“After years of pretending, even Rosendale himself recognizes he can no longer credibly claim to be a Montana rancher,” said American Bridge spokesperson Amelia Penniman. “We’d have redrafted his Twitter bio a little differently, though — maybe ‘erstwhile State Auditor, Maryland developer, brand-new barn jacket-wearer’?”
Talking Points Memo: Montana GOP Senate Candidate Quietly Scrubs ‘Rancher’ From His Campaign
By Cameron Joseph | September 6, 2018
- “Montana’s GOP Senate nominee used to routinely, if inaccurately, brag that he was a ‘rancher.’ But he seems to have backed away from the term in recent months following questions about his experience.”
- “Matt Rosendale is the state’s auditor and the Republican nominee challenging Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT). In the past months, his campaign has moved slowly and steadily to deemphasize his ranching claims.”
- “The most recent, and boldest, example: He removed the term from his twitter bio in recent weeks.”
- “Rosendale, through at least mid-August, described himself as a ‘conservative rancher, real estate developer, businessman’ in his short twitter bio. Now, he’s simply a ‘Trump conservative, fighter for Montana.’”
- “His campaign website once used the same ‘rancher, real estate developer, businessman’ construction in the opening line of its biographical section. It’s now gone, replaced by the description ‘Trump conservative, straight shooter, and a fighter for Montana.’”
- “As TPM reported back in May, Rosendale had been leaning more and more heavily into his rancher persona as a candidate throughout the GOP primary, using it in ads and on the campaign trail. But the real estate broker had previously publicly admitted that he leased out his land rather than ranched it himself, and documents obtained then by TPM showed he’d never actually owned any cattle.”
Read the full story here.
Published: Sep 6, 2018 | Last Modified: Feb 1, 2024