good ol' boy

The Washington Post has an article this morning about Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer (D). It's a profile piece about how Schweitzer has successfully used his regular guy/cowboy persona to get elected in a predominantly Republican state and serves as a potential model for the party.

Despite the fact that Schweitzer's policies have their appeal - increased funding for education and healthcare - the schtick is pretty nauseating. After losing his initial bid for the gubernatorial office, Schweitzer concluded that he needed to up his appeal to men. How did he decide to do that? Got on a horse, put on some jeans and a bolo tie and threw back some whiskey.

"Be likable, be self-deprecating, don't be a know-it-all using a lot of big words."

Gross. I WANT my elected leaders to be smarter than I am. (Hell, I want my boyfriends to be smarter than I am.) What's with the anti-intellectualism?

Where is Jed Bartlett when you need him?