Angel of Grief, 1894 There’s a lot of anger among Democrats right now.
A strong urge to point fingers and lay blame and generally do everything but look in the mirror and figure out what went wrong.
Lots of people say we should find our backbone, report more, and stand up for ourselves.
Fuck, I just wish so many of the idiots in this state would stop relying on newspapers and TV for their political news. And I have to say it – sometimes even Montana Cowgirl seems a bit biased toward the older demographic. Or aren’t those the only links I see being reshared on social media – major newspapers, the networks, and MT Cowgirl?
Well, they’re safe. But maybe it’s just me.
I’m sitting here in Missoula pondering if I should drive to Spokane tomorrow afternoon or wait until Monday morning, as I’d like. There’s a big storm coming in, and we’ve got a doctor’s appointment at the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center just after noon that day. If all goes well we’ll come back the same day; if not, surgery on Tuesday.
Not the brightest of thoughts, kind of like anyone pondering Tuesday, November 4th. What does it matter, though – why even think about it? The 2015 Legislature is set to begin and no one’s going to have to worry about an election cycle for another year or so. Why bother?
Of course lulling the Republicans in the 2015 Montana Legislature into complacency so they’ll make a lot of stupid mistakes and make it easier for those Democrats running against them in 2016 to get elected is a great option, but one that could hurt the state even more long-term.
For when you take away women’s rights, tell minorities to go fuck themselves, and cut essential state services so the 10% are closer to becoming the 1%, then what the hell’s the point?
That’s what Democrats all over are trying to figure out right now, and it sure seems to me that Missoula Democrats are getting the blame a lot more than other areas of the state. As they should.
A strong urge to point fingers and lay blame and generally do everything but look in the mirror and figure out what went wrong.
Lots of people say we should find our backbone, report more, and stand up for ourselves.
Fuck, I just wish so many of the idiots in this state would stop relying on newspapers and TV for their political news. And I have to say it – sometimes even Montana Cowgirl seems a bit biased toward the older demographic. Or aren’t those the only links I see being reshared on social media – major newspapers, the networks, and MT Cowgirl?
Well, they’re safe. But maybe it’s just me.
I’m sitting here in Missoula pondering if I should drive to Spokane tomorrow afternoon or wait until Monday morning, as I’d like. There’s a big storm coming in, and we’ve got a doctor’s appointment at the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center just after noon that day. If all goes well we’ll come back the same day; if not, surgery on Tuesday.
Not the brightest of thoughts, kind of like anyone pondering Tuesday, November 4th. What does it matter, though – why even think about it? The 2015 Legislature is set to begin and no one’s going to have to worry about an election cycle for another year or so. Why bother?
Of course lulling the Republicans in the 2015 Montana Legislature into complacency so they’ll make a lot of stupid mistakes and make it easier for those Democrats running against them in 2016 to get elected is a great option, but one that could hurt the state even more long-term.
For when you take away women’s rights, tell minorities to go fuck themselves, and cut essential state services so the 10% are closer to becoming the 1%, then what the hell’s the point?
That’s what Democrats all over are trying to figure out right now, and it sure seems to me that Missoula Democrats are getting the blame a lot more than other areas of the state. As they should.
What happened, Missoula?
If you look at any projection or graphic or chart of 2014 voter turnout in Montana – like on Flathead Memo – you’ll see that Missoula is damn near the bottom of the list. Why is that?
There have been lots of thoughts and ideas on that bandied about, such as on 4&20 where they make it clear many couldn’t identify with the positions of the major Democratic candidates, to Montana Cowgirl where the reasons often involve throwing Obama under the bus and not running on accomplishments.
So here we have the political divide in this state, and it’s among the Democrats and it’s based on age.
There’s the old school folks that want to play it safe and keep doing what we’ve been doing, and you’ll find them on Montana Cowgirl and commenting on the newspapers…if you find them there at all.
See, those are the more-aware and technologically-savvy of the Montana Democrats. Most in that age group, however, don’t fiddle with that stuff and rely on the traditional media. And anyone that has two hairs worth of sense knows the traditional media in this state is rubbish.
