big sky democrats

Before I wade into the sludge that is the Republican Party's attempt at a Senatorial campaign, I want to say THANK YOU to all those who made last night's Late Night Shimmy for Change Party a success. We packed the Silver Dollar and shimmied to the wee hours. A new friend from Washington state won the silent auction (Hiya, Kathy!), and little yellow papers telling people about Burns' big plan for a national sales tax littered the bar. I hope to recover soon...

Now to the meat. Many of the bloggers have posted on the STELLAR job done by Montana Farmer Jon Tester, but can I just add to the cheers? HE MOPPED THE FLOOR. At one point, I almost felt sorry for Sen. Burns, but stopped just short when I remembered that despite looking old and weak, he is a racist, classist, sexist, ageist bigot. After that, I just sort of smiled when he "giddyap"ed over the questions asked, and sputted when zinger after zinger went right over his head.

Now let's take a little walk down the pretty, sunshiny lane of CORPORATE DONATIONS. Say it with me, folks, A CAMPAIGN, POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE OR POLITICAL PARTY MAY NOT ACCEPT CORPORATE DONATIONS. Whew! That's a toughy, yes? I mean, you got confused with the...."may NOT"...part, right? Yeah - seems pretty straightforward to me, too.

I wonder if the Montana Standard will report on the fact that they accepted sponsorships from Resodyn and Rhodia (after shaking hands on something else entirely, but let's not get into the deception that occurred before the debate, or we'll be here all day), two enormous Conrad Burns supporters. I wonder if they will report that their alleged impartial venue was holding a central block of seats BOUGHT AND PAID FOR by Resodyn, run by Larry Farrar, who not only has maxed out to Sen. Burns' campaign, but who has given over $18,000 to the Republican party (hat tip, Left in the West).

I wonder if the Montana Standard will tell the story of the two elderly ladies who came into the theatre 20 minutes prior to debate start-time, who sat in two seats in a largely unoccupied section of the middle of the house, and who were told to GET UP AND MOVE by none other than Mr. Farrar.

“You’ll have to move, unless you want to wear a Conrad Burns sticker”

These two ladies were confused about why they had to move, so I explained that a corporation had bought and paid for the seats. She said, “I just want to be clear – who is kicking me out of my seat? Conrad Burns or Jon Tester?”

“Conrad Burns’ supporters, ma’am”

“Well, we were undecided until tonight. I guess that helps me make up my mind.”

You see, Republicans – you can’t win at this sort of nonsense. The truth will be told, and people will listen. I was ashamed last night – ashamed of the editorial board of the Montana Standard for allowing this blatant corporate donation, ashamed of Larry Farrar who was tossing old people up to the balcony, ashamed of the person who is currently my US Senator for so unabashedly thumbing his nose at the law.

Here’s what you can do. Right letters to the editor – just like in Hamilton, the news folks that were not there will not get the whole picture. Tell them the truth:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1. <!--[endif]-->A corporation purchased a block of approximately 100 seats in the middle of the theatre to consolidate the Burns supporters and make it look like there were more of them.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2. <!--[endif]-->They had to scour the aisles to find enough people to fill them. At one point, it looked like a group of confused-looked folks were pulled off the street just to get warm bodies in the seats.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3. <!--[endif]-->They kicked nice, undecided citizens out of the those seats if they didn’t wear Burns stickers.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4. <!--[endif]-->This equates to an illegal campaign donation by a corporation.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->5. <!--[endif]-->The Montana Standard allowed it.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->6. <!--[endif]-->JON TESTER MOPPED THE FLOOR WITH CONRAD BURNS

Tell everyone – make noise – do not let this go away.