Senator Jon Tester
If I had to describe the 2015 Montana Democratic Convention that was held in Bozeman today, I’d do so with one word: mystery.
The convention was a mystery to most people, and the lack of media coverage, build up to the event, and overall enthusiasm levels of people in Montana attests to this.
My, I don’t know how we’re going to make all that fancy talk heard today about turnout and hard work and excitement come true. I don’t know at all. Let’s explore.
The convention was a mystery to most people, and the lack of media coverage, build up to the event, and overall enthusiasm levels of people in Montana attests to this.
- Boring is another word that comes to mind, but I wasn’t there today so I can’t say that for sure.
- Quiet is certainly a word that could be used, for nothing much happened.
- Dull might be an apt description, for as usual with Montana Democrats as of late, there was nothing to get excited about.
My, I don’t know how we’re going to make all that fancy talk heard today about turnout and hard work and excitement come true. I don’t know at all. Let’s explore.
The 2015 Montana Democratic Convention was held at the Holiday Inn on Baxter Lane in Bozeman. The place has a nice convention room, and that’s where most of the events took place.
The schedule of events was released to select media personnel, and here’s what that looks like:
Kristen Inbody had an 800-word article up on the Great Falls Tribune called Democrats focus 2016 election on Bullock. In it she recaps what happened today, and I think she’ll be the only newspaper reporter to do so. Lee Enterprises has dropped the ball since canning Dennison and Johnson, and it shows. I hope it shows in their profits too, but alas, that’ll just cost more reporters their jobs – CEOs never take one for the team.
Inbody starts out by quoting Bullock’s “thin blue line,” which is the tiny bit of security which protects Montana from “Republican-dominated states.” Here’s how Inbody put it:
Inbody starts out by quoting Bullock’s “thin blue line,” which is the tiny bit of security which protects Montana from “Republican-dominated states.” Here’s how Inbody put it:
In Montana, allies of the Koch brothers, Midwestern billionaires, “tried to force us off the same cliff” as Kansas, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Louisiana with their “snake oil prosperity” of trickle-down economics and, in Kansas’s case, “massive tax cuts to the wealthy, and they couldn’t afford to keep their schools open,” Bullock told delegates.
Bullock loves bringing up these particular states - as he should, they're shit - and he did so during his January 28 state of the state address. That was the beginning of the 2015 Legislature, which wasn’t that bad for Democrats. It could have been worse, according to Bullock. “Elections matter for what we can do and to stop bad things from being done,” he said in his 1 PM speech.
A lot of those bad things come about, and reach the governor’s desk, because Montana Democrats are unable to take the legislature.
“We need to elect more folks to the Legislature so we can focus less on defense,” Bullock said, and mentioned that Democrats have “450 days” to work hard to get him reelected, to get other Democrats in key state offices, and to get that legislature. That’s the trifecta of 2016 goals, and we’ll discuss them more below.
At one point Bullock mentioned how he’s “glad our party is more interested in moving forward” than the Montana Republican Party, which only seems to be interested in “purging” its ranks.
That’s a good point, because even when Democrats start arguing, you don’t often see people say that they’re not true Democrats or should be kicked out of the party…right?
“We’re here for the common goal of electing more Democrats,” Bullock says, and maybe it’d be a good idea to define what a Montana Democrat is. Honestly, I’m not sure anymore.
Reelected Party Chair Jim Larson said that “we will continue to be a state that stands up for working families.” I think that’s great, but I sometimes wonder if Montana Democrats are standing up for working families. It often doesn’t seem like it, or at least like they’re doing it as much as they should, or could.
I’m not real thrilled with Jim Larson myself. I have no idea who that is or what he’s done or how he’s gotten that position. I’ll also admit that I got him mixed up with Jim Parker a week ago when I left a comment on a Missoulian article about the County Commission selection here. I made a mistake there, and I’m sorry. That said, I’m not sure what Larson has done for me.
Maybe it’s not all about me, and that’s fine. Try telling that to voters next fall, however.
