The GOP-led "controversy" over a Pearl Jam poster is just as dumb as you'd think

By Sam Barsanti | August 16, 2018 | 12:59am

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We’re not quite optimistic enough to say that Republicans are blindly grasping at straws in hopes of finding something, anything, that might give them an advantage against the evil liberals, but it does seem like a lot of idiot Trumpers out there are desperate for something that they can consider a win. That’s presumably why some right-wingers in Montana have latched onto a Pearl Jam tour poster as incontrovertible evidence that the Democrats—specifically incumbent Senator Jon Tester—are… bad in some way.

As you might expect, this requires some leaps. Let’s break it down: Pearl Jam is a rock band that has been known to get political, often overtly so, and part of the whole Pearl Jam machine involves producing small batches of exclusive posters with dramatic and unique designs that lucky fans can put in their Eddie Vedder shrines. Earlier this week, Pearl Jam had a concert in Missoula, Montana, and it sold special tour posters—designed by Bobby Brown and Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament—as part of a promotion to raise money for Tester’s reelection campaign. The poster, which you can see below, features a burning White House, an eagle picking at Donald Trump’s skeleton, smoke spelling out the word “vote,” and a cartoon Senator Tester doing a sick jump over the whole thing on a tractor:

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The National Republican Senate Committee, which we’re going to assume is full of people who aren’t cool rock stars, has now released a statement that essentially blames Tester for the content of the poster, saying “there’s no stoop too low for him when it comes to attacking President Trump and his supporters.” This is despite the fact that Tester didn’t make the poster, had no input on its design, and never saw the poster before it was sold to the public. Also, the poster doesn’t even criticize Trump supporters at all, but that doesn’t matter because the Republicans have all bought into the same stupid persecution complex as their glorious leader.

In November, Tester is running against a “conservative rancher” named Matt Rosendale who referred to the Pearl Jam poster on Twitter as an “act of violence,” linked to a Breitbart article, and threw in a MAGA hashtag for good measure. That should tell you everything you need to know about him.

[via Variety]