Here we go – it’s finally Friday and that means another edition (the 83rd) of Caught My Eye!

If you are new around here, Caught My Eye is posted almost every Friday morning right here!  This highly-read column is where I take a quick look at some of the stories I did not have time to comment about during the week, and I often add just a touch of sarcasm for good measure.

Everyone and everything is fair game…

Today I write about favorable ratings, a quote, Just the Fax, veterans, Postal Service cuts, Barry Beach, Presidents Day coverage, birthday wishes, and then there’s the reader favorite – e-mails from my political inbox!  There’s more so read on…

Obama’s Favorable Ratings:

According to Gallup, “More Americans have a favorable opinion of President Barack Obama than of any of the four Republican presidential candidates, although Obama also has a relatively high unfavorable rating.”

Obama’s unfavorable rating is 48%.  Mitt Romney’s is 47%.  Newt Gingrich has a 61% unfavorable rating.

The GOP candidates have debated each other to death (or defeat) – and it looks like President Obama is heading toward a second term.

Quote of the Week:

“But there are times when suddenly you realize you’re nearer the end than the beginning.  And you wonder, you ask yourself, what the sum total of your life represents.  What difference your being there at any time made to anything.”

–Colonel Nicholson in “The Bridge on the River Kwai”

It’s Cool:

It’s not very often that I have something nice to say about the Montana media, but the Great Falls Tribune has a “WordPress Blog” linked to their website called “Just the Fax” that they tout as “Raw Montana political news releases compiled by the Great Falls Tribune.”

On that page you get to see all the propaganda they receive from the candidates and political groups that these groups hope will make the paper.  Pretty cool.

Welcome to the blog world, Great Falls Tribune!  Maybe you could link this blog to your newspaper – and increase your readership and get free advertising?

By the way, political groups, campaigns, and even my mother (not really, she is deceased) can e-mail press releases or notes of encouragement to The Western Word at western_word@yahoo.com for possible publication.  

Veterans Funding:

I happened to catch a press release from Jon Tester regarding a bill he introduced that protects veterans’ health care from budget cuts.  His press people (who are probably not veterans) wrote, “Since taking office, Tester successfully boosted the VA’s budget in order to improve access to health care for all veterans – especially those in rural states like Montana.”

If they would check, funding has not been cut to the Department of Veterans Affairs in about 20 years – it’s been increased every year.

Three Losses/One Stays Open:

It was announced that the Postal Service will keep the Missoula mail processing center open and close three others in Wolf Point, Helena and Butte.

Jon Tester fired off a press release with the headline, “Tester saves Missoula mail processing facility” while Denny Rehberg said in a press release, “It looks like the Postal Service worked really hard to find excuses to close these facilities instead of working to find a way to keep them open.”

They need to close more facilities.  The Postal Service, like our Federal Government, is broke.

Barry Beach:

According to the Associated Press, the State of Montana has asked the Montana Supreme Court to “reinstate Beach’s original lifetime sentence.”

Apparently the Montana Attorney General’s office wants to waste more taxpayer money on this case. 

Jack’s Political Inbox:

I subscribe to e-mail updates from several elected officials, candidates and political groups.  Almost every week I share a few that “Caught My Eye!”  I also offer a few snide remarks to keep it real (at no cost to the reader).  Here are five for this week: 

-The Rehberg for Senate Campaign (not to mention the Montana GOP) was pretty giddy about a new Rasmussen Reports poll that shows Rehberg leading Tester 47% to 44%.  Campaign Chairman Erik Iverson writes, “This is the fifth poll in a row to come out showing Denny ahead of Senator Tester — and you can bet Tester and his liberal special-interest allies are worried, wondering what to do next as they try to save his political hide…”

Was that some cockiness from the Rehberg campaign manager and the Montana GOP?  Here’s some advice that comes by way of the 1970s TV show, Kung Fu: Patience, grasshopper.  Patience…

(I know, most of the Rehberg’s campaign folks were not born when Kung Fu aired.)

-The Tester for Senate Campaign sent out an e-mail with the subject, “Insulting.”  I first thought, “What did I do now?”  But he was referring to something else.  Tester wrote, “Now some in Congress want to let any employer deny women coverage for birth control for any reason.  This is an insulting affront to women’s health, freedom of choice, and economic security.  And I’m not going to let it happen.”

He then says, “I promise you that I’ll fight this bad idea — will you fight alongside me by making a small contribution to our campaign right now?”

I wonder if the campaign will be using these contributions for birth control…

-The Obama for America Campaign sent me a “quick note” with the subject “The first guest” in which the President writes, “I’m planning another dinner with four supporters like you, and we’re going to pick the first guest right away — tomorrow night.  If you want to be there, donate $3 or whatever you can and be automatically entered today.”

Maybe if the President gets to Montana he can drop by my house and I’ll show him what I can make for dinner for only $3 (I am pretty good at it). 

-The Cascade County Democrats sent an e-mail with the subject, “Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission Public Hearing Schedule” in which they wrote, “We need as much support as possible for the Communities Plan at these hearings and in the form of written comment.”

I guess the Democrats feel the “Communities Plan” is the best one for their party this time. That last redistricting plan (from the 2000 Census) did not work out too well for the Montana Democrats…

–Austin Lyle, the Campaign Manager for Denise Juneau, sent an e-mail with the subject, “Hello!  Team Juneau Calling…” saying “Denise has been on the phone talking to Montana voters about her accomplishments and asking them to invest in her re-election campaign, and she’s asked me to activate Team Juneau to help her reach even more Montanans.”  He them asks, “Will you volunteer to make calls for Denise?”

Grassroots campaigning – that’s the ticket…

Presidential Visits:

I enjoyed watching the local news station (KRTV in Great Falls, Montana) coverage of President’s Day and they talked about several Presidential visits to Great Falls.  Unfortunately, when showing the visit of President George W. Bush, the video they aired was from his visit to Billings (MetraPark) on March 26, 2001, and not his visit to Great Falls in February 2005.  An incorrect date was on the George W. Bush portion of the video.

But it was a nice try…

One of the good guys:

Happy Birthday to U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, (I-Conn.).  He turns 70 years old today.

Oh Paula:

Broadcast journalist Paula Zahn turns 56 years old today.

One More Thing:

Don’t forget to stretch!

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Follow Jack on Twitter @TheWesternWord.