Are you Ready for...Brian?

[Proud Public Servant]

On domestic surveillance:

It’s enough that they have illegally, knowingly violated federal law, violated constitutional rights, and are effectively spying on law-abiding American citizens. Look, I do not trust politicians. The only thing a politician cares about is getting re-elected. If they can collect information on their political opponents and use it in various ways to embarrass them, they’ll do it. If you don’t believe they’d do that if they got the chance, then you, my friend, are naïve.

On Afghanistan:

If it all goes to hell in a handbasket, that’s fine. That happened after Alexander the Great left; that happened after the Russians left. Who cares? They live in the Stone Age. If you ask generals whether we should stay in a war a little longer, that’s like asking a barber whether you need a haircut.

On legalizing marijuana:

Each society has to make choices about what’s against the law. You have a large percentage of the population that’s already using this. The war on drugs is another war that appears to have been lost. This experiment with prohibition of marijuana doesn’t seem have to been working. Colorado might have it more right than the rest of us.

On a better alternative to the ACA:

No. 1: You pass national health insurance laws that say you can’t discriminate against women, charge them higher premiums than men of the same age, you can’t discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, you can’t have annual caps. Then you allow insurance companies to compete wherever they want, in any state. Boom. The second thing is, you say to every citizen in the United States, now you have the option to buy into Medicare.

On Obama and corporatism:

I called the president a corporatist. He seems to be OK transferring taxpayer dollars into pharmaceutical companies’ pockets. He’s certainly OK transferring them into the military-industrial complex’s pockets. He’s not unlike Woodrow Wilson, who was the last really big Democratic corporatist.

On whether he has a shot against Hillary:

Ask President Ed Muskie how it worked out to be the front-runner. Ask President Howard Dean how it worked out.

Well, are you Ready for Brian Schweitzer?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/01/brian_schweitzer_interview_the_former_montana_governor_is_the_most_likely.single.html

[NuclearDem]

1. Damn, I was thinking of the wrong Brian.

[Proud Public Servant]

2. LOL (nt)

[loli phabay]

3. me too, love the little guy, ibthink hes the bastard love child of snoopy and tater salad.

[geek tragedy]

8. He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy. nt

[dawg]

26. Always looking on the bright side, aren't you?

[geek tragedy]

27. *whistles* nt

[MFM008]

16. hahahahha

exactly what I was thinking. Long Live BRIAN

[Dash87]

4. Ron Paul needs to stop changing his name

[Proud Public Servant]

5. So a Democratic governor

who had a prominent role in the last two Democratic conventions is really Ron Paul?

[demwing]

15. Wtf does that even mean? /nt

Last edited Mon Jan 6, 2014, 07:36 PM - Edit history (1)

[TroglodyteScholar]

20. I would assume it means that Schewitzer leans libertarian as opposed to authoritarian.

Makes him no less of a Democrat...just different from most of our prominent Dems in that regard.

Just a guess, though. I've already put more thought into it than the actual poster did, I feel sure.

[demwing]

21. You gave the poster more credit than I

I figured it was a butt hurt Hillary drone lashing out to protect the queen bee.

[TroglodyteScholar]

22. Well, I have to say...

...I think my conclusions are better supported, as yours didn't even occur to me. But maybe I'm naive.

[demwing]

25. and maybe I'm just cynical

YMMV

[hedgehog]

6. Thanks for this - up until this post i had

Brian Schweitzer conflated with Jon Tester!

[geek tragedy]

7. First part of his solution to improve the ACA is to enact the ACA.

No. 1: You pass national health insurance laws that say you can’t discriminate against women, charge them higher premiums than men of the same age, you can’t discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, you can’t have annual caps. Then you allow insurance companies to compete wherever they want, in any state. Boom.

We'll see if Schweitzer makes good on his implicit promise to defund the Pentagon.

Also, saying "who cares" about what happened in Afghanistan and then talking about the post-Soviet period along with the "stone age" comment reveals a lack of awareness of recent history (post-Soviet vacuum lead to Afghanistan becoming an international haven for terrorists) and fairly unvarnished racism.

