{"id":17284,"date":"2017-04-23T02:03:14","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T08:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=17284"},"modified":"2017-04-25T07:32:19","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T13:32:19","slug":"prairie-lights-quist-dragged-into-unwinnable-arms-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/04\/prairie-lights-quist-dragged-into-unwinnable-arms-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Prairie Lights: Quist dragged into unwinnable arms race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mceTemp\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-17285 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2017-04-22-at-8.43.20-PM.png\" alt=\"Gun\" width=\"771\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2017-04-22-at-8.43.20-PM.png 771w, https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2017-04-22-at-8.43.20-PM-336x204.png 336w, https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screen-Shot-2017-04-22-at-8.43.20-PM-768x465.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul id=\"attachment_17285\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 781px;\">That ain&#8217;t no banjo, pilgrim.<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>I was rooting for Rob Quist, I really was. And not just rooting. I was also praying.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d get up in the morning, drop to my knees and I\u2019d say, \u201cPlease, God, don\u2019t let Rob Quist, in this truncated special-election season, give in to the temptation to shoot a gun in a television commercial.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17286\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 140px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"addboard wp-image-17286 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/1Kemmick.mug-copy-42.jpg\" alt=\"Ed\" width=\"140\" height=\"182\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ed Kemmick<\/p><\/div>\n<p>But I suppose God knows who His friends are, and my prayers were not answered.\u00a0As soon as the heat came on\u2014as soon as it was hotter than a two-dollar pistol, as my aunt used to say\u2014Quist broke down and broke out a gun, with the cameras rolling.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, he broke out a 30-30 rifle, which I believe he said had been protecting his family ranch since the Norman Conquest, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LsMlhdrz7nE\">in the TV ad<\/a> he used it to send a television to the Other Side Camp.<\/p>\n<p>This was his attempt to establish his credentials as a gun-loving Montanan. Quist is running as a non-politician Democrat for the U.S. House seat vacated by Ryan Zinke, who was named by President Trump as secretary of the Department for the Eradication of Prairie Dogs, sometimes referred to as the Interior Department.<\/p>\n<p>Quist didn\u2019t need to tell us that he was not a politician. No politician in his right mind would say, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bozemandailychronicle.com\/news\/politics\/rob-quist-touring-state-lobbying-dems-ahead-of-u-s\/article_1b0c9fc5-83f6-5e3d-85d9-0ecd8d353b66.html\">in an interview with a Montana newspaper<\/a>, that he thought it wouldn\u2019t be so bad to establish a registry of people who own assault weapons.<\/p>\n<p>This was the statement that was seized on by his Republican opponent, Greg Gianforte, and various national groups that are backing Gianforte because they know what\u2019s best for Montana.<\/p>\n<p>As Gianforte said in a recent mailer, \u201cRob Quist wants to destroy the Second Amendment and take away your rights.\u201d He said somewhere else\u2014and I wish I could find it now but I can\u2019t\u2014\u201cWhat part of \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/constitutioncenter.org\/interactive-constitution\/amendments\/amendment-ii?gclid=CL7LybTFudMCFQO5wAodN3YC_A\">shall not be infringed<\/a>\u2019 don\u2019t you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, if God had listened to my prayers and given Quist good counsel, Quist would simply have responded, \u201cWhat part of \u2018A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State\u2019 don\u2019t you understand?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But no. Instead, Quist dusted off his trusty family rifle and blew away a television playing one of Gianforte\u2019s gun ads. I saw on Facebook that lots of Democrats were gushing over the Quist ad.