BILLINGS GAZETTE EDITORIAL BOARD
“Now is the time to stand united, move forward together and have a peaceful transition of power. Pushing partisan driven articles of impeachment through Congress …will further divide our country.” — Sen. Steve Daines.
Senator Daines:
Let’s talk about what happened Jan. 6.
No, we’re not over it. Despite your stated desire to “move forward together,” we’re not about to forget that a mob came frighteningly close to physically attacking members of Congress and the Vice President.
We can’t, and shouldn’t, forget that six people died; that 140 Capitol Police officers were injured; that one was impaled with a metal fence stake; that others sustained brain injuries, spinal injuries, and another will lose an eye.
We can’t, and shouldn’t, forget that not until after the riot did you recognize the validity of the Biden victory, which occurred two months earlier, and that in the meantime you faithfully regurgitated President Trump’s untruthful attack on the election system.
Afterward, you hurriedly said that “now is the time to stand united, move forward together and have a peaceful transition of power.”
How gullible do you think Montanans are?
You added, “pushing partisan driven articles of impeachment through Congress … will further divide our country.” That’s the problem. This impeachment should not be partisan. There should be a bipartisan revulsion at the events of Jan. 6, which were very clearly incited by the President’s rhetoric on the election. And yours — although you take no responsibility now for your shop sending out a fundraising pitch saying, “Dems are trying to steal the election.”
You were reelected by a healthy margin in this state. We respect that. We respect the fact that you have accomplished some things that were important to Montanans in your first Senate term. But you need to take personal responsibility for your slavish devotion to a demagogue who attacked our entire democratic system.
You have a great deal of work to do to restore any measure of credibility. The best thing you can do is apologize and accept accountability for your actions, which you have yet to do.
We’re not over it. We shouldn’t be. And you can’t get us there by trying to gloss over a ghastly attack on America’s government.
It’s time to cowboy up and admit you were wrong.
The Billings Gazette Editorial Board consists of President and Publisher Dave Worstell, Regional Editor David McCumber and Chief Photographer Larry Mayer. (via Dan Lourie 1/30/21)