Welcome to Friday – TGIF! We are now 60 days from Election Day and this Sunday/Monday the rest of the National Football League teams kick off their season – and college football season is well underway – so there’s plenty of “sports” to watch from now until November!
First visit? If this is your first time visiting The Western Word the “Caught My Eye” column is posted every Friday morning right here! It’s where I take a quick look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week – and I often throw in a touch of sarcasm just to make you smile.
Today I take a look at the Democratic National Convention, the jobs report, speeches from Schweitzer, Biden, and Obama, I write about Ohio, plus I share a few e-mails from my political inbox. There’s a lot more!
Jobs Report:
If you were watching Fox News this morning then the jobs report saying the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.1% and added 96,000 jobs was the worst news in the whole wide world.
Many other news organizations at least said it was an improvement and headed in the right direction.
It’s politics. Republicans wanted the jobs report to be bad news because they want to win the White House, win control of the U.S. Senate, and maybe take over the U.S. House. If there’s an inkling that the country is moving in the right direction with the current President and Democratic Senate, the Republicans will spin it to try and make it look bad – saying things like there’s not enough jobs being added or the rate did not drop enough or that people stopped looking for work.
Brian Schweitzer – “That dog don’t hunt”
Continuing to be a thorn to the Montana Republicans, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer is a crowd-pleaser at the Democratic National Convention. The Schweitzer show received a speaking slot on the last night of the big show and he talked for about nine minutes. He spoke right after Eva Longoria which should be one of his greatest honors ever!
A couple people had fun with Schweitzer saying he looks more and more like Randy Quaid who played Cousin Eddie in National Lampoon’s Vacation and Matt Foley, the fictional character from Saturday Night Live played by Chris Farley. I can see the likeness.
Schweitzer said, “If private equity Mitt Romney met Governor Mitt Romney, he’d do what he says he likes to do. He’d fire ‘um, and outsource the job!” Schweitzer used the line, “that dog don’t hunt” several times to describe the Romney plan for the Nation.
I don’t know what Schweitzer’s plans are after his term ends – but motivational speaking should be considered – he can come talk to me in my van down by the river…
Joe Biden:
If Vice President Joe Biden did one thing during his 40-minute speech last night he connected the working class to the Obama campaign – and those are the people (the non-millionaires) who will help Obama beat Romney.
The second thing Biden did was not screw up and become the main story today.
The theme for Obama/Biden is “Our journey isn’t finished” and “Forward.” They say they need four more years to get it done. Biden hit Romney/Ryan hard with, “I’ve got news for Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan, it has never, never, ever, been a good bet to bet against the American people” adding, “America is coming back and we’re not going back! And we have no intention of downsizing the American Dream.”
Overall, Biden’s speech was very-well done and delivered nicely.
Barack Obama:
The people on the right are saying President Obama’s 40-minute speech lacked substance and the people on the left are saying Obama hit it out of the ballpark. I am in the middle – independent. I think Obama delivered a fine speech that gave America hope for the future. It motivated me. Good speeches should motivate the listener.
Face it – if we judge Romney and Obama on their convention speeches – Obama wins by a knockout.
Obama talked about his first speech to the convention back in 2004 and said, “Eight years later, that hope has been tested – by the cost of war; by one of the worst economic crises in history; and by political gridlock that’s left us wondering whether it’s still possible to tackle the challenges of our time.”
Obama said the Republicans plan is “to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last thirty years: Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another. Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”
He then added, “I’ve cut taxes for those who need it – middle-class families and small businesses.”
As the Obama speech ended, the Bruce Springsteen song, “We Take Care Of Our Own” was played followed by “Only in America” by Brooks and Dunn.
Jack’s Political Inbox:
Every week I receive hundreds of e-mails from candidates, elected officials, and/or groups (from all political parties) promoting a cause, many just hoping they get mentioned (in a kind and gentle way) on The Western Word website! So I select a few that “Caught My Eye” and share them with my readers. Here are four that you might find interesting…
-The Montana Republican Party has been sending “Tester-Obama Watch” e-mails tying Senator Jon Tester and President Barack Obama together. I think they are up to Day 17 of the e-mails.
Hey Montana GOP – I know you have a job to do, but I started yawning when reading these e-mails after Day 3… (Just sayin…)
-The U.S. House office of Congressman Denny Rehberg has been sending e-mails with the subject, “Government Madness – Pick the Worst Policy” writing, “Government Madness is your chance to weigh in and vote for which law, regulation or vote you think is the worst.” They then provide a bracket for the rounds. They have a webpage for the “tournament” HERE.
Some folks are probably thinking, “So this is where my taxes are going…” and they may think the official taxpayer-funded staff for Rehberg playing “Government Madness” is actually a “worst policy.”
–President Barack Obama sent me two e-mails last night (I was honored), one before his speech with the subject, “Before I take the stage” and the second afterwards with the subject, “So…” in which he said, “Jack — I hope I did you proud.” Of course, he asked me to send him a donation.
It’s amazing the President of the United States of America took time to send me (ME!) e-mails before and after his speech – he must own a laptop or a smartphone. Wowzer…
-The Jon Tester for Senate campaign sent me an e-mail with the subject, “Rove targeting Montana” where they tell me (once again) that Karl Rove is pouring money into Montana.
With the comments Karl Rove made about Todd Akin to some rich donors, using the word “targeting” in an e-mail has new meaning…
It’s Ohio:
The way the Presidential race is shaping up several political pundits believe that Ohio is looking like the key state. Whoever wins Ohio will probably be the next President. The Real Clear Politics average for Ohio shows Obama with a slight lead.
So if you live in Ohio, enjoy the ads and the visits from the candidates!
One More Thing:
Don’t forget to stretch…
The Western Word 
Jack,
I am very tired about how the democrats are calling Bain and Romney out for outsourcing and firing all these people. Bain has a 80% success rate in turning businesses around. That dog hunts just fine! Obama and Brian Schweitzer would be drooling all over themselves if they had that high a hit rate.
On the jobs front, sure we gained 96,000 new jobs in August, but we also lost 368,000 people from the workforce. That dog doesn’t hunt! Unemployment shrinking from 8.3% to 8.1% is not good news for anyone, especially Obama. We are still loosing 4 jobs for every new job. That dog doesn’t hunt either.
It is a good thing that Obama doesn’t hunt, cause his dogs would be of no use to him!
By the way, I still read you every day and thanks.
Barry
Barry – Good points. Most of the Bain stuff is just politics – political opponents search for bad stuff to bring out.
The jobs picture is still bad – but if the GOP had been in control of the White House and their man was running for re-election, they would have loved the report and Fox News would have promoted it as good! It’s mostly political spin and I try to let my readers see that in my columns. I watch Fox, CNN, and MSNBC to see how the spin is going.
The big question is will voters “like” Romney enough to vote for him and start over with a new President? We would then have Romney blaming Obama for everything…
Thanks for reading my columns,
-Jack