Big Sky Cairn

From CNN’s “Can Lincoln’s playbook help Obama in the years ahead?” article

But as the Obama transition team continues to assemble the new administration, the question remains: Can the president-elect help heal a sharply divided nation by using a page out of Lincoln’s political playbook?

After all, Lincoln, the 16th president, helped save the union during the Civil War and later emancipated the slaves.

Now I see where CNN’s editors are trying to go with this, but I doubt Obama wants to see half the country secede over his election and then reunite us by fighting a bloody five year struggle, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans in the process. Just call it a hunch.

It would be nice if the chattering heads could lay off the overreaching comparisons. President Lincoln was unique in our nation’s history.

As to the book Team of Rivals often mentioned nowadays, I would recommend reading this op-ed which ran in the LA Times for a bit more of the historical background. It does not mention it there, but when President Johnson tried to install a more workable cabinet following Lincoln’s assassination he was impeached by the radical Republicans. Not exactly the resounding success story portrayed by those who are hyping Obama’s new book of the month.

Now granted I opposed the first bailout. At least that package has some reasonable grounding in economic reality. Our financial system had not faced a crisis such as we are now, ever. Fine.

But why should the American taxpayer futilely attempt to save the domestic auto manufacturers? For the past decades Americans have spoken with their wallets that the foreign car companies simply put out a better product. Moreover, the $25 billion being asked for would prop up the big three for another year, maybe two, but without changing the fundamental structure of those companies we are back to square one.

Which is why I am so adamantly opposed to this bailout. At least with the financial sector there is some hope that someday the Department of Treasury will recoup its investment. I sincerely doubt anyone expects that out of Detroit.

Here is my idea, since the money will be a permanent loss, why not do the only thing everyone agrees on and take care of the auto workers. Let the companies go into Chapter 11, but have an agreement in place where the UAW pensions will be rolled into the PBGC and any laid off worker would be guaranteed 52 weeks of unemployment at 90% of their previous wages.

Some people think that your vote should be a secret.  That it is no one’s business but your own who your support.  But I don’t think there is any need to keep your political choices a secret, so here’s how my ballot shook out.

President: John McCain/Sarah Palin (R)

Shocking, I know.  What can I say, McCain makes my heart go pitter pat.

Senator: Max Baucus (D)

I’m a Republican, but I’m not stupid.  Hell, not even Kelleher is voting for Bob Kelleher.

Congress:  Denny Rehberg (R)

Again, not even John Driscoll is voting for John Driscoll.  Plus, I’ve agreed with most of Rehberg’s votes during the last two years.

Governor:  Roy Brown/Steve Daines  (R)

This was a vote against Brian Schweitzer and another Republican seat on the Land Board, nothing more.

Secretary of State: Brad Johnson  (R)

Linda McColluch has shown no leadership at her current job.  I hear from my teacher friends regularly about the failings of OPI.  She couldn’t handle her current job, she doesn’t deserve a promotion.

Attorney General:  Tim Fox (R)

I met Tim at a campaign event in Helena a few weeks ago, and was impressed.  He’s endorsed by the NRA, which matters to me.  He also has good ideas about how to protect our children from sex predators, protect the elderly from fraud and to use his seat on the Land Board to increase energy production in Montana.

State Auditor:  Duane Grimes (R)

After reading through Grimes website, I was impressed by his knowledge about the issues and the plans that he put forward to deal with the issues facing Montana.  In addition, I think that Lindeen is an opportunist who will just keep running for things until she wins state office.

Office of Public Instruction:  Denise Juneau (D)

There was no way I could vote for Elaine Herman.  Her campaign has been erratic and filled with temper tantrums and gaffes.  She is an embarrassment.   I’m not sure if Juneau will be a good Superintendent, but she doesn’t have Herman’s many negatives.

State Senator:  Jim Keane (D)     State Representative:  Edie McClafferty (D)

There were no other choices, and I don’t believe in write ins unless someone asks to be placed on the ballot.

I-55:  I voted NO.  I believe that the CHIP program can cover the health needs of Montana’s children without paving the way for nationalized health care.  Does a family making $53,000 per year need the state to pay for health insurance for their children?  A better solution would be allow professional organizations to buy insurance like large corporations do bringing down costs for members.  My small business and just about every one that I know of is a member of some group or another who would qualify.

Constitutional Amendment 44:  I vote NO.  Now would not be the time to start investing state monies in the stock market.  Cause if it starts to look like my portfolio, you can kiss that surplus goodbye.

The mill levy:  I voted YES.  A small increase in taxes to pay for the University system is worthwhile.

