I had some misgivings about Rob Harper and the Missoula Independent after a pretty unfair hit-piece about Erik Iverson. But the recent story, Can this man be beaten? is actually very fair which of course makes it seem tremendously bias to people used to left-wing bias in Montana reporting. Pogie’s outrage would be a lot more convincing, of course, if it wasn’t Democrats saying that Rehberg was so darn strong.
Kudos to Rob for having the guts to tell a story that even Montana Democrats know. Denny Rehberg is tough to beat and Jim Hunt isn’t the one to beat him. So while Noonan is thinking 2010, other Senior Democratic strategists don’t think they’ll have a chance at the House seat until 2012.
With pre-imminent name recognition, impeccable political savvy, and a formidable grassroots organization that’s 25 years in the making, Rehberg has evolved into a political machine so robust the Democrats rightly wonder if they’ve got any chance of beating him now, or any time in the near future. Some say a Demo overthrow might just have to wait until 2012.
Seems like something else is going on in 2012. Oh yeah, this guy will be running for his second term. I can’t help but think that Tester’s seat will be pretty attractive right around then for a guy that could probably have beaten Baucus this year if he’d thrown in his hat.
So that House seat is Denny’s until he abdicates or moves on to something bigger. And that according to Democrats. One would almost feel sorry for Jim Hunt if he wasn’t - you know - a personal injury trial lawyer.
So anyway, read the entire article. And see what some of the other Dextra bloggers had to say about it here, here and here.
Can you imagine the fit you all would be throwing if this story were written about Max Baucus, who actually is unbeatable? Or if Baucus spent taxpayer dollars running around the state campaigning every year?
I suppose it actually says quite a bit about Rehberg that the only two people who had good things to say about him were his top advisor and a defeated gubernatorial candidate.
What about the substance of my critique? What has Dennis Rehberg actually accomplished in the House, other than honoring the Carroll football team and the city of Billings?
First Pogie, this sort of thing gets written about Max Baucus all the time, albeit spread out over 100 articles for the duration of the cycle. And yes, we do have a cow about it. In fact, there’s a whole category on Big Sky Cairn about it: “media bias”
Rehberg’s accomplishments go further than the bills he has introduced. In fact, introducing and passing bills as criteria for success is a left-wing tactic in that it presumes that more bills and more laws are good.
Rehberg has voted against irresponsible spending. He has worked behind the scenes to make sure that Montana gets our fair share of federal dollars in Appropriations legislation. You don’t see Denny’s name in the paper for every good thing he does - and that’s sort of the point I’m making in the first paragraph.
Let me put it this way. Say someone like Jake Eaton or Erik Iverson gave a radio interview in which they said that the the grand plan to beat Max Baucus deferred victory until his next election. Do you think that would get covered in the papers? I do.
But when Art Noonan says exactly that about Denny Rehberg - it’s not news. And then when a story is finally written about it, you scream abomination!
Pogie, if you want an example of something Denny did, legislation wise, that never really got covered I thought back to his border security bill that got added to the big Omnibus spending bill last year. Of course the press has spent more time in the last three months covering what Tester talks about wanting to do, someday, maybe, if someone else writes the bill, rather than covering what Denny got signed into law.
I am refering to his bill the border security and modernization act, at least that is what I think it is called. I forget when the press doesnt write about it everyday like they would if it were either of our Senators.
Wiley says: “Rehberg has voted against irresponsible spending. He has worked behind the scenes to make sure that Montana gets our fair share of federal dollars in Appropriations legislation.”
Pogie, Congressman Rehberg can simultaneously vote to keep the pie small (lower overall spending) and vote to ensure that Montana gets a good chuck of that (smaller) pie. No contradiction.
