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A new animal has been sighted in Montana, presumably a relative of the RINO (Republican In Name Only, a perjorative term applied to a Republican who does things that the right wing believes are liberal) and the FCINO (Fiscal Conservative In Name Only, a term coined by the ultra-right wing when the word "Republican" lost its luster).
The third iteration of the RINO and FCINO is an animal that is actually quite abundant in Montana (so abundant, in fact, that Rehberg staffers may hunt it year round if they like).
It's a RWNJLINO, which stands for Right Wing Nut-Job Lunatic in Name Only.
The Rawnjalino (or Rawnjalina, if you are talking about a female of the species) has been sighted around the state, in Helena as well as eastern hunting districts, according to FWP's catalogue of indigenous Montana animals.
Take, for example, the three Sweetgrass county commissioners. (Sweetgrass being one of the most conservative counties in Montana.) They decided to undertake a construction project that they didn't have the money for so they figured "why not bank on some stimulus funds, on the come." Last week, Schweitzer went to Sweetgrass to explain how little money the state has, and how important a balanced budget is, and how the Republican legislators from that district voted against the stimulus. But the commissioners begged Schweitzer for the money. So those commissioners are RWNJLINOS. They try their best to be Right Wing Nut Jobs, probably going home at night and cracking open a beer and listening to Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, and Rush on the radio in the morning, and complaining about Obama, ObamaKKKare, Pelosi, Reid, stimulus, etc.. But then they go to work the next day and find ways to spend, and beg for, stimulus funds.
In Townsend, too, the Republican officials are Rawnjalinos. They had the same problem as Sweetgrass, and are begging for stimulus money. Schweitzer suggested they get a letter from Scott Sales in support of stimulus funds (Sales voted against all of this money). We'll see if Sales turns out to be a Rawnjalino, or simply a Rawnj. Same thing in Whitehall, where Scott Mendenhall and his conservative Jeffco commissioner buddies (Mendenhall even voted for a bill that would allow insurance companies to discriminate against pregnant women) are asking the Governor for stimulus money. Mendenhall voted no on stimulus as well.
So there are many RWNJLINOS here, right wing nutjobs by night, welfare queens by day.
Then there are The Realtors. The realtors, a solidly Republican lot, are up in arms right now because Schweitzer has supposedly notified hundreds of landlords who rent their buildings to the state that he expects a 20% rent reduction, or else he will look for space elsewhere when those leases come due in the next few years. These are the folks, mind you, that selected ultrarightwinger John Sinrud of Belgrade as their lobbyist. Sinrud and the realtors spent a fortune to defeat Frank Sweeney (the lone environmentalist on the Whitefish City commission last year), and who seem to be behind every well-funded right-wing endeavor in Montana, often with the help of operatives like Chuck Denowh. So they might seem like right wing nut jobs at a glance.
But they are, in fact, RWNJLINOS. They are, like many well-connected Republicans, welfare queens who got fat, sweetheart deals from Martz, Racicot and Stephens, Republican Governors who fattened up their many realtor friends around the state by paying them higher-than-market, long term rents. Fiscal conservatism is very important to these landlords, unless, of course, they have an opportunity to make money off of us taxpayers. In which case, how dare a Governor try to bargain for a better deal for the state.
There are some better-known RWNJLINOS, like Rehberg (who voted to have citizens carry federal ID cards, which drives right wing nut jobs crazy and is a vote that might limit his career), Greg Barkus (who sponsored an attempt to decimate labor unions in the 2007 session.....and then in 2009 snuck in a 600,000 bailout for his millionaire Flathead buddy Swank, and also is trying, so I hear, to get a work comp settlement for his drunk boating accident injury) Roger Koopman (a man not known for his deep knowledge, but for his wingnuttery:He sent out mailers about members of his own party showing them coddling child molesting serial killers) who was masquerading in drag as a rightwingnutjob but then got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, using the state government to enrich himself, handsomely and illegally.
And there is even a doe, a Rawnjalina. It's a certain family/christian-values Republican legislator who shall remain nameless, might remind one of Sarah Palin, and was caught in a mating ritual with another legislator, who was not her husband, in a car, a few years back. She definitely is a Rawnjalina (and a raunchy rawnjalina at that).
Wildlife spotting is always great fun in Montana.
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