Sunday, October 05, 2014

Oh The Irony

A poll released late last week by Gravis Marketing ignited a spark of hope in the hearts of the dedicated, albeit unrealistic, supporters of the hapless campaign of anarchist Amanda Curtis. 

 The poll conducted September 29 – 30 showed the struggling campaign to be reaching the high-water mark achieved by John Walsh before the disastrous plagiarism scandal that tanked his campaign just over a month ago at 41% 

Happy, happy, joy, joy!!!  The needle doth move!!!!  Celebrate Good Times, Come On!!!!  The race tightens.  Only 13 points down.  That’s 7 points in 45 days.  Oh, wow.  If that momentum keeps up, there’s a chance!!! 

Yeah - if the election could be put off until – uh – say, February.

But wait!  Gravis Marketing.  Isn’t that the polling firm that those two oracles of liberal thought, the Daily Kos and Slate Magazine, trashed as a fraud, and snarkily noted, [S]o far in 2014, Gravis Marketing is in the lead for the prestigious Strategic Vision Award for Botched Polling”?  Maybe the spread isn’t so wide. 

Read on, Grasshopper.

Gravis missed two major primaries this year by at least 25 points each!  Oh, boy!!!!!  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  Of course, what they missed was not the winner – just the margin of victory.  Instead of squeaking out a 43 – 28 victory over Steve Stockman in the Texas primary, John Cornyn trounced him 59 – 19.  And Mitch McConnell?  Gravis called it 48 – 34 for McConnell over Bevin.  Whoops – missed again.  It was McConnell 60 – 35.  Given those errors, Steve Daines could well be at 65%.

But there was another much more credible CBS/New York Times Battleground Tracker poll conducted during the same time period.  The Curtis Kids won’t like it though:  Daines - 55%, Curtis – 35%. 

Right where she started.  All that hard work.  All those miles. Dealing with the annoying tracker and the reporters and the rubber chicken and cold spaghetti, and the late nights and early mornings, and the criticism, and infighting and fundraising, all the other crap that a candidate has to deal with day in and day out – hasn’t made even a little difference.  The more she gets out there, the more people look and don’t buy.   

Hold on – maybe she could just go hide in a closet and keep quiet for the next 30 days.  Being an unknown worked better for her. 

Oh, yeah.  Too late.  She’s already out there.  Way out there.



Guest Post Mt City Girl

Friday, September 05, 2014

DOUBLING DOWN ON DUMB

Original ideas seem to be beyond the capability of the Democrats first-string candidates for Congress this year. 

First, Harry Reid’s hand-picked senate candidate, John Walsh, imploded when it was discovered that he had plagiarized his master’s thesis from the War College in 2007.  The New Your Times’ explosive piece, that came to light a scant few weeks after the primary election, eventually resulted in the beaten and bloody sure-thing incumbent senator tucking his tail between his legs and riding into the sunset.  That left the Montana Democrat Party frantically scrambling for a replacement candidate from an array of has-beens, losers, and untested wannabees. 

Meanwhile, back in the race for Montana’s only House seat, the democrats’ phantom candidate, John Lewis (“Lewis who?”), was desperately trying to get a little traction and attention from the press and the voters.  After noticing all the coverage that Walsh got in July and August while he was sucking hind tit, Lewis apparently took away a lesson that maybe wasn’t the smartest thing he could have come up with. 

Last week, in a big event that almost nobody noticed, John rolled out his fantastic, new, exciting, ta-da, plan to “clean up congress.”  Part and parcel of this brilliant idea is the proposal that members of Congress shouldn’t be paid until they pass a budget.  Wow.  Just wow. 

Earth to John.  If you’re going to plagiarize key elements of your campaign platform the last place you should “borrow” from is the current Republican congressman.  Steve Daines introduced his first bill, the Balanced Budget Accountability Act in February of 2013, which called for a pay cut if Congress didn’t pass a balanced budget, and he co-sponsored the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013, which – you guessed it - required both chambers of Congress to pass a budget by April 15, 2013 or the salaries of Members of that chamber would be withheld.  By the way, the bill passed both houses and was signed into law by the president.

So let me help you out, John:

Plagiarize  [pley-juh-rahyz, -jee-uh-rahyz]   

verb

:  to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own:  use (another's production) without permission or crediting the source 

We know it can get you a lot of press coverage, John, but you should have paid better attention:  Plagiarism can be a real bummer for a campaign.  
 