Everything is about you, as it is always in this country. You’re the only one that matters, what you want. Politicians work for you. Sure, they work for your neighbor too, but when you’re complaining about politics, it’s often because your needs aren’t being met, not the other guy’s. So if anyone has a problem when someone asks what you’ve done for me lately, you have to expect that you’ll lose in politics.
A lot of those bad things come about, and reach the governor’s desk, because Montana Democrats are unable to take the legislature.
“We need to elect more folks to the Legislature so we can focus less on defense,” Bullock said, and mentioned that Democrats have “450 days” to work hard to get him reelected, to get other Democrats in key state offices, and to get that legislature. That’s the trifecta of 2016 goals, and we’ll discuss them more below.
At one point Bullock mentioned how he’s “glad our party is more interested in moving forward” than the Montana Republican Party, which only seems to be interested in “purging” its ranks.
That’s a good point, because even when Democrats start arguing, you don’t often see people say that they’re not true Democrats or should be kicked out of the party…right?
“We’re here for the common goal of electing more Democrats,” Bullock says, and maybe it’d be a good idea to define what a Montana Democrat is. Honestly, I’m not sure anymore.
Reelected Party Chair Jim Larson said that “we will continue to be a state that stands up for working families.” I think that’s great, but I sometimes wonder if Montana Democrats are standing up for working families. It often doesn’t seem like it, or at least like they’re doing it as much as they should, or could.
I’m not real thrilled with Jim Larson myself. I have no idea who that is or what he’s done or how he’s gotten that position. I’ll also admit that I got him mixed up with Jim Parker a week ago when I left a comment on a Missoulian article about the County Commission selection here. I made a mistake there, and I’m sorry. That said, I’m not sure what Larson has done for me.
Maybe it’s not all about me, and that’s fine. Try telling that to voters next fall, however.
Everything is about you, as it is always in this country. You’re the only one that matters, what you want. Politicians work for you. Sure, they work for your neighbor too, but when you’re complaining about politics, it’s often because your needs aren’t being met, not the other guy’s. So if anyone has a problem when someone asks what you’ve done for me lately, you have to expect that you’ll lose in politics.
From the Convention it’s clear that there are three main priorities for Montana Democrats in 2016, and they go in this order:
None of those are mutually exclusive, and none need to happen for any of the others to happen. It’d be nice if all three happened, but the only one that really matters is #1 – Bullock. If he’s not reelected, nothing else matters.
Wow, what a terrible message! Well, maybe it’s a good strategy for Democrats, but it’s a bad strategy for Montana, and it might be bordering on lies. After all, if we ditched the governor’s race and focused 110% on the legislature, it wouldn’t matter who the governor was – we could ram things through the legislature.
I personally feel that statewide offices other than governor are the least important. I’m not sure what any of those people have done for me and my family, and this is why voting falls off for those offices. People don’t know nor do they care. If Democrats are serious about taking those positions, they need to do something. I doubt they will, however.
One of the main reasons I think Jim Larson is a terrible choice for party chair is comments like this: “we’re going to reach every person, from Westby to Libby, and we will win!”
Wow, how clueless can you get? This guy’s been in Montana for awhile, he should know better. We don’t even have any precinct presence in eastern Montana, along the Hi-Line, or in other rural areas! Hell, James Conner over at Flathead Memo said just today that “Nancy Keenan lobbied for and got the executive board she wanted,” and “with only two members from rural areas.”
So…I don’t think we’ll be reaching people all over the state, especially those rural areas. We should be, but I don’t think we have the will to do that. After all, it’s clear that there’s no threat to Larson’s or Keenan’s power positions – what incentive is there for them to work their asses off to make sure this election goes as they want, and for all three of those main points to be met?
There is none, there is absolutely no consequence for terrible turnout or losing the legislature…again. One of the main problems is that Democrats don’t have secret ballots when electing these fools, so there’s a huge fear of recrimination. How this works is that those top brass officials will make sure those that voted against them are stripped of leadership positions in the legislature, cut off from support in any way that they can be when it comes to their reelection, and generally run out of the party.
