Big Sky Cairn

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard the nicely alliterated “Culture of Corruption” in casual conversation. To be sure, the GOP did plenty to deserve this moniker on a national level. Indeed, by 3,562 votes Montanans visited the sins of the Party on Senator Conrad Burns.

Montana always bucks the national trends. Culture of Corruption, while somewhat appropriate in the face of national scandals. was misappropriated to describe the Montana GOP. Conrad Burns was exonerated. Outside the court of public opinion, he didn’t do anything wrong.

Interestingly enough, in the 2006 Montana Senate election cycle, only the Democrat candidates broke the law. Senator Jon Tester and John Morrison, in the early days of his campaign, broke Montana law by enlisting the help of robots to call Montanans to ask them for money. Turns out those robo-calls are as illegal as they are annoying.

Now, I’d be willing to write this off as a simple mistake perpetuated by a fledgling campaign, but for the fact that Tester later justified his action as if he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Both candidates admitted Thursday they were using message systems. And both said they were doing so because they believe the law banning them is unconstitutional.

“It’s a free speech issue,” said Tester, who also is president of the Montana Senate.

That’s not a person’s decision to make, said Chuck Denowh, executive director of the Montana Republican Party. You may think the speed limit is unconstitutional, but that doesn’t give you the right to break it.

“It’s the law,” he said. “They should follow the law, and you should respect the law.”

Now, yes, this happened years ago, and before anyone accuses me of resurrecting old skeletons for no reason, I do so for a larger point. The Culture of Corruption tag that was so effectively attached to the national GOP in 2006 ought to find itself a comfortable home right here with the Montana Democrats. Their candidates - their leaders - have only as much respect for the rule of law - laws that they pass - as they expect there to be political fallout for breaking them.

Well, this should get the democrats’ panties in a tight twist. Succinct, truthful and correct. The GOP needs to work extra hard to make the “culture of corruption” tag stick this election cycle.

One, Burns was not “exonerated”. Nothing of the kind. The investigation was called off. That’s all that happened, so we will never know the true extent of the corruption. But as a Burns watcher from 1988 forward, ten of those years as a loyal Republican, I can tell you this - the man was wholly indifferent to propriety, completely subservient to wealth, and not in the least disposed to give both sides of an issue a fair hearing. I suspect that the man was corrupt to his soul, but as I’ve said many times before, the important point that we should all focus on is that he is gone. And he’ll stay gone, And that is a good thing.

Your comparison of robocalls to Burns’ corruption is somewhat comical, as if a bank robber and a guy who takes paper clips home from the office both ought to be behind bars. It’s a matter of degree - what Tester did in no way compares to what Burns did, and as you gloat about, got away with.

Hey Captain Obvious — The investigation was “called off” because there was no evidence that Conrad was involved in anything illegal!!! Duh.

Keep telling yourself that, Auntie. Then try and prove it …

Mark T.’s comments are illustrative of your bigger point. Fake allegations of corruption carry more weight than actual corruption. It’s fine if Tester wanted to change the law, but he didn’t. It’s also fine if he wanted to challenge the validity of the law by breaking it, but he didn’t.
Instead, when he is uncharacteristically caught, since the media are in the tank for the Democrats, he just blathers on as though his was a principled position.
And Mark shows his lack of concern for actual facts, by repeating Tester’s talking points uncritically as though they were true. Even though he got them from an admitted criminal.

I’m not entirely sure that the State of Montana can pass a law forbidding “robo-calls” in a Federal race any more than they can pass term limits that apply to Federal candidates…but I’m certainly no expert in these kind of matters. It seems to me to be more about political posturing than anything else.

I think the larger point concerning Tester should be that during the campaign he completely swore off earmarks, found no use for them at all, until he was elected…he was in favor of a ban on all earmarks before he was against it. How very Kerry of him.

Mike, I believe at the time he was running in a state primary election - not a federal election for the Senate. He wasn’t a federal candidate yet.

Wulfie ~

Trying to prove a negative is an exercise for people with more time than sense. The Justice Department’s investigation was extensive and in fact resulted in several pleas/convictions of guilty parties. Conrad was not one of them - ergo - there was no there, there. I know it’s awfully hard for you to let go - especially since you invested so much emotional energy into slandering and libeling a good man, destroying his career, and hurting his family.

Let’s see, on one hand, you have a man accused of making robocalls, which are annoying. On the other, you have a man who apparently changed his vote on several issues in response to campaign contributions - that is, sold out, and, in his own inimitable fashion, supported sex slavery in the Marianas Islands.

If you’re a Republican, your objective then would be to impute equivalence on the two acts so as to claim immunity for your guy. That’s why these defenders of this corrupt politicians are suddenly so concerned about getting prerecorded phone calls. It just offends them to the bone. Propriety is their concern. Honesty is their calling card.

“supported sex slavery in the Marianas Islands.” Was that the Hookers and Whores Defense Act that you were talking about? Could you possible do more with hyperbole?

Oh, never mind, I am sure that you can.

Steve, everyone knows that all Republicans support sex slavery in the Marianas Islands. It’s part of the Island Strategy to court the sex pimp vote.

Oh, I know – it’s hard to tell people things they don’t want to hear… check it out – Jay Stevens wrote about it in detail, but it’s all over the web. Just Google “Marianas islands sex slavery Burns” and you’ll be feasted.

Of course, I know you won’t, and I know you want to accuse me of hyperbole. But you’re wrong.

Jay did a pretty good job of demonstrating his grasp of the legislative process in his erroneous attacks against Congressman Rehberg on SCHIP. He hasn’t got much credibility left Mark.

That’s quite lame.

… says the man who thinks all Republicans are racist, and all racists are Republicans.

Ummm, I’ve addressed that. As with this thread, it appears as though you just don’t read very well, if at all.

This appears to be a debating tactic on your part, and a real weakness - you avoid issues by grabbing on to a small part of a larger debate and focusinig on it while ignoring everything else. You’re not a big picture guy. You’re a bit Coobsian, though I grant you that you are quite a bit better off in the IQ department than the inimitable Eric. You can do better than this.

But dude, this is really lame. I look forward to better stuff from you.

[…] commented on this before when I remembered the illegal actions of a Democrat candidate named Jon Tester. The law was clear, but Jon decided […]