God, and I thought Taiwanese food fights were bad

ATTENTION: MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN (of course it was said in a room with young teens, so I guess it's okay)

Today the Montana legislature took an ugly turn. I think it's fair to say Sen. Lange has some issues with Governor Schweitzer:

"The governor can go straight to hell as far as I'm concerned for trying to do that," Lange told his caucus.

Lange went on to say, "I'm pissed off at that SOB on the second floor (Schweitzer) that thinks he's trying to run the state like a dictator. What matters is your integrity.

"So my message to the governor is: Stick it up your ass! Stick it up your ass!"

Many of the House Republicans applauded at those words.

Lange, who is a probable Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, said it no longer matters to him if Schweitzer has all of his bills killed.

"I don't give a shit," he told his caucus. "I will not be offered a bribe to turn you loose to screw the people of the state of Montana. We won't back down."


Using a nice KMT technique, he also managed to say that the governor negotiated like Red China and Communist Russia. It's interesting reading the article from Billings, a very red portion of the state, and the from Missoula, a very blue area.

I will say this on Sen. Lange's behalf. He is known as a moderate and was the last hope for a budget compromise before Friday. He's generally regarded favorably by the left and the right as someone who you can work with. Unfortunately, and I've said this before, our governor does think of Montana as his own personal fiefdom. If I were a conservative, as most Montanans are, I'd be pissed off too, just as I am with Bush for not recognizing that we have a legislature for a reason and taking uncompromising positions gets things nowhere.