Uh…so much for not purging members, huh? Don’t buy that BS – Democrats enjoy the slow purge, the kind that has no declaration, just a lot of sad and sorry looks your way when you show up, until one day, maybe, you finally get the idea that you’re not wanted. In that regard, I feel the Montana Democratic Party has been purging itself for years.
- Getting Bullock Reelected;
- Getting the “state’s next highest posts” filled;
- Getting Democrats into the legislature.
None of those are mutually exclusive, and none need to happen for any of the others to happen. It’d be nice if all three happened, but the only one that really matters is #1 – Bullock. If he’s not reelected, nothing else matters.
Wow, what a terrible message! Well, maybe it’s a good strategy for Democrats, but it’s a bad strategy for Montana, and it might be bordering on lies. After all, if we ditched the governor’s race and focused 110% on the legislature, it wouldn’t matter who the governor was – we could ram things through the legislature.
I personally feel that statewide offices other than governor are the least important. I’m not sure what any of those people have done for me and my family, and this is why voting falls off for those offices. People don’t know nor do they care. If Democrats are serious about taking those positions, they need to do something. I doubt they will, however.
One of the main reasons I think Jim Larson is a terrible choice for party chair is comments like this: “we’re going to reach every person, from Westby to Libby, and we will win!”
Wow, how clueless can you get? This guy’s been in Montana for awhile, he should know better. We don’t even have any precinct presence in eastern Montana, along the Hi-Line, or in other rural areas! Hell, James Conner over at Flathead Memo said just today that “Nancy Keenan lobbied for and got the executive board she wanted,” and “with only two members from rural areas.”
So…I don’t think we’ll be reaching people all over the state, especially those rural areas. We should be, but I don’t think we have the will to do that. After all, it’s clear that there’s no threat to Larson’s or Keenan’s power positions – what incentive is there for them to work their asses off to make sure this election goes as they want, and for all three of those main points to be met?
There is none, there is absolutely no consequence for terrible turnout or losing the legislature…again. One of the main problems is that Democrats don’t have secret ballots when electing these fools, so there’s a huge fear of recrimination. How this works is that those top brass officials will make sure those that voted against them are stripped of leadership positions in the legislature, cut off from support in any way that they can be when it comes to their reelection, and generally run out of the party.
Uh…so much for not purging members, huh? Don’t buy that BS – Democrats enjoy the slow purge, the kind that has no declaration, just a lot of sad and sorry looks your way when you show up, until one day, maybe, you finally get the idea that you’re not wanted. In that regard, I feel the Montana Democratic Party has been purging itself for years.
I have a lot of beef with the Montana Democratic Party.
I think that’s about it, but don’t get me started on Missoula.
These are issues that need to be addressed if Montana Democrats are serious about convincing stay-at-home voters and swing voters to turnout, and vote for them. I’m not the only one with these concerns. Few voice them, but one that put them well was DGF (many are afraid to use their real names);
- My beef with Larson is that he’s not doing his job. The Party’s showing across the state his horrendous, and we’re not even doing that good in urban areas anymore. Off-year elections are tragedies.
- My beef with Keenan is that she’s 110% about abortion, all the time, and seemingly nothing else. I’m not sure there is another issue she’s passionate about, to be completely honest.
- My beef with Bullock is his love affair with bankers and getting them their interest debt. This hurts hardworking Montanans.
- My beef with Lindeen is her utter caving-in to insurance companies without even a hint of a fight.
I think that’s about it, but don’t get me started on Missoula.
These are issues that need to be addressed if Montana Democrats are serious about convincing stay-at-home voters and swing voters to turnout, and vote for them. I’m not the only one with these concerns. Few voice them, but one that put them well was DGF (many are afraid to use their real names);
Well, maybe that's just a GOPer causing trouble, huh? Nothing like riding the paranoid train.
