Yes they are!
The Missoula candidates are running for office! I have a lot on this later in the post.
First, though…let’s get some hypocrisy out of the way.
Bad Revenue Enhancers
Well, I think we’ve found it – revenue enhancers the MT Dems don’t like.
I’m talking about…well, first of all I’m talking about tax hikes.
Of course, Montana Democrats no longer use that term. Tax hikes are now called ‘revenue enhancers,’ as this is a good way to trick and befuddle common, working voters.
It just sounds better – revenue enhancer vs. tax increase.
We saw this a lot during the last session, when Dems wanted to increase taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, and medical marijuana.
Sin taxes, they used to be called.
And the big argument for ‘enhancing’ those sin taxes was that we could take that money – largely from the poor – and give it to healthcare workers.
Wealth redistribution.
It was quite the interesting tactic, and even more so because it was introduced by Democrats.
I mean, here’s a plan that would have taken money out of the pocket of someone earning $15,000 a year and given it to a nurse making $50,000 a year.
Sadly for MT Dems, the GOP-controlled legislature shot that plan right to shit.
I guess this is why I was kind of surprised to see such queer thoughts coming from Nathan Kosted over at ID in regard to revenue enhancers.
You see, Kosted was in his typical pity-party mood over the fact that Trump wants to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Revenue enhancers.
“The price of a Truck is estimated to rise at least $1,000,” Kosted laments, while “beer could go up another dollar per case too.”
I read this yesterday and took on quite the queer expression.
WTF?!?
That was my first thought.
I believe my second was…trucks?
Who’s buying trucks? Considering they cost around $40,000 new, I’m willing to bet it’s mostly GOPers.
Wouldn’t an extra $1,000 out of a Republican’s pocket be a good thing? After all…less money to buy guns.
But in this case, Kosted and his liberal coterie are up in arms over the fact that Americans might have to pay more for things like trucks and beer.
Now, remember…last session the idea of taxing beer was alright. Back then it was a Democratic plan, but with the Trump tariffs, it’s a Republican plan.
Let me put on my best caveman voice for a moment and tell you that…Dems good, GOP bad.
I suppose now would be the time to point out the glaring hypocrisy here, but who the hell would care?
You know it ain’t gonna be Kosted or anyone over at ID. Offer the slightest criticism to a hardcore liberal and they automatically go into self-defense mode, with lots of passive aggressive remarks coupled with as many attacks as they can muster.
The audacity!
There is no room for debate when it comes to Democrats today – it’s either their way or the highway.
Bankers, Please Run Amok Again
Kosted’s remarks were in a blog post that was meant to disparage Gianforte.
That’s the main purpose of ID – to disparage Republicans while highlighting Democrats.
And a big part of highlighting Democrats is ignoring all the shit they do.
Take the recent banking deregulations that went through yesterday.
Tester was a big part of weakening the protections we put in place after 2008, but you won’t hear that on ID.
James Conner over at Flathead Memo gets into it a bit today, and I suppose Reptile Dysfunction will, too. We both know that Logicosity is too busy crying in its beer over UM to mention it, while Missoula Current is so in lockstep with Helena Dem preachings that it can never fully tell a story.
So Tester votes to make Wall Street banks stronger, all on the pretext that it’ll help small, Montana community banks.
And people are actually licking this up.
I suppose what I’m so amazed by, still, is how double-faced Democrats are when it comes to this kind of hypocrisy.
Things they continually chastise and look down upon – Wall Street bankers and their greed, for instance – become perfectly alright if it’s a Democrat championing the idea, not a Republican.
Getting back to the tariffs…here’s an example of taxes that’ll actually help American workers in certain sectors of the economy, but since it’s a Republican idea, it’s bad.
Then we have clear examples of legislation – in the form of the recent bank deregulations that Tester voted for – that will hurt American workers, but since it’s a Democratic idea, it’s perfectly sound.
It just makes me sick.
And They’re Running
Here in Missoula, there’s never any problems finding eager Dems to run for office.
The problem is finding Republicans.
Yeah…weird.
The entire rest of the state has the exact opposite ‘problem’ – Republicans are easy to find, but Dems are not.
Come Monday afternoon and early evening, both Parties here in the state will be crowing about how many men and women they got to run for office, and in the case of Dems, how many Native Americans.
Always gotta play up the race card.
Unlike previous years, however, I don’t think Dems will have a candidate in all the various races, mainly all 100 House races.
As I said, though, that won’t be a problem here in Missoula.
