This chinless wonder is named Greg Gianforte. He’s the Republican running in Montana’s special election to be Montana’s sole representative to the House. What was a minor political story of a special election – most of the articles used the race as a proxy for the larger Trump-versus-Democrats national story – has just blown up into an international storyline which is dominating headlines. First, a tiny bit of backstory: The Guardian, a respected British newspaper, has significantly increased their presence in America and American journalism. While I was surprised to learn that reporters from The Guardian were in Montana, it’s not shocking in the least. The Guardian recently did a fascinating story on Greg Gianforte’s Russian connections too – Gianforte owns about $250K in index stocks tied to the Russian economy
So, there was already a significant media interest in this special election, and the election is being held today. Last night, Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs approached Gianforte at his headquarters and asked for his response on the CBO’s score of Trumpcare. Gianforte responded to those questions by body slamming Ben Jacobs, throwing him to the ground and breaking his glasses. This happened in front of other journalists and witnesses. Jacobs called the police to report the assault, and he was taken to the hospital to be checked out. The thing is, Jacobs was asking questions of Gianforte on the record, so Jacobs had his recorder out. He recorded his assault.
The dumbasses running this violent psycho’s campaign didn’t realize or didn’t care that the audio was already out, because the campaign released a completely ridiculous story about why Gianforte felt the need to assault a reporter for asking questions. “Aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist.” Rii-ight.
Gianforte's statement: pic.twitter.com/WVNdA1yZ8w
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 25, 2017
A group of Fox News journalists were in the same room when the assault took place – when Jacobs asks for names in that audio, he was asking the Fox News people. A member of the group wrote about what they witnessed, and they are not taking Gianforte’s side whatsoever. Fox News-as-eyewitness described the moment when “Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter. As Gianforte moved on top of Jacobs, he began yelling something to the effect of, ‘I’m sick and tired of this!’” They also say that at no point was Jacobs in any way physically aggressive towards Gianforte.
Gianforte has been giving a citation for misdemeanor assault following a brief investigation by the local sheriff, who incidentally donated to Gianforte’s campaign. The local paper has withdrawn their endorsement of Gianforte and some believe Gianforte should withdraw from the race. This special election should be an interesting one to watch. Remember to vote today, Montana Celebitches!
Photos courtesy of Getty.
The sad thing is, there will be people who vote for this guy specifically because he assaulted a member of the free press. But I’m hoping sanity wins today. Go, Montana celebitches!!
When his excuse is that he was responding to “Aggressive behavior from a liberal journalist”, the key word there is “liberal”. Trumpsters will be out in full force to thank him for that service. I actually think this guy will win. Dems are much better at expressing outrage on the internet than at the ballot and you better believe Trumps angry redneck crew will vote.
All of this. Assaulting a “liberal” journalist will motivate deplorables to vote today. I just can’t believe what is happening to this country.
You speak no lies, Craven. Trump and all his ilk have created such a hatred for the press that is not Breitbart, Fox News or Info Wars. They use liberal like an insult. This will gain this guy fans among that sect.
I want to argue with this so badly but this is the truth. This is where we are at in this country. Sigh.
More than the assault, I think the fact that the majority of voters have already voted early will have a big impact.
Agreed. He will win. I saw his little soundbite and heard the tone in his voice when he mentioned “liberal” press and saw the look on his face. He knew all he had to do was mark his victim a member of the liberal press, and Montana republicans would flock to the polls to support him.
and I wonder how the conservatives would have reacted to Seth Rich’s family taking a tire iron to Sean Hannity’s face?
after all, he’s been pretty aggressive in his reporting…reporting which actually caused anguish and pain to the family of the slain man.
fair is fair, right?
to add, if your only defense of your stance/position on a topic is to physically assault someone who asks you about it, perhaps it’s not a very good position to take?…
I agree. A lot of people have already voted. I also think that the Trumpsters love bullies, so they will gleefully vote for Gianforte.
I just hope somebody finally punches that idiot Jesse Watters.
As soon as I heard about this, my immediate thought was that people will now vote for him specifically because of this. This is how far we’ve fallen. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Gianforte orchestrated it just to shore up/motivate the base. I’m sickened.
Yep. He’s going to win, and this will be why.