In political scandals, if it qualifies for a “gate” prefix then it’s a big deal.  Troopergate is a scandal that has plagued VP nominee Sarah Palin since the moment it was mentioned.  But after two months of back and forth accusations, Palin has been cleared by an independent panel.

Many Republicans don’t like John McCain, but I am a true believer in the Senator from Arizona.

Going into the Republican primary, McCain was nobody’s favorite.  Romney was the pundit’s favorite.  Huckabee was the conservative favorite. And Giuliani was beloved by many who thought he represented the moderate-fiscal conservatives.

Giuliani blew the strategy with a costly all-for-Florida strategy. Huckabee was too unknown and too broke to perservere.  And Romney, well, Romney was a Mormon who seemed to elitist for the base of the party.

When the music stopped only McCain had a chair, and I shed a tear.  Literally.

After eight years of the Jackass from Crawford, a GOP outsider is exactly what this party needed.  Someone who could speak for the Republicans in the middle and reach across the aisle.  Someone who has spent decades serving his country, who has always put America first.  But those of us who had come to know and love John McCain for his mavericky maverickness have been disappointed.

The GOP and the Bush Administration have never been fans of McCain.  So, it should have been easy to undo the campaign claim that voting for McCain meant 8 more years of Bush.  But with the GOP desperate to hold onto the base, he was pulled to the right and it has hurt him.

I think that some of his behavior over the last year has been against type because of what happened in 2000.  He lost in South Carolina because of dirty politics, and watched as slick messaging and campaigning brought home the election for Bush.  This strategy was so successful in 2000, 2002, and 2004 that McCain tarnished his own brand to follow the formula that had been successful for other Republicans. But you can’t depend on the base in a year when more people than ever consider themselves independents.

But there have been rays of hope during this campaign that have kept me in the McCain camp.

In October, when McCain took the mic from a supporter who called Obama an Arab so that he could set the record straight.  His last town hall in Peterborough showed the John McCain I have respected.  And in the last few week, McCain’s speeches have sounded more like the man his supporters know and less like the man the RNC would like him to be.

But I fear that this change may have come to late. We needed John McCain’s special brand of leadership and for whatever reason, we got a strange hybrid of the Bush Admin and the maverick of Arizona.  And I don’t think that that chimera can win.

I voted for John McCain because I believe in the politician that I have respected and admired for 10 years.  I know what kind of President he will be, and that is why I filled in his oval.  If he loses, it will be because he went against the brand that he has been building for decades.

I have blogged several times about the reporting (I use that term as loosely as possible) at The Montana Standard.  My complaints range from a complete lack of journalistic integrity (like allowing crime reporters to also write features on the victims during the trial) to shamelessly lazy reporting.

Their most recent mistake falls into the latter category.

With only one competitive state legislature race in Butte, you’d think it would be easy to remember which one it is.  But not for the Standard.

Last week, they wrote a lengthy article about the race for HD 37.  Trouble is that HD 37 is in Sidney.   You know, out there in that Eastern part of the state.  The Butte race is Senate District 37.  Geniuses, right?

But the fun does not end there.

On Saturday, the Standard issued a clarification to one of the candidate’s statements.   Did they happen to correct that they erroneously called SD 37, HD37?  Of course not.  In fact, they again screwed up and referred to the race as SD 27.  But SD 27 is in Billings.

Awesome.  Some people might think that this is a conspiracy to keep people from voting for the non-incumbent Republican, but it’s probably just stupidity on the part of the paper.  Yet, the race for SD 37 is really a good one.

The race between Steve Gallus (D) and Bob Dwyer (R) is the only contest in this navy blue burg.  And if the Butte voters were voting with their heads and not their bleeding liberal hearts, they would see that Dwyer is a fair minded conservative who would be a great state legislator.  Not as good as Gerry Allen would have been when he ran against Gallus and lost, but still pretty good.

Unlike Gallus whose only real employment has been as a state legislator (he’s a fly fishing guide), Dwyer is a highly educated man with a specialty degree in tax law.  He’s also a longtime Butte resident and family man. He supports responsible tax policies that give citizens bang for their buck.  He supports increased funding for education, protecting the second amendment, using state funds to support energy exploration and a one strike law for drunk drivers.  And while he is a Republican, he seems far more interested in representing our community than his party.

The same cannot be said for Steve Gallus.

