Here’s an amazing example of Democratic Party politics, as played in Montana. It’s now up at Intelligent Discontent: Astonishing Look at American Tradition Partnership’s Campaign Coordination in Montana from ProPublica, Questions automatically arise:
- A Box of documents found in a meth house in Colorado? Please. Even I suspect planted evidence, and I’m an accountant. Mr. Progreba, do you allow cops to look in your trunk without a warrant? This is very strange.
- Frontline documentary on October 30, 2012? One week before the election?
- March 2011? Box delivered to Montana Commissioner of Political Practices 19 months ago? And they just now come to light?
- “My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that WTP was running a lot of these campaigns,” said investigator Julie Steab of the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices. Steab holds an official position in Montana, has known about the this for 19 months, and now speaks off-the-cuff. Very strange, Julie. What’s your official action on this matter?
- “Direct Mail and Communications is a print shop in Livingston, Mont., run by a one-time key player in WTP and his wife. After naming so many names, why not name a “key player and his wife?”
- “The records are in the hands of the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, which considers them public and reviewable upon request. There is a slight problem here – by the time anyone has a chance to review them, the election will be over.
- “Folders labeled with the names of Montana candidates held drafts and final letters of support signed by candidates’ wives and drafts and final copies of mailers marked as being paid for by the campaigns. The folders often appeared to have had an accounting of what had been sent and paid for scrawled on the front.” This sounds suspiciously like … nothing. If there is indeed big money behind WTP, which there no doubt is, they are not going to hit up campaigns for printing costs! That is not only a stupid thing to do, but really, really … strange.
- “Use this one,’ someone wrote in red pen next to a cut-out rectangle on a page with five signatures from one candidate.” But then again, I overstate the meaning of the word “nothing.”
- “For the general election, the group appears to be targeting Montana’s attorney general, Steve Bullock, the Democratic candidate for governor. As attorney general, Bullock fought the partnership’s lawsuits against the state, including the one that ended up in the Supreme Court.” Of course, he didn’t fight hard, and didn’t even lose so much as fail to show up before the final nine. He merely restated arguments that the court had already decided on in CU. He knew this! He was warned.
- Contest!!! Winner to be announced on November 7! Enter now. First prize: Brownie laced with some really good weed. There are at least 15 dead links in the Intelligent Discontent article. See if you can locate them! Entries must be in writing and postmarked no later than November 6. Official contest rules apply. Not valid in Vermont, New Hampshire or Puerto Rico. Must be eighteen years or older to qualify. See web site for contest rules.
This is American politics. Everyone is dirty. I take it from this that Bullock is dirty too. Of course he is distanced from this, has no comment, knows nothing about it, and oh, before I forget, Mike Taylor – your hair dresser called.
I like Pro Publica. They’ve done good work. But honestly, this is a hit piece done for Montana Democratic politicians, most notably Steve Bullock, the guy who, despite very good contrary advice, offered up a crappy case against Citizens United, almost designed to fail. If you want to know how a box of dirty-looking but non-incriminating documents end up in a meth house in Colorado and get forwarded to Julie Steab of Montana Office of Political Practices and who discloses them one week before the election after not taking official action, then I suggest you administer a blood test on Bullock. He looks dirty to me. He might be on meth.
If nothing else, check his teeth.
Piece of Mindful 
“Meth house” is a favorite undefined term with all the bells and (dog) whistles smear specialists could dream for. What exactly makes a house a “meth house?”
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Are we going to get a post on the hurricane heading to the east coast right now? Clearly it cant just be a coincidence that this giant storm is about to hit a week before the election.
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No, Jack. That’s a probably coincidence. Isn’t interesting how this hurricane is receiving news coverage and civil defense is up and running?
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Yes. The contrast with the one on 9/11 is that the weather forecasters had correctly predicted it would not move ashore.
http://articles.cnn.com/2001-09-10/weather/erin_1_tropical-storm-hurricane-warning-hurricane-erin?_s=PM:WEATHER
Probably back pre 9/11 maybe the media didnt realize how much money there is to be made by over sensationalizing and scare mongering every story. Or maybe they created this article out of thin air to change the official story after the 9/11 truther sleuths caught onto the weather control device.
But there are some angles here. Maybe they want to depress voter turnout or make this a katrina like disaster for Obama?
On the topic of the meth house files im interested in hearing some specifics and will definitely watch the show. The commission on political practices here is kind of a joke so the fact that they received this stuff and nothing was ever really addressed until now is not really surprising. If anything id assume someone in the bullock – schweitzer sphere probably tipped off one of their contacts in the media who led the frontline producers to its existence but thats probably as far as the conspiracy goes. These WTP and ATP people are the worst of the worst. They are the ones you should be opposing. Your conspiracy theories (sorry for using this term but it is accurate) as to how you believe Bullock “should” have opposed CU and what legal theories he should have used are bunk.
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I refuse to discuss anything about 9/11 with someone who has not examined the evidence. Either do so or shut up about it.
