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On Wednesday night, Greg Gianforte — a Montana GOP candidate in a special election for a U.S. House of Representatives seat — allegedly body slammed a journalist. Some folks thought such an act was not unrelated to President Trump’s combative way of dealing with the press. Hours later, Gianforte was charged with assault, and some Fox News staffers revealed how brutal the display really was. Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan stated that the dilemma should be left to voters, and on Thursday, they chose Gianforte.
In the quest for Interior Secretary Ryan Zenke’s vacated seat, Gianforte captured an estimated 50.3% of the vote with Democrat Rob Quist bringing in 43.9%. Although this may seem like a shocking result, it can (at least) partially be explained by two-thirds of Montana voters opting to cast their ballots early. Indeed, it’s no wonder that Gianforte did not drop out of the race, for he had long been favored to win.
CNN reports that Gianforte’s watch party supporters appeared completely “unfazed” by the late-breaking (and violent) development in this election. One female voter claimed that the incident revealed how the “the press is one-sided,” and her husband maintained that Gianforte was “set up.” However, Gianforte appeared to admit to assaulting Jacobs in his acceptance speech (which you can watch below) when he apologized to Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs — although for undoubtedly legal reasons, he stayed vague and stopped short of actually admitting to an assault:
“When you make a mistake you have to own up to it …. last night, I made a mistake. I took an action that I can’t take back … and I’m not proud of what happened … I should not have treated that reporter that way. And for that, I’m sorry, Mr. Ben Jacobs.”
“Last night I made a mistake. … I’m sorry.” Gianforte apologizes for his treatment of Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs https://t.co/G9T1JOVUd0 pic.twitter.com/KuD2x0F2ST
— CNN (@CNN) May 26, 2017
(Via CNN & New York Times)
![[avatar]](https://profilecdn-woven.netdna-ssl.com/photo/81898/profile)
And this is why you don’t nominate a Marxist cowboy poet who performs musical numbers at nudist colonies and gets endorsed by Rosie O’Donnell in the state of Montana.
Fun fact: What Gianforte did to that reporter could have legally gotten him shot by the reporter in self-defense under Montana law.
I would say “unbelievable” but in this climate – expected.
Republicans can literally physically attack the media and still get elected. USA! USA! USA!
I’m not surprised. It was too fucking late in the game for the assault to make a difference.
Nothing matters anymore
Rob Quist’s slogan. “I wrote a song about it, like to hear it, here it go”
for the younger viewers. here is the context. [www.youtube.com]
Haha thanks. Having a crappy day at work, and this put a huge smile on my face.
Weird that after he won, he admitted he “made a mistake” and apologized for it considering that less than 24 hours ago (while the polls were still open) he was pinning all the blame on the reporter and refusing to apologize. Quite the shift in narrative in less than a day. Did he have a sudden recall of memory of the event that he didn’t have before, or was he lying to get elected?
Huh, I wonder why he won.
Because of idiots, we’ve already discussed this.
well because of idiots and this was his competition. [www.youtube.com] yea….
Not the first Minnesota politician to win by body slam
Goddammit. Montana is no = to Minnesota. Eh, either way, both are dickheads.
Let’s just say that I walk out of my office, in to the hallway, choke out the next person I see and slam them to the ground. You know what happens? I am fired and I can never work here again. HOW the FUCK is that not what happened here? Someone has to explain this to me because I just don’t fucking get it. Commit assault as a random person, go to jail. Commit assault as a politician, NEW JOB! Fuck America right in its asshole man. We are a nation of mentally retarded morons.I gotta get the fuck out of here.
It’s getting preeeeety nigh upon that time when it should all be burned to the ground and completely rebuilt.
I’ve reached the point where I’m just never surprised anymore.
But Hillary’s emails!
HAHAHAHAHAHA
I didn’t realize one could be a snowflake and a bully. Maybe that is more common than I thought.