I went to the Black Tooth Brewery in Casper's beer reveal, for their new UW themed beer. I wasn't really interested in going but my wife was, so my wife, daughter and her boyfriend all went.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray was there.
The can has an old style state license plate theme, and therefore it would need cooperation from UW anyway, which owns the trademark for the symbol and jealously guards it. That requires the cooperation of the Secretary of State's office. This is being done as a "partnership" with UW, so there's no doubt that it would have come. One of the employees of the SoS's office was thanked by UW, and to his credit, Secretary Gray thanked the woman as well.
But Gray, who has spent a lot of time touring the state and showing up at political events, just couldn't help but go negative and throw in some nasty line about how we aren't "woke" in Wyoming and referencing Budweiser.
The reaction of the crowd was muted at best. This was a Wyoming beer crowd, not a populist far right gathering, and chances are a lot of the people in the audience were either apolitical or old style Wyoming conservatives. Gray seemed to get the message right away and finished his talk, or whatever it was.
I'm really sick of this behavior. Gray boosted lies as a candidate, and now he runs around trying to pour gasoline on politics and ignite fires when he doesn't need to. Wyoming's politicians never used to do this, and they certainly didn't do it while in office.
What must it be like to have to be angry all the time?
For that matter, what must it be like to wear brand-new Wranglers, a style of jeans designed for people with cowboy bodies, and brand-new thick soled cowboy boots, the type that cowboys don't wear.
Why did people vote for Gray? It's really a mystery. That he's campaigning for the Governor's office right now should be evident to everyone. Wyomingites would really have to be suckers to vote for Gray for that office, but then, they were suckers when they put him in his current office.
But beyond that, what kind of personality do you have to have in order to show up at everything with some right wing screed? Can't anyone just enjoy their day without having to be fed a spoonful of BS?
And at what point does putting on a wrathful show convert your personality to fully wrathful? I know one lawyer who puts on such an act all the time that I think he's truly lost his real personality. At some point, that would occur.
Gray referred to the famous rodeo horse in his speech, Steamboat. That's frustrating but inevitable, particularly as his speech, which short, was rambling, much like a speech by a high schooler whose concluded that he's too smart to prepare a speech. Gray rambled on, something about Steamboat and World War One.
Steamboat was never used by the Wyoming Army National Guard in reality, or as a symbol. That's Red Wing.
That horse on the license plate, everyone knows its Steamboat. Right?
This is never going to get straightened out, but frankly I have a hard time imagining Gray caring, just like I don't think he's going to be flanking any calves while wearing those boots and jeans at branding.
On politics, here's an episode of Jimmy Akin's mysterious world really worth listening to.