As it stands now, every single seat for the county has at least one Democratic candidate, and in some cases four.
The races that don’t have a GOP candidate are as follows:
- SD 48 – Nate McConnell is the Dem
- SD 50 – Bryce Bennett is the Dem
- HD 89 – Four Dems running, no incumbents
- HD 90 – Marilyn Marler
- HD 91 – Four Dems running, no incumbents
- HD 95 – Shane Morigeau
- HD 98 – Willis Curdy plus a Libertarian candidate
- HD 99 – Marilyn Ryan
- HD 100 – Andrea Olsen
Let’s talk about these folks.
Nate McConnell was chosen in a similar puppet show to that we saw in 2015. Back then, that chosen puppet was defeated in the general. Considering McConnell got to his lofty position through no fault of his own, there’s a good chance he’ll win this race and become another entrenched, Helena Democrat.
I expect neither ideas nor results from McConnell, just glad-handing and doing as the Helena brass wants. That’s why he was chosen.
Bryce Bennett has to hop from the House due to term limits. He’s gay, so in Missoula that means he can run and win indefinitely. It doesn’t matter what his ideas are.
I’m not sure what’ll happen in HD 89, though I suspect the woman will win.
Marilyn Marler was handpicked by termed-out Ellie Hill to fill this seat. Everyone knows that Marler will win this, and that’s why no Republicans have filed. Mostly, I’m saddened that Helena will have another ultra-liberal representative that doesn’t understand Montana. I am thankful that the GOP controls the legislature so that this person’s views and opinions will go nowhere.
Nancy de Pastino will easily win HD 91 because of her involvement with the large gun control group, Mom’s Demand Action. Missoulians eat that shit up.
No Republicans will run against HD 95’s Shane Morigeau as they might be labeled racist if they do. Yeah, he's Native American. Shane will easily win his second term in the House, perhaps paving the way for an eventual spot in the Senate, and maybe even some hopping back and forth into perpetuity. What’s he done for Missoula, you might ask? I think that’s a great question.
Willis Curdy will easily win his third term in the House. I ran against him in 2014 and lost in the primary. I can’t remember anything he did in the 2015 session…or the 2017 session. I think it’ll be the same in 2019, too. People like Willis run for office as a consolation…a reward, if you will, after years of working as a teacher or other government flunky. They just have so much to give back!
Marilyn Ryan will easily win her HD 99 race. I ran against her in 2016 and lost in the primary. Yep, I can’t think of anything she did in the ’17 session, but considering Dems are pretty much powerless in the legislature – owing to the fact that they have no ideas the state can get excited about, and therefore can’t take a majority – this isn’t surprising. Ryan will do another session in ’19, feeling good about herself and all that she’s doing while here in Missoula, life continues to become harder for everyone not like her…well-off folks living high up on the hill.
Finally we have Andrea Olsen, the lesbian that has the ultra-safe ‘donut’ district in the center of town. She won’t be defeated and will come back in 2020 to hop to whatever senate seat is available. Yep, like termites, once these folks get in there it's hella hard to get 'em out.
So Republicans in Missoula are frantically looking for ‘place-holder’ candidates to run against these guaranteed ‘winners.’
Anywhere else in the state, the gaggle of Dems I just rattled off would be trounced, and soundly so.
Their ideas – and don’t ask me what they are, because as I’ve mentioned, I don’t really think they have any – would be frowned upon if not laughed at by the majority in this state.
There’s a reason we consider Missoula the red-headed step-child of state politics, and the eight people I’ve listed off personify that.
Some of them probably think they have a shot at governor, or at least one of the statewides.
It’s not that they’re stupid, it’s just that they’re so clueless. These are people that don’t get out of the city too often. They don’t really know the state’s history. Most are well-off and don’t understand the concerns of common, working people. They wear white collars, not blue.
Monday is the filing deadline to run against these folks. It costs $15.
The cost to you and your family will be much higher.
Besides the work of campaigning, you have to worry about the Montana Democratic smear campaign.
Should you begin to win – and we’ll see this quite clearly with Chase Reynolds later this year as he begins to trounce Diane Sands – the Dems will turn their vitriol machines up high and give you a good spraying.
Remember, they have no ideas; they rely on attacks to win.
But in the Berkeley of the North, winning comes easy and the hoses won’t need to come out.
There’s a good chance you’ve never heard the eight names I mentioned before, even if you live in Missoula. These people don’t impact your life, though they like to think they do.
And come Monday, it’ll be glad-handing and pats on the back for a job well done.
They’re running, and my do they feel good about it.