He will probably win, but I don’t think this will be why. Something like 2/3 of the voters already cast their ballots before this happened.
if this man cannot handle a legitimate question from the press without resorting to violence, HE IS NOT FIT FOR OFFICE.
period.
someone should ask him the famous “when did you stop beating your wife?”
Resident Montana Celebitch here! I was already voting for Rob Quist because Greg Gianforte is a billionaire Trumpster who believes in creationism to the degree he funded a “Jesus walked with dinosaurs” museum, owns a private Christian school that declines to accept children with disabilities, donates to white supremacists, sued Montana to block access to public lands and is heavily invested in pharmaceutical companies that manufacture contraceptives but is of the ilk who will happily deny women access to said contraceptives. His latest actions just proved what my gut/brains already knew. Greg Gianforte is a wealthy conservative asshat.
I don’t understand why he was/is in the lead, given this backstory.
As for the reporter, thankfully he had that audio recording and was backed up by the Fox reporter.
Oh my god…..just…wow. Sending lots of love and positive vibes to you Skyblue!
But I have to ask….what’s the chatter like around you? How are other folks in your area reacting to this story? Searching for some hope here….
Wow. So beating up a member of the press is the *least* awful thing about him. And these are the people being elected into office. It’s sickening.
I live in Montana, too. I already voted for Rob Quist. Unfortunately a lot of people people here vote down the party line no matter what. However, there are a lot of hard feelings here towards Gianforte b/c he is from out of state, is a tech millionaire, blocked public access and the university kids here can’t stand him. They didn’t want to accept a large donation from him for a new building (which would have had his name on it) due to his stance on same sex marriage.
Haha I was going to bet a dollar this jerk wins. It is funny sad.
That was my first thought. It may help him gain voters. I have absolutely no faith left in white, rural voters.
Same.
The Republicans are cracking under the pressure.
I hope the journalist presses charges against this thug. This is so much worse than what I thought when I heard this on Chris Hayes last night. Maybe I am using hyperbole too loosely here, but this guy went beserk after a seemingly harmless question like he was being triggered by something the journalist said.
What grown ass man acts like this in any situation? All he had to do was say “no comment” and move on.
This is our new reality in America. Hopefully it doesn’t last long cause it is scary as all hell.
The journo was asking about healthcare, bit of a sore subject for him perhaps.
I believe the Guardian said they are supporting the reporter in whatever legal ramifications.
I think 1) they’re under pressure esp with the CBO score out and 2) he specifically asked if reporter was from the Guardian – be it after he assaulted him but still, I think the story they did on his Russian links put him on the edge. It wasn’t supposed to be a close race but it has been and hopefully now he’s a has been.
^^^This.
He had been avoiding comment on the health care law because he said he was waiting for the CBO score. Now that the CBO score is out, he had no reason to delay. That frustrated him.
Additionally, the Guardian was the one who brought to light the $250k he has invested in Russian-related funds, so he had a special grudge against them.
That’s the dangerous thing about this new bizarro world – idiots like no longer feel like they are obligated to say “no comment”. it is simply “You don’t get to question me at all and if you do, I get to jump immediately to assault with no consequences”.
Totally right, Grabbyhands. This is a terrifying new reality and it’s disgusting to think that 1) there are people who will support this and 2) he’s going to get away with it because rich white guys can do whatever they want.
Yep if criminal charges aren’t going to be filed (looks like it won’t since the sheriff issued a misdemeanor citation), the journalist should go after him for damages in civil court.
God, what is happening over there in the US?! This is simply horrendous. So the constituents are quite ok with having a bully-by thug representing them? I’m horrified, and although I’ve been loath to call trumpsters some of the names others have, I’m now convinced they really are a bunch of thickos who have no clue of what is being done even to them. I hope Ben Jacobs sues this violent loose cannon bastard very bigly, because it appears that even the local law is treating him with kid gloves.
No one should vote for him. Body slamming someone just because of a question, seriously, this guy needs anger management.
He’s not an outlier, unfortunately, and it’s a continuation of press harassment that began during the Trump campaign.
This is also a guy that shoots prairie dogs for fun-so I’m not surprised
WHAT????!!
And crazily he looks just like a character/actor on The Leftovers who shoots dogs. (The character, not the actor.)
