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Quotes from Billings Gaz. about two main candidates in MT.

Tam

Well-known member
McDonald is unfazed by his odds in the race.

“I’ve been an underdog all my life,” he said. “I’ve been an underdog in creating R-CALF (which represents cattle ranchers on marketing and trade issues) and reinstituting the Montana Cattlemen’s Association and making it through college and law school.”
Could this be why he is a former California lawyer ranching in Montana ? :?
“There is a lot of unrest and angst among voters in Montana,” he said. “There’s huge dissatisfaction with politicians and government. Wherever I go, I hear the theme ‘Let’s throw the rascals out.’ ”
I believe most of the Rascals had a D behind their names and putting another one in to follow Pelosi down the garden path to Bankruptcy is just plain STUPID. :roll:


McDonald, a former trial lawyer from California who now ranches full time in Montana, criticized how Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have overseen aspects of the U.S. economy, taxes and trade.
Can anyone say Rancher Cattlemen Action Legal Fund. that risked the beef industry for their isolationalist protectionist agenda by going after the USDA in Federal Court. LAWYERS :roll: :x :roll:

“As I travel Montana, I’ve never seen the angst in Montanans’ eyes that I’ve witnessed over the last 18 months,” McDonald said. “It’s one of the reasons why I decided to run. We need to rebalance the economic scale.”
The only way to rebalance anything is get Liberal Loon Pelosi as far away from House Speaker seat as humanly possible and voting for McDonald is not going to do a thing to remove her.

McDonald said he’s frustrated over the Obama administration’s handling of the economy. He said he’s “thrilled” that Larry Summers, director of Obama’s White House National Economic Council, has resigned and hopes Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is the next out the door.

“When you keep selecting these people from Wall Street to steer economic policy, it shouldn’t be surprising to any of us that it gets us where it did,” he said.
Turbo Tax Tim should have never been invited in the door AND It is the party that he would be (if elected :cry: ) a JUNIOR Congressman of, that brought him and many more that should not be in the Administration So why should anyone want to vote for him.

McDonald is critical of trade policies that have driven U.S. manufacturing overseas and outsourced so many jobs to China.
And I guess high corporate taxes that the DEMS INCLUDING McDonald want is not going to chase even more jobs out of the country to a country that has a more business friendly tax rate. :roll:

He is an outspoken opponent of the “irresponsible” tax cuts for the wealthy that passed under President George W. Bush, cuts he said had cost several trillion dollars over the decade.

McDonald supports Obama’s proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts for couples making less than $250,000 a year and individuals making less $200,000 a year, but not for people making more.

“I would not continue the tax breaks for those in the high-income brackets,” McDonald said. “I think we have to ask those folks to sacrifice a bit for the good for the country.”
Even senior Dems Senator and Congressmen and Obama's retired Budget Director says raising taxes on ANYONE is NOT SMART. Tax the rich and see just how many jobs they will create to help get the economy going again. :roll:

Rehberg, who voted for the tax cuts, supports extending them for all taxpayers, saying: “We shouldn’t be raising taxes on anyone. Period.”
Gee leave the money in the pocket of somebody that will create private sector jobs, what a great Idea. But no McDonald wants the government to take the money and SPREAD THE WEALTH through entitlement programs. :roll:

McDonald said he likely would have voted for the financial reform bill that became law this fall, but fought for amendments. He wishes that it would have restored the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act that restricted the financial activities of banks, brokerages and insurance companies. Clinton made a big mistake by approving the repeal of this law in 1999, McDonald said.

Its repeal basically turned some major banks into Las Vegas casinos with reckless investment decisions that caused the national financial crisis, McDonald said.
Finally a Dem that admits his own party had a hand in the Financial crisis, here I thought we were told it was a BUSH BUST. :???: And good luck with those amendment when Pelosi and Ried are writing the bills there are not amendment allowed. :wink: :roll:


Jim McGarvey, executive secretary of the Montana AFL-CIO, praised McDonald as someone who relates to working people and “is the next best thing for working families and the labor movement since (former Rep.) Pat Williams.”