I know ATP is dirty – my point is that this should not force you to align with Democrats, who are just as dirty. And I find it interesting that you now know exactly how deep in this Schweitzer and Bullock are now. Man, you’re good.
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I have examined the evidence and find your take on it lacking in credibility and completely illogical.
Democrats at the state level in Montana are not as dirty and not as damaging to our interests, or perhaps I should say my interests, as their opponents. Cutting and pasting the same arguments you apply to the national candidates onto their local level counterparts does not hold water. Although to the larger candidates like Bullock and Hill perhaps it does. I think it actually IS a good reason to support someone like Bullock over someone like Hill. Less corrupt but still a little corrupt is better than completely corrupt. Abandoning electoral politics at the local and state level because ‘everybody is bad’ is foolish.
It does not take a master truther to surmise that someone in the govs or AGs office was aware of this hot info wasting away at the commissioner of political practices office and made sure some journalists with national exposure were informed of it, particularly if the same journalists were already going to do a piece on Montana’s nationally covered legal battle with CU.
Maybe they were aware of it the whole time…maybe they were the ones who sent it to the commissioner on political practices in the first place who knows? After all they do have their own friends in colorado like your own personal favorite radio host down there. You seem to imply they somehow created the whole thing out of thin air. I doubt that. Meth heads steal a lot of stuff, they probably stole the documents it doesnt imply the meth heads were ‘in on it’ with WTP. The docs found there way into the hands of a dem party flunky somewhere and voila. Doesnt take sherlock holmes to figure it out.
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I do not trust that you have examined evidence nor do I wish to be diverted in this manner. Suffice it to say I believe in Newtonian physics, third law precisely.
Wait for it … wait for it …
There it is! Lesser evil politics. Now here’s some basic algebra – if there is no upper limit to evil, lesser evil also has no upper limit.
Regarding this particular story … have you not noticed that there is nothing there? Again, I know the mean old Republicans are dirty. Your control, if you have any, is over good old Democrats, and you should exercise it.
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These reporters from out of the blue appear to have no previous professional experience. Limited articles deal with similar issues — in October 2012. Love the timing.
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Found this. CFR. Now I trust her.
“Kim just finished her term as the Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, where she studied, wrote and lectured on Pakistan and Afghanistan and U.S. policy. She was the South Asia bureau chief for the Tribune from 2004 to 2009 and was based in New Delhi and Islamabad. At the Tribune, Barker covered major stories such as the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and rising militancy in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. She began covering the region after Sept. 11, 2001, and spent two years on a project called “Struggle for the Soul of Islam,” a series about Islam that sent her to Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia.”
– pro publica
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OOOH Mark, can play this game?
Bulletin: Bush turns down military support for Navy Seals and Ambassador in Libya. Leaving them to die.
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You should learn the expression “False flag operation.” I doubt they intended to sacrifice the ambassador, however.
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No sacrifice intended. Seals disobeyed POTUS’s orders to stand down.
Ruining the chances for a prisoner exchange between The Blind Sheik and Stevens.
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Pathetic answer.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/10/29/obama_takes_offense_to_accusation_that_he_has_not_been_truthful_on_benghazi.html
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Again, understand concept of “false flag operation,” or attacks countries wage on themselves to justify attacking other countries. It would also help you to know that the military now operates independently of the executive. That was one of the results of 9/11, at least to seal this idea in concrete. The president reads TelePrompTers. That’s the extent of his job.
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Mark, a fine piece of writing here. I have to admit, I have asked a lot of those questions myself. And if the newspapers would do their job, well…you get my point. Funny considering your most recent comment did NOT have to do with my case) it also fits “False flag” that Political Practices cooked up a disclaimer violation wherein a piece of mail was missing “paid for by” (yawn) but then used that to justify an all-out 4-year nuclear assault on ATP. Failing to come up with any real charges, they used stolen documents to smear some dude who works in politics and now his wife, who is apparently the candidate side of the equation.
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Mark you have found some a nice ally here. Sir I used your ‘newspaper’ in the toilet yesterday but not for reading.
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Again, my point, again, is that there are no essential differences between the parties, again, and that both play dirty, again, and that if it is down to who plays dirtier, again, it’s essentially no choice at all, again, because once you establish, again, that there is no limit on dirty, again, then being the less dirty party, again, has no meaning.
Again.
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Point taken. I still wipe my ass with the “Statesman”.
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Do check out the Statesman website (click on the name in the comment above). It’s pretty damned funny. Donny Ferguson is listed as the “editor” of this “newspaper,” and in the article where the ATP responds to the “Frontline” program, Donny Ferguson, identified as director of the ATP, is quoted extensively. This happens in other “stories” on the website. It’s a house of mirrors.
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Ed, I appreciate that you are the kind of guy who comes here and reads a site like this even though I often have not-so-nice things to say about American journalism. That says a lot about your essential character.
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Hell, if you said nice things I’d probably get bored and quit visiting. (By the way, I wasn’t trying to Polish-ize my name, above. That was a typo.)
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