Do you ever wonder if, now that Conrad Burns is off in a life of lobbying, Representative Rehberg feels the need to ratchet up his buffoonery to maintain Montana’s reputation for having one totally incompetent member of Congress at a time? Rehberg’s never been a particularly good Representative, but in the past few months, he has really moved up into Burns-Marlenee territory for incompetence and dishonesty.
Consider his latest work, in a campaign stop with the Rotarians in Missoula, where Rehberg once again demonstrated his respect for the people of Montana, by treating them like fools.
Rehberg warmed up the crowd with his continuing hypocrisy about the Congressional recess, criticizing the Democratic leadership for adjourning to campaign at home, while he’s ,uh, campaigning at home. As important as ribbon cuttings and speeches to civic groups may be, they certainly aren’t working in Washington, which Rehberg identified as critically important less than a week ago, despite his own dismal record on the issue.
Not satisfied with hypocrisy, Rehberg decided to lie to the good people of Missoula. Speaking to the Rotary club in a campaign event, he said of Democrats:
“Normally, we would have the appropriations process done by the Fourth of July,” Rehberg said, “and they have entirely stopped the process.”
If anyone has stopped the work of Congress, it’s the Republicans, who have filled the session with childish stunts and blocks on a great deal of legislation. And what Congress has Rehberg been a part of, that passes appropriations before July 4th? Was it the
- the 109th Congress, which recessed in December, without having completed 9 out of 11 appropriations bills, or
- the 108th Congress, which was working on appropriations in November, or
- the 107th Congress, which failed to pass 11 of 13 appropriations bills?
Maybe some should tell Dennis to stick to resolutions honoring the City of Billings and the Carroll College Football team. That kind of legislative and political work seems to be about the extent of his ability.
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