Brian Schweitzer: Eric Cantor Sets Off My 'Gaydar'

Former Governor: Eric Cantor Sets Off My 'Gaydar'

A new profile of former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer reveals the Democrat doesn't have much of a filter, as he vilifies Southerners and the gay community in his take on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

Journalist Marin Cogan, who profiled Schweitzer in National Journal, phoned the former governor on the evening of Cantor's stunning defeat in the Virginia GOP primary this month. Though Cogan's article doesn't say whether Schweitzer commented on Cantor's election loss, he did share his thoughts on Cantor's sexuality.

"Don't hold this against me, but I'm going to blurt it out," Schweitzer is quoted as saying. "How do I say this ... men in the South, they are a little effeminate. They just have effeminate mannerisms. If you were just a regular person, you turned on the TV, and you saw Eric Cantor talking, I would say -- and I'm fine with gay people, that's all right -- but my gaydar is 60-70 percent. But he's not, I think, so I don't know. Again, I couldn't care less. I'm accepting."

Cogan joked in her article that Schweitzer was "unable to hold his tongue" on multiple occasions during their interviews. Schweitzer compared Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to a sex worker for the intelligence community, Cogan wrote.

"She was the woman who was standing under the streetlight with her dress pulled all the way up over her knees and now she says, 'I'm a nun,' when it comes to this spying I mean, maybe that's the wrong metaphor -- but she was all in!" Schweitzer said of Feinstein.

Update 6/19/2014, 5:30 p.m. -- Schweitzer apologized for the comments, saying he was "deeply sorry" for the "insensitive remarks."

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