Big Sky Cairn

I often complain about the Montana Standard. Their incompetent local reporting, their complete reliance on the AP and Lee Newspaper machine for State coverage, their piss poor copy editing. You know small things.

But their latest screw-up made me crack up with laughter.

This photo is from this morning’s newspaper. Because, apparently, the Congress doesn’t need to vote on things anymore for them to become law. Clearly, the Standard decided to scoop everyone by reporting news that hadn’t happened yet.

So, I guess, this is the Silver Bow County equivalent of “Dewey Defeats Truman.”

In my previous post, I discussed how Barack Obama is choosing to keep to the campaign trail versus heading back to Washington to help craft the bailout legislation.  I mentioned two reasons for his decision, but saved a third for a seperate post because I thought it deserved more focus.

The third reason why Obama thinks his presence will not be needed in Washington is because he and his supporters are claiming that the bailout deal is almost done.

[Rep. Barney Frank] said in an interview on MSNBC that negotiators were close to reaching a tentative agreement on the bailout and said Obama’s and McCain’s help was not needed…

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., meanwhile, said McCain’s and Obama’s presence during congressional negotiations over a rescue package would “not be helpful at this time,” saying they would be a distraction.

So, Reid and Frank are arguing that Obama shouldn’t come back because the rescue package is practically a done deal.  But that’s not what other Congressional leaders are saying.

“There will not be a final deal as a result of the 10 a.m. meeting tomorrow,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). “We have made some progress but are not nearly at that point.” (the hill)

So if the Republican leader in the House says that this isn’t over.  And Speaker Pelosi said earlier in the day that she wasn’t willing to move on a final package without the support of at least most of the House Republicans, then how close can this thing really be to being done?  Even Democrats acknowledge that the debate about the bailout won’t be over tomorrow.

Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said a bill could be produced as early as Thursday, with debate and a vote likely over the weekend. (The Hill)

From what I can gather, a preliminary compromise will be reached tomorrow.  However, this compromise will still have to be presented to the other lawmakers and most importantly to the American people.  So nearly done means a minimum of three more days.  Which is the same amount of time we’ve been working on this thing so far.

So if they’re only half done, I think now isn’t too late for the men who want to be President to get involved.  There will no doubt be revisions to whatever preliminary plan they’ve come up with, and anyone who might inherit this economy should be at the forefront of those negotitations.

I wish McCain had gone back earlier, but I’m glad he’s going back now.  And I still hope Obama will change his mind and head back to Washington tomorrow.  Because I don’t want a president who can campaign through a crisis that is keeping me, my family and my neighbors up at night.

Yesterday, when Barack Obama started touting his plan for the bailout of America’s investment banks, I asked one question: If you’re plan is so great, and you really are the leader that your supporters claim, then why aren’t you back in Washington making sure that the final legislation mirrors your plan?

I intended to post about it, but I had reservations.  Why?  Because my candidate, a Senator with a long record of being in the room when compromises are forged on major issues, wasn’t exactly rushing back either.  And I couldn’t chew out Obama for being in Wisconsin if McCain was in New York.

Then today, McCain stunned most of America (and me) by announcing that he would suspend all campaigning, all fundraising, remove his ads from the air and ask Obama to postpone Friday’s debate.  McCain did so so that he could return to Washington, D.C. and focus on making sure that if this bailout package happens, it is done right.

Personally, I thought Obama would leap at the chance to go back to D.C. and show the country that he has the economic chops to craft to a piece of bipartisan legislation that the country desperately needs.  I also thought he’d kill for the opportunity to dutifully fight for “Main Street over Wall Street” with his fellow Democrats standing behind him.

But far from leaping, Obama is spurning McCain’s request and intends to proceed with campaigning.

Obama stopped short of following [McCain’s] model, saying he had told congressional leaders that he was willing to help out, but only if they thought it would be useful. (MSNBC)

Useful?  You’re the Democratic nominee for President.  Shouldn’t Congressional leaders be begging you for your input?  And shouldn’t you want to do everything in your power to make sure that this is done the way that you believe is best for our nation? After all, you will inherit this economy if you win.

