I’m sure by now you’ve heard that the 2017 Montana Legislature didn’t pass an infrastructure bill.
Let me ask you…where’d you hear that fake news?
But like I said, it’s fake.
The 2017 Montana Legislature passed $1.1 billion in infrastructure this session.
Wow, makes that $80 million in bonding look like chump change, don’t it?
So…what’s all the uproar about?
Well, debt.
You see, Bullock and his banker buddies and those buddies of his from District of Criminals law firm Steptoe & Johnson want Montana to take on that debt.
If you have credit cards you know how it works.
You borrow $1,000 and you end up paying $1,100 back.
Sure, the amounts could be different – it all depends on the interest rate.
And who sets those?
Why, the banks, of course!
Oh, and if you haven’t looked into the history of banking in America and in Montana, please do so here.
That’s the most popular article I’ve ever written on this site.
But back to infrastructure.
Republicans are happy that we had $1.1 billion of it but Democrats aren’t happy we didn’t get $80 million more.
I guess I wouldn’t be happy either – most of that pork was in urban, Dem districts.
All urban projects.
So how is voting no on those going to hurt Montana Republicans.
It’s not, but Dems want you to think it will because honestly, they don’t know what else to do.
Oh, and let’s not forget that we also didn’t get $41 million in rural water projects.
Why?
Because Montana Democrats voted en-masse against it.
Who led the charge?
Virginia Jenny Eck.
Remember, Virginia Jenny is from a safe Helena district. She didn’t even have an opponent in 2016.
Yet because of her reckless actions and blind partisanship yesterday, countless rural Democrats will have to go back to their constituents and explain why they voted no.
Because Virginia Jenny told me to, that’s why!
Can you imagine that?
Maybe Virginia Jenny will come along to some of those town halls, huh? Perhaps sit in and take the brunt of voter’s disgust.
Yeah, I doubt it too.
What’s really sad is how terrible Bullock is at making political deals.
He came up with some shit-brained idea to do rent-to-own to get these urban buildings built.
Well, the GOP didn’t buy that bullshit.
And who’s gonna get blamed when your gas prices go up by 4.5 cents in a few months?
The GOP?
Nope, try again.
How about the Democrats, who voted for it?
Here in Missoula Dems lost HD 92 and HD 96 last time, districts that were supposed to be safe.
Well, they weren’t.
Makes we wonder which districts won’t be safe in 2018.
There’ll be far more districts flipping red than flipping blue, mark my words.
Or just read the Dem sites and their fake news and partisan rants. They’ll likely have you thinking Dems will take back the legislature in 2019.
Ha, just let them talk. They’re really, really good at it.
Translating that talk into action, though?
Eh, not so much.
Let me ask you…where’d you hear that fake news?
- Was it one of the Lee papers, maybe something on MTN?
- Perhaps it was a blog, or even social media.
- Could be that the Dems have already sent out some fundraising emails with the ‘news.’
But like I said, it’s fake.
The 2017 Montana Legislature passed $1.1 billion in infrastructure this session.
Wow, makes that $80 million in bonding look like chump change, don’t it?
So…what’s all the uproar about?
Well, debt.
You see, Bullock and his banker buddies and those buddies of his from District of Criminals law firm Steptoe & Johnson want Montana to take on that debt.
If you have credit cards you know how it works.
You borrow $1,000 and you end up paying $1,100 back.
Sure, the amounts could be different – it all depends on the interest rate.
And who sets those?
Why, the banks, of course!
Oh, and if you haven’t looked into the history of banking in America and in Montana, please do so here.
That’s the most popular article I’ve ever written on this site.
But back to infrastructure.
Republicans are happy that we had $1.1 billion of it but Democrats aren’t happy we didn’t get $80 million more.
I guess I wouldn’t be happy either – most of that pork was in urban, Dem districts.
- In Helena we had the Historical Society building.
- In Butte we had the veteran’s home.
- In Bozeman we had the MSU building.
All urban projects.
So how is voting no on those going to hurt Montana Republicans.
It’s not, but Dems want you to think it will because honestly, they don’t know what else to do.
Oh, and let’s not forget that we also didn’t get $41 million in rural water projects.
Why?
Because Montana Democrats voted en-masse against it.
Who led the charge?
Virginia Jenny Eck.
Remember, Virginia Jenny is from a safe Helena district. She didn’t even have an opponent in 2016.
Yet because of her reckless actions and blind partisanship yesterday, countless rural Democrats will have to go back to their constituents and explain why they voted no.