Gallus is at best lackluster, and at worst a hideous disappointment.  Of the 19 pieces of legislation he sponsored in 2007, not one was signed into law and several didn’t even make it to committee.  He has also served as Vice Chair of the Fish and Game committee and sponsored legislation regarding fisheries.  Most people would see that as an obvious conflict of interest for a man who makes his living managing a lodge and guiding fly fisherman, but not Gallus.

Gallus also betrayed the people of Butte when he voted against Jessica’s Law, a law that requires sex offenders to register with local law enforcement.  In fact, he voted against it twice.

Gallus is the essence of a career politician, a man who keeps getting elected because he’s a Democrat with enough money and free time to keep running. He has long stopped representing his District’s interest when he votes against bills like Jessica’s law and supports legislation that allows drunk drivers four strikes before they face real punishment.  Gallus is an empty suit who simply does what the other Butte Dems tell him to do, and only shows initiative when he can personally benefit.

Bob Dwyer is a community oriented guy with the education and experience to represent SD 37 in the legislature.  He is a family man who will protect our children and our community from predators and drunk drivers.  He also understands that Montana should be at the forefront of energy development but should also protect our environment.  In a race between Dwyer and Gallus, Dwyer is the best choice for Butte.

But even if Dwyer loses on Tuesday, there is some comfort in knowing that Gallus will term limit out after this year.

In a campaign where Sen. Obama has repeatedly stressed the need for bipartisan cooperation and diplomacy, his campaign staff apparently haven’t gotten the memo.  This weekend, reporters from three newspapers who had endorsed McCain were unceremoniously tossed from Obama’s campaign plane.  Coincidence?  The LA Times doesn’t think so.

Sen. Barack Obama’s operation has kicked three newspaper reporters off its campaign plane.

Obama’s people say it was a tough decision to boot the reporters for the New York Post, the Dallas Morning News and the Washington Times. But, they say, there are only so many seats on the plane and somebody had to go.

 

It’s probably just a coincidence that all three papers recently endorsed Obama’s Republican rival for president, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

“It feels like the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the wealth,” quipped John Solomon, executive editor of the Times, which lost its seat after three years of travel with the Illinois senator and just 72 hours after endorsing McCain.

That newspaper’s website headlined the fact that the Obama campaign spent 700,000 on staging, sound and lights for his Berlin victory rally in July for the more than 200,000 Germans in attendance, who can’t vote in Tuesday’s election.

Gee, you could dress more than four Republican vice presidential candidates with that kind of money.

The Dallas Morning News, meanwhile, has offered no evidence that its expulsion was payback.

Think about it: Why would a political campaign take retribution on reporters for a decision made by their publication’s separate editorial boards? The papers, after all, pay their own way on the charters.

That would be a cheesy, hardball — and quite possibly counterproductive — move for a front-runner to do. That candidate’s organization would have to reflect an enormous ego and overconfidence to pull something like that.

And it’s certainly not the kind of hands-across-the-aisle, bipartisan change we need and/or can believe in a national capital that could use a large dose of both.

Amazingly, as Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post points out, two seats suddenly opened up on the Obama campaign plane this weekend to accommodate reporters from Ebony and Essence magazines.

Another coincidence.

This sounds a lot like something George W. Bush would do, since the threat of political retribution was how he kept the party in line for all of those years.  I guess watching a Democrat play by Rovian rules is change you can believe in.

This story just cracks me up.

Last week, several Butte residents received phone calls from a firm conducting a poll regarding the local race for Chief Executive (Mayor) between incumbent Paul Babb and Schweitzer’s favorite “pregnant nun” Mary McMahon.  The poll questioners did not identify which company they were from or which candidate they represented but the tone of the questions made it pretty clear.

Those who have received the call say it links Babb to the Republican party, empty buildings in Butte, hardships at the Bert Mooney Airport and points to wrongful discharge settlements during his administration.

Awesome, right? Mary McMahon and her supporters are so desperate to win this election that they want the people of Butte to think that Babb is a Republican.  Cause in Butte that’s like the kiss of death.  And they are openly thwarting the law to do it.

I mean, can you imagine?  It’s the Butte mayor’s race not the presidential contest, and McMahon is going all Karl Rove on the thing.  That odor you smell is desperation.

McMahon can’t counter the argument that Babb has been good for Butte.  He’s the first Chief Executive who isn’t a member of the good old boys network that runs this town.  He’s done his best to bolster our lagging economy and has done a great job bringing in festivals and events to boost tourism revenues.  And despite some problems early in his Admin, he is well liked by most voters.

Mary McMahon has neither the experience nor the temperament for the job of Chief Executive, and this push poll proves that for her winning is more important than the law.   Hopefully, Unsworth’s office won’t let this charge go un-investigated.