That’s disgusting! What a cruel guy
Sadly, he’s not the only one. There are organized prairie dog hunts in a few western states, the organizers brag you can shoot hundreds of the little varmints in a few hours.
Years ago, when the critters were on the verge of disappearing, I remember visiting my aunt in Wyoming and we drove out to the middle of nowhere to have a look at a prairie dog town. At the time it was a very rare thing. The local Fish & Game guy didn’t want anyone to know where it was because it would have been a bloodbath. My aunt had to swear we meant no harm before he gave her directions to find it.
The prairie dog thing I don’t agree with…unfortunately it is common here, b/c they dig holes that ranchers horses and cows can break their legs in. I’m from CA originally and it is a whole other world out here in MT. I don’t agree with organizing hunts when they are no threat to livestock. Old Greggy had Trump JR up here twice to hunt them. And yes, I have to keep my mouth shut a lot up here in regards to hunting and politics…..
@Veronica, I’m not entirely opposed to hunting, I suppose the PD populations have to be kept under control somehow, and poisoning just seems cruel. On the other hand, I shake my head at the dudes that get their jollies by blasting countless rodents into smithereens. I mean, it’s not like it takes much actual effort, or skill.
Not that it will make a lick of difference to the ranchers that want them gone, but there is actually scientific evidence that cattle benefit from having prairie dogs in their grazing area, the dogs turn and aerate the soil which puts more nutrients into the plants that grow in their towns.
He not only body slammed the guy but then LIED about it. He has been charged with a misdemeanor assault charge I think.. If you can’t handle a simple question about your vote on issues then get out of politics. And yes there are Republican defending this A**hole
It shows how insane the GOP is when they lie about something despite there being numerous witnesses. The Fox news reporter even told the truth and supported the guardian reporter’s story.
these days, a GOPer could strangle a puppy in front of the entire world and then tell his constituents that he never did it and they’d believe him.
Gianforte has a history of this sh*t.
“Gianforte and his wife, Susan, have become part of the fabric of life in Bozeman since moving there in the mid-1990s, with their interest in technology start-ups, evangelical Christian faith and conservative political beliefs defining their ties to the community, according to news reports.”
Oh MY BAD he’s just a “good Christian”! It all makes sense now.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/gianforte-has-history-of-controversial-views-hostile-comments-to-press/2017/05/25/ceab14bc-4144-11e7-8c25-44d09ff5a4a8_story.html?utm_term=.60ed5172f3a9
The sheriff sounded lackadaisical about it last night, so hopefully the evidence he seemed to need first became obvious. The audio was backed up by eyewitness accounts.
OMG.. I was so pissed listening to him on CNN.. He was so obviously not interested in doing his freaking job. He would have done nothing if the press had not been pressing him. He didn’t want to pursue it and you could hear it in his voice. These people are insane. And sold their souls to Trump. They have been out of power for 8 years and are losing their minds.
His tone was very telling, wasn’t it? He just wanted it to blow over.
Annnnddd…..commenters on DM are defending his actions, saying the reporter deserved it, how dare the Press question a candidate. Fvck that silly First Amendment.
Lots of commenters on DM drive me crazy. Almost all of them are still standing up for Trump and any Republican just because of the party. One of the places I’m called a snowflake and libtard. I didn’t realize there were so many dumbass’ on there until the Trump disaster
The deplorables flock to certain places like moths to a flame. I live in a liberal city, but the local news facebook pages here are chock full of deplorables. Every single post that portrays Trump in a negative light (so basically any story about Trump lol) they are out in full force screaming about fake news and the lying liberal media, the left wants to destroy America, being liberal is a mental disorder, Islam needs to be eradicated etc. And when you look at their profiles, well a lot of them fit the stereotype of Trump supporter. And this is Philly, most of these people are from the surrounding townships.
I honestly think they spend all day commenting on these stories. So when someone calls you a snowflake, remember that they are probably some creepy middle aged or old man who sits on the computer all day defending Trump.
I used to read the DM for the gossipy tone and the reporting about frankly awful US crimes, but I had to stop when the election rolled around because of the whacko commenters. It was walking around the corner into a pack of rabid dogs.
It says a lot when even Fox News won’t back you up. I don’t know how Gianforte can say he’s the victim when audio and witnesses say the opposite.
