I am mesmerized by how ridiculously bad this endorsement is.
October 2006
My Montana exploratory committee has met and after weeks of debate and planning, I’d like to announce that I declaring myself as a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2008.
Inspired by Duncan Hunter’s daring, heroic announcement, I am convinced that anyone can win that nomination.
I hope I can count on your support.
You have to give Gerry O’Brien from the Montana Standard and Lawrence Farrar, the President of Resodyn, credit for one thing: they have no shame at all. No worry about public scrutiny, no concern about the appearance of partiality, and no regard for the truth. I’ve always wondered how a Senator could sell his integrity as cheaply as Senator Burns has. Now I wonder about a newspaper editor who can sell his own credibility and that of a 100 year old newspaper for nothing.
Weeks after getting caught red-handed for allowing an obviously pro-Burns business and its owner to plant Burns supporters in the Butte Senate debate, and even apologizing for this incredible clear lack of judgement, the editor at the Standard decided it was reasonable to give Mr. Farrar a platform to support Senator Burns in an opinion piece this morning.
The Standard didn’t even bother to fact check this puff piece. Farrar claims:
Burns has provided about 10 percent of that money, $250 million, to fund projects in Butte, which has played a vital role in the economic recovery and wellbeing of our community.
Interesting that the Standard trusts a partisan corporate welfare hack more than the reporters from Lee Enterprises, who concluded that Burns was not responsible for all of that money at all. In fact, according to Marko Lucich, executive director of the Butte Chamber of Commerce:
Baucus, along with Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont., have been a “huge part” of helping the area, he said, along with state legislators.
“Senator Baucus is very important, too, equally important, he’s done pretty much the same thing for our community,” Lucich said.
It’s probably a lot to expect fact checking from a newspaper like the Standard, but shouldn’t they at least trust reporters who work in the same corporation? Maybe when Larry and Gerry sat down to write this piece, they could have reconciled those reports.
One last note. Does it seem odd that conservatives who decry welfare and benefits for the truly poor celebrate this kind of government largesse for corporations? Consider this passage in the article:
In particular, we at Resodyn can speak to the positive effect that Burns has had on our business over the past three years. Work by Burns on the appropriations committees has resulted in Resodyn receiving more than $20 million in contracts and grants from the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.
According to the Gazette piece, Resodyn employs all of 35 people, and the real amount of federal money transferred to the corporation was $23 million. By my calculations, that’s $657,142 per employee. I wonder if federal monies might not be better spent on a corporation that has actually produced something of value.
For people like Lawrence Farrar and shameless hacks like Gerry O’Brien, money trumps morality. It’s fortunate for us that Montana voters cannot be bought as easily as these two.
Conrad is all talk when it comes to supporting veterans. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association, a non-partisan group of veterans of both wars, has given the Senator a grade of D+ for Veteran and solidiers affairs.
It’s no small sample: The IAVA looked at over 300 votes in the past five years to detemine its rankings, based on “issues that affect US troops, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and military families.”
It’s shameful for Burns to continue to cheerlead for a war, when he fails to support the men and women fighting it, but given his lack of support for issues important to the Disabled American Veterans, it’s hardly surprising.
The IR’s headline for this AP piece by Matt Gouras, like the story, gets it half right: “Campaign spin: Keeping facts straight no easy task.” They forgot the “So we don’t really try all that hard” part.
The most egregious lie the Burns campaign has made has been about his travel schedule? What about:
- his claims about embryonic stem cell research
- his claim that UN troops are in Afghanistan
- his connection to Abramoff
- his assertion that chemical weapons have been found in Iraq
- his claim that the 2005 Energy Bill heavily promoted renewables
- his claim that he has never voted for a tax increase
- his votes against increases for Pell Grants
Apparently, looking into those “was no easy task.”
As for the sales tax issue, Matt writes:
Burns has said in the past he would consider a national sales tax or a flat-rate income tax as part of overall tax reform that would eliminate all other taxes.
Charles Johnson, on Saturday, wrote:
Burns said he filled out a questionnaire saying he would be willing to look at a national sales tax that would eliminate all other taxes, but had made no commitment to support one until he saw the details.
Yet, Burns filled these questions out on the NTU survey:
6. MAJOR TAX REFORM. I will work and vote to repeal the entire federal Tax Code and completely replace it.
[x ] YES [ ] NO [ ] UNDECIDED
7. TAX REFORM CHOICE. If you answered Yes to Question 6, please state reforms you will support
(check one or more):[x] A national retail sales tax that provides reasonable protection for low-income people, with a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to abolish and prohibit all federal income taxes after a transition period.
[x ] A single, low, flat-rate income tax with a large exemption for each taxpayer and dependent, with a U.S. Constitutional Amendment to prohibit more than one income tax rate.
It might be easier to keep the facts straight if you weren’t spun like a top by the Burns people. If he’s not responsible for his own words, on this survey or elswhere, then how can you fact check anything?
It’s not balanced reporting to say both sides are being dishonest when one is much worse than the other. It’s another lie.
