Posted: June 18, 2012 at 7:29 am
GOP Convention Embarrassing on Many Levels
This weekend, local Republicans used speeches, displays, and fundraising gimmicks to showcase the state of the current state of the Montana GOP. Anyone who stops to consider the Montana GOP’s 2012 Convention can only find the party a complete embarrassment.
First, there was the raffle to win a gun, duct tape, and a shovel. Then there was “the bullet-“pocked” outhouse,” that was labeled as President Obama’s presidential library. Lee Newspapers reported that these “might have pushed the envelope” for what’s acceptable to regular people. For Republican candidates, these didn’t seem to be a problem.
Then, things really got weird. The Missoulian reported that Rick Hill and his wife had wanted to ride into the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula on their motorcycles.
“The lawyers and the fire department said we couldn’t,” Hill told a lunchtime gathering Saturday at the Montana Republican convention.
“Motorcycles are a metaphor for freedom. … The people who would take away our freedom do it by introducing the concepts of risk and fear.”
Put aside for a moment the fact that a retired insurance executive and his wife trying to ride into the GOP convention of blue hairs only makes the GOP’s gubernatorial aspirations more ridiculous.
Rick Hill is clearly trying to tie the fact that he was prevented from embarrassing himself thusly to his rusty belief that it is government regulation that is the enemy of freedom. But the metaphor doesn’t work. Hill’s shame was blocked by the private business at which the event occurred–and the insurance policies for the GOP convention and hotel. The insurance concept of “risk” is one with which Hill is intimately familiar. As an insurance executive he made his living preventing people from taking it–and making a hefty profit doing so.
As an aside, the Missoulian also reported that the bike Hill had wanted to ride was a Harley, though Hill is more well known as a BMW rider. He has been frequenter of BMW motorcycle forums, as these screenshots below indicate.
These are forums where people look to meet up with other BMW riders:
Hill’s BMW is the bike he seems to prefer, as it is the one he takes with him to California for his annual four month vacation to the state.
It’s also a place where BMW owners can discuss their bikes.
Finally, the Convention planners made a poor choice for the keynote speaker in Newt Gingrich, whose presence only highlighted the problems with the candidates at the top of the GOP ticket and did not fit the bill very well, as I wrote about when the choice was first announced.
Besides Gingrich’s personal foibles, other prominent Republicans have pointed out that Gingrich humiliated the party when he was House speaker, citing Gingrich’s $300,000 payment to resolve allegations of giving misleading information in a 1997 ethics probe.
When Hill entered the House of Representatives, Gingrich served as Speaker, and they reportedly were close while serving together. In fact, Hill and Gingrich were so close that Hill was accused during his 1997 re-election campaign of selling his vote to make Newt Gingrich Speaker of the House again after Gingrich’s Committee donated $10,000 to Hill’s campaign. And, Congressman Hill voted for Newt Gingrich’s re-election for Speaker of the House despite accusations that Gingrich had made false and misleading statements to the House Ethics Committee in 1997.
When Speaker Gingrich decided to step down from his position while embattled by controversy in November 1998, Hill told the Associated Press: “It’s sad to see a friend step down.”
This isn’t the first time this outhouse has made an appearance at GOP events
http://mtcowgirl.com/2012/05/18/bitterrooter-says-ecoterrorists-at-work-in-gop-primary/
Really, or is that just wishful thinking?
As Pogo P writes on another blog: http://4and20blackbirds.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/always-a-class-act/#comments
Craig, got your FALSIES on this a.m. I see! Sheesh. There are false equivalencies, and then there are FALSIES! You know what I mean, the kind that simply make the accuser LOOK like a big boob!
Craig, please remember that judy mars was extremely PROUD to be a lapdog for industry! She never hid from that fact! And that’s precisely why she left office with a 23 percent approval rating. She was MUCH like the recent crop of Pubbie candidates. They weren’t hidin’ it. ALL of them clamored to be the biggest industry pimp of the bunch. There debate answers were nearly identical!
