avoiding labels (Montana edition)

Since Reagan, the conservatives have successfully made “liberal” a bad word. Politicians ran away from that label. They were not “liberal” they were “progressive”.

So its not surprising that if a politician feels that he/she is being “labeled” in a way that is at odds with voters, that they come out swinging.

So your goal is to guess what the label is that this politician is trying to avoid. From the Billing Gazette:

Brown says he’s no ________, decries Demos’ mud-slinging

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA – Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown on Wednesday accused Democrats of spreading a false rumor that he is a ________.

“I am not and have never been a ________,” Brown said.

“I am disgusted by the baseless allegation that I am a ________ and that my personal … habits should somehow be construed as opposed to the economic interests of Montana.”

Brown was responding to an undated e-mail sent by his Billings neighbor, Pat Etchart, to Dennis McDonald, chairman of the Montana Democratic Party .

McDonald, in turn, forwarded Etchart’s e-mail … Friday and asked: “What do you make of this?”

The letter also has been send to … publications and blogs.

In the e-mail, Etchart said that when the Browns moved next door in Billings, Roy Brown invited her husband and her to their house to get acquainted.

“In the course of conversation, he told us that he and his wife are ________,” Etchart wrote. “At the time, I thought nothing of it, but as Roy now makes the rounds and campaigns for governor, I have a concern.

“What caused me to think about this is that I told my brother-in-law, who usually votes Republican, about it. And he said that he could never vote for a ________, because it’s against his economic interest.”

Reached in Billings, Etchart, a Democrat, confirmed that she sent McDonald the e-mail.

Etchart said when Brown told her he was a ________, he never mentioned anything about [why].

In response, Democratic Chairman McDonald said, “There’s a lot of good reasons not to vote for Roy Brown. Silly e-mails have got to be amongst the least of them.”

Brown said he has never used reports or rumors about Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and his family life for political gain. The Republican said he believed Schweitzer and Democrats had a similar commitment to run a campaign based on politics and fact “without targeting unrelated heartache and misconstruing that as partisan ploy.”

“If this was a simple misunderstanding, that would be one thing, but this is clearly an attempt by Gov. Schweitzer and his political hacks to discredit me, and it’s beyond offensive,” Brown said.

So what is this scary label that has Mr. Brown in such a lather?

Vegetarian.