I’ll go head and throw this MT Cowgirl comment up too:
I’ll go head and throw this MT Cowgirl comment up too:
I think what we’re getting at here is that people want more dialogue, they want more discussion, hell, they want more arguments!
PPL is right – it is a good discussion on MT Cowgirl and you should check it out. Even Norma Duffy has a good comment, and usually she drives me up the wall. At least she’s got passion, though, and that’s something that the Party as a whole is sorely lacking in.
Mary Sexton is a woman with her head on straight. “The party does need to do more to build the party in rural areas,” Inbody quotes her as saying today. I can see why we elected her Democratic Party Treasurer.
I will say that I’m impressed with Tester pissing all over Zinke. “It’s all about money and money in his coffers,” Tester said of the corporate crony that somehow hoodwinked himself into office last year. “If we get a good candidate to run, this guy can be beat,” Tester concluded.
Inbody mentions how “Tester received a standing ovation for his support of the Iran deal.”
That’s nice, and I suppose him supporting the deal is getting at all the things I said in my Iran posts…sort of. I mean, he doesn’t want to send more troops over there and he doesn’t…wait a minute…what is this?
“The only people who say this isn’t the right thing to do are some in Israel, the military industrial complex and the oil industry,” he said of those opposing the Iran deal. Well, I’m not fond of all three of those groups, so this sounded pretty good to me.
Tester was the only one that really sounded impressive today, and like Democrats need to sound in 2016. He must still be in DSCC mode, and if so, that’s a good sign. “We can continue to bury our heads in the sand,” he said about climate change, “or we can start looking for ways to make this country a leader in energy production.”
I like hearing this, because we don’t need to be hooked on that Saudi oil when we have plenty of oil here, and plenty of renewables. Montana is a leading renewable state.
PPL is right – it is a good discussion on MT Cowgirl and you should check it out. Even Norma Duffy has a good comment, and usually she drives me up the wall. At least she’s got passion, though, and that’s something that the Party as a whole is sorely lacking in.
Mary Sexton is a woman with her head on straight. “The party does need to do more to build the party in rural areas,” Inbody quotes her as saying today. I can see why we elected her Democratic Party Treasurer.
I will say that I’m impressed with Tester pissing all over Zinke. “It’s all about money and money in his coffers,” Tester said of the corporate crony that somehow hoodwinked himself into office last year. “If we get a good candidate to run, this guy can be beat,” Tester concluded.
Inbody mentions how “Tester received a standing ovation for his support of the Iran deal.”
That’s nice, and I suppose him supporting the deal is getting at all the things I said in my Iran posts…sort of. I mean, he doesn’t want to send more troops over there and he doesn’t…wait a minute…what is this?
“The only people who say this isn’t the right thing to do are some in Israel, the military industrial complex and the oil industry,” he said of those opposing the Iran deal. Well, I’m not fond of all three of those groups, so this sounded pretty good to me.
Tester was the only one that really sounded impressive today, and like Democrats need to sound in 2016. He must still be in DSCC mode, and if so, that’s a good sign. “We can continue to bury our heads in the sand,” he said about climate change, “or we can start looking for ways to make this country a leader in energy production.”
I like hearing this, because we don’t need to be hooked on that Saudi oil when we have plenty of oil here, and plenty of renewables. Montana is a leading renewable state.
Conclusion
I want to be excited about voting for Democrats in 2016, but I’m not.
I don’t feel there’s anything to get excited about. This seems like an old boy’s club, one that has an exclusive membership and works for their own goals. I’m not sure my goals align with theirs.
It’s frustrating being a Democrat in Montana right now, and in America. It doesn’t seem like your Party is working for you or even cares about you. Issues that you think should be pushed aren’t, and issues that you don’t care much about are being talked about all the time. What are you to do?
The easy thing is to do nothing, to not even vote. That leaves you feeling bad, however, and it let’s the corporate-controlled GOP win. Is that really so bad when the Democrats are corporate-controlled as well? I dunno, it’s hard to say.
