On Saturday evening Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.) gave his meat and potatoes speech to the party faithful. The so-called political reporters in the state went wild and were so enamored by the speech that they could not report on the keynote address by Tammy Duckworth later that evening.

Of course, here at The Western Word we don’t have the expense budget to travel around the state and cover all the political events – even those events that include free meals with paid admission. So, I am taking this opportunity to comment on the stories written about the speech and the e-mails and tweets from the politicians.

The headlines from around the state gave me an indication as to the type of speech Tester delivered:

Tester revs up crowd at Democratic event

Tester blasts Rehberg in speech at Democratic Party dinner

Tester rips Rehberg at Democratic Party dinner

Rips, Revs, and blasts – I don’t think the Montana media can handle this excitement – better call in the big dogs from the east coast to report on it…where’s campaign Carl?

Back to the speech; if you believe Jon Tester, then we can look forward to Denny Rehberg:

-Not allowing anyone to have healthcare unless they are millionaires

-Making sure every firefighter is sued

-And ensuring all school children stay in from recess for the remainder of the school year

Just kidding on that last point…

Here are some key things that caught my attention:

Tester said “It’s pretty easy to defund health care when you don’t have to worry about your own health insurance, isn’t it?”

When I read that statement, I thought: “Doesn’t Jon Tester and Max Baucus have the same health insurance options as Rehberg (along with most Federal government employees)? Or does Tester get his healthcare through T-Bone Farms, Inc.?

Tester has taken to twitter like a duck to water…

Tester tweeted, “It’s easy for Jon’s opponent to defund #healthcare when he doesn’t have to worry about his own health insurance.”

And Tester tweeted again, “Rehberg bill would deny screenings, healthcare to hundreds of Libby asbestos victims.”

It’s the Libby Asbestos political angle that was used by the Democrats in other races since 1999 (it’s failed).

Most of those comments by Tester are not entirely correct, but that is politics – it’s the perception that counts and with the help of his friends at Lee Newspapers and at the Associated Press, his side of the argument was delivered perfectly.

Meanwhile, on Twitter @Rehberg2012 has been silent since before Tester’s speech. I thought we’d hear some comments about Tester’s speech, like “Jon Tester is eating a burrito from Taco Bell at the Democratic dinner” or “Tester won’t give his speech until dessert is served” – you know a little political fun to lighten the mood…

Of course, a Democratic event would not be a Democratic event without hearing from Max Baucus. Baucus said Rehberg is a “millionaire do-nothing congressman.”

I think Max is jealous. When I read that, I thought I’d like to be a millionaire do-nothing congressman, too. That is something I never understood – liberals hating people who are successful and are conservative.

I also thought that after all these years of public service Rehberg still has the same wife he started with, unlike Baucus, who is on his third…

Ba da bing…

A few weeks ago Rehberg received his 15 minutes of fame after his announcement speech. This speech, by Tester, was his first major speech since that announcement, so it received a lot of coverage, too.

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