Big Sky Cairn

Republican Denny Rehberg sleeps on his couch, holds campaign events at bars with animal heads on the wall and raises his money in Montana.

Democrat Max Baucus lives in Georgetown, spends thousands of dollars at swank DC restaurants, drives a new BMW and raises his money everywhere but Montana.

Democrat Jim Hunt… well he wants to live in Washington, DC and doesn’t really raise much money from anywhere.

Why isn’t the media talking about where the millions of dollars that Baucus is going to dump into Montana races comes from?  Since that Missoulian article (linked above), we haven’t heard a thing about where Baucus is raising his money.  Since it’s going to have a pretty big impact on the political face of Montana, I think it’s a story worth telling.

I commented before that seventh-string candidate Jim Hunt, sacrificial lamb for the Montana Democrat Party, was going to have some trouble raising money once the low-hanging fruit was harvested. And, I was right. Rehberg outraised Hunt 2-1 last quarter - in a political environment that hasn’t been favoring Republican fundraising.

After a poor showing in Montana, it looks like Hunt is taking a page out of Baucus’ play book and looking for out-of-state money. A desperate plea at Daily Kos - the notoriously liberal site that once celebrated American deaths in Iraq - will give you some idea of the type of people Hunt is trying to convince he has a chance - ’cause Montana just ain’t buying it.

Sometimes, I read blog posts and they just confuse me.  They make an argument or a claim and then use it to support a completely unrelated conclusion.

Montana Peaks & Politics is ticked at President Bush for vetoing the Farm Bill.  Makes sense.  So am I.  So are a myriad of other Montanans.  But MPP doesn’t stop there, he decides to take this argument into the stratosphere of poor partisan logic.

President Bush vetoed the Farm Bill.  President Bush is a Republican.  Denny Rehberg is a Republican.  We must get rid of Denny Rehberg.

What?  Forget the fact that Rehberg voted in support of the Farm Bill.  Forget the fact that he voted to override the President’s veto.

Nope, he’s a Republican and the President is a Republican so he must be punished for the President’s stupid decision to veto the Farm Bill.  Yeah, that makes sense.

The Wall Street Journal nails what Pelosi and her merry band did last week, in short bowed to the far left and cut off funding to support our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Senate will in all likelihood restore this funding and get rid of the retreat timelines, but the whole thing is one more example of Democrats turning our government into a circus.

Read the rest of this entry »

Seriously, props to Jay Stevens for the national attention. It must be exhilarating to get that kind of recognition. I mean, to have Howard Dean - Mr. Montana himself - recognize the hard work of being a lefty blogger along with 49 other official state blogs (sucks to be in states 51-57 I guess) has got to be exciting. I’m sure Dean is a regular reader - you can tell from the way his statement doesn’t seem scripted at all. I wonder if it was the 49th or the 50th one he did that day.

I mean getting a shout out of national significance - from an important place like Washington, DC, the home of Senator Max Baucus, Mr. BMW himself, is a remarkable accomplishment, so well done.

Of course, to share in your celebration we’ll all forget that we know that national Democrat Leaders will say anything to dupe Montanans into supporting them.

I guess we’ll just have to settle for the insignificant opinions of actual Montanans like Congressman Denny Rehberg and Gubernatorial Candidate Roy Brown. Ooooh the sour grapes taste awful!

YEEEAAHH!!!

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed their yearly resolution honoring mothers and Mother’s Day. A noble gesture meant to signify the love and appreciation that all Americans feel toward the women who bore us. But this year’s resolution is wrapped in a little bit of controversy and a whole lot of distortion.

It started when the Washington Post’s Dana Millbank published a story entitled “Republican’s Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies and Kittens.” This article was then picked up by two of Montana’s lefty bloggers who used it’s finer points to argue that Montana Representative Denny Rehberg didn’t vote to support mothers. But their argument leaves a lot to be desired.

First off, the bill honoring Mother’s Day was H. Res. 1113. According to the Library of Congress, Rehberg voted for H. Res. 1113. In fact, the resolution passed 412-0. Which would suggest that every Member who voted, supported the Mother’s Day resolution.

So, where did the Montana bloggers and Millbank get the idea that House Republicans didn’t support the resolution? Because after the vote was complete, Rep. Tiahrt (R-Kans.) moved for a “motion to reconsider.” A motion supported by 178 House Republicans. But despite the motion’s name, Rehberg’s support for the motion doesn’t undo his support for the Mother’s Day resolution.