“He understands working people,” McGarvey said. “By that, I mean he understands our issues as well as anyone I’ve seen run for public office. ... He understands how health care is taking the country down and that it has to be fixed. He was one of the first to speak out for single-payer.”
McDonald understands UNION ISSUES that is nice to know since the Unions are basically running the Obama Administration Agenda now. :roll:


Rehberg opposed the health care law and criticized McDonald’s support of a single-payer system as “a bad idea” that “would drive up costs and reduce quality and accessibility.”
Welcome to SOCIALLIZED MEDICINE :wink:


One of McDonald’s past legal clients may be an issue that Rehberg or the state GOP will bring up in the waning days of the campaign.

In the late 1970s, McDonald represented Jimmy “The Weasel” Fratianno, a killer and the acting boss of the West Coast Cosa Nostra crime family. He was the highest-ranking Mafioso to ever turn state’s witnesses in the 1970s when McDonald was his attorney and one of the biggest mobsters ever to cooperate with the government.

“I took a career criminal,” McDonald said. “I turned him into a government witness. I worked with (then federal prosecutor) Rudy Giuliani and I put 26 high-ranking criminals in prison.”

Replied Rehberg: “That’s certainly the version of events Dennis McDonald would like folks to believe.”

But Rehberg said there are two well-researched books about the matter with facts that “directly contradict Mr. McDonald’s story.”

He said Giuliani has no recollection of McDonald.

Republicans already ran TV ads about the McDonald-Fratianno link in March 2009.
Gee a lawyer that created R-CALF is ignoring the facts and lieing to the people to further
his agenda, BIG SURPRISE :wink: :roll:


Rehberg has a cumulative 92 percent voting record on business-related issues with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“Generally speaking, if more states elected people like Denny Rehberg, our country would have representatives that listened more, worked harder and voted in a way that creates a better environment to grow our nation’s economy and get people back to work,” said Jon Bennion, government relations director of the Montana Chamber of Commerce.

The past two years he’s been a consistent “no” vote on Democratic President Barack Obama’s major proposals.

His concern over taxes and spending led Rehberg to join the House Tea Party Caucus founded by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., although he’s been unable to attend any meetings so far.

“I appreciate the Tea Party movement nationwide,” he said. “If any organization wants to draw attention to both our spending and our taxation, that’s a good thing.”

McDonald has blasted Rehberg over several controversies, calling the congressman’s personal conduct “a reoccurring embarrassment to Montana.”

He was referring to the boat crash on Flathead Lake in August 2009. Tests show the driver of boat, Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell, was intoxicated, and he faces criminal charges. Rehberg was a passenger with two aides who were hurt, one seriously. Rehberg released his blood alcohol content, which was 0.05 percent several hours after the wreck.

Rehberg said the boat accident hasn’t been an issue in the campaign.

“We were victims of an accident,” he said. “People are very understanding of that. The only people that seem to be perpetuating that issue are people like my opponent
Wasn't Oldtimer making a big issue out of this awhile back?

So let's sum it up, A Tea Party Conservative verses the Creator of R-CALF. Anyone want to guess where my LEGAL VOTE is going? :wink:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Tam- I would expect that you would oppose anyone who supports US cattle producers and America First over Canadian/foreign imports....

The comedy is that the Northern Ag Network did a profile of the two candidates- and they have almost identical views on all the Ag issues-- especially since Rehberg now took the Tea Party pledge.... :roll:

The Tea Party Pledge (sign below)

We, the undersigned, pledge to vote only for sound candidates regardless of their party. We seek traditional candidates who favor an anti-globalist, America-First platform. We shall only vote for a candidate who:

(1) Supports reductions in legal immigration; favors attrition policies, ending birthright citizenship and terminating chain migration; and opposes amnesty and illegal immigration. (Both legal and illegal immigration are driving down American wages and undermining traditional demographics.)

(2) Supports America First economic policies and opposes free trade (e.g. NAFTA, et al.), which is destroying the American economy. (Historically conservatives opposed free trade, a globalist practice that Karl Marx himself supported.)

(3) Supports national self-defense but opposes interventionism and nation building. The transformation of the Middle East to liberal democracy is Wilsonian liberalism, not conservatism.

(4) Opposes federal bailouts.

(5) Supports states' sovereignty.

Unless a Democrat or Republican candidate meets the criteria above, we pledge not to vote or to vote third party.