<\/p>\n<p>The Montana Cowgirl blog, headquarters of the Democratic resistance, <a href=\"http:\/\/mtcowgirl.com\/2017\/04\/20\/cowboy-warrior-poet-rob-quist-fights-dark-money-lies-blows-up-tv-defends-montanans\/\">called the ad<\/a> \u201cpossibly the most powerful statement a Montanan running for office has made\u201d\u2014hang on; this sentence gets rather long\u2014\u201cabout defending Montana from outside interests like the Copper Kings, Koch Brothers and Dark Money Billionaires we are seeing run for office these days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"well\"><div class=\"dfad dfad_pos_1 dfad_first\" id=\"_ad_652\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/goo.gl\/mjhWkW\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/201703_capeair_variable.jpg\" alt=\"CapreAir_Variable\" width=\"510\" height=\"180\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-18069\" \/><\/a><\/div><\/div>I was not aware that the Copper Kings were still pulling the levers of power in Montana, but never mind that. What about the claim that the ad is a \u201cpowerful statement,\u201d apparently one of the strongest of its kind ever made?<\/p>\n<p>How could that be, when few things have become more pass\u00e9 than a politician firing a gun in a campaign commercial?<\/p>\n<p>Former Gov. Brian Schweitzer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_vu2Etp50fM&amp;feature=youtu.be\">blasted a TV to smithereens<\/a> just a few months ago, in an ad defending Supreme Court candidate Dirk Sandefur against \u201cfalse ads.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And in 2014, Matt Rosendale, now Montana secretary of state, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KJBcBx1XFU4\">pretended to be shooting at a drone over his ranch<\/a> in a campaign spot. He was running for the Republican nomination in the U.S. House race, which was won by Zinke.<\/p>\n<p>Also, if I\u2019m getting the chronology right, Gianforte responded to Quist\u2019s gunplay <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AlcwuaMeW8w\">with an ad<\/a> in which he uses a shotgun to exterminate a computer monitor emblazoned with the hair-raising words, \u201cNational gun registry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After watching some of these Montana gun ads again, I made the mistake of Googling \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=political+ads+with+guns&amp;oq=political+ads+with+guns&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57.302j0j4&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\">political ads with guns<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s like searching for \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/results?search_query=skateboard+fails\">skateboard fails<\/a>\u201d on YouTube. There is no end to them.<\/p>\n<p>And there is no other ad quite like the one aired by Eric Greitens, a former Navy Seal (like Zinke) who was elected governor of Missouri last fall. In one of his TV ads he was shown <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0-VfFi6Z14Q\">firing a high-power rotary machine gun<\/a>; in another he is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Yf2Gai1uQYM\">shooting a short-barreled AR-15-style rifle<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Greitens is a Republican. My favorite ad involved a Democrat, also a Missourian, by the name of Jason Kander. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-wqOApBLPio\">His ad showed him<\/a>, blindfolded, assembling a rifle. The former Army captain, who served in Afghanistan, had also been attacked as anti-gun. But he lost his U.S. Senate bid, which tells you something about the futility of responding to Republican demagoguery on gun rights.<\/p>\n<p>It is hopeless\u2014worse, it shows a kind of desperation\u2014to try to one-up the gun nuts. That is the path that leads an otherwise sane politician to put <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/magazine\/story\/2013\/11\/dukakis-and-the-tank-099119\">a big helmet on his pinhead<\/a> and go joyriding in a tank.<\/p>\n<p>Montana Republicans, whether they are the reincarnation of Thomas Jefferson or dimwits without a single thing to say about anything else that matters, will always accuse their Democratic opponents of wanting to erase the Second Amendment. To watch Gianforte\u2019s TV ads, you\u2019d think the tech-biz millionaire goes into the office wearing either camo or an orange vest.<\/p>\n<p>Quist\u2019s ad won\u2019t stop the attacks on his stance toward guns. He could copy Greitens and shoot a machine gun, but that would only inspire Gianforte to unpack the mortars.<\/p>\n<p>Montana Democrats, resist the temptation. It\u2019s an arms race you can\u2019t win.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That ain&#8217;t no banjo, pilgrim. I was rooting for Rob Quist, I really was. And not just rooting. I was also praying. I\u2019d get up in the morning, drop to my knees and I\u2019d say, \u201cPlease, God, don\u2019t let Rob Quist, in this truncated special-election season, give in to the temptation to shoot a gun [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[335,5778,5612,629],"class_list":["post-17284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prairie-lights","tag-greg-gianforte","tag-gun-ads","tag-rob-quist","tag-u-s-house","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17284"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17299,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17284\/revisions\/17299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}