There is NO shame in being an industry pimp in the Pubbie party.
p.s. And for the record, Judy used to come to the Labor Day picnics here in GF every year. She was ALWAYS, repeat ALWAYS treated with respect by everyone. I never remember even one disrespectful comment. She mingled and had a good time. Sure, most people thought that she was a lousy governor, but hell, we’ve had LOTS of lousy Pubbie governors! It’s just a fact of life!
And really, Craig. Quoting 4 and 20??? Sheesh. That site has recieved the Pubbie Seal of Approval as an official opposition site, for NO ONE READS IT, nor does it in any way threaten the established order of the Pubbie Party! Whining from Anonymous Land doesn’t really DO much to scare the bad guys!
Please try harder next time!
Don’t want to derail this thread but Larry, we still get a few readers over at 4&20. We’re often more parochial — Missoula issues, and such — and contributors ebb and flow. Still, check out the amount of traffic we got on the Ochenski pieces that were recently posted. Just broke 1.25 million visits, too.
I also think Pogo offers some good perspectives from a moderate Republican point of view. It’s always useful to know what these folks are thinking.
I guess readership is relative. According to the sitemeter here, this blog has almost a million visits now and it isn’t yet two years old.
We have a much more discerning following (snark).
Larry, reread the highlighted portion of the quote from Pogo. That’s what I was referring to in questioning Cowgirl’s remark.
SOME “facts” exist only in the author’s imagination. See below:
“Most Republicans remember the dog incident at the Democratic Convention and remember the chuckles of Democrats knowing that it was also referring to Judy as a B**ch. Judy put up with a lot of subtle and direct sexist references and attacks that Democrats either cheered on or conviently ignored.”
HEY, you know me. I follow politics as closely as anybody, and I have NO idea what this dude is farting about! The Dems NEVER attacked Judy in a sexist manner! Stoopid is as stoopid does! It AIN’T a matter of gender! I mean, really, is it REALLY “motherly” to tamper with evidence in a MURDER investigation? Or is it just plainassed STOOPID?
Judy HID behind gender when committing crimes when it was convenient. SHE injected gender into her crimes, NOT the Dems! Is it really WRONG to point that out?????
Sheesh. Please try harder next time! This Pogo dude is playing POSSUM with his brain!
p.s. For those who don’t know, Judy famously CLAIMED that it was the “mother” in her that TOOK murder crime scene evidence and WASHED it!
THAT pretty much set the tone for her entire tenure! Lie, hide, and attack! And her popularity among BOTH Pubbies and Dems reflected her actions! A ham SANDWICH could get more than a 23 percent approval rating in Montana!
p.s.s. IF this incident was as BAD as Playing Possum with his brain SAYS it was, just where the hell is the LINK on all this?? Gotta be a story out there SOMEwhere, right? I mean, the Pubbie nutjob stories routINELY go national. Why the the supposed DEM attack stories? Huh? Huh? Huh?
Pogo, dude, wake UP your brain!
Here’s your challenge, righty morons. Please FIND and list all the Dem incidents that MADE the late night comedy shows! There just GOTTA be some in your little equilavency world, right? Get Ingy on it. He’s the best you got!
I report, you provide!….if you can, but you can’t. Sad, so sad!
Ooops. Should read ” why NOT the Dem stories”?
Larry, you seem to concede my point as you now have repeatedly dodged responding to it.
Cowgirl: “For Republican candidates, these didn’t seem to be a problem. ”
Pogo P: “…the Hotel management received complaints from GOP convention attendees who wanted it removed and didn’t want it associated with the GOP Convention. People repeated GOP Chairman Will Deschamps comments that it was in poor taste.”
Try again. Pogo was there.
The implication that violence against the president is the stuff of great jokes is hardly the same as tying a governor to her own statement. Martz proclaimed herself the lapdog of industry.
Thanks Montana for making Kansas look good in comparison! (We need all the help we can get.)
