With this year being the 28th Congressional election in which I’ve had the privilege to vote in Montana, I’m struck by the fact that this “Special Election 2017” has put before us two of the most flawed candidates we’ve ever seen seeking that office in our state. On one hand we have Rob Quist who has a track record of having had to cope with multiple financial miscues and on the other Greg Gianforte, who in the past couple of weeks has been shown by his own admission to have been purposely duplicitous on the Affordable Care Act debate by speaking out of both sides of his mouth on the issue.
So what’s a voter to do? Choose a guy who’s failed a number of times in the financial area and lifted himself back up to simply keep going on, or go with a man who’s proven he’ll lie to seek our (or somebody’s) favor, depending on who we are. Well, like it’s often said – we have to choose between what’s put before us, never mind that they’re running for one of the most important political offices we have, to be our lone congressional representative in the nation’s capitol.
Well, I decided I’d make my decision based on the advice of my favorite all-time Republican, a man named Theodore Roosevelt, who I believe demonstrated that he knew how to pick a winner out of a cast of characters, whatever their character. “Give me the man who has tasted the dust of the arena and risen to fight another day,” Roosevelt said, with emphasis. I think he was on to something when it comes to having to make a hard choice, particularly when we’re given the option of picking among two flawed characters.
That’s why I think we Montanans should choose the man who has literally “tasted the dust of the arena and risen to fight another day,” Rob Quist. I’ll take a guy like that any day over a proven liar. For all his problems, I can respect a man like Rob Quist. Like they say in the ads, that’s making a distinction on a real Montana value!
Dale A. Burk
Stevensville