Have you taken the pledge yet Tam :???:
 

Tam

Well-known member
Rehberg Issues Statement After Customs & Border Patrol Moves to Stop Further Waste of Tax Dollars
09/29/10

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Montana's Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today released the following statement responding to news that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has started closing the much-criticized Port of Whitetail. Rehberg has been demanding this since early August. The Port had been marked for renovation, at a cost of $8.5 million, and has been a matter of national criticism for some time, all the more now that Canada has decided to close its side of the port. This decision by the Canadian government effectively made the Whitetail port available only for Canadian entry into the United States.

“This is one more example of politicians shooting from the hip when it comes to wasting stimulus dollars on projects that weren’t properly vetted or monitored. No one bothered to investigate the Whitetail Port or talk to the Canadians before deciding it was worth millions to fix it up. While I’m glad that CBP heeded my demands to stop wasting this money, I think the taxpayers in Montana would have preferred that these kinds of decisions had been made before more than a million unrecoverable stimulus dollars were put into it in the first place.”

But But any stimulus money spent in Montana is money well spent isn't it Oldtimer.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Tam said:
Rehberg Issues Statement After Customs & Border Patrol Moves to Stop Further Waste of Tax Dollars
09/29/10

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Montana's Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today released the following statement responding to news that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has started closing the much-criticized Port of Whitetail. Rehberg has been demanding this since early August. The Port had been marked for renovation, at a cost of $8.5 million, and has been a matter of national criticism for some time, all the more now that Canada has decided to close its side of the port. This decision by the Canadian government effectively made the Whitetail port available only for Canadian entry into the United States.

“This is one more example of politicians shooting from the hip when it comes to wasting stimulus dollars on projects that weren’t properly vetted or monitored. No one bothered to investigate the Whitetail Port or talk to the Canadians before deciding it was worth millions to fix it up. While I’m glad that CBP heeded my demands to stop wasting this money, I think the taxpayers in Montana would have preferred that these kinds of decisions had been made before more than a million unrecoverable stimulus dollars were put into it in the first place.”

But But any stimulus money spent in Montana is money well spent isn't it Oldtimer.

Thats what Rehberg just got thru telling the folks at Ekalaka when he was backslapping himself and taking credit for their new highway--BUT he forgot to tell them that he voted against the stimulus bill that paid for it .. :roll:

It did unanimously get him the Hypocrit of the Week Award for Montana politics tho.. :wink: :p :lol: :lol:
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Tam said:
Rehberg Issues Statement After Customs & Border Patrol Moves to Stop Further Waste of Tax Dollars
09/29/10

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Montana's Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today released the following statement responding to news that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has started closing the much-criticized Port of Whitetail. Rehberg has been demanding this since early August. The Port had been marked for renovation, at a cost of $8.5 million, and has been a matter of national criticism for some time, all the more now that Canada has decided to close its side of the port. This decision by the Canadian government effectively made the Whitetail port available only for Canadian entry into the United States.

“This is one more example of politicians shooting from the hip when it comes to wasting stimulus dollars on projects that weren’t properly vetted or monitored. No one bothered to investigate the Whitetail Port or talk to the Canadians before deciding it was worth millions to fix it up. While I’m glad that CBP heeded my demands to stop wasting this money, I think the taxpayers in Montana would have preferred that these kinds of decisions had been made before more than a million unrecoverable stimulus dollars were put into it in the first place.”

But But any stimulus money spent in Montana is money well spent isn't it Oldtimer.

Thats what Rehberg just got thru telling the folks at Ekalaka when he was backslapping himself and taking credit for their new highway--BUT he forgot to tell them that he voted against the stimulus bill that paid for it .. :roll:

It did unanimously get him the Hypocrit of the Week Award for Montana politics tho.. :wink: :p :lol: :lol:

Is this the highway you are talking about?


Rehberg Secures $1.5 Million in Funding for Highway 323 from Ekalaka to Alzada
07/11/07

WASHINGTON, DC - Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today secured $1.5 million in funding for Montana Highway 323 which runs from Ekalaka to Alzada in Southeastern Montana.
“In Montana’s rural communities, providing new and safer routes to get from one town to the next is vital,” said Rehberg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “323 is large piece of the puzzle in terms of providing a convenient connection between these two locations. These funds will help improve the quality of the road and make it more usable for Montanans.”