Yes, the Fox News people sounded as though they were in shock. Thank goodness they were there. Their testimony is powerful and he can’t claim they are biased against him.
One problem apparently is that a lot of people have already voted. But maybe independents are especially likely to wait until Election Day. The newspapers all revoked their endorsements of the body slammer. The Democrat running against him looks quite good, so if he wins it will be beneficial because he’ll fight against TrumpDon’tCare. He’s been wise enough to say the incident is a matter for law enforcement to sort out.
Seriously! I never thought I’d see the day where I breathed a sigh of relief, “thank god fox news was there!”
Their eyewitness online statement was powerful but Fox News on TV isn’t touching it this morning and hasn’t featured the lead reporter.
Just read that he was charged with assault.
Yes misdemeanor assault which basically means a slap on the wrist when all is said and done.
He could get up to six months in jail. Misdemeanor or felony has to do with the seriousness of the injuries, so he better hope the hospital didn’t find too much damage. Internal bleeding can be serious. Beating up somebody is always a risk.
after the press made public that the sheriff had donated to his campaign…..
The sheriff donated $250. That just means he prefers that candidate. Or did. Contributing to a campaign does not automatically mean corruption.
So far, there’s no evidence that the sheriff is operating any way other than by the book. The judge will be the one to decide what to do with the lad.
It doesn’t automatically mean corruption, no. But I don’t think you could call him unbiased either – regardless of how much or how little he donated. He WANTS that candidate to win (or wanted) and he only got charged once it was public that the sheriff had donated – which doesn’t do a whole lot to instill confidence in his ability to do his job without any personal opinions clouding his judgement.
Even then, it’s a misdemeanor charge that will almost definitely just go away, or be turned into an anger management class that he can phone in and continue to do what he wants.
It also bears repeating that the Sheriff is an elected position as well. Sheriffs do not report to ANYBODY, there is no oversight for a sheriff–they only report to their constituents.
It’s supposed to be a non-partisan position, but as you can see it rarely is.
It is up to Montana voters now-this guy is not going to face any serious consequences (being charged with a misdemeanor assault doesn’t seem real serious) from the police unless the sheriff’s hand is forced, because not only is he a Gianforte supporter, last night he seemed pretty unconcerned about what happened. Gianforte wasn’t arrested, like any one else would have been (well, unless he had been a black or Hispanic man -then he probably would have been shot dead) and the sheriff was all “Well, we’ll talk to him if he chooses to come in”. WTF?
I don’t know why I’m surprised – this is the inevitable outcome of having the person in the White House making speeches to the nation in which he says that the press is the enemy of the American people. It isn’t a mistake that he made sure to include that Jacobs is a LIBERAL journalist In the world we are living on now, this may not hurt this idiot’s chances of being elected at all.
It is the often cited saying ” The fish rots from the head down.” And we have a big orange rotting fish as our leader.
The sad thing is that I don’t even think this will affect his chances of winning.
This is the kind of world we live in now.
I watched this on cnn last night. The sheriff was talking to Don Lemon saying they were talking to Ben but didn’t know if Greg would be in any trouble. What?! Gianforte is a “nut job.” He couldn’t handle questions from a reporter? No one should vote for a man who violently cracks under pressure
“No one should vote for a man who violently cracks under pressure”
yeah, this is the takeaway from this incident….I said as much above.
if you can’t handle a legitimate question from a reporter without resorting to violence, you are not fit to hold public office.
Except his supporters think he did the right thing … that violence was justified. And that’s the problem.
WATP, agreed.
and as I said above, I wonder how those same supporters would feel about Sean Rich’s family giving Hannity a beating? fair is fair.
Republicans are getting nervous.
Is Fox News covering this? It’s an interesting situation as their journalists are involved…
I’m thinking it’s the local Fox affiliate who handled this and it’s the local team who witnessed this and provided the statement. The local teams tend to not necessarily always be in lockstep with their corporate overlords, at least here in Chicago.
The Fox reporter who gave her eyewitness account is Alicia Acuna, a network general assignment reporter based out of Denver.
When Hollywood makes a movie about this horror film come to life from Drumpf’s candidacy to impeachment (yeah, I said it), producers will be hard-pressed to find any Repub who’s NOT associated with Russia.