[Proud Public Servant]

9. Actually, as someone who's been posted there

I'd say he's spot-on about Afghanistan. It is the stone age there, which is something they did to themselves during their appalling civil war. And there's nothing we can do to redeem it. We need to stop spending our blood and treasure on that lost cause, pronto.

[HappyMe]

13. I can back you up on that -

or rather, my husband's son can. He did two tours there. He's back in the States now. I asked him what can be done to help the people there. He pretty much said the same thing you did. It's been messed up over there for a long time.

[Proud Public Servant]

14. Exactly. And yet we're spending $2 billion a WEEK

Can you imagine what that money could do here at home?

[ProgressSaves]

10. I'm not ready for anyone with an A rating from the NRA.

That's for damn sure.

On guns:

I'm not sure how many dead children it would take for me to support gun safety legislation.

[Proud Public Servant]

12. Yeah, I'm not crazy about that either

But if the current president, after Newtown, couldn't accomplish anything on guns, I'm not sure who could. maenwhile, I'd rather have an economic populist than a Wall Street candidate, regardless of whom teh NRA supports.

[randome]

11. Who would have thought all life's problems could be solved by passing laws?

I'd still vote for him before Clinton.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[truebluegreen]

17. Just one question:

What is his current stance on clean coal? 'Cause he used to be a believer, and that's a deal breaker for me.

[jaysunb]

18. Schweitzer/Brown 2016 (Sherrod) n/t

[solarhydrocan]

19. For those that say he's "Gun Friendly"...

So is Rachel Maddow! Sometimes she takes her crew to the gun range in Manhattan.



Rachel Maddow at the Westside Pistol & Rifle Range
TV's top lefty gets her gun

She's America's leading lefty wonk, complete with chunky glasses, Ph.D., and a deep faith in activist government. But Rachel Maddow is also, a little unexpectedly, totally into guns. Which is how come she ended up at the Westside Pistol & Rifle Range in Manhattan for a recent Rolling Stone photo shoot. (Maddow is profiled by Ben Wallace-Wells in the current issue of the magazine.) "I used to bring my radio producers," she says in this clip. "Everyone here's really nice."

click for video of Rachel at the Gun range
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/videos/rachel-maddow-at-the-westside-pistol-rifle-range-20120627

Go Brian!!

[octoberlib]

23. K&R!

I like this guy. People (including some Dems according to the polls) like Chris Christie because they perceive him as a "straight talker". Well so is this guy times ten.

[PeteSelman]

24. Wow! Yes I am.

Straight talk for sure. I'll trade the guns for the other stuff any day.

[Capt. Obvious]

28. ReadyForBrian PAC available

[Zorra]

29. I need to see a clear public statement unconditionally supporting LGBT rights from him

before I consider him as a Democratic presidential candidate I would vote for in the primaries.

Nothing less will do.

Weasel words = Fail

[Proud Public Servant]

30. From the Daily Beast last March

Advocates and politicos in the Big Sky state said Schweitzer had carefully guarded his views, and even close watchers of statehouse politics in Helena said they weren’t sure where he stood. I eventually tracked Schweitzer down at his lakefront home, and after describing the majestic Montana mountains outside his window, he said: “I believe that two people who love each other ought to be legally married ... given the opportunity to support people of the same gender getting married, I do.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/27/number-of-democratic-holdouts-against-gay-marriage-is-dwindling-fast.html

[Bluenorthwest]

36. Yes but he's long had the opprotunity to support equality and instead

he's been continually evasive, during his entire career in the Democratic spotlight. Not encouraging.

[Chan790]

31. Thank you for posting this, it gives a good indicator into his positions and worldview.

Given, as a result, I can't really say I'd support him unless my other choice was someone like Hillary but it's good to be able to get a candidate clearly on the record on what he thinks.

[HappyMe]

32. That looks good to me.

[Octafish]

33. Personally, I think the world of the guy.

In reality, he needs to get up-to-date on Afghanistan and the people of the Underdeveloped World. We don't need no more resource extractors über Alles types in the Oval Office.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

34. Other than the "who cares" remark, yes. (n/t)

[polichick]

35. Thanks for the info! Even though I wouldn't wish the presidency on...

anyone - and Schweitzer has said running would ruin his life - I do hope he gets in.