The road extends roughly 71 miles, with approximately 20 miles remaining unpaved. The funds will be used to help complete the remaining unpaved portion. Highway 323 is a critical component of the region’s economy and is the primary agricultural corridor for Carter County, Montana.

“As an export county, the ability to move our products is critical,” said Jim Courtney, Chairman of the Carter County Commissioners. “Many times local roads are impassible and wore out and the improvements these funds will provide mean a lot.”

“Bad weather and extreme conditions can take a toll on Montana’s roads,” said Rehberg. “By paving the final stretch, we’re doing a great service for those who travel it everyday
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
In the post I made earlier about this, it was a County Commissioner
of Carter County that said most of the credit for the road went to
Rehberg. The CO. COMMISSIONER said that...not Rehberg. Actually,
I couldn't find any press in Montana that berated Rehberg for
helping complete 323 when he voted against the stimulus.

And what is wrong with voting against a spending spree, but when
it is forced down your throat you use it to finish projects that have
already been started or would benefit a whole county? There aren't
enough people in Carter County that Rehberg did that to garner
votes. He did it because the project had been ongoing for years
and years and IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

Now, on the other hand, he could have forgot li'l ole Carter County
and used the money to benefit a county with a larger population. and
gotten more votes for doing so.
Anyway, that's the way I see it.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
In the post I made earlier about this, it was a County Commissioner
of Carter County that said most of the credit for the road went to
Rehberg. The CO. COMMISSIONER said that...not Rehberg. Actually,
I couldn't find any press in Montana that berated Rehberg for
helping complete 323 when he voted against the stimulus.

And what is wrong with voting against a spending spree, but when
it is forced down your throat you use it to finish projects that have
already been started or would benefit a whole county? There aren't
enough people in Carter County that Rehberg did that to garner
votes. He did it because the project had been ongoing for years
and years and IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

Now, on the other hand, he could have forgot li'l ole Carter County
and used the money to benefit a county with a larger population. and
gotten more votes for doing so.
Anyway, that's the way I see it.


From what I can see the funding for the highway was received in 2007. It wasn't part of the stimulus, unless they went back for more, after receiving enough to finish it.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Not all of it was funded in 2007, hypo. According to the Mid-Rivers newsletter (Mid-Rivers is the local internet, phone and cable tv provider for SE and Eastern Montana):

In 2005, $9.6 million was designated
for Highway 323 in the six-year federal
transportation bill, which resulted in
paving an additional 12 miles in 2007.
This year’s federal stimulus spending
gave Highway 323 the final funds to finish
paving the last 14 miles, which started in
July and will be completed next year.
Montana’s entire Congressional Delegation,
including Senator Baucus, former
Senator Burns, Senator Tester, and Congressman
Rehberg, along with the Montana
Department of Transportation, have
all played vital roles through the years in
finally bringing the Highway 323 project to
where it is today. Carter County Commissioner
Bill Loehding stated “If it were not
for Congressman Rehberg, we wouldn’t
have received this last funding.
He got the funds to get it shovelready
and the stimulus dollars
will now help finish it.”

The whole article can be read at:

http://www.midrivers.com/eletter/Aug-Sep09-411/Aug_Sept2009_411.pdf


Please understand that this road has been a work in progress for YEARS.