Please, nobody tell the TEA Party that the rest of us have indoor plumbing. If the TEA Party wants to live in a world where this is considered cutting edge humor and intelligent political commentary then by all means lets not tell them about running water either.
That outhouse wasn’t a sideshow, it’s the Derek Skees campaign bus.
Hey, we’re back on the national laughing stock list…
sigh.
http://leanforward.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/18/12282963-montana-birthers-find-new-way-to-show-hateful-side?lite
Someone remind me why the earth haters chose Missoula for their convention?
Larry, Missoula is Montana’s hippie communal center where all are appreciated for the individual uniqueness. Perhaps the GOP came to Missoula just to feel the love.
Perhaps because the Hilton Garden Inn is next to Hooters?
Pete, as you know all (the tree hugging dirt worshipers) are for saving the spotted owls.
Probably because spotted owls eat their weight in gophers, Moles, and Mice each night! which saves farmers from crop damage and Ranchers from livestock breaking their legs in the holes. I know if I was a farmer, I build nest poles for them.
Norma, soon the spotted owls will have a new treat to dine upon: http://www.theprovince.com/life/Scientists+dissect+snakehead+fish/6786864/story.html
Maybe Ospreys Craig, or Eagles but not Spotted Owls. Snowy Owls, and Great Horned Owl, are the only owls who have been known on occasion to fish.
Is this the reason GOP types don’t care about nature cause you don’t know what eats what? And a story about an Isolated incident in BC Canada? really Craig?
If your that worried I suggest you watch the Kootenai River. Thats one of the only rivers that flows west to the Pacific.
Ya know Norma, if you spent more time campaigning and less time with your ridiculous statements on this blog, you just might have pulled more than 25% of the vote in your district.
You REALLY like woodys, dude? Wow! Brokeback much???
bwhahahahahahahahahahaa!
Actually, Norma is right on this one. I know lots of PETA folks, and they just LUV all critters, exCEPT for gophers! For you see, many of them are also horse people. And horse lovers HATE gophers and gopher holes! Many a horse recieved a broken leg from a gopher hole! But of course you’d know this if you were from Montana. Where you FROM, Woody Lover?
Take care of my lightwork Larry!
There was only 41% of the Public who voted here. Plenty of room for improvement for someone with no name recognition, and the legislator I am running against who has to run against the horrible record he wrought on Beaverhead county with his insane voting…. besides running against me.
Maybe this guy, taking a swipe at me will graduate from building outhouses that run on wheels to inside plumbing one day that works. Course I am only wishing the Moon here. Hes isn’t bright enough to dig a big enough hole for his out house project first!
Larry – are you so stupid that you do not know that there are a limited number of hotels in Montana that can host a 500 person convention? And also that the conventions do move around the state so more people that are local can attend.
Although I do admit, trying to find many conservatives in Missoula can be a challenge.
It was a convention. There was no shortage of attendees, nor would there have been if it had been held in Berkeley, California. There are at least 6 ‘cities’ in Montana that could have hosted such a gathering, and a surprising number of ‘small towns’ (Whitefish, Big Sky, Red Lodge, Hamilton, Sydney, Lewistown … Wait. No one would have wanted to go to Lewistown …) I do notice that it wasn’t held in Butte.
Don’t bother insulting Larry. At this point, he seems smarter than you.
I wonder, you don’t suppose that gopher boy EATS them gophers that he “hunts”, do ya? For you see, just like the Eskimos, many indigenous tribes in Montana thought that if one EATS gophers, their manly parts become GOPHER-sized!!!!
Gopher boy, do you’re manly parts look a little little???
Larry I’m from Great Falls – over by the double barrel off of 3rd ave. I’ve seen you in the mens room and I just have to say, I really want that little thing you unzip and pull out. I know you try to hide it usually so no one knows, but that little thing is just so cute.