Because Virginia Jenny told me to, that’s why!
Can you imagine that?
Maybe Virginia Jenny will come along to some of those town halls, huh? Perhaps sit in and take the brunt of voter’s disgust.
Yeah, I doubt it too.
What’s really sad is how terrible Bullock is at making political deals.
He came up with some shit-brained idea to do rent-to-own to get these urban buildings built.
Well, the GOP didn’t buy that bullshit.
And who’s gonna get blamed when your gas prices go up by 4.5 cents in a few months?
The GOP?
Nope, try again.
How about the Democrats, who voted for it?
Here in Missoula Dems lost HD 92 and HD 96 last time, districts that were supposed to be safe.
Well, they weren’t.
Makes we wonder which districts won’t be safe in 2018.
There’ll be far more districts flipping red than flipping blue, mark my words.
Or just read the Dem sites and their fake news and partisan rants. They’ll likely have you thinking Dems will take back the legislature in 2019.
Ha, just let them talk. They’re really, really good at it.
Translating that talk into action, though?
Eh, not so much.
Special Election Talk
I see that Sally Mauk will keep Capitol Talk/Campaign Beat going for another few weeks.
I like that.
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle should keep Chuck Johnson on too.
And Rob Saldin ain’t bad either. He’s a lot better than the guy in Bozeman, Dave Parker.
Both are political scientists, but really…how much do they know?
Saldin has zero books about Montana, while Parker has just one.
I have 7.
I guess what I’m getting at is that we need more voices and opinions on this race.
Remember, Montana has a very small media landscape.
So I’m glad we have more voices.
The main voices will of course be talking tonight as there’s a debate in this race.
I even hear that Mark Wicks is going to be able to participate.
That’s great, but still…neither Quist nor Wicks are going to win this race.
Oh, I’m sorry – did you think that this news of Gianforte’s investments in Russian companies was going to change things?
I’m sorry if you thought that.
Why do you think that?
Maybe it’s because you voted for Hillary last fall.
Those are the only people that care about Russian hacks or investments or anything else having to do with that country.
Really, the only voters that really care about this are the hyper-partisans you see on social media and in the blog comments.
No one else gives a shit.
Hell, most people don’t even know!
Wanna know what else a helluva lot of people don’t know?
Rob Quist.
They don’t know who the hell this guy is.
That’s what all the undecided and all those Democrats voting for Gianforte in that poll this week meant.
They don’t know and they don’t care and they ain’t wearin’ no partisan underwear.
It’s a good bet none of them are making their money from the Party or politics in general.
In fact, I think most of the people that will vote in a few weeks are working stiffs, living in poverty or close to it, and know for damn sure that no politician is going to change their lives.
You know who changes your life? You do.
That’s why so many Dems are supporting Gianforte.
I think a big thing is his continual harping on the fact that Montana has the lowest wages in the country.
Should be a Democratic issue, but it’s not.
Know why?
Bullock.
Talk like that makes Bullock look bad, and in 2016 we could not have that.
So Gianforte took a reliably Democratic issue and made it his own.
Know who else did that a lot?
Trump.
You know how that turned out.
We’re now 100 days into his first term and boy, what a let down, huh?
No wall, no leaving NAFTA, and the same lust for bombing people from afar that Obama and all the other fuck-heads before him had.
Am I forgetting anything that Trump let us down on?
Probably.
I’d still vote for him again, though.
Anyone was gonna be better than Hillary, and when I think that Trump is really turning out badly, I remind myself of that.
Oh, yeah…the Russians.
God, that argument is getting tired, isn’t it?
At this point I don’t really care what happens. I figure Gianforte is getting in and that’s it.
Quist will be blamed for the loss, Keenan will come out clean, and the drumbeat for Amanda in 2018 will begin.
And my God Amanda will need to be stopped.
Oh, if you’re regular nobodies like you and I, then Amanda Curtis running is a great thing.
If you’re part of the Helena urban D establishment, however, then Amanda is the last person you want as a candidate.
Or did you think Amanda was going to stand idly by and let the Dem Party thrust a bunch of staffers on her, at a cost of $20,000 a month to her campaign?
Personally, I don’t she’s that stupid.
Actually, I saw her speak in a committee meeting this session.
I think she may have been the smartest one in the room, based on the questions I heard her ask.
Well, that comes with experience.
I for one would never allow the Montana Democratic Party within a mile of any campaign I was running.
And if I did you know I’d damn well check my wallet after they left.
