of the USA.
9-11 wasn’t an alleged conspiracy, we had an ass for a president, who refused to take seriously analyst predictions of Bin Laden attacking the US, and Hillary herself has said she will not run for president.
Hell Yes, What do we have to do to get Schweitzer to run. Perhaps until then you could send him here to Nevada to be our Governor for a while!
Wow! I stole this from Pogie’s site. If you got some time, you really should watch this video and see one of the best political speeches I’ve ever seen. This man is not done yet, nor should he be. We were damn lucky to have him for our guv for two terms. Incredible speaker. No wonder the worms in the Pubbie Party fear him to no end. They’ve got no answer for Schweitzer.
http://intelligentdiscontent.com/2012/08/08/governor-schweitzer-on-race-the-watchdog-and-the-truth/
Schweitzer – Gillibrand 2016!