I’ll only watch that movie if they cast Alec Baldwin in the role of Chief Buffoon.
“producers will be hard-pressed to find any Repub who’s NOT associated with Russia.”
I agree, and I fully believe that’s one of the main reasons Ryan, McConnell and other GOP “leaders” are so reluctant to pursue the Russian involvement. they are “kompromat” too.
The real question: do any of them have ties to the US?
Right? I want to see a list of the ones without any Russian ties.
Please note that the question the reporter asked was about the CBO scores of the Republican healthcare bill which just came out showing 20+ million Americans will lose health insurance under this bill. Absolutely disgusting in every way.
I too agree that this story will help the guy, maybe even propelling him into national politics as a future presidential candidate. Godd&mnit.
I like The Guardian. I prefer it to CNN these days. I also like BBC better, for International news.
They just seem to cut through the bullshit and get to the story, for me anyway.
I like their reporting as well. I’ll be checking them out more often now.
I used to love BBC radio and I still listen (lol I’m listening right now). But they’ve gone super easy on Trump. Last week with every scandal they’d get a hard right expert on to minimize what Trump had done as no biggie and move on. What I do like is they give little snippets of world events .
NPR has been the same for me. I mean, I get it: they’re trying to remain neutral, but at the same time how can even an unbiased reporter sanction/normalize some of this shit???
He will still win the seat, I bet. At this point there’s only one requirement to get repulciban votes: be a republican candidate. That’s it. Doesn’t matter what kind of uneducated, bigoted, aggressive, incompetent scum you are. Just be a republican running for office
I’m going to give Montanans some credit because they have a Democratic Governor and Senator despite voting overwhelmingly for Trump. There’s a chance Montana residents will have some
Self respect and punish this behavior. Also according to Nate Silver there’s a chance for the Dem candidate https://www.google.com/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/montanas-special-election-could-give-the-gop-another-reason-to-fret/amp/
Montana hasn’t elected a Democrat to congress in over two decades, it’s a big deal Quist gave this nutter a run for his money. It’s too bad the national Democratic organization had written this election off before it even started – they gave their candidate virtually no support and no money, and only took notice almost too late for it to make a difference. Silver is right, even if Gianforte ends up winning, everyone needs to pay attention to the margin of victory. If it was less than 20 points, it shows even the districts that have been staunchly Republican for decades may be vulnerable.
If the roles were reversed the reporter would be in jail. This guy needs to be arrested and put into a jail cell. Then invite reporters to interview his “superior” a(& in there.
Another republican troglodyte freak.
He reminds me of that actor from The mentalist, was he CBI chef, I don’t remember exactly
Do all republicans go on some sort of mandatory retreat to Russia once they’re elected to office or something? It’s like everyday I’m hearing of another republican politician having some sort of “Russian connection”…it’s insane!
If somebody hasn’t already commented on it. There were FOX reporters there and they confirmed the journalists story. They said Gianforte put both hands on the reporter’s neck and body-slammed him to the ground and started punching him. They said there was NO AGGRESSIVE action from the reporter.
When Fox disputes Gianforte you know it’s bad.
And the reporters who gave the accounts on what happened are not on TV covering the incident. It is like they are being punished for telling the truth.
Can I just say, the resemblance of this jackass and Amazing Character Actor Micheal Gaston is amazing. Man, if SNL season was not already over, they would have to give him a call.
(Sidenote: Gaston is not having it and throws down on the GOP with the quickness)
They really could be twins separated at birth, physically speaking (remarkable resemblance!) … but hopefully not temperamentally 😜
As a european, i truly don’t understand this. With so much evidence of a very violent, unprovoked attack- why is this guy not in jail, or at least out on bail? And why haven’t the Republicans demanded he step down? This is banana republic stuff!
As an American, I don’t understand this. Plenty of people saw it happen, and it’s recorded on the phone. He was attacked! This guy should automatically been removed from the election and thrown in jail. Anyone else would’ve had the handcuffs on right away and been arrested
Good thing all the Republicans in Congress starting with Paul Ryan, as well as the President are decrying this. Oh-wait–
If this had happened with a UK mp it would bring about an immediate resignation I think, even if forced by the party.
