Hardin
You know…I just don’t know.
I mean…what’s going on?
Not in the literal sense of what’s going on in our world…
But what’s going on for real?
I mean…what’s going on?
Not in the literal sense of what’s going on in our world…
But what’s going on for real?
Well, dissent and the lack of it.
I see that the Missoula Current has disabled their commenting.
Well, dang – I liked putting informative comments on that site.
I have a feeling many in power did not.
I wish those folks the best of luck, as well as Missoula Current writer, Martin Kidston.
Moving on...
I saw that Gianforte was in Missoula.
He’s getting around…quietly.
I like that idea, but from a long-term political perspective it doesn't make sense.
Gianforte has been focusing on central and western Montana. He's going to run again in '18.
He has no shot at governor in 2020 as Fox has that tied up and - unless Schweitzer runs - will likely win.
So Gianforte needs to stay in until 2022 when Montana might get a second district, which would likely be the Eastern District.
That's an easy win for Gianforte, but I feel he'll be pigeonholed into the Western District. That's a major problem for his long-term future, and he can't jump for Tester's seat until 2024.
Political dilemmas.
Ah, and why ‘pigeonholed into the Western District,’ do you say?
Simple – politics.
If Ryan still controls Congress by then, they’ll do everything they can to gerrymander things in their favor.
The only thing to stop that is the 2018 midterms and the 2020 presidential (and maybe it's already over in that department. Thankfully we have one of the best Montana blogs, Logicosity, to inform us of these things).
Many of us know that Dems will not be taking the 2018 midterms like they think they are (they meaning the $175,000 a year congress people and their gaggle of staff, consultants, fundraisers, and other general camp followers that’ve plagued American campaigns since George Washington was wishing he’d never left the warm bosom of Martha and the sweet smell of hemp in the air at Mount Vernon).
Anyways.
God, I wish Bullock would do that.
Former Governor Schwinden would probably say the same thing.
I mean…why not have transparency in government?
“Not a hint of scandal,” was what the Montana press had to say about Schwinden’s two terms…though the Wolf Point-native was a bit wheelin’-and-dealin’ before that.
And yet Bullock gives us no itinerary.
Why is that?
I think it harkens back to the Meg O’Leary, Kentucky Derby days, myself.
He’s developed a distrust of the press, something Mike Dennison has begrudgingly earned back.
I guess I talk about this because the whole gubertanorial/Missoula visit took me totally off-guard.
But then maybe I’m not on the Missoula Dems' mailing list so I would have missed out on whatever high-priced home they were having the get-together in.
Ain’t fundraising season though, is it?
Bullock don’t got nowhere to go until 2020, and by then the prospects are slim.
Yeah, that last one might be in all lower-case, but it’s the most lucrative.
K Street…L Street…M Street…whichever one it is – Bullock’ll make bank.
Hell, he spent years in the District of Criminals when he was working for Steptoe and Johnson.
He was there years before that at Georgetown.
I just don’t trust the guy, myself.
Maybe it’s the too-loud-indoor-voice, maybe it’s the sly, half-faced grin.
It could be his lame-duck status just 1-year into his second term, when we all knew with the yet again insistence-on-bonding that this man could get nothing done.
Most of all for us that follow this shit in the off-season, it’s just the one-upon-another ‘Helena secrets’ that’ve added up to too much.
This is Montana.
We have standards.
One of which is that we don’t spread gossip and we don’t talk behind backs.
But we talk to each other, perhaps in hushed voices over fence posts with acres of fields between.
And we always look over our shoulders before doing so.
Because we don’t like bad news, and we like spreading it less.
But we do.
It’s a big state, with long roads and not many people on ‘em. When we see someone we wave; sometimes we stop.
And that gets us to talking.
It’s hard to keep a secret or a rumor or a piece of the wind at bay.
So we don’t.
We tell.
We look into the face and the eyes and the body for a reaction…and we see it.
Our suspicions were confirmed, not only that we were right in sharing…but that we were right in our general assessment:
Things just aren’t right.
And at that point we get back into our truck (in most cases) and head on back down the road.
We feel better about ourselves, that we’re not alone.
It’s a big state, with long roads and not many people on ‘em.
But sometimes you’ll see that pair of lights crop up in the distance.
And then you know you’re not alone.
God, I wish Bullock would do that.
Former Governor Schwinden would probably say the same thing.
I mean…why not have transparency in government?
“Not a hint of scandal,” was what the Montana press had to say about Schwinden’s two terms…though the Wolf Point-native was a bit wheelin’-and-dealin’ before that.
And yet Bullock gives us no itinerary.
Why is that?
I think it harkens back to the Meg O’Leary, Kentucky Derby days, myself.
He’s developed a distrust of the press, something Mike Dennison has begrudgingly earned back.
I guess I talk about this because the whole gubertanorial/Missoula visit took me totally off-guard.
But then maybe I’m not on the Missoula Dems' mailing list so I would have missed out on whatever high-priced home they were having the get-together in.
Ain’t fundraising season though, is it?
Bullock don’t got nowhere to go until 2020, and by then the prospects are slim.
- Challenge Daines?
- Challenge Trump?
- Challenge Gianforte?
- Go for the Montana Supreme Court?
- A consulting bid?
Yeah, that last one might be in all lower-case, but it’s the most lucrative.
K Street…L Street…M Street…whichever one it is – Bullock’ll make bank.
Hell, he spent years in the District of Criminals when he was working for Steptoe and Johnson.
He was there years before that at Georgetown.
I just don’t trust the guy, myself.
Maybe it’s the too-loud-indoor-voice, maybe it’s the sly, half-faced grin.
It could be his lame-duck status just 1-year into his second term, when we all knew with the yet again insistence-on-bonding that this man could get nothing done.
Most of all for us that follow this shit in the off-season, it’s just the one-upon-another ‘Helena secrets’ that’ve added up to too much.
This is Montana.
We have standards.
One of which is that we don’t spread gossip and we don’t talk behind backs.
But we talk to each other, perhaps in hushed voices over fence posts with acres of fields between.
And we always look over our shoulders before doing so.
Because we don’t like bad news, and we like spreading it less.
But we do.
It’s a big state, with long roads and not many people on ‘em. When we see someone we wave; sometimes we stop.
And that gets us to talking.
It’s hard to keep a secret or a rumor or a piece of the wind at bay.
So we don’t.
We tell.
We look into the face and the eyes and the body for a reaction…and we see it.
Our suspicions were confirmed, not only that we were right in sharing…but that we were right in our general assessment:
Things just aren’t right.
And at that point we get back into our truck (in most cases) and head on back down the road.
We feel better about ourselves, that we’re not alone.
It’s a big state, with long roads and not many people on ‘em.
But sometimes you’ll see that pair of lights crop up in the distance.
And then you know you’re not alone.
Well, Tim Fox for governor in 2020 and Amanda Curtis’s star fading with a 2018 loss and another in 2020, what can you do?
Do you think she might challenge Tester in ’18, or is that just too radical?
Who’d beat her in the 2020 gubernatorial primary? (hint: let’s not discount John Morrison making a run, perhaps a spoiler at that, but making a showing nonetheless).
Yeah, the Dems have had a problem with their bench for years.
Let’s just not talk about it, alright?
Let’s get real.
And what is for real?
The world, or literally…I mean…you know…
They’re saying one thing…and doing another.