Perhaps he is reticent to head back to D.C. because without his roomful of advisors to help him craft a plan, his lack of experience would leave him without a real role to play?

Obama also argues that a president needs to be able to handle more than one thing at a time.  And that by stopping his campaign to return to Washington, McCain is proving that he can’t multitask the nation through difficult times.

As for the debate, he said, “It’s going to be part of the president’s job to be able to deal with more than one thing at once.”(MSNBC)

I’m confused by this.

First off, Friday’s debate is not on the economy.  The chosen topic for the first debate is foreign policy.  So, if the American people want to hear Obama’s economic plan then they’ll have to wait for some future debate.

Secondly, I don’t buy the argument that McCain’s desire to postpone a debate is proof that he can’t multitask.  If anything, I think it proves that he understands what is really important.  This situation is evolving and changing so rapidly that I think the only way to make sure that it is done properly and as quickly as is prudent is to be in D.C.

Hell, isn’t that why Congress is talking about staying through the weekend?

And lastly, if Barack Obama had stood on that stage in Green Bay, Wisc. yesterday and said that he was going back to Washington to help craft the plan, I would have stood with him as much as I am standing with McCain now.  In fact, it might have been enough to sway my vote.

As a man who could be America’s next President, Barack Obama shouldn’t be afraid to step into the fray on this bailout.  But instead, he’s sticking to the campaign trail.  Because pointing fingers and suggesting solutions crafted by a team of advisors from a dais 2,000 miles away is easy.  Going back to D.C. to go about the difficult work of fixing this problem is hard.  And by saying he’ll only go if other Democrats think it will be useful, he’s basically admitting that his presence isn’t required because he doesn’t have enough experience to be of much help.

When the nation is in crisis and the entire Congress is grappling with how to fix the economy, Barack Obama is campaigning for President.  And why should I be surprised?  This is what he has been doing since the day he was sworn in.

Darn it! Just when we thought we were on track for the honor of being the “stupidest” conservative blogger (according to the intellectual monopoly that is the Left), this new blog appears out of nowhere and steals our fracking thunder!

Seriously, I’m starting to think that Wulfgar is just throwing around the accusations of dumb to get a rise. Emotional tease! Either he really has a thing for Andy Hammond (and I can understand that, cause… damn!) or he’s got a serious intelligence inferiority complex and he’s overcompensating and using the rest of us as emotional punching bags. Either way, it’s not very nice of him to keep stringing us along.

At least he had the decency to change his subject from “The Stupid is Strong With This One” to “The Dumb is Strong With This One”… I mean otherwise Andrew might get jealous. Either way, Wulfie should really get out and meet a nice girl (or guy - I’m not judging) so he doesn’t have to spend all his lonely nights channeling a 3 foot green troll invented by George Lucas to score sad rhetorical points intended to obscure his own intellectual shortcomings.

One does wonder why he’s so interested in Right in the Rockies though. Could it be because they’re putting out some premium material? Yeah, if the shoe were on the other foot… I’d be scared too.

As nakedly partisan hits go, this one is pretty amazing.  It seems that Obama got UAW Boss Ron Gettelfinger to attack McCain for buying foreign cars:

“The last thing we need is a presidential candidate who undermines autoworkers, and these days it seems that John McCain is doing just exactly that,” he said. “When he’s in the Midwest, he tells voters he supports the industry, when he is in other states he brags about buying a foreign car, as he did with the Prius.” (It is not clear if McCain or his daughter bought the Prius)

Of course the article talks about how McCain owns 13 cars.  2 of them are foreign.

This partisan hack is pissed at McCain because he only owns 11 American cars?  Really?

