Do the right thing and be 'one of us' - really!

 To paraphrase the immortal Pogo comic strip, Amanda Curtis has met the enemy and it is “us.”

Curtis, as you know, was the Democratic Party’s hand-picked choice to run for U.S. Senate from Montana after incumbent Sen. John Walsh withdrew from the race amid a plagiarism scandal.

As you also know, if you live in Montana and watched her television ads during the just-ended campaign, Curtis ran on the slogan that she is “one of us.”

Well, maybe not. Montanans voted for the other guy by a margin of 58 percent to 40 percent.

You can make the case that Curtis really was only talking about “working Montanans” when she claimed that she was “one of us,” but since almost all of those voters are either current or retired Montana workers, it doesn’t really seem to matter.

Turns out that for Montana voters, her Republican opponent millionaire Steve Daines, is “one of us,” and Curtis is “one of them.”

So what went wrong?

Curtis is a young and energetic schoolteacher who conceivably could have appealed to women voters or people looking for a change from politics as usual, plus she had experience in the state legislature, so she wasn’t a total novice either.

Unfortunately for the state Democratic Party, in addition to all her good qualities, she was also a proud supporter of the International Workers of the World union, described by Wikipedia as “an international, radical labor union” whose philosophy and tactics could be described as “ ‘revolutionary industrial unionism’ with ties to both socialist and anarchist labor movements.”

How do we Montanans know she is a supporter of that “radical union”? Easy, we looked on her Facebook page and other Internet sites where she told us so. She also kept a “video diary” of her work in the 2013 legislative session, where she said out loud things that you don’t say if you want people to think you are “one of us.” 

Turns out she didn’t particularly like Republicans, nor people who adhere to traditional Christian values, and she didn’t mind mocking them publicly. A lot of Montanans are either or both Republicans or Christians, but possibly Curtis, who went to college and lives in Butte, didn’t know that.

In her video diary, she often sounds more like a Butte miner than a schoolteacher. When a bill to remove “discharging a firearm” from the disorderly conduct statute came before the House, for instance, she belittled a fellow legislator who said the existing law could make criminals out of hunters:

“REALLY?” she said. “I could not believe he said it, and I couldn’t believe a bunch of people didn’t stand up and say ‘BS!’ And they voted for it! This is what we’re dealing with Montana, and YOU elected these people.”

Hmmm, sounds like the guy she didn’t like was “one of us,” and it also sounds like she is making fun of “us” for electing him. Probably the Democratic Party should have thought of that before they selected her to run for statewide office.

In her reference to one legislative debate, she rolled her eyes while complaining in exaggerated tones about how Republicans “talked about God almighty and natural law and the Bible and biblical this and biblical that... Christianity ... and fundamental Christianity... and also the sponsor of the bill said today that the most basic form of government in Montana is the family... REALLY?!?”

Yeah, really! Where exactly do you think rules and values are first established if not in the family? 

Regarding yet another Republican legislator’s sentiment that homosexuality is a moral issue, she said, “It was so hard to sit through that and not walk across the floor and punch him.”

REALLY?!? Is that how we react when “one of us” is saying something we disagree with? Or do we all have to agree with Amanda Curtis to be treated with respect?

In her thank you note to her supporters, Curtis said, “Together, we’ve built something special — a true blue grassroots movement grounded in Montana values. I know that we’ve started something that will not end today. We’re going to keep fighting for a better deal for Montana’s working families.”

My ultimate question is this — If she were truly running on Montana values, then why did Montana voters overwhelmingly support her opponent. Should not Montanans get to say what Montana values are? And if Montanans think Steve Daines represents their values better, then maybe Curtis — who after all is “one of us” — ought to consider adopting real Montana values before she ever thinks about running for office in this state again.

Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake.