What have Montana Democrats been doing since their historic losses two weeks ago?
Remember, a political party hasn’t suffered so badly in this state since 1936.
Well, fuck...now I got myself started.
For the Republicans in 1936, it looked as though Herbert Hoover might be the nominee again, and he wanted it badly. In the end it went to the “Kansas Coolidge,” Alfred M. Langdon. His appeal lay in that he’d balanced his state’s budget while the feds were engaged in out of control spending.
In June 1932 the national debt had been $19.4 billion but by June 1936 it was $33.7 billion. Few at the time were concerned about that, however, for the lack of work and lack of food were seen as the real problems.
Besides, 1936 hadn’t been a good year for the New Deal programs. That year the Supreme Court ruled the AAA unconstitutional. That meant the government had to give back $200 million in taxes to the producers it’d charged in order to pay the farmers whose crops and commodities were destroyed.
This was a huge benefit to the businesses, most of whom had “undoubtedly already passed on to their customers” those costs in the form of higher prices.
FDR took the race easily on November 3, with 27.7 million votes to Landon’s 16.6 million, or 60% to 36%. The Union Party had started up in 1936 with those disgruntled with the slow progress of the New Deal, but they didn’t fare that well. The Union Party’s William Lemke picked up nearly 900,000 votes, or just under 2% of the vote. The rest was split between the Socialists, Communists, Prohibitionists, and Socialist Labor Parties. None managed even half a percent.
In Montana FDR took 69% of the vote to Landon’s 28%, while the Union Party had the next best showing at just over 2%. The Democrats also captured both houses of Congress again in 1936, with “top-heavy majorities” of 76 to 16 in the Senate and 330 to 90 in the House.
Several of those new members were coming from Montana.
One was firebrand Jerry O’Connell. I’ve written about him on this site extensively in the past. In the end, he was driven out of state politics and the state entirely - he moved to Washington, and actually got elected back to the U.S. House from that state.
Want to know more? Buy the book.
Quick aside - those books are selling quite well. I think it’s all the out-of-staters moving here. We’re lucky that a few want to educate themselves about our past.
But I didn’t start writing this post to tell you about Montana 110 years ago.
I came to inform you what the Montana Democrats are doing on social media.
Take a look.
One of my favorite Twitter Montana commentators is former legislator Tom Winter, who got too big for his britches and decided the legislature was just too small for him, so ran for U.S. House, got wasted in the primary, and now hangs around Twitter all day.
Blocked someone due to general annoyance (rather than them being threatening/bigoted/awful/whathaveyou) and I’m drunk on the power of it all.
— Tom Winter (@WinterForMT) November 18, 2020
Transplanted himself here from...somewhere. It’s awfully hard keeping track of all the out-of-staters that run for office here. Most know they need to hide their birthplace, and they do an amazing job of this.
Why?
Because all of us that have had parents and grandparents live here know what it’s like, know what’s happened, and have a pretty good idea of what’s coming.
Transplants do not. They know this, and they try to hide their transplant status from us.
Here’s one of his most recent tweets, with 331 likes.
For Democrats, such a ‘huge’ amount of likes is a sign that they’re popular, that they can win, and that they know what’s best for you.
Here’s a tweet from the IR.
After elected to Speaker of the House, Rep. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale, gets a standing ovation from the @MTGOP house caucus.#mtleg #mtpol #mtnews pic.twitter.com/3pJ7XgrBDO
— Thom Bridge (@thom_g_bridge) November 18, 2020
Thom Bridge threatened to sue me a few years ago for using one of his photos without permission.
Dems in Montana are currently taking to Twitter to ‘shame’ the GOP legislators that are in the capital for not wearing masks and not socially-distancing.
Our constituents are dying every day, Flathead and Gallatin Counties have some of the worst outbreaks in the nation, and our Republican colleagues cannot even be bothered to wear masks in the people’s house. #mtpol https://t.co/LNQw202xSC
— Tom Winter (@WinterForMT) November 18, 2020
One of the biggest Dems on Twitter in Montana is named Billy #maskupMT (Billy McWilliams).
What does he do for a living that allows him to play on Twitter all day?
He owns a sex shop in Bozeman.
Amazingly, this man was actually a past chairman of the Gallatin County Democrats.
And we wonder why they lost so badly.
The wisdom of the Montana Senate. #mtpol #mtleg #mtvoices https://t.co/rf7AnoujRm
— Billy #maskupmt (@BillyMcWillia12) November 18, 2020
Josh Manning ran for a legislative seat in Helena a few years ago and lost spectacularly. Now he lives out-of-state. Gave up.
His step-mom used to work for the Missoulian, where she met his dad, and then worked for Bullock for some time. Now she’s just another has-been, out of Montana politics until another Dem will come along to hire her.
We all know that won’t happen.
It’s not just because no Dem will hold the governor’s office for 8 years. It’s that these people are idiots, with idiotic policy ideas that did little to benefit most people that live here.
They sure made shit-ton of taxpayer money though, didn’t they?
Alexa: why does Montana have such a high COVID rate right now? And, most likely, a couple weeks from now. Y’all are nuts. #mtpol #mtleg https://t.co/WfdDMOPfNK
— (((Josh Manning))) (@OlympiaChewbaca) November 18, 2020
Here’s one of the writers at MT Post and her tweet.
“Socialism for ME but not for thee.” @MTGOP #mtpol https://t.co/YcRwtJ0Ozj pic.twitter.com/6aYt3jMrXZ
— PlainsFeminist (@PlainsFeminist) November 18, 2020
Remember back in the 90s when a lot of people thought Warren Beatty might run for office?
I think Warren is like a lot of Dems - entitled, self-important, and feeling that they know what’s best for you.
Never did run though, did he? Why give up that Hollywood mansion next to Nicholson and that dope-smoking life to try and help someone else.
Of course, we all know that Democrats’ idea of helping someone else is helping themselves to your pocketbook first.
How else can they maintain?
Finally, let’s share a tweet from Don over at MT Post in Helena.
I'm confused. People who elected cosplay cowboys from New Jersey and Los Angeles as Governor and Senator are dunking on @BigSkyABC because the characters don't look like Montanans?
— The Montana Post (@themontanapost) November 17, 2020
Looks like ABC did its costume research to me. #mtpol pic.twitter.com/VwtzwRitIn
Oh, Don.
It’s interesting that he’s been blogging for 15 years, but has never once gone up to the actual capitol building to take photos of legislators, or even talk to them. Hell, I live 114 miles away and have done so.
Here’s a look at the number of posts that Don put up since October:
- Daines 13
- Gianforte 11
- Silly Cartoons 9
- Rosendale 5
- Downing 3
- Dem Ra-Ra 3
- Jacobsen 2
- Dem GOTV 2
- PSC 2
- Graybill 1
- Cooney 1
- Trump 1
- Schools 1
- Newspapers 1
- Energy 1
- Give MT Post Money 1
- Covid 1
That comes out to 58 posts over the course of about a month. 34 of those posts were dedicated to candidates they admit they despise, or 58% of their output.
These people spend most of their time fixated on people they hate. And Democrats in Montana look to them for direction.
Is it any wonder their losing?
Some days they had two anti-Daines posts up on the same day. Lot of good that did.
Just 2% of your posts were dedicated to Democratic candidates running for office.
If the people that vote Dem don’t believe in the candidates running for Dems enough to write about them, why should Montana voters, or even voters that typically vote Democrat?
The Montana GOP is incredibly lucky right now. I hope they enjoy it. One day the Montana Dems will get real leaders again, and that’ll all change.
Could be years, could be decades...could be four years from now.
We just don’t know.
