A Democratic contender to succeed retiring Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) cited what he called the Tea Party’s “Taliban”-like government shutdown as the catalyst for his Senate run.
“We need to challenge the tea party representatives who like the Taliban shut our country down,” Bohlinger told reporters Wednesday, as quoted by the Helena Independent Record. He then drew comparisons between the 16-day shutdown and Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, according to the newspaper.
Bohlinger, a former Republican, also called out his GOP challenger for the Senate seat for voting in favor of the shutdown.
“Daines voted to shut it down,” he told the Great Falls Tribune, referring to U.S. Rep. Steve Daines (R-MT). “He and the tea party Taliban rejoiced in that. They thought it was clever. They thought it was cute. It’s not. It’s hurtful.”
The Tea Party’s role in precipitating the shutdown has made the group an easy target for Democrats. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) sparked outrage last month with a fundraising email that compared the Tea Party to the Ku Klux Klan, which was later condemned by some of the leading members of his party.
[h/t Huffington Post]