No wonder the American auto industry is in trouble.  How frustrating has it got to be for an auto exec - trying to keep his company profitable to pay the workers’ salaries amidst increasing competitive pressures from overseas - to sit across the table from a moron who’s economic compass tells him that a guy who bought 11 American cars and 2 foreign cars is undermining the American autoworker…

Not to mention the dig at Prius owners (who, are roughly 999 to 1 Democrats by my informal count).  These are the clowns that want to run the U.S. Economy?

I’ve been remiss in not regularly reading a new addition to the right-wing Montana blog world.  Right in the Rockies is doing some great work - especially when it comes to our ethically challenged bully of a Governor.

So why not add Right in the Rockies to your bookmarks list - or your RSS Reader - today?  It’s free and to the best of our knowledge, Schweitzer’s Minister of Truth Sarah Elliott doesn’t have any editorial control.

This was on Fox News this morning.

It has been heartening reading how Huntley Project and the surrounding communities have rallied together following Thursday night’s fire. It is good to see Montanans taking care of one another.

“It’s just amazing, just utterly amazing,” Santy said. “That’s how people respond. You hear so many negatives about the world, and all of the sudden, in bad times like this, people just come flowing out.”

Give the articles a read and if you feel like helping out a Huntley Project Schools fire relief fund has been set up at Stockman Bank, and donations can be dropped off at any branch location.

For information on donations, call Mark Wandle at 670-3435 or Shari Tallon at 860-5369.

A judge in Washington, DC has overturned a rule that would have allowed limited access by snowmobiles to Yellowstone National Park during the winter months.

Recreation advocates had ceded a lot of ground, agreeing to limit access to commercially-guided ventures, investing in cleaner, quieter machines and capping the number of snowmobiles to 540 per day (by comparison, Yellowstone admits about 39,000 vehicles per day during peak summer months).

This is devastating news for the small towns around the Park (West Yellowstone, Cooke City, Gardiner) whose winter economies are completely dependent on the tourism that Yellowstone snowmobiling generated.

Of course, something similar happened in 2006, but Montana Senator Conrad Burns understood the issue, was the chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and was able to fix this problem.

Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) has amended this year’s Department of the Interior’s Appropriations Bill (H.R. 5386). This amendment would keep Yellowstone National Park open to snowmobiles until 2010. Currently the park is operating under a temporary plan that permits up to 720 snowmobiles to enter the park on a daily basis. The existing plan is set to expire at the end of the 2006-2007 Winter Season. The extension by Senator Burns will allow local businesses and winter travelers to plan beyond the 2007 season. To date, the Appropriations Bill has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is being placed on the Senate’s Legislative Calendar under General Orders.

But 3,562 votes, Montanans threw Burns out of office and gave Democrats a majority in the U.S. Senate.  It’s beyond unlikely that the new chairwoman, Dianne Feinstein will act to save these towns - she’s bought and paid for by environmental extremists.  No one’s coming to the rescue this time - a direct consequence of that electoral decision.

3,562 votes.  At least that many conservatives bought into the Democrat’s lies and stayed home or voted for Tester.  As far as I’m concerned, the consequences of the Democratic Majority - and the economic turmoil that Montanans are about to weather - rests most heavily on their shoulders.

The question is, are they going to make the same mistake in November by not voting for McCain?  Are Republicans going to make the same mistake on the national stage?

The Missoula Independent!

Election tampering makes Baby Thomas Jefferson cry, and, to steal a line from Schweitzer’s speech, makes the American public as nervous as pregnant nuns.

Haha!!  Baby Thomas Jefferson!  Comedy gold (see, Governor Schweitzer, this is how you tell a joke).

Read the whole think so you don’t miss this astute observation - one that Roy Brown has been making for almost as long as I have.

All the same, we feel the AG’s office should probably take some time to look into this. Doing otherwise, in an election year, only fuels the possibility of furthering this statewide embarrassment. A joke’s a joke, but the Diebold scandal remains too fresh a memory to muse on such a direct threat to the democratic process.