Sadly, we have such hostility toward the press here that many people are actually going to defend this. My guess is Republicans make a general statement [violence is never right, wait until we have the facts, blah, blah, blah] and do nothing much.
I also thought of a lawsuit. We will see.
Another Montanan here. I was just reading the comments section under the Gianforte assault article in our local newspaper and some of the comments are stomach turning. “Fake news reporters deserve being assaulted, communist news reporters should be beaten, cowboys don’t take sh*t, etc.” I’m embarrassed for our state and our country.
The Guardian could step up? Is there anything they can do for their employee?
They are certainly supporting him. Some other news outlets are also saying that Gianforte should not be seated should he win. However, Speaker Ryan has already made it clear that if he wins, he will be seated in the House.
Perhaps they could fund their reporter to sue the candidate for damages?
I understand the local press have stopped supporting him now.
Paul Ryan just made a statement that sounded almost exactly like what I predicted above!!! He added that the people of Montana make the decision, not him.
Ryan is useless. He fancies himself some sort of intellectual but he proves on a daily basis he most certainly is not.
YUP. I was listening to Pod Save America the other day (thanks celebitches who recommended it!) and one of the guys said, essentially, that Mitch McConnell, as awful as he is, is the political intellectual Paul Ryan believes himself to be.
Ryan reminds me of college republicans: preppy, self-righteous and condescending, masturbating nightly to Ayn Rand.
Not to be outdone, Bigly shoved the leader of Montenegro out of his way.
So many golden moments from this trip!!
and his smug face after that. and than he fixed his jacket and looked around like a proud cock. a typical bully supreme! I hate him so much!
Such an accurate description
did you see the look on the world leaders’ faces during Bigly’s speech? Priceless!
I saw eye rolls and looked like some were laughing a little. How much more embarassing can Trump be?
did you see how the GOP are blaming the left for this?
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/867751064119922688
un-f-ing-believable. yeah, cause we all remember hillary telling the crowd to “knock the crap out of” people who didn’t agree with her. or tell people to go against the press. or offer to pay people’s legal fee in defense of violence. oh, wait….
Ha! I was just creeping on Jon Favreau’s Twitter and I read this. They are SO fucking low.
I just..I feel like a broken record at this point but it just blows my mind how disgusting these sub-humans are.
I used to post here about a year or so ago, pre Trump. I was sure he couldn’t win because I was sure the press would dig up the dirt that is so easily found but they didn’t. I had an opportunity to live overseas for the past year so before the election, I left, fully confident that he would lose. You get a different perspective when you live outside of the country. People kept asking me Why Americans voted for him and it was nearly impossible to explain. I didn’t feel it until I came back and I am still horrified.
As a parent, I try to teach my children to be kind and decent but our society has become mean and brutish. It is like base instincts have become the ruling force in American culture. Willful ignorance is acceptable. Bigotry is fine. Physical aggression is no big deal. We tell our children not to lie but a liar is our president. These are dire times and I don’t see a silver lining.
I hope this guy loses but bullying seems to be trendy right now.
Good wishes to you. I don’t know how old your children are, but I find hope in younger people [granted not all of them got out to vote] Our daughter works for many progressive causes as does her long time girlfriend[ both 24] and their friends. They have been horribly disappointed but not hopeless. Hang in there.
I remember you. Welcome back 🙂
Meanwhile, a laid-back, charming as ever Obama is visiting Angela Merkel!
Montanan here.
While what happened yesterday is still quite unbelievable (who does that on the eve of the election!?), I am still not voting for Quist. I will also not be voting for Gianforte. Neither of them are the right person to represent our beautiful state and people.
I’m sure a lot of people have already absentee voted. And I’m sure some (certainly not all of us) will still vote for him.
What I find interesting is that the audio clip starts with the assault. What happened that lead up to it, Guardian? Why won’t you let us hear what provoked it? I am not condoning Gianforte’s behavior. I did not vote for him in November either. A New Jersey business man representing Montana? Are you kidding me!? We’ve been bombarded with negative ads for weeks now. Makes you not want to vote for either candidate.
I’m not a republican. Or a democrat. I’m not going to label myself that way. I will however vote for the person I feel will do the best job. Quist is still not that person. I don’t care if the liberal media thinks Washington needs more democrats. Who honestly thinks the ACA is working!? I don’t think the other option laid out is going to work either. Maybe if everyone worked together they’d get something figured out.