Money, money, money.
You’ll hear a lot of talk about it tonight if you watch the debate.
Just remember that no one loves the green stuff more than those Helena Dems.
And with that…have a good night.
I like that.
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle should keep Chuck Johnson on too.
And Rob Saldin ain’t bad either. He’s a lot better than the guy in Bozeman, Dave Parker.
Both are political scientists, but really…how much do they know?
Saldin has zero books about Montana, while Parker has just one.
I have 7.
I guess what I’m getting at is that we need more voices and opinions on this race.
Remember, Montana has a very small media landscape.
- You’ve got the copy/pastes on all the Lee papers, then Gannet up in Great Falls and whoever has the paper in Bozeman (which I never read).
- Then there’s MTN News, some blogs, some smaller papers, and social media.
- Besides some radio, that’s it.
So I’m glad we have more voices.
The main voices will of course be talking tonight as there’s a debate in this race.
I even hear that Mark Wicks is going to be able to participate.
That’s great, but still…neither Quist nor Wicks are going to win this race.
Oh, I’m sorry – did you think that this news of Gianforte’s investments in Russian companies was going to change things?
I’m sorry if you thought that.
Why do you think that?
Maybe it’s because you voted for Hillary last fall.
Those are the only people that care about Russian hacks or investments or anything else having to do with that country.
- Students in Missoula don’t care – they have finals in a week.
- Students in Bozeman don’t care – most of their parents are Republican.
- Urban voters don’t care – they’re too busy trying to scrape by.
- Rural voters don’t care – there’s more than enough work to do outside.
Really, the only voters that really care about this are the hyper-partisans you see on social media and in the blog comments.
No one else gives a shit.
Hell, most people don’t even know!
Wanna know what else a helluva lot of people don’t know?
Rob Quist.
They don’t know who the hell this guy is.
That’s what all the undecided and all those Democrats voting for Gianforte in that poll this week meant.
They don’t know and they don’t care and they ain’t wearin’ no partisan underwear.
It’s a good bet none of them are making their money from the Party or politics in general.
In fact, I think most of the people that will vote in a few weeks are working stiffs, living in poverty or close to it, and know for damn sure that no politician is going to change their lives.
You know who changes your life? You do.
That’s why so many Dems are supporting Gianforte.
I think a big thing is his continual harping on the fact that Montana has the lowest wages in the country.
Should be a Democratic issue, but it’s not.
Know why?
Bullock.
Talk like that makes Bullock look bad, and in 2016 we could not have that.
So Gianforte took a reliably Democratic issue and made it his own.
Know who else did that a lot?
Trump.
You know how that turned out.
We’re now 100 days into his first term and boy, what a let down, huh?
No wall, no leaving NAFTA, and the same lust for bombing people from afar that Obama and all the other fuck-heads before him had.
Am I forgetting anything that Trump let us down on?
Probably.
I’d still vote for him again, though.
Anyone was gonna be better than Hillary, and when I think that Trump is really turning out badly, I remind myself of that.
Oh, yeah…the Russians.
God, that argument is getting tired, isn’t it?
At this point I don’t really care what happens. I figure Gianforte is getting in and that’s it.
Quist will be blamed for the loss, Keenan will come out clean, and the drumbeat for Amanda in 2018 will begin.
And my God Amanda will need to be stopped.
Oh, if you’re regular nobodies like you and I, then Amanda Curtis running is a great thing.
If you’re part of the Helena urban D establishment, however, then Amanda is the last person you want as a candidate.
Or did you think Amanda was going to stand idly by and let the Dem Party thrust a bunch of staffers on her, at a cost of $20,000 a month to her campaign?
Personally, I don’t she’s that stupid.
Actually, I saw her speak in a committee meeting this session.
I think she may have been the smartest one in the room, based on the questions I heard her ask.
Well, that comes with experience.
I for one would never allow the Montana Democratic Party within a mile of any campaign I was running.
And if I did you know I’d damn well check my wallet after they left.
Money, money, money.
You’ll hear a lot of talk about it tonight if you watch the debate.
Just remember that no one loves the green stuff more than those Helena Dems.
And with that…have a good night.
Missoula Reader Bonus
In Missoula?
I’ve got a bit extra for you today.
Mainly, it’s the letter I wrote to the Missoulian and which ran yesterday.
It’s called An Apology for Missoula’s Mayor.
I had one person today tell me it was “scathing” while someone yesterday said it was “the truth.”
It’s all true.
Sadly for some, the truth often hurts.
