Commander-in-Chief?

Barack Obama was supposed to visit a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, after his “We are the world” speech on Thursday in Berlin.

He canceled it. Maybe because the press could not accompany him. His spokesman, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration said in an interview:

Senator Obama had hoped to and had every intention of visiting our troops to express his appreciation and gratitude for their service to our country," Gration said, but added: Sen. Obama did not want to have a trip to see our wounded warriors perceived as a campaign event.

Get real General - this whole trip is a freaking campaign event – even the part that was paid for with taxpayer money. We’ll see many photos and video from every part of this trip used in Obama flyers, letters, and campaign commercials.

Obama should have visited the troops who have sacrificed so much for our country. This is very poor judgment for someone who desires to be the Commander-in-Chief. To heck with it being perceived as a campaign event. He should tell his campaign staff to take a hike for a few hours, while he personally visits with some real Americans. Obama dropped the ball on this one – big time.

Switching Positions

The other day we saw Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick and the Montana Democratic Party working hand in hand on a story about Congressman Denny Rehberg and his votes regarding Cuba.

Ms. Jalonick wrote:

The pattern of Rehberg's votes on Cuba, recently discovered by the Montana Democratic Party and pointed out to The Associated Press, shows a more complicated picture.

Thursday we discover during our daily check of the Montana GOP website that they claim that Senator Max Baucus also switched positions about Cuba and also received donations (almost twice the amount) just like was reported in the AP story that attempted to damage Rehberg’s credibility.

The MT GOP contends:

The research shows that Senator Max Baucus, who has in recent years supported several efforts to end the embargo on trade to Cuba has flip-flopped away from the pro-Cuban trade embargo position he held in 1995 and 1996.

And then there’s the donations the MT GOP states that Baucus received:

Between 1996 and 2000, Baucus received $18,560 from organizations opposed to the Cuban trade embargo.

Many of us remember that during the 2006 election season, the Montana Democratic party basically owned the media in Montana getting attack after attack published in the newspapers across the state with their stories and news reports credited to very few first-person accounts, but mostly relying on sources who were unnamed or a source close to an investigation.

In the good old days of reporting the news, I would expect this new information to be hitting the AP wires any minute now. A good editor, publisher or news director would ensure it happened. Since this is the age of gotcha politics and news reporting, I’m not gonna hold my breath. It was nice to see KTVQ in Billings airing both sides in a story posted early this morning.

Control?

Three officers from the 91^st Missile Wing at Minot AFB, North Dakota, fell asleep while in control of classified launch code devices. The Air Force reported the July 12 incident today. Here’s the Associated Press story. The story was first broken by POGO.

Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) chimed in about the recent problems at his base saying, "There have obviously been management and command problems at this base and the Air Force has made some command changes to respond to it."

Ouch. Dorgan, as a member of the Defense Appropriations Committee, has invested millions into Minot. He does not want to see the base fail (We sure could use Dorgan's Senate clout here in Montana).

According to the Associated Press:

“The 91st missile wing has control of several facilities, including 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles.”

Well, maybe not.

Nader: On the Montana ballot for President?

Ralph Nader may make the ballot here in Montana for the 2008 Presidential election according to an Associated Press article.

This can’t be good news for Barack Obama.

In the 2000 General Election, "Green Party" candidate Ralph Nader took 6% of the vote in Montana. Nader received 24,437 votes, by far the strongest showing for a third party candidate for President in Montana that year. Nader took 15% of the vote in Missoula County in 2000.

In the 2004 General Election, “Independent” candidate Nader received 6,168 votes, again the strongest showing for a third party candidate.

On the web: www.votenader.org

AP & MT Dems: Working Together

While looking through the Associated Press wires today to see if there was a story out about Congressman Denny Rehberg’s recent trip to Iraq, I came across this almost 900 word article from Associated Press reporter, Mary Clare Jalonick, about Rehberg and Cuba. That’s right, Cuba.