Excuse me, but I am going outside in the snow to let the goats and chickens out. Get dressed, drive into town and go cast my vote.
Signed,
MotherCluckers
Are you f*cking serious?
You’re asking what he did to PROVOKE it?
Even though there are multiple witnesses who said that Jacobs did NOTHING short of asking a simple question?
Even though they have said repeatedly that Jacobs showed no violent or retaliatory behavior?
That was absolutely his right, by the way–to fight back. That’s fucking self-defense. But he didn’t. He got body slammed for merely asking a question, has the altercation recorded on tape, and has the broken glasses and eye witnesses to prove it and you have the sheer BALLS to ask what he did to “provoke” it.
Do you ask the same of rape victims? What did they wear/say/do to provoke it?
“Liberal media”? JFC. You might not like labels but goddamn if you don’t sound like a Republithug.
Cheers, Kitten. The “I’m not taking sides” role is not logical in this case.
“What I find interesting is that the audio clip starts with the assault. What happened that lead up to it, Guardian?”
both the reporter who was assaulted and the Fox News people there described what lead up to it. the reporter persisted in asking a question and was not (again, according to the Fox News people) physically aggressive in any way. he was doing his job as a journalist.
“Why won’t you let us hear what provoked it?”
because nothing “provoked” it. this candidate believed he was entitled to assault a reporter for asking a question he doesn’t want to, or can’t, answer.
“I am not condoning Gianforte’s behavior.” no, but it does sound like you’re trying to plant seeds of doubt in order to explain it away.
here’s the thing…I find it hard to believe that you are not affiliated with either party and yet you refer to the “liberal media”. the only people who call it that are conservative GOPers and Tea Baggers.
And I don’t think Fox News, which corroborated this Guardian reporter’s story, would be considered “liberal” by any standard.
I heard the audio clip starting with an innocent question about the CBO report. The assault starts right after that, and you can hear the shuffling.
Methinks a troll is on the loose. Or someone who selectively chooses what they wish to hear/know. Sure lengthy in what they have to say, yet not supporting either major candidate?
“What I find interesting is that the audio clip starts with the assault.”
You need to find better sources. I heard the full audio last night many times. Additionally, the Fox News witnesses detail that there were no aggressive actions by the reporter before the body slam.
Wow. You must be kidding me! The entire thing has been on every channel nonstop since last night.
Do you have selective hearing? The recording started before the assault. You sound like you must be a Trumpster who only wanted to hear and believe what you wanted and blocked out everything you didn’t care or agree with. Look what a mess everything is because people decided to vote for Trump, who was obviously a huge bully and can’t answer questions or control his mean attitude.
When you hear Fox News reporters not supporting the Republican guys story, there has to be a reason. If you want to vote for a sicko who can’t control himself when being asked a question, it’s your right, but you’ll probably regret it. What’s it going to be like if he wins? Will he physically attack every “liberal reporter” when they ask a question he doesn’t feel like answering?
This is what happens when a crazy, rich, mean, spoiled, nut job like Trump becomes president. All his ranting about ” fake news” got people believing the media is always against them.
I hope you checked out and istened to the entire recording which is absolutely everywhere before getting dressed and driving into town to cast that vote.
Also, I’ve listened to the recording a number of times and it doesn’t start with the assault. IT starts when the reporter enters the room and asks about the CBO report. You can hear it very clearly. You are wrong.
What provoked it? The reporter was asking questions. You know, doing what reporters do. Fox News even backed that up. The reporter didn’t do anything other than what he was there to do. It was the politician that lost his crap and beat the guy up. I’d love to see how this plays out. If he can’t handle answering questions from a reporter. Yikes! Think of him at a town hall.
If he is sick and tired of this stuff, then being a politician is probably not going to be his cup of tea. If he gets elected, he’s going to regret running for office real fast.
I am so done with angry old white men in power, assaulting others out of fear of losing it.
Limp-dick-itis.
Not sure how much more sick inducing feelings I can get from the Republicans. But the fact that the Montana guy who body slammed the reporter is on the verge of winning makes me ill and so disgusted I can only come to the conclusion that people who overlook such behavior are evil. it makes me feel so sad.