Guest Post from MT City Girl

Monday, September 01, 2014

NEW BOX – SAME OLD SOAP

“New!!!”  “Improved!!!!”  “Cleans Better – Gets Clothes Whiter!!!!”  “Eliminates Fine Lines and Wrinkles!!!”  How many times have you fallen for the hype – only to find out that the whites aren’t whiter, the colors aren’t brighter and those damn wrinkles are still staring back at you in the morning?  Anybody over the age of twelve knows that the only thing that changed was the package – it’s the same old product.  But we fall for the gimmick anyway, time and time again.  We want the magic whiteners and wrinkle removers so badly that we let our hope triumph over our head.

We do the same with our political candidates too.  We keep believing the hoopla.  In 2008, Americans bought into the promise of hope and change with a vengeance!  We just knew that the new guy was going to make everything better and brighter – the economy, the Middle East, racial tensions, immigration, cronyism – all those icky things that we hated about our government were going to be history!  We fell for it and bought the bright new box of soap.  And then, because some of us still couldn’t believe that the new stuff wasn’t any better than the old stuff, we bought another box in 2012.

Montana democrats are trying to sell us a new box of soap again this year – a brash, young, progressive named Amanda Curtis.  But once you claw off the fancy wrapper, she’s nothing more than the same old big government, pro-abortion, anti-gun, tax and spend liberal with a smug, obnoxious attitude!

The party establishment knows they’re peddling a pathetic product, but they didn’t have an alternative – the old and reliable wasn’t exactly flying off the shelves anymore, and the sorta new, slightly improved version they got behind last year was an unmitigated disaster.  So they did what any desperate organization would do:  Panicked and screwed themselves worse.

She claims to be new and improved, but she does the same things the old version did.  Right out of the box she began attacking her opponent’s age, gender, and accomplishments because she can't sell her own message.  It’s an interesting marketing strategy – keep talking about the other guy’s box in hopes that the consumers won’t notice that your product sucks.

So her product is poor and her marketing approach is questionable, but you have to hand it to her for her sales scheme:  Amanda’s brandishing her leftist positions to a core group of passionate supporters in the hopes that they’ll recruit a cult of kids to get out there and sell the soap for her.  She calls it a grassroots approach, and she’s hired a totally inexperienced campaign manager whose background as a community organizer and tree-hugging, job-killing environmental obstructionist should have this campaign ready for prime time in a couple of months.  It’s lining up to be her personal political “Am-Way©” campaign – predicated on the theory that with a sucker born every minute, there are a lot of suckers out there – if she can just get to enough of them in the next 70 days to either dazzle them with the fancy package or baffle them with the bullsh*t. 

An Am-Way© campaign is particularly handy when the seller can’t use traditional media marketing – exactly the situation Amanda Curtis is in.  She hasn’t got the money or the time to create much of a paid media blitz and there’s precious little of that commodity available to her anyway - even if she does come up with the money.  But with her anarchist teacher buddies in the MEA and the aforementioned community organizer out there culling the herd, she might have access to a bunch of high school students who can hit the streets in the major population areas to peddle her communist ideology and socialist agenda.  Thing is – her cult of potential distributors is pretty much distracted with the start of a new school year and the attendant folderol that comes with that first month or so:  Reconnecting with friends not seen for weeks (or minutes, in the case of young women whose lives bounce manically from drama to drama with lightning speed), and gearing up for the non-stop extracurricular activities that make up modern American high school life.  If she had months to get their attention and focus their energy, mayhap they could be the busy little political pyramid builders she needs to peddle her unique brand of same-old, same-old. 

The question is, in less than 70 days, can she connect with enough attention-deficit teen-agers, convert them into mindless liberal cultists, and motivate them to abandon their personal priorities for her benefit?  It’s a tall order.  But it’s her only hope:  there aren’t that many grown-ups who haven’t been burned by the lofty promises and disappointing results from the left-wing Progressive faction of the Democrat Party over the last six years and are willing to sacrifice their personal credibility to endorse these snake oil sales pitches.

Will Montanans buy the shiny new package with the same old soap inside?  A few will, no doubt – you can fool some of the people some of the time, after all.  But as the election nears and the voters look more closely they’ll see that a pompous peddler pitching worn out, tried-and-failed ideas is not the person they want to represent them in the U.S. Senate.  