At least she was honest and forthright about the source for her story:

The pattern of Rehberg's votes on Cuba, recently discovered by the Montana Democratic Party and pointed out to The Associated Press,

Maybe next time, it would be nice to have this disclaimer placed in the first sentence, so readers would know from where she received her information. Better yet, maybe she could just use the banner from the Montana Democratic Party press release.

It’s campaign season, Ms. Jalonick. I doubt your copied and pasted hit pieces from the Montana Democrats will have as much effect in 2008 as they did in 2006.

By the way, a different AP reporter actually wrote a story about Rehberg’s trip to Iraq. It was about 275 words.

Home is where you...

It looks like Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont) have a little more in common than just being Democrats.

The Palm Beach Post reports:

Wexler's challenger has accused the six-term congressman of playing a residency shell game, saying Wexler, D-Delray Beach, uses his mother-in-law's address in Delray Beach while flagrantly making his home in a Maryland suburb.

Many readers may remember that Max Baucus “didn't own a home in Montana for 11 years of his 29-year Senate career.” Now, Max owns “half” of his mother’s home here in Montana.

Wexler does not own a home in his Florida Congressional District, but owns a really nice one near Washington, D.C., just like Baucus does.

It looks like Wexler’s family, or at least his children, cannot live in his mother-in-law’s Florida home for an extended period because it is a “deed-restricted community for people 55 and over.” Wexler has three teenage children.

The big difference between Wexler and Baucus is that Wexler, as a member of the U.S, House, faces reelection every two years. Baucus, as a member of the U.S. Senate, faces reelection every six years, so Wexler probably has to actually “visit” his state more often to get reelected. I guess depending on your views that can be good or bad.

I hear Montana and Florida are wonderful places to take a vacation during August recess…

Obama Love

You're just too good to be true...Can't take my eyes off you...

It’s the same here

My friend over at 2nd Grade Bike Rack has a post up about the Rasmussen Reports poll released yesterday about “The Media's Coverage Of The Presidential Race.”

I just have to comment about it, too. The poll showed that 49% of the people polled believe reporters are trying to help Barack Obama and just 14% are trying to help John McCain with their coverage. The 49% is up five points from last month.

We see newspaper reporters here in Montana helping their favorite candidate all the time. The last major election (2006) was a classic example.

It’s no wonder that newspapers are going down the toilet. Nobody trusts them to accurately and fairly report the news without showing bias. Circulation is down and people are being laid off. It’s no different in Montana and, frankly, I have to smile a little about it.

If I were a publisher, I’d be telling the few folks left in the building just to report the news and stop trying to make the news. Also, I’d ask that whoever leaves last to shut off the lights and lock the door.

"Pump"

Nice ad:

They don’t hate it that much

On Sunday, the Billings Gazette editorial team wrote an opinion about drunken driving in Montana.

In the Gazette Opinion, we read that:

Under state law, a person's first three DUI convictions are misdemeanors. Not until the fourth offense can a felony be charged. But even then, the law generally limits the maximum sentence to 13 months - even for fifth and subsequent DUIs. The law also mandates six months of chemical dependency treatment for fourth-offense DUI. But some of the most dangerous offenders don't get treatment.

While getting a DUI or two, or three, is probably pretty costly to the offender, if the Gazette is correct that the first three offenses are just misdemeanors, then our legislature needs to increase the penalty.

I say make the second DUI conviction a felony. Heck, take the car they were caught driving drunk in and sell it at a government sale. Make the second and subsequent DUIs have a mandatory sentence and take the plea bargaining out of it.

Montanans hate drunk driving, but it appears they don’t hate it that much or they would significantly increase the penalties for those who are caught driving drunk the second and third times.

It’s Coming!

The break that happens between the NFL draft and Training Camp is almost over! YES!!

This week most NFL training camps start and that’s a good thing. It means the season can’t be that far away, right?

I almost watched a few MLB games. You know I was hurting!

You can check out your team’s training camp schedule HERE.