According to the House Rules Committee’s website, a motion to reconsider:

Under Rule XVIII, the motion to reconsider is available to any Member who votes on the prevailing side of a question and who wishes to move reconsideration on the same or succeeding legislative day. This normally only occurs when Members (usually Minority party Members) determine there is a need to slow down the legislative process.

So, why would Millbank and the lefty bloggers insinuate that this motion showed the Republicans disdain for mothers and Mother’s Day? Because it makes Rehberg sound like the Big Bad Wolf. Nevermind the fact that the motion to reconsider doesn’t change the fact that H. Res. 1113 passed unanimously.

Rehberg is on the record supporting Mother’s Day, as are 411 of his House Colleagues. His vote for the motion to reconsider doesn’t change that. But why let a little thing like the facts get in the way of a catchy headline?

In an effort to give Seventh String Hunt a fighting chance, Montana Democrats are going after Congressman Rehberg’s record in the House. In doing so, they appear to be willing to lie and distort the record at every turn.

First, they claimed that Rehberg is a puppet for President Bush, even though his voting record tells a different story.

Then they complained that he didn’t support an important and popular bill, even though he voted for it.

Now, Jack at Western Word points out that they are accusing him of not supporting the G.I. Bill even though he’s signed on as a cosponsor.

Of course, it did not take long for Montana Democrats to use veterans, once again, as a political tool. They sent out a “Demo Digest” e-mail telling folks that Rehberg did not support the bill “last year.” According to Senator Webb’s website, the bill in the House, H.R.5740, was only introduced in the House on April 9, 2008. Rehberg signed on as a co-sponsor April 24. Also, according to Senator Jim Webb’s website, the same bill in the senate, S-22, introduced on 01/04/07 was not co-sponsored by Senator Baucus until June 12, 2007, and by Senator Tester until March 22, 2007. So, it took Rehberg only 15 days to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill, where it took Tester about 77 days and Baucus about 159 days.

Undoubtedly, Max Baucus’ army of campaign workers is digging through the thousands of votes looking for anything they can find to attack Rehberg. The best they can find so far, apparently, is that he doesn’t support the bills he votes for and cosponsors.

Attention Montana Democrats: Please stop lying to the people you hope to represent.

Heh…

Looks like the neighborhood is changing, and we just got here too. Craig over at MTPolitics has a guest blogger today, Denny Rehberg. The Congressman is showing his support for the Blogger Protection Act which protects the political speech of bloggers from FEC rules. Go check it out.

I laughed about Mary Ann Aker’s blog post at the Post. I mean, it was so insanely partisan and pointless that I’m not sure it wasn’t ghost-written by Montana Democrats. It’s hard to take such a clumsy piece seriously.

But past the ‘hit piece’ nature is an amusing human story. You can just see the poor campaign treasurer scrounging over receipts in a darkly lit office with a single lamp by which to work. He picks up his cup of warm coffee and grabs the next receipt. $300 for “Tune Inn” - no notations. Naturally he assumes that Tune Inn is an Inn where you sleep. Poor guy has probably never been to DC and wouldn’t really know that Tune Inn was a bar. Now his oversight is national news. Whoops.

As bars go though, this is the sort of Bar Montana’s Congressman should go to. Just look at this description.

There are eight mounted deer heads on the walls of the tiny Tune Inn — and, more important, two mounted deer butts. The butts are a lot more emblematic of this raucous neighborhood joint. The most popular thing on the menu is the pitcher of beer, just $5.50 (as long as you order Busch, not any of that yuppie stuff). During the day, the place specializes in workingman breakfasts and quick lunches. At night, if you feel like eating, the straightforward and cheap cheeseburger is the house specialty. Push through the loud throngs that mob the front of the place on weekend evenings and you may find a relatively peaceful booth in the back. An historical note: This is where James Carville and Mary Matalin went on their first date. They left quickly.

Sounds a bit like Stockmans in Missoula. They probably have peanuts. It’s things like this that make me wonder why Montana Democrats are trying to suggest that Rehberg is out of touch with Montana. He’s still Montana through and through - which is why the east-coast liberals like to make fun of him so much.

And where’s the contrast with Max Baucus? And a tab of $300 is a drop in the bucket compared with the $37,000 Max Baucus spent in three months on pretentious high-brow east coast restaurants. Think there’s not a difference?

Cheers to Rehberg for keeping it real.

Cheers to Jay for getting the humor.

Jeers to Lamnidae for being lamely partisan.

Jeers to the Washington Post for paying a Democrat Party Hack’s salary.