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A fragile man, whispered innuendo and two suicides in Missouri
A fragile man, whispered innuendo and two suicides in MissouriNational
By Thomas Lake April 15 at 11:57 AM
ST. LOUIS — One month before his suicide, Tom Schweich announced he was running for governor. He looked pale and tired, with dark crescents under his eyes, but he spoke with precision and force. He told supporters he had learned to fight liberals by attending Harvard and Yale, to fight corruption by serving as state auditor, and to fight terrorism by serving the U.S. government in Afghanistan.
“At the State Department, I negotiated with everybody from Chinese bureaucrats to Afghan warlords,” he said. “And I’ll tell you: Negotiating with Afghan warlords was really good practice for Missouri politics.”
On the morning of Feb. 26, Schweich put a .22-caliber handgun to his left temple and pulled the trigger. He left behind a wife, two children and a Missouri Republican Party divided over the meaning of his death.
Four weeks later, Schweich’s loyal spokesman, Spence Jackson, also fatally shot himself. The two suicides stunned political observers far beyond Missouri’s borders and drew attention to the darkest undercurrent of a race that had quickly turned nasty: allegations that one of Schweich’s GOP rivals had made an insidious appeal to anti-Semitism.
By Thomas Lake April 15 at 11:57 AM
ST. LOUIS — One month before his suicide, Tom Schweich announced he was running for governor. He looked pale and tired, with dark crescents under his eyes, but he spoke with precision and force. He told supporters he had learned to fight liberals by attending Harvard and Yale, to fight corruption by serving as state auditor, and to fight terrorism by serving the U.S. government in Afghanistan.
“At the State Department, I negotiated with everybody from Chinese bureaucrats to Afghan warlords,” he said. “And I’ll tell you: Negotiating with Afghan warlords was really good practice for Missouri politics.”
On the morning of Feb. 26, Schweich put a .22-caliber handgun to his left temple and pulled the trigger. He left behind a wife, two children and a Missouri Republican Party divided over the meaning of his death.
Four weeks later, Schweich’s loyal spokesman, Spence Jackson, also fatally shot himself. The two suicides stunned political observers far beyond Missouri’s borders and drew attention to the darkest undercurrent of a race that had quickly turned nasty: allegations that one of Schweich’s GOP rivals had made an insidious appeal to anti-Semitism.
12 replies
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One day this illness that certain GOPers suffer about the legend of Reagan, will die off with that generation. I cannot think of many more people as harmful as Ronald Reagan was to this nations psyche. Practically everything wrong with America, can be traced back to Nixon and Reagan and all the evil shit minions they spawned over the decades.
How sad, that he was that obsessed with a man that was a Huge Failure in office and for our nation.
RIP.
I let my own prejudice get the better of me when the BP spilled happened, not even giving him the benefit of the doubt. That was my mistake. Agree...I don't think there is a single word I would change in your second paragraph!
And you know what? I am, even this early out, getting a perverse happiness in knowing HRC is making the GOP shit all over itself...so early on!
I know that cannot be too healthy...but about this one issue, I don't give a shit. I want to see the GOP finally take that dive off the cliff they have so RICHLY rewarded themselves with over the decades!
I'd even cut the rope for them! NP.
