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Thursday, April 07, 2005

MT Senate Minority Leader Bob Keenan is a pansie

Via Left in the West we have George Ochenski's lastest must-read:

Everyone has come home from the store with some purchase or another only to discover the label won’t come off. First it tears away in strips, then you’re reduced to scraping at it with a razor blade until finally only a sticky residue remains, tenaciously defying all attempts to remove it. The same thing happens in politics—and sometimes those sticky political labels spell long-term trouble. [...]

Comes now the 2005 Legislature, with its own sticky labels. Gov. Brian Schweitzer has done a commendable piece of work in scraping off some of the Demo’s “tax and spend” label with his opposition to new taxes and commitment to holding the line on spending. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for his hapless opponents who, through a failed strategy of their own devising, have now stuck themselves with a sticky label that reads “Whining Republicans.”

Take, for example, Senate Minority Leader Bob Keenan, who has been a constant Schweitzer critic. Perhaps rightfully shocked at his first legislative experience in the minority party, Keenan has gone over the edge of credibility in his role as Chief Whiner. Unfortunately, he pulled his party over that edge with him. Now, people on the streets regularly talk about “whining Republicans”—to say nothing of the flood of letters to the editor in papers across the state echoing and condemning exactly that image. [...]

The real trouble, however, may come in the future. Sticky labels, by definition, are tough to remove. Keenan and some of his Repub pals, whether by design or accident, have concocted a very negative label for their party that doesn’t appear to be fading with time. Should that label stick until the next election—and it’s hard to see why it wouldn’t—the results may last far beyond the end of the 2005 legislative session.

The 2006 election in Montana will see both competitive races for congress and the senate. I've met Bob Keenan and he's a wimp. When Democrats win at least one of the GOP federal seats, I'll send Keenan some flowers and thank him for all of his whining. I'll probably send pansies.

Posted at 10:04 PM in Montana | Technorati

Comments

Can you explain the difference between Keenan and the minority party's role in critiquing the Democratic administration in Montanta versus Harry Reid and the Democrat's daily complaints about the Bush Administration. For some odd reason, the former is labeled "whining", while the latter escapes your criticism as such. Why might that be so?

Posted by: bchandra at April 8, 2005 05:29 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Probably because it was a quote.

Posted by: Steve M at April 8, 2005 01:41 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment