If you enjoy the art of politics as much as I do, then you probably enjoyed the article by the Associated Press (AP) called, “Montana Delegation Reacts to Debt Rating Downgrade.”  You can read it HERE.

It’s a classic story – a short story of 335 words and one that in a hundred or so years Montanans can look back on and partially understand how our country got so screwed up (and maybe owned by the Chinese).

Sadly, there’s one thing that this story does not offer historians – understanding that during this debt rating downgrade that the three members of the Montana congressional delegation and their counterparts in the House and Senate were on five-week vacations.  Yep, they were vacationing when the crap hit the fan and apparently they can’t think of any reasons to head back to Washington to try to repair the damage.

The AP story has everything:  It’s Democrat versus Republican.  It’s conservative versus liberal.  It might even be good versus evil – at least that’s what the political parties want us to believe.  It’s rich versus poor.  It’s saying “that party differences need to be put aside” but then blaming the other party for the problem.  It’s issuing your responses to questions through carefully-worded statements that have been checked and re-checked by the campaign team and consultants so you won’t screw up and lose the next election.

Because we all know it’s about the next election…

Montanans will pick sides – at least the ones who are affiliated with the political parties.  Many bloggers already have.  The other folks?  Well these folks are the ones those carefully worded statements and responses are designed for – the politicians want to lure you to their side of the political aisle – to gain your vote and maybe your dollars for the next election.

There’s one other thing this story accomplishes.  It gives us a record of who was representing Montana in Washington, D.C., when, during the first time in history, our credit rating was downgraded.  It leaves us with the names of who failed our country, our state – and more importantly, our children.  The names of U.S. Senator Max Baucus, U.S. Senator Jon Tester, and U.S. Congressman Denny Rehberg are now etched in history for all to remember forever.

We probably won’t see that accomplishment in any of their upcoming campaign ads…