Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer calls Bush a "Bad cattle auctioneer"

[WI_DEM]

Kos had this profile of Gov. Schweitzer from the WSJ:

Red, blue or purple--color-coding Montana's patterns of voting is just too simplistic and Brian Schweitzer fits the non-conformist mold to a T. A prosperous farmer/rancher from the area of Whitefish in the tony Flathead Valley country, Mr. Schwitzer cultivates a well-spoken, gun-owning, dog-loving, native-ritual-doing, shot of whiskey-drinking true west style somewhere between that of Jeanette Rankin (the famously anti-war liberal Republican elected to the U.S. Congress before women's suffrage was passed) and Mike Mansfield (the conservative Democratic Senator and former ambassador to Japan whose voting record, taken as a whole, was more liberal than that of George McGovern)...

HOw all this sorts itself out over the short term is anybody's guess, but Mount St. Schwietzer is certainly stirring things up--from driving himself around the state with his pet dog, Jag, to flying tribal flags of the seven Native American Indian reservations in Montana in rotation above the rotunda in teh capital, a unique symbol of the governor's maverick streak.

That streak came to the fore at the annual state governor's meeting at the WH, where Mr. Schweitzer upbraided both President Bush and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt. He likened the president to a bad cattle auctioneer and Mr. Leavitt to a cowpoke "riding for the brand."

National Democrats swooned at the audacity of the freshman governor from the Mountain West, and some even started to whisper: 2008. Tribal flags at the WH? There's always a first time.

http://www.dailykos.com

[Leilani]

1. He sounds terrific!

I love him already.

[Warpy]

3. Schweitzer's election should have provided the writing on the wall

for the conservative Democrats. He is a Democrat who won a decent victory in one of the reddest of the red states in the country by campaigning on economic populism.

The DLC are all still waddling around with their heads stuffed up their butts, looking at their own shit and thinking the whole world should be like that.

[Leilani]

5. Yeah, but sounds like his personality hasn't hurt

Americans love mavericks, blunt talkers, & colorful politicians.

[Renew Deal]

6. He's a cowboy

The smart kind.

[Leilani]

7. Bet he likes horses too.

[NVMojo]

2. This is so cool! I want to move there!!!

[mrgorth]

4. 2008

[xchrom]

8. oooo -- now that's language that makes my heart race!

i like it!