Is it Tommy Nusz versus Nancy Pelosi in Montana? Ochenski says SEAL Team 6 veteran Zinke “undoubtedly realizes that things go a lot better if you don’t have your own guys shooting at each other all the time.” Fox News takes note of appointed Senator John Walsh’s (D-MT) money woes. And- what David Letterman had to say about the Bowe Bergdahl/Taliban transfer, while a new poll shows veterans oppose the deal.
That and more is below.
First up, the all night city council meeting in Billings as a potential “non disrimination ordinance” came up for debate. As KTVQ-TV reports:
UPDATE 5:55 a.m. – After nearly 12 hours of council decisions, agenda items, and testimony, the council voted 7 to 4 to not stop staff from working on an NDO draft.
Shaun Brown, Mike Yakawich, Denis Pitman, and Rich McFadden voted to end work on the draft.
Ed Kemmick had a full report on his Last Best News site as well. In case you missed it, I spoke with The Montana Family Foundation’s Jeff Laszloffy, and Joe Infranco with the Alliance Defending Freedom about this very topic. Click here to listen to part one and part two of the show on our podcast page.
Now, on to the bigger issues.
We’ve focused a lot on this VA scandal in recent weeks. While Rep. Steve Daines (R-MT) has been demanding accountability VA, called for the resignation of the VA secretary, and has already helped pass legislation to allow veterans to get care closer to home- Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) has largely been resisting some reforms as “privatization of the VA.”
If you don’t recall, Tester has been politicizing the VA for quite some time. Here he was in 2010 campaigning for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada, according to The Elko Daily:
Tester also was in Elko to caution against Reid opponent Sharron Angle’s ideas for privatizing Social Security and the Veterans Affairs system.
The senator, who is on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, said a large percentage of veterans in the West appreciate the VA clinics and veterans benefits have gotten better “under Harry’s watch.”
“It’s critically important to keep our heads on straight, and privatizing the VA is no way to do that,” Tester said.
Speaking of the US Senate, Fox News First picks up on the newest Daines campaign ad:
DAINES DISSES WALSH OVER MONEY WOES
In his latest ad, Senate candidate Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., hits Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., for “mismanaging” taxpayer money after being reprimanded by the military earlier this year for using his position as Montana’s adjutant general to solicit National Guard troops to join a private association that he was seeking a leadership role in. “John Walsh: mismanagement, questionable ethics,” the ad says.
Here’s the ad:
GEORGE OCHENSKI: No clear winners in Republicans’ continuing civil war
Republican Rep. Steve Daines, who is running against Democrat Sen. John Walsh for the seat vacated by Max Baucus, is one of the few examples of Republican candidates who rose above the fray. Apparently embraced by both factions, Daines drew a very healthy 110,236 votes, completely crushing his two opponents, neither of which took even 9 percent of the votes cast.
To his great credit, Zinke did not engage in the inter-party warfare, preferring, as he put it, to honor Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment that “thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans.” Then again, as a former commander of Navy SEAL Team Six, Zinke undoubtedly realizes that things go a lot better if you don’t have your own guys shooting at each other all the time.
And that’s from George Ochenski, a liberal columnist.
As for the US House race in Montana, could you say the race is between Tommy Nusz and Nancy Pelosi? As The Daily Inter Lake reports:
“I think energy independence is critical to our nation’s security,” Zinke said. “John Lewis’ No. 1 priority is preserving the North Fork Basin. I don’t disagree that the watershed is important,” but economic growth is equally important.
Oasis Petroleum’s Chief Executive Officer Thomas Nusz was Zinke’s first donor, he noted. “The first to donate to Lewis was [U.S. House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi.”
RedState.com- New USA Today / Pew poll: Veterans hate the Bergdahl/terrorist swap
By 68%-16%, veterans say Obama made the wrong decision.” A couple of other things:
¦The Pew poll found a two-to-one ratio in favor of having the President inform Congress before he does this sort of thing.
¦The Pew poll also found that this story was tied with the ongoing Veterans Affairs meltdown – and the meltdown is only getting worse – as being the most important thing that Americans were paying attention to right now. Third thing? The economy*.
Breitbart.com- Letterman Only Late Night Comic to Pounce on Obama’s Taliban Swap
“This was the most controversial trade since I was traded here to CBS.”
“The deal originally included Joe Biden”
“Five for One. He apparently got the idea from Jos. A Banks.”“Bowe Bergdahl was over there for five years, he’s now recovering in a German hospital, because he couldn’t get into a VA facility.”