The Moose applauds the Governor of Montana for showing the way.
Governor Brian Schweitzer is the Moose's kind of Democrat. This Democrat Governor of a Red State has taken a determined stand on behalf of American values.
Saturday's Washington Post reported.
"A Charles County high school's decision to deny a diploma to a senior who wore a bolo tie to graduation didn't offend just the student and his family. Montana's governor is mighty annoyed, too.
"To have some high school say that a bolo tie is not a tie is an outrage," said Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D), who called The Washington Post yesterday after reading an article about 17-year-old Thomas Benya.
"In Montana and anyplace in Indian country, a bolo tie is dressed up," he said. "A tie is a tie."
Democrats need more folks like the good Governor of Montana who can appreciate the culture of a diverse country (Christians included) while also fighting for their working peoples' economic interests. Sometimes it seems that the only thing that will rescue the Republican crowd is the gross insensitivity of some who inhabit an ideological cocoon and have utter disdain for Red State America. It may comforting to spew over-heated vitriol about the opposition, but it is unlikely to win any converts.
As a minority party, Democrats need the language of persuasion more than the rhetoric of polarization. Fight, fight, fight is necessary. Convert, convert, convert is imperative. The party should have a welcome mat out even for those Christian Republicans who have had enough of the worshiping of the false gods of the religious right and Mammon.
Don't fool yourself - one can feel all righteous about taking on the "right wing Taliban", but you are only playing into the hands of the Rovians and the DeLayicans who seek to portray progressives as a secular, anti-religious, effete elite. This is a time of growing Republican unpopularity with the American people - wouldn't it be nice if Democrats offered an attractive alternative and not merely some venom marinated in rage?
More bolo ties and less Ben and Jerry's. -- | 
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