Up first on The Western Word (TWW) today is a story that is purely political.
Like sharks circling at the smell of blood in the ocean or vultures flying over a wounded animal, U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester, D-Mont., have entered the fray in the U.S. Attorney issue calling for Montana’s U.S. Attorney and acting Associate Attorney General, Bill Mercer, to resign as the U.S. Attorney for Montana or give up his job as the No. 3 official at the Justice Department. You can read the story HERE.
This is politics pure and simple folks. You can bet your season ticket to the Griz games that if Mercer had been nominated by a democrat president and Max Baucus had recommended him for the post, there would be no call for him to choose a position or resign.
But here’s the bottom line: Congressman Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., hit the nail on the head when he said “It’s not Bill Mercer’s fault he’s been stuck in limbo awaiting Senate confirmation.”
This is the most accurate part of the whole story, which the Associated Press buried about six paragraphs down.
TWW believes that with all the controversy surrounding AG Gonzalez, Mr. Mercer will probably never get his nomination for the associate attorney general position voted on in the senate. That’s too bad for Montana. That’s too bad for America. TWW likes to see Montanans do well.
Up second today is a STORY about a line drawn in the sand.
It looks like we’ll have a showdown between the executive and legislative branches over White House staff testifying under oath in front of Congress. Bush has drawn a line in the sand. TWW believes with your favorable ratings around 30%, what do you have to lose?
And finally today, we can’t let too many days go by without mentioning the circus.
It seems the big tent for the circus in Helena is coming down on the Montana House Republicans’ head. They can’t seem to pass the Health and Human Services bill out of the House according to this STORY.
I have not found one person who has anything good to say about the 2007 Montana Legislative Session. Most blame the House Republicans and their leaders. One person said with term limits, you get a bunch of lawmakers trying to get their name in the public spotlight in a short amount of time. Another person told me he was scared as hell what they might do to Montanans this session.
TWW wonders, who’s poll numbers are lower; the MT House Republicans or President Bush?
