Posted on 07/21/2007 8:48:35 PM PDT by Montana Headlines
HELENA - The state's top campaign cop has dismissed a Republican Party complaint that said Gov. Brian Schweitzer accepted an illegal corporate contribution by attending political events at the Kentucky Derby this spring.
Schweitzer, a Democrat, traveled to the Derby in Louisville, Ky., the weekend of May 5 at the expense of the Democratic Governors Association.
Schweitzer is finance chairman for the association, a private organization that raises money and otherwise assists Democratic candidates running for governor in states across the nation.
The Montana Republican Party alleged that association activities could help promote Schweitzer's re-election in 2008, and therefore corporate money was being used to publicize his candidacy.
(Excerpt) Read more at billingsgazette.net ...
The GOP does best when we act like the adults, and playing "gotcha" over things that aren't going to shock anyone ends up being a political loser.
The Montana GOP suffers from a pathological hatred of Gov. Schweitzer that reminds one of nothing so much as the GOP hatred of Pres. Clinton.
Both men had a talent for bringing out the worst in the GOP. It is amazing that we let anyone do that to us.
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How can you say that???? If it wasn't for President Clinton, the Pubs would never have taken over in '94.
“Both men had a talent for bringing out the worst in the GOP. It is amazing that we let anyone do that to us”
It can be corrected.
That was the high point.
Clinton just had a talent for driving Republicans crazy, and rather than ignore him as the irrelevant piece of trailer trash that he was, we instead made him into a Democratic icon.
It is certainly what the GOP is doing with Schweitzer in Montana. There are signs that our new state GOP chairman, Erik Iverson, takes a smarter approach to dealing with the good guv.
There is nothing that satisfies Schweitzer more than having Republicans attack him over everything from bringing his dog into the capitol building or wearing jeans and that silly bolo tie to work.
That kind of attention allows him to keep the focus off substance.
Clinton was the same -- we kicked him around like a soccer ball with the Contract for America. But once we got onto Monica, we lost the "we're the grownup party" advantage.
Just an opinion.
Yes, it most certainly can.
I don't know much about Montana but if the Pubs there are making an issue over bolo ties, you are right in that it will backfire big time.
OTOH, Clinton and his groping and rape accusations and bjs while lobbying for military adventures, could not be ignored.
:The GOP does best when we act like the adults, and playing “gotcha” over things that aren’t going to shock anyone ends up being a political loser.The Montana GOP suffers from a pathological hatred of Gov. Schweitzer that reminds one of nothing so much as the GOP hatred of Pres. Clinton.”
HUH? There are Republicans whose careers were ended over less than this. In fact, this kind of trip sounds a lot like a DeLay trip that was deemed proof of the ‘culture of corruption’ among same.
It’s bad enough that we have to live under this double standard, but to lecture Republicans for having the ‘bad form’ to point out possible improper acts is too much!
No, it doesn’t shock me that Democrats aren’t Eagle scouts, but IMHO the people do need a reminder of that fact, just in case!
Of course there is a double standard. That’s hardly front page news.
In my full MH commentary, I make it clear that we absolutely should point out probable wrongdoing and file complaints.
My “criticism” is that when the GOP acts as though that double standard doesn’t exist, we lose PR wars.
We need to be smarter than that. The Montana GOP lost this round, but could just as easily have won it with a different strategy, as was detailed in my commentary.
“Clinton just had a talent for driving Republicans crazy, and rather than ignore him as the irrelevant piece of trailer trash that he was, we instead made him into a Democratic icon.”
Um, no, it was the Democrat depraved and socialist base and the 89% proClinton media (including Clinton News Network) who made him into an icon. Folks like, I dunno, George Stephanaopolus and Rick Kaplan at CNN, etc. With the media on Clinton’s side and their Spin Machine working 24/7 *of course* the GOP did’t look good, no matter what they did or didn’t do.
So now we have to not only live with the double standard but pay rhetorical homage to it?
Methinks you doth protest too much. Surely there are more serious things to complain about.
Just as long as he NEVER becomes a senator. I hope this time you folks will be able to field a credible candidate against Baucus.
I don’t see Schweitzer as wanting to be Senator, yet. He is going to buck for the Veep spot or a cabinet position, or at least an ambassadorship. More his style.
But he will undoubtedly run for the Baucus seat in 2014 if not otherwise occupied.
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