Rare News Desk
After getting the back of an admitted plagiarist who had to bow out of the race, you would think teachers unions would be extremely careful about endorsing a replacement.
Videos by Rare
But no.
John Walsh dropped out of the running for the U.S. from Montana after the New York Times revealed last month that he extensively plagiarized a 14-page grad school thesis he wrote while studying at the Army War College.
At the state Democratic convention, the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers somehow managed to successfully convinced Democrats to pick teacher-turned-state representative Amanda Curtis as the replacement standard-bearer against Republican Steve Daines.
Now, the union along with its parents and Democrats in the state are being embarrassed by revelations that Curtis may never be ready for prime time.
Days after Curtis was chosen to replace Walsh as the Democratic nominee – skipping over better-known candidates such as rancher Dirk Adams and Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger – Montana GOP operatives released a video featuring clips from her messages to constituents on her YouTube page.
Among the choice bits: Curtis mocking Second Amendment supporters, proclaiming herself to be “an anarchist at heart”, and teasing a Republican colleague David Halvorson for mentioning “God Almighty” in a speech.
The cake topper was Curtis’ rant about how Americans would end up like Frankenstein’s monster if they opposed Medicaid expansion as part of implementing ObamaCare. She wore Frankenstein earrings to accentuate her point.
But even this Republican clip job couldn’t make Curtis look nearly as bad as the 90 YouTube videos she taped herself.
Very occasionally, Curtis made insightful points about how the wastefulness of legislating. More often, Curtis ranted for gun control, against bills such as one that would require teenage girls under age 18 to obtain parental consent for abortions, and constantly said “Really!?” every time she disagreed with opponents on a bill.
And the hits just kept coming this week. First came news that Curtis had written two articles for Industrial Worker, the house publication for International Workers of the World, the once-violent socialist-leaning labor union which has been irrelevant both politically and within Big Labor since its heyday in the early 20th century.
The fact that Curtis’s husband, Kevin, is a union delegate for the Wobblies, has added to perceptions of her as being on the political fringe.
Republican operatives also culled Curtis’ personal Facebook page, disseminating photos of her standing with IWW leaders at the grave of Frank Little, a leader of the group who called U.S. soldiers “scabs” for serving their country, as well as posts featuring quotes from Emma Goldman and other socialists who wouldn’t be mentioned by serious candidates for high office.
Curtis has since taken down her page. But Phil Kerpen of Republican activist group American Commitment has posted copies of it for all the world to see.
For Curtis, the embarrassment of the videos and pictures have cast a pall on what was already going to be a long-shot campaign against Daines. Polling so far shows Curtis trailing by 20 points, a lead that will likely grow as more people learn about her.
At least Curtis has the excuse of being a newcomer to the political arena. She has only served one term in the state legislature, and had decided earlier this year to not run for a second. Most people have skeletons in their closets, if not nearly as publicly cringe-worthy.
But the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and their joint Frankenstein creation in Montana have no such excuses. Curtis is just the latest example of how the teachers unions’ fealty to their ideology has trumped sensible politicking – and all at the expense of dues-paying teachers.