On the other hand you have the younger Democrats, most of whom are struggling in poverty and despair. There is no America Dream for this generation, and we’re damn angry about it. What’s more, we’re damn angry that we’re expected to pay our student loans each month, but those older Democrats aren’t expected to pay shit.
Yeah, I’m talking about the national debt, and the fact that so many older Democrats don’t think this is an issue just shows you how out of touch with Montana and America they are, and worse, how little they care about the problems facing their kids…or at least the younger generation.
It’s called apathy, and that’s what we’re trying to figure out here – why the hell voters in Montana and Missoula were so apathetic. (are you getting an idea? Might be because of your age.)
Let’s take a look at some of the comments on Montana Cowgirl to make sense of this:
There have been lots of thoughts and ideas on that bandied about, such as on 4&20 where they make it clear many couldn’t identify with the positions of the major Democratic candidates, to Montana Cowgirl where the reasons often involve throwing Obama under the bus and not running on accomplishments.
So here we have the political divide in this state, and it’s among the Democrats and it’s based on age.
There’s the old school folks that want to play it safe and keep doing what we’ve been doing, and you’ll find them on Montana Cowgirl and commenting on the newspapers…if you find them there at all.
See, those are the more-aware and technologically-savvy of the Montana Democrats. Most in that age group, however, don’t fiddle with that stuff and rely on the traditional media. And anyone that has two hairs worth of sense knows the traditional media in this state is rubbish.
On the other hand you have the younger Democrats, most of whom are struggling in poverty and despair. There is no America Dream for this generation, and we’re damn angry about it. What’s more, we’re damn angry that we’re expected to pay our student loans each month, but those older Democrats aren’t expected to pay shit.
Yeah, I’m talking about the national debt, and the fact that so many older Democrats don’t think this is an issue just shows you how out of touch with Montana and America they are, and worse, how little they care about the problems facing their kids…or at least the younger generation.
It’s called apathy, and that’s what we’re trying to figure out here – why the hell voters in Montana and Missoula were so apathetic. (are you getting an idea? Might be because of your age.)
Let’s take a look at some of the comments on Montana Cowgirl to make sense of this:
Here’s one from Richard Miller that once again takes the tired line that Montana Democrats should have supported Obama. Just visit 4&20 today to see why most of us younger Democrats will laugh in your face when you pull out that argument.
Here’s one from Kevin D. Curtis that says we Democrats need more backbone. Again, obviously no one’s been visiting my site this election cycle.
This one from Pete Talbot echoes a sentiment heard during much of the campaign, and that was that Lewis was running safe, pulling a Baucus.
Darrel Armstrong has some good points here, though perhaps any gains would be offset by losses elsewhere. Still, with 80,000 registered voters in Missoula, that’s a hard argument to buy.
Rich Buley had another comment on that same long post, this one saying that the losses really weren’t as bad as we figure and that Curtis did damn-well better than many expected.
Bob Oaks has a fine comment, one that shows if you’re not with us, then you can go fuck yourself, and this is the attitude the Democrats need to take to the Crow Indians and their coal overlords. Most of those folks – 47% unemployment – aren’t benefiting. And just like in the rest of Montana, most of us aren’t benefiting from the policies of those in charge, regardless of what party they’re in.
Because I’ll tell you, a D or an R…my student loans remain the same, my wages remain stagnant, my bills keep coming, and the price of food keeps going up.
If you want to figure out how to get more people to the polls, start addressing those things. Or else just stop yanking my crank and just call yourself what you are – the same party with the top leadership in bed with the corporations raping this country, killing its land, and wiping out the future of its people.
Make no bones about it, that is America today. Didn’t Tuesday prove it?
Because I’ll tell you, a D or an R…my student loans remain the same, my wages remain stagnant, my bills keep coming, and the price of food keeps going up.
If you want to figure out how to get more people to the polls, start addressing those things. Or else just stop yanking my crank and just call yourself what you are – the same party with the top leadership in bed with the corporations raping this country, killing its land, and wiping out the future of its people.
Make no bones about it, that is America today. Didn’t Tuesday prove it?
