20 February 2023 — 0732 mst
Remember when Harry Reid kept Lieberman in the tent?
Montana GOP excommunicates former governor, attorney
general, and RNC chairman Marc Racicot for political heresy
By James Conner
It was the day after Valentines Day, and among the executive committee of Montana’s Republican Party there was no love for Marc Racicot, the former attorney general and two-term governor who also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee. He stood accused of supporting Democrats — and he was guilty as hell. He had, the executive committee said in a long, pompous statment, “…spoken in assemblies without denying that he still considers himself a Republican and therefore may be believed by some to be considered as speaking for Montana Republicans.”
Specifically, in the executive committee’s own words, he had committed four unforgivable sins:
- [endorsed] the Democrat candidate, Monica Tranel, over the MTGOP supported candidate [Ryan Zinke] in the 2022 race for Montana`s Western Congressional District, District 1;
- [endorsed] Ingrid Gustafson over conservative and MTGOP endorsed James Brown for the Montana Supreme Court [this was a nonpartisan election];
- …teamed with Democrat Steve Bullock to endorse Ketanji Brown Jackson for United States Supreme Court [Bullock is also a former MT AG and two-term governor];
- …endorsed Joe Biden over President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Zinke, Gustafson, and Biden won their elections, and Jackson’s nomination SCOTUS was confirmed.
Reading the GOP’s statement, issued over the signature of its chairman, Whitefish Chevrolet dealer Don Kaltschmidt, one gets the sense that Don K. and his partners in excommunication wish they could have visited Joan of Arc’s punishment on Racicot.
THE ELECTIVE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MTGOP THEREFORE RESOLVE TO MAKE IT KNOWN THAT; Marc Racieot is not considered by the MTGOP to be a Republican; that he cannot claim with any authority to speak on behalf of Montana Republicans; that he does not have the support of the MTGOP; that he willfully acted against the MTGOP Platform and specifically provisions in the “Resolution on Platform Principles” that he has been less than forthright in public by failing to note that he cannot and does not speak in any official capacity for Montana Republicans; that it is recognized that he took action to damage, undercut, and defeat the efforts of the elected oflicials of the MTGOPO and the Republican Party in general, and therefore disqualifies himself by these actions from being considered a Republican.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED. that the Chairman and Executive Committee of the MTGOP will make this resolution known to Marc Racieot and to media, and that media outlets be advised to stop referring to Marc Racieot as a Republican and that, if they fail to do so, the media outlet be informed that the former Governor has been rebuked by the MTGOP; that we notify all Republican Central Committees and Republicans statewide to recognize the potential irreparable harm actions taken by this high-prolile individual may have done or may do in the future to the State of Montana, its citizens, and the Republican Party.
I think the people of Montana are smart enough to know that at heart, Marc Racicot is a Republican, but a moderate Republican who believes government can be a positive force, not a Kaltschmidt Republican who values party loyalty and ideological conformity uber alles. Montanans know that when Racicot’s conscience and deep sense of civic duty compel him to subordinate party loyalty to the common good, he is speaking for himself, not the MAGA infested Republican Party that besmirches the memory of Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight David Eisenhower, and John McCain.
McCain, of course, ran for President in 2008, losing to Barack Obama. He was endorsed by Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent and former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, who caucused with Harry Reid’s Democrats.
After that spectacular act of partisan treason, Lieberman was, as CNN reported nine years later, not the most popular man the Senate’s Democratic caucus.
In 2004, Lieberman launched his own presidential campaign, but by then the war was unpopular and, apparently, so was he – particularly within his own party. When he ran for reelection to the Senate two years later, Lieberman lost in the Democratic primary. That’s when he became an independent, a strategic move that allowed him to win back his seat.
This time, when he returned to Washington, Lieberman no longer fit in. He caucused with Democrats, but was something of an outsider.
It was during the post-9/11 years that Lieberman linked arms with Republicans Graham and McCain, two other hawks who, like their Democratic friend, were known to thwart their party. The trio traveled the world together and became known as the “Three Amigos.” So high was their mutual regard that McCain reportedly wanted Lieberman to be his 2008 running mate, though he eventually succumbed to pressure to pick conservative Sarah Palin instead.
Still, Lieberman stood by his friend.
“In the Senate, during the three-and-a-half years that Sen. Barack Obama has been a member, he has not reached across party lines to … accomplish anything significant, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party to get something done,” he said at the 2008 Republican convention.
Democrats viewed that speech as blasphemy.
“He could have given a speech defending John McCain, but instead he went on the offense and blistered Obama over his lack of foreign policy skills, which were a major Republican talking point,” said Manley, a long-time senior aide to Harry Reid, the former Democratic Senate leader. “It caused a lot of ill will.”
After the election, Democratic senators pressured Reid to kick Lieberman out of the caucus and prevent him from chairing the homeland security committee. Reid resisted, however, saying it was better to keep Lieberman in the fold.
History vindicates Reid’s refusal to kick Lieberman out of the Democratic caucus. It’s a lesson Kaltschmidt and his cronies would have been wise to have heeded.