The Western Word is coming to you, STILL coronavirus free, from deep inside an underground bunker in Montana. The bunker also serves as the worldwide headquarters for The Western Word blog!

Quote of the day…

Your grandparents were called to war. You’re being called to sit on your couch. You can do this. – Unknown

Today’s independent commentary deals with these people/issues:

• Public Policy Polling
• Montana Fundraising
• Coronavirus Task Force Briefing
• One More Thing

PUBLIC POLICY POLLING:

It’s going to be exciting from now until November in Montana!

A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that races for U.S. Senate and House in Montana are both neck and neck. In the Senate race, Governor Steve Bullock and Senator Steve Daines are tied 47-47, with just 6% of voters undecided. In the House race, Kathleen Williams and Matt Rosendale are tied 45-45, with 9% still undecided. Bullock and Williams both lead among independent voters, with an 8 point lead for Bullock (50-42) and a 12 point lead for Williams (51-39). PPP surveyed 903 Montana voters from March 12-13, 2020. The margin of error is +/- 3.3%. The survey was conducted by telephone.

This is good news for the Democrats and bad news for the Republicans. I think if you are Bullock and Williams you have to like the fact that you are leading with independents.

Bullock has a higher favorable rating than Daines and that should go up with his leadership during the coronavirus crisis.

The interesting news is that Montanans still give Trump a 50% favorable rating and 46% unfavorable. For many Montanans, it does not matter who the person is as long as they have an “R” after their name.

Read the whole PPP poll results by clicking HERE. The Great Falls Tribune has a story about the poll HERE.

MONTANA FUNDRAISING:

The first thing I thought about when I read an MTN News report that Greg Gianforte had “loaned” his gubernatorial campaign $500,000 was that this money could buy a lot of meals to keep Montanans from going hungry doing the coronavirus pandemic. It could also be used to help Montanans keep their business open or prevent them from losing their home.

Multimillionaires like Great Gianforte, Steve Daines, and Matt Rosendale are what is wrong with Montana politics these days. They come from other states and basically try to buy elections. They get elected to one office and then they get the itch to win another seat in a different office. They have big egos that they just keep feeding. They end up hurting Montana.

The story from MTN has fundraising numbers from other races in Montana and it’s worth the read – even if the main part is about a multi-millionaire trying to buy the Montana governorship.

CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE BRIEFING:

I try to watch all of the Coronavirus Task Force Briefings not to listen to President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence bloviate about what they are doing, but for two main reasons.

First I want to hear what the experts are saying about the crisis.

Secondly, I want to hear Trump get pissed at the press for their questions. You can tell a question gets under his skin when he refers to the question as “nasty.”

The press has a really important job during this pandemic. Applause to them!

On Friday, White House reporter Peter Alexander, who works for NBC News, asked Trump the following question that seemed like a softball question that Trump would have loved. He didn’t.

Here’s the question:

I’ll just follow up. Nearly 200 dead. What do you say to Americans who are scared, though? I guess, nearly 200 dead; 14,000 who are sick; millions, as you witness, who are scared right now. What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?

This would have been a great time for the President to make sure Americans knew that everything would be OK.

The President responded with:

I say that you’re a terrible reporter. That’s what I say.

In the next few sentences, the President used the word “nasty” to describe the question which showed us that it got under his skin. He then said before answering another question, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

I have been ashamed of Trump many many times. He is a poor leader and it’s showing more and more as this pandemic gets stronger and affects more people in the United States.

You can read the White House transcript HERE.

ONE MORE THING:

I ventured out into the world a couple of times this weekend for walks. Parking lots that were normally full were empty. I live near the University of Providence and Great Falls College MSU. They are closed.

It was eerily quiet – too quiet.

For several seasons I watched “The Walking Dead” on television and being out and not seeing too many people had my mind wandering and thinking that any moment a “walker” would jump out and try to bite me.

The zombies on The Walking Dead became zombies or “walkers” as they are called in the show because of a “pathogen” which according to the dictionary is, “a bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease.”

Imagine that.

Stay safe my friends!

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