When it comes down to the final choice, smart people can tell the difference between the container and the contents – and they aren’t going to waste their time, money, or votes on a fancy box of worthless crap.


Guest Post - MT City Girl

Saturday, August 30, 2014

THE SIZE OF THE DREAM


Montanans have two distinctly different candidates to choose between when voting for the next senator from the Treasure State:  Amanda Curtis, Democrat, 34, married, no children, math teacher, born and raised in Billings, graduate of Montana Tech and UM-Western, lives in Butte, served one term in the Montana House of Representatives, and Steve Daines, Republican, 52, married, 4 children, businessman, born in California, raised in Bozeman, graduate of MSU, lives in Bozeman, served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Actually, when you look at those facts, the two seem to have had remarkably similar lives – age and four kids being the main differences.  It’s only when you look a little deeper that you begin to see how two middle class kids from Montana have taken on the dissimilarities that are embodied in the scrappy, dying-but-never-quite-dead, depressing pit that is Butte, and the clean, fresh, soaring, purple mountains majesty that surround the breathtaking Gallatin Valley.

Amanda is a product of a dysfunctional family who relied on government handouts and union assistance to get her to where she is today; she wouldn’t have made it without the government safety net of food stamps, welfare, and government-backed loans and grants for college.  She survived.

Steve is the son of parents who built a small construction business in the mid-sixties.  Like all small businesses in Montana, Daines Construction was subject to the ups and downs of the Montana economy; success was never guaranteed.  Bozeman in the seventies wasn’t exactly a thriving megalopolis, and Steve lived at home, working for the family business while earning his college degree.  He thrived.

And that explains so much.

Amanda sees the world as a scary place, where the pitfalls are huge and swallow the unwary.  She believes that the government’s role is to provide a safeguard against all the misfortunes of life.  Her dream for Montana is small:  Government provided health care, more food stamps, more welfare, Big Brother mitigating the worst of life’s disasters, equality of outcomes, and redistribution of wealth.  Amanda is all about survival – about landing safely, whether you’ve reached your intended destination or not.

Steve, on the other hand, has dreams for Montanans that are as endless as the big sky itself.  He sees an unlimited horizon of possibilities – a thriving economy with good, high-paying jobs, opportunities to create the next big tech giants, enormous fields of golden grain to harvest to feed the world, a million lives to build a million different ways – where government’s role is to provide you with the freedom to go for the big dream – your dream!  Steve is about soaring, reaching for the stars – about recognizing the possibility of failure, but focusing on the potential for success!

Both Amanda and Steve are good people.  Each would work hard in Washington to make their dreams for you a reality. 

It comes down to your dreams for yourself and your family.  What size dream do you have?  A little one or a big one?  Do you see yourself dependent on the federal government for your daily bread, your birth control, your housing?  Do you see yourself working at some low-paying, dead-end job for thirty or forty years so you can eventually retire on Social Security?  Do you see your kids having to leave Montana so they can provide for their families?  Or do you want to see a future full of possibilities and opportunities?  A future where you can be who you want to be and do something you love.  A future where you can be a blessing to your family, your community, your country.  A future where you and your kids can choose where you live and how you live. 

When you mark your ballot in November you are making a choice for yourself and your family.  Are you choosing to play it safe, to be the drab little brown sparrow, being content with whatever crumbs can be dropped on your path – or do you want to be the majestic eagle, soaring high above the peaks and valleys, the master of all you survey? 

Whose dream do you want for your family? 

You can’t have it both ways.
Guest Post from MT City Girl

Saturday, August 16, 2014

US Senate

I almost feel sorry for the Democrats. They let Harry Reid, President Obama and Senator Baucus pick a replacement senator. Some of you will argue that our Governor made the choice but I say the choice was already made for him, he just happened to pick who they wanted.

Now after the liberal NY Times has exposed Walsh's plagiarism they are left with trying to pick a last minute replacement.

The Democrat senator pool is extremely shallow. So shallow that the Dude (Jeff Bridges) was bandied about as a replacement. Showing that Democrats were not looking for a good candidate but just a recognizable name to run. After all Harry Reid will tell their choice how to vote so it does not matter whom they nominate. It was also really telling in how many Democrats supported the Dude. Probably hoped he would legalize pot.

Well they picked Amanda Curtis. I am sure they know she does not have a chance. But they are probably grooming her for a latter run. So it will probably be a fairly boring race.

They could have made it real interesting if they had nominated that buffoon John Bollinger. But then who would trust him not to change parties depending on how the winds blow in Washington.

Second Amedment

There is no better example than Ferguson Missouri riots for the right of the people to bear arms.

Rampant violence and looting and NO police response because it might upset the criminals.

Store owners (and friends) stood guard outside their business protecting them as is their right under the 2nd amendment. These stores were not looted or burned.

Those store owners who depended on the government for protection lost everything. Including minority store owners. Because the looting is based on greed and not outrage.

Ferguson Missouri

Riots in Ferguson. While President Obama instead of jumping in with both feet in his mouth remains relatively silent... for him.

Could it be that if the media really dug into the root problems they would find that high unemployment for minorities (especially Afro-Americans) is the cause? Would they also find out about high dropout rates in school?

Could it be all the fault of government policies pushed by Democrats who now wish to distract us and blame it on racism?

Saturday, June 07, 2014

Sneaky

I was pursuing the web today and checked out TMZ. I noticed something odd (I am a bit paranoid) as the web page began to load. A little dark line with some writing on it that quickly disappeared.

I decided to investigate. So I reloaded the page and stopped it during loading. There was the line, with links.

http://www.tmz.com/terms

http://www.warnerbros.com/privacy/policy.html

I am not a lawyer, but reading these terms I concluded that the website reserves the right to collect any data on you and use it anyway they want. And by using the site you give up any rights to sue them for any reason.

I don't know how legal these terms are since the link only appears very briefly and most people would miss it entirely.

But now I wonder how many other sites do the same thing.

Shows once again that you should never trust lawyers to do the right thing.

Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Odd Image

I was watching the theatrics of Sgt. Bergdahl's release. I noticed something odd.

President Obama struts out with his arm closely wrapped around Mrs. Berghahl's waist. That seems awfully odd. I don't recall him ever getting so hands on before. I hope Mrs. Obama was not watching.

Plus this seems like a pretty sexist and aggressive thing to do. Was this a case of sexual harassment? Was she a willing partner in this flagrant public display of affection?

And what about Mr. Bergdahl. Why did he not object? And why was he following 10 feet behind? Is he being a cuckold to the President? Was he being compliant for getting his son back.

I just don't recall President Obama getting so friendly with another man's wife.

Monday, June 02, 2014

Obama Did it Again

Once again the president has screwed up. He broke the standard practice of not negotiating with terrorists.

He has made every American soldier and civilian a target of kidnapping. He did not notify Congress which may have been illegal... which Obama has never cared about. And he did not notify Karzai which has pissed off the Afghanistan president. But above all else he traded a lowly sergeant for 5 terrorist generals. 

Once again he show that he has no understanding of world politics or war. No wonder he is Putin's b*tch.

While the world plays chess Obama skipped over checkers and went all the way back to tic-tac-toe.

I also wonder if this was not politics. He stopped the national media from reporting at the Veterans Administration screw-up and said, "Look at this soldier I saved". If true it again proves his disdain for this country over the importance of Obama.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Last Day for ACA Signup

Well sort of. Except for all of the exemptions and any old excuse you want to use. But no matter what happens it is simple to predict what will be said April 1st (will any Democrat see the irony?).

On April 1st President Obama will announce the ACA a total success. No numbers will be available, no breakdown of age groups and no total number. But it will be declared a success. The media will agree completely and have no follow up questions.

Vice President Biden will also declare it a success and fire off a shotgun. The media will ignore the hole in the ceiling.

Harry Reid will declare the ACA a success and immediately announce that the Republicans fighting it were all racists. The next day he will deny that he called Republicans racists even though their are videos. The media will call the Republicans mean spirited for questing Reid.

Nancy Pelosi will declare the ACA a success saying that 300 million people now have health care due to the Democrats. She will put out a correction later that day saying she meant 100 million. The next day she will put out a correction saying it is 30 million. The press will write stories supporting her statement and calling Republicans who object unsupported by the facts.

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Define Success


The White House announced that they have signed up two million people for Obamacare. They call this a great success.

Five million lost their insurance and two million were forced to sign up for Obamacare... and they call that success.

They have very low goals.