Sadly my adorable friend, I’ve seen gophers on the road that have more length than you. Maybe that squish really makes things look bigger.
and yet the convention was held in Butte last year. Nice try, Rob. It does move around the state. Do get educated.
I hate to point out the obvious to the blind, but last year wasn’t an election year, was it?
And your point is what? Your task, grasshopper, is to try to find as many hotels in Montana capable of hosting a 500 person conference as you can. Please do check in with the results, cupcake.
There is clearly a segment of the MTGOP that longs to tie up every hotel room in Hamilton or Miles City; but, there should clearly be enough scorched earth in Billings or Great Falls to host these monsters, right?
Whoa! You actually “hunt” gophers??!! How do you DO that? Do you track’em?? Hunt from a blind?? POACH’em??
They’re wily creatures, aren’t they?! Tell me, Bwana, are you the great white GOPHER hunter??
bwhahhahahahahahaa!
How many handles you GOT there, gopher boy, besides likin’ woodys and huntin’ gophers?
Too funny.
Do you outfit gopher hunts for outta staters too???
Does your pal Like Woodys MOUNT’em for you?? Or just measure their length?? Got one on your wall, do ya?
You’re a funny little dude, gopher/like woodys!
Larry, despite the thoroughly enjoyable snark which follows your comment, allow me a somewhat more serious response. What better place to set up camp than in the very ‘seat of power’ of your beleaguered enemy? I’ve taken a touch of flack for pointing out the obvious. Missoula is surrounded by people who serve the city and are offended by it’s actions. Look at the political will of the counties that ring Missoula and you see some of the deepest and angriest social conservatism to be had the state of Montana. At the risk of being melodramatic, this was a ‘go for the throat’ move, one I think will meet with some success.
Agreed, Rob: Browning and Crow Agency probably weren’t considered either.
I heard that if Champ Edmunds travels more than 50 miles from a Hooters for extended periods of time he gets the delerium tremons.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/cnn-host-scolds-heckler-obamas-race-elephant
EPA wasn’t considering flying drones over Montana to monitor livestock and ag runoff…until now: Rehberg Wants EPA Drone Surveillance Grounded.
If the EPA did use drones in the future it would be to spy on Rehberg’s buddy’s who Pollute our rivers. You would think the farmers and ranchers would want an eagles view of the destruction thats coming their way…. cause Rehberg doesn’t care about tainted beef or wheat, if he can make more money from mining.
Real ranchers and farmers shovel shit in their work. Coal mine owners dont… they drive Cadillacs, and kick workers off the employment roosters when they are injured or injest enough coal dust to get cancer or black lung.
And if you remember Rehberg tried to get the EPA this year to drop protections against coal miners, who might get Black Lung!
Hooters, Rapes, Missoula was perfect …right up their alley…if you get my drift…..
Good Read
http://consortiumnews.com/2012/06/16/how-tea-partiers-diss-the-framers/
Yep. What he said too. It’s where we’re at. Welcome to the Dark Ages.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/18-2
My Geuss Larry is that Mark has finally reach our fine state for vacation. so now that he has an new IP for a few weeks he’ll pepper us with Anonymous names…. Just saying!
Why would I post anonymously? I fear no evil. No one can hurt me.
Another truism, Teapublicans dont have the ears, eyes or sensibility to see!
Forget the motorcycles – Hill should have ridden into the GOP convention in a DeLorean since his slogan is to take Montana back to 1994. Or a hottub ala hottub time machine.
Happy to report the “drones spying on Montana ranches” is totally false. The EPA did make some manned surveillance flights, however. Denny just went off at the mouth without having his people check for truthiness.
Has anyone asked Rehberg what he wants to be when he grows up? I guess he doesn’t have to work still due to his inheritance, but you’d think he would offer up some kind of profession since the rancher crap is so easy to dismiss.
I’m still looking for proof that Denny has any cattle
Photo of Rehberg surrogate at UM:
https://p.twimg.com/AwG1rf4CIAE-HLJ.jpg