International Highway
According to minutes on file at the First
National Bank of Ekalaka, initial discussions
of a hardtop road began with the
creation of the Central Canadian-United
States-Mexican Highway Association in
1924-25. Representatives from Canada’s
Saskatchewan province and the states
of Montana and Wyoming met yearly
through the decades to help organize a
north/south route of commerce.
Roland “Kup” Quade, former president
of First National Bank of Ekalaka, was
treasurer of the association from the late
1960s through the 1980s. He attended
several multi-day meetings, sometimes
held in Canada. Action would ebb and flow
according to who was elected leader of the
group. Some of the area members during
Kup’s tenure as treasurer included William
Walker, Alzada; Lee Moline, Lloyd Owens,
George Randash and Bob Anderson of
Baker; Frank Castleberry, R.H. Sandy, C.C.
Bentz, Fay Tooke, Bob Renshaw and Tom
Taylor of Ekalaka; Glenn Rugg, Plevna;
Glen Anderson, Fairview; Lyle and Sam
Tauck, Hammond; Otis Waters and Ole
Jensen of Richey; and Oscar Anderson,
Andrew Peterson, Dan Price and Jay
Lalonde of Sidney.
“We paved five miles (of Highway 323)
when I moved to Ekalaka in 1967,” said
Kup. “Once in awhile, another section
would get paved, depending on what the
state had for funds.”
Kup remembers former Montana
Governor Ted Schwinden (governor from
1981-1989) telling him that they would
never see Highway 323 paved in their
lifetimes.
“I always hoped he was wrong,” said Kup.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
You are welcome. It certainly gives Rehberg much of the credit for
getting the project "shovel ready" so the stimulus dollars
could be used for the project.

Anyway, there was dancing in the streets when this project
was completed. It was a long haul.

Did you check on the link and see the condition of the road
that ranchers and truckers and residents have had to put
up with all these years? Interesting that my father was a
heavy equipment operator in Wyoming and when Wyoming
paved the road to the Montana line, they were willing to
pave it on to Alzada--had the equipment there and cut
a deal to do it, but Montana wouldn't go for it. That was
a long, long time ago. This road being paved is a real blessing.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
You are welcome. It certainly gives Rehberg much of the credit for
getting the project "shovel ready" so the stimulus dollars
could be used for the project.

Anyway, there was dancing in the streets when this project
was completed. It was a long haul.

It's done?


after the stimulus was voted for, even if you didn't vote for it, I think it would be irresponsible not to apply for funding for projects like this.

It's only responsible to try to get some of the tax dollars back for your constituents. Now if it was a tunnel for turtles or $$ to teach grown men in Africa to wash their penises, well that's a different story. :lol:
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
I just checked with our local newspaper. The publisher wasn't sure it was quite complete...they were waiting for the construction company to pave it...that is all that is left. (pretty important part :p ). That company is working on this end first. With the good weather this
last week, they may have gotten it paved by now.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Faster horses said:
It is done. Complete with a Ribbon-cutting ceremony this summer.
YIPPEE!!!!

How many milses were completed with stimulus money then and what was the amount of stimulus? I don't think the article said?
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
After I wrote that quote you posted, I decided to check and make SURE.
Please re-read the change I made to the post above yours, hypo.

Now I have a call into Erin Lutts to find out how much stimulus
money was used and how many miles were completed with
stimulus money. Heck, this might make an nice article for the
local newspaper...

Anyway, she is in a meeting and it will be an hour before I get
to talk to her. But I will and I'll report what I find out.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
I found a list of all highway construction done with stimulus funds, but not sure what they would call the highway. Couldn't see anything about #323

http://www.mdt.mt.gov/recovery/docs/commission_approved_highway.pdf
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
So FH--let me get this straight... You think as long as Stimulus money is used for projects in your back yard it is GOOD money spent- while Stimulus spent in someone elses back yard is BAD :???: ...

So if your chosen Champion keeps bringing home the Pork to your area it is GOOD- but if someone elses chosen Champion gets them Pork it is BAD :???:

Sounds like you , Palin, and the "Bridge to Nowhere" are all in agreement :wink: :p :lol: :lol:
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
You are putting words in my mouth.
What I said was in response to your remark about Rehberg
being a hypocrite...voting against the stimulus and then using the
money to fund hiway 323...what I said was,

"And what is wrong with voting against a spending spree, but when
it is forced down your throat you use it to finish projects that have
already been started or would benefit a whole county?"

No, I would have just as soon the stimulus package was voted
down in the first place...a lot of money spent that we as a country
COULD NOT AFFORD TO SPEND. At least Rehberg was against it
when he could vote yes or no. After it passed, it would have
been foolish to not use the money to finish some things that were
already on the table waiting to be completed...this was not a NEW project by any means.

You seem to have a vendetta against Rehberg.
I'm not saying he is lilly white...name me one politician that
is...but he isn't all bad, either. And again, it was a Carter Co.
Commissioner who gave Rehberg, in writing, much of the credit for getting the road 'shovel ready' and the funds from the stimulus.
 
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