| In this Missoula Independent post on primary election ads, Skylar Browning notes the "depth" the Montana Republican party's interest in disclaiming association with Mainstreet Advocacy, a group apparently running radio ads across the state.
"Depth," indeed. The party expends 478 words reassuring the party faithful that it's working to ensure that the group does not "implicate" the Montana GOP, and tracing the ads and a related PAC to Republican state senator, Jon Brueggeman.
You may ask, what's so loathsome about the group that Montana Republicans are working so hard to distance themselves from its message?
Well, according to retired House member, Amory Houghton, Mainstreet Advocacy stands for "honest public service." Congressman Tom Davis says Mainstreet Advocacy is "committed to a centrist and pragmatic agenda for the 21st century....Instead of focusing on divisive social issues, Mainstreet advocacy focuses on finding real-world solutions to the complex challenges facing our nation today." On the group's "About" page, its values are "fiscal responsibility, limited government, individual liberties and a belief in the power of free markets and free people," and its mission is "to reach out to independents, disaffected Democrats, centrists, suburbanites and young voters. To do so we must offer pragmatic, common sense solutions to the complex challenges facing our country today."
You know, brrrrrrr! Terrifying!
All this, of course, reminds me of AJ Otjen's candidacy for US House. From the Great Falls Tribune summary of the Republican candidates:
She said she believes there are many moderate Republicans who are fed up with the divisive rhetoric that has permeated the party in recent years. She said she is running in hope of returning the party to its practical, fiscally responsible roots, as opposed to focusing on divisive social issues.
"I think I'm a real Republican because I'm practical," Otjen said. "I would like to think Republicans are practical, and I'm trying to have a look toward the future and how to come up with solutions to get us to where we all want to be. We've got to have two reasonable parties working together for good government."
Compare that to, say, Mark French - obviously a big fan of Glenn Beck - who sees "socialism coming at us like a freight train," and who wants us "to look in the eyes of our dead veterans" to tell them "you're not going to do anything about what's coming at us..." Yeah! Like the GI Bill or VA hospitals...er...wait a minute...
Or the state's incumbent gentleman goat farmer, Dennis Rehberg, who's biggest accomplishment so far in the House was the exuberance with which he put his Rubber Stamp to work for the Bush administration's worst excesses - runaway spending, economy-busting deregulation, war, torture. (No wonder he's raised the most money of any House candidate in the state. Rubber Stamps don't come cheap.)
While there's plenty of sniping on the Democratic side of the ticket this year, as the four candidates jostle and jockey for your vote, what's at stake, really, in that race? That race is about who you think would stand the best chance in November, and who you think would make the best representative. It isn't a clash of ideas, really. And certainly not a battle for the future of the party.
But that's exactly what we're seeing in the Republican primary. It's a three-way tug-of-war for the soul of Montana's conservative movement, between Mark French's Bible and Glenn Beck, a do-nothing corporate partisan, and AJ Otjen's promise of pragmatic fiscal conservatism and social libertarianism.
Yes, I hope for the latter. And, yes, it's because I like a lot of what Otjen has to say. Yes, I want someone to work with in Washington DC. Yes, we share some values. But most importantly is that she - unlike her opponents - acknowledges the problems that afflict our country. I don't care how we address climate change, say, as long as we do it. That's why I support cap-and-trade, and I'd support it still, even if paranoid progressives' fears of Wall Street creating a new derivatives market out of pollution permits were true. I don't care if some people make a bajillion dollars from saving the Earth, as long as the Earth is saved.
And that's unlike French, who's obviously living in a fantasy world. He'd use his Congressional seat to proselytize his particular form of Christianity and advance delusional conspiracy theories. Or Rehberg - who's an intelligent man and a decent political player, and who should obviously know climate change is real and that we have a healthcare and jobs crisis in the country, but who still obstructs any meaningful work on those issues purely for political gain.
It's sad, isnt' it? But only in 2010 would Otjen be considered an outsider candidate.
We'll see soon what Montana's Republicans are thinking.
Update: As JC pointed out, Mainstreet Advocacy has pulled funding for ad campaigns in the state, for fear of violating campaign disclosure laws. |
