A top Hillary Clinton foe for Democratic nod has a huge mouth problem
NO HOMO: Brian Schweitzer apparently has a gaydar and he believes it’s pretty accurate.
By Dustin Hurst | Watchdog.org
Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, has a huge mouth problem.
No, the gregarious governor doesn’t have cavities, but rather he has a tough time controlling what comes out of the round orifice during television interviews on the hyper-partisan MSNBC.
This probably comes as little surprise to Montanans, who experienced his frenzied antics during his two terms as governor.
Yet, the hits still keep coming and Schweitzer’s latest may have cost him a bid for the White House in 2016. Some analysts suggested that Schweitzer could have been a populist alternative to Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Earlier this week, Schweitzer appeared on MSNBC to discuss House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s historic loss in a Virginia Republican primary. The former governor just couldn’t help himself:
“Last week, I called him on the night Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated in his GOP primary. ‘Don’t hold this against me, but I’m going to blurt it out. How do I say this … men in the South, they are a little effeminate,’ he offered when I mentioned the stunning news. When I asked him what he meant, he added, ‘They just have effeminate mannerisms. If you were just a regular person, you turned on the TV, and you saw Eric Cantor talking, I would say—and I’m fine with gay people, that’s all right — but my gaydar is 60-70 percent. But he’s not, I think, so I don’t know. Again, I couldn’t care less. I’m accepting.’
Keep in mind that Schweitzer proclaimed his tolerant nature while simultaneously dissing supposedly “effeminate” Southern men.
The governor also had some choice words for California Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a National Journal piece by Marin Cogan. She quotes the governor as follows:
Schweitzer is incredulous that Feinstein — considered by her critics to be too close to the intelligence community — was now criticizing the agency. “She was the woman who was standing under the streetlight with her dress pulled all the way up over her knees, and now she says, ‘I’m a nun,’ when it comes to this spying!” he says. Then, he adds, quickly, “I mean, maybe that’s the wrong metaphor — but she was all in!”
Schweitzer apologized for the remarks — at least the crack about Feinstein — on his Facebook page Thursday.
Still, the political fallout is severe.
Sure, America’s conservative faction is having a heyday with the governor’s remarks, but the major media are also taking notice of the former governor’s self-inflicted damage.
“The governor, who has somewhat inexplicably turned into a hero of some on the political left, can probably say goodbye to that niche in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary,” wrote the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake Wednesday. “And in the process, he gave the GOP a little ammunition to fight back against Democratic charges of its supposed ‘war on women’ and its insensitivity toward the GLBT community.”
The title of Blake’s article summed it up: “The Brian Schweitzer presidential speculation was fun while it lasted.”
Time chimed in, too: “Looks like Brian Schweitzer just messed up his chances of a Democratic nomination.”
In other words concerning your 2106 campaign, governor, that dog don’t hunt.