I want to get in line and do what’s right for Montana Democrats after this convention today, and many others feel the same. That’s unfortunate, as the leadership of the Party is expecting us to fall in place like that, expecting our sense of duty and what's right to carry us through for them. I say for them, because again, not much benefits you. It could, but that would take a little from the pie that those at the top get. They don’t like that.
The current Montana Democratic Party leadership preys upon your sense of duty and your loyalty. They know you want to identify as a Democrat, and they’ll go ahead and let you keep doing that, even though the Montana Democratic Party isn’t what it once was. When my grandpa was in the legislature, he never would have voted for that much debt to pay for infrastructure. Most traditional Democrats wouldn’t.
We don’t have traditional Montana Democrats running the show anymore, however. What we have are corporate-controlled, Back East directed Democrats. They might look and sound like Democrats at times, but the policies they push don’t help you. You know this, and there are many examples to prove this. Most have been mentioned on blogs and in newspapers already, and the GOP and their PACs will trot them all out again real soon, when the election season heats up.
That’s why unity is so important for Montana Democrats, for without it, they lose. Well, what are you going to give me for my unity? What are Democrats going to do for you for your vote? I’m not talking about bankers or corporations or those Back East. What are they going to do for you? I don’t think that question was answered today, because I don’t think it was ever asked.
If I had to describe the 2015 Montana Democratic Convention that was held in Bozeman today, I’d do so with one word: mystery. It’s a mystery to me why the Party isn’t working for me. It’s a mystery how they think they’ll win in that environment, when so many Democrats in Montana are questioning whether they even want to vote Democratic this year.
Yes, the Montana Democratic Party has its work cut out for it, that’s for sure, and it needs to start with regaining the trust of all those that have turned away from what it’s become.
I don’t feel there’s anything to get excited about. This seems like an old boy’s club, one that has an exclusive membership and works for their own goals. I’m not sure my goals align with theirs.
It’s frustrating being a Democrat in Montana right now, and in America. It doesn’t seem like your Party is working for you or even cares about you. Issues that you think should be pushed aren’t, and issues that you don’t care much about are being talked about all the time. What are you to do?
The easy thing is to do nothing, to not even vote. That leaves you feeling bad, however, and it let’s the corporate-controlled GOP win. Is that really so bad when the Democrats are corporate-controlled as well? I dunno, it’s hard to say.
I want to get in line and do what’s right for Montana Democrats after this convention today, and many others feel the same. That’s unfortunate, as the leadership of the Party is expecting us to fall in place like that, expecting our sense of duty and what's right to carry us through for them. I say for them, because again, not much benefits you. It could, but that would take a little from the pie that those at the top get. They don’t like that.
The current Montana Democratic Party leadership preys upon your sense of duty and your loyalty. They know you want to identify as a Democrat, and they’ll go ahead and let you keep doing that, even though the Montana Democratic Party isn’t what it once was. When my grandpa was in the legislature, he never would have voted for that much debt to pay for infrastructure. Most traditional Democrats wouldn’t.
We don’t have traditional Montana Democrats running the show anymore, however. What we have are corporate-controlled, Back East directed Democrats. They might look and sound like Democrats at times, but the policies they push don’t help you. You know this, and there are many examples to prove this. Most have been mentioned on blogs and in newspapers already, and the GOP and their PACs will trot them all out again real soon, when the election season heats up.
That’s why unity is so important for Montana Democrats, for without it, they lose. Well, what are you going to give me for my unity? What are Democrats going to do for you for your vote? I’m not talking about bankers or corporations or those Back East. What are they going to do for you? I don’t think that question was answered today, because I don’t think it was ever asked.
If I had to describe the 2015 Montana Democratic Convention that was held in Bozeman today, I’d do so with one word: mystery. It’s a mystery to me why the Party isn’t working for me. It’s a mystery how they think they’ll win in that environment, when so many Democrats in Montana are questioning whether they even want to vote Democratic this year.
Yes, the Montana Democratic Party has its work cut out for it, that’s for sure, and it needs to start with regaining the trust of all those that have turned away from what it’s become.
