As yous may select guessed from yesterday's teaser, I select long held a especial house inward my middle for the wackiest Members of Congress. I uncertainty anyone volition e'er supercede erstwhile Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) equally the truthful dear of my life, but right away I'll select Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) to convey me some happiness, together with that dude is fucking psycho! I'm hence happy I could cry! Yes, that's the argue I'm crying.
Anyway, I've got actual scholarly query together with shit here. Peer-reviewed together with everything. You tin download it
here. The method I used doesn't function anymore because the fucking killjoys at Google changed their algorithm, but it was fun field it lasted. Have yous e'er played or hence amongst the auto-complete characteristic of Google's search? I did. I noticed that when yous typed inward names similar "Michele Bachmann," yous got a bunch of epithets. Why? When people did Google searches for Bachmann, it tended to live for things similar "Michele Bachmann idiot," together with sometimes, "Michele Bachmann batshit crazy!" Why? Because she's almost i neuron brusk of a synapse. So, I position together a information gear upwards of the epithets that Google suggested for every Member of Congress. Then, I crunched the numbers. What were the predictors of Google suggesting a lot of epithets? What were the consequences? Basically, if yous were an ideological extremist, Google suggested epithets, together with those for whom Google suggested epithets were at a slight electoral disadvantage, both because they helped their opponents heighten money, together with because voters were position off past times whatever got people doing those Google searches. It was a fun, piffling paper. When I presented it at the APSA, people had their computers out revealing all of the fun
additional things Google suggested for people inward Congress. Most fun I e'er had at a conference. (What create yous expect? I'm obsessed...)
What does this select to create amongst Greg Gianforte? Um... Do I select to enjoin it? Dude's fuckin' nuts. Oh, past times the way, does anyone think
Wes Cooley? How almost
Cynthia McKinney? Just sayin'... Anyway, Gianforte, similar Bachmann, has no concern existence anywhere close the levers of power, but represents a constituency amongst a partisan residual that simply favors him. Now, what if this incident had happened before hence that people had fourth dimension to digest together with answer to it? I don't know. I tin besides pretty much guarantee that this isn't an isolated thing. Gianforte is going to live i of my favorites. That agency he is going to enjoin a whole lot of crazy shit, together with Democrats are going to throw coin at a challenger.
Now, yous may abide by that, inward general, I am skeptical of the effects of money. Except for
challengers. Here's the thing. Incumbents don't actually necessitate money. Their spending doesn't thing that much.
Challengers need money, together with their spending inward congressional elections matters. A
lot. Gianforte is going to live the best fundraiser that Montana Democrats could e'er promise for.
That said, Montana is a Republican state. Party
tends to overwhelm pretty much everything else. Even a batshit fucking crazy idiot who assaults a reporter for doing his job, to the indicate that fifty-fifty the Fox News people were unwilling to render the guy amongst a sympathetic witness.
How long tin Gianforte agree onto that seat? I'd hand him a term or two. Timing plus political party got him over the top, hence to speak, but amongst that variety of temper, he'll belike self-destruct. The crazy people inward Congress who cope to remain at that topographic point are the ones who simply spout off at the mouth, or amend yet, permit their political party leaders proceed them hidden, similar a deformed sibling inward the basement. Gianforte is to a greater extent than probable to Hulk-out on the House flooring together with crunch the crap out of John Lewis yelling "WHITE POWER!" inward a jibe of 'roid-rage.
As a side-note, it is fun to expression dorsum at the "batshit-list" from
my old paper, together with consider who made the listing dorsum then. Anthony Weiner made the list, equally did Mike Pence (he was inward the House at the time). Paul Ryan, equally a young-'un, was manner downward on the list, but he was there. In the Senate, Beauregard Sessions was upwards there. Beyond that, oh, how I wishing this method all the same worked to consider what fun I could select amongst Trump...