LATE ADDITION
Steve Daines leads John Walsh by 23 points in a poll Rob Portman just sent to his PAC’s donors. #mtsen
— James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) June 5, 2014
INITIAL POST
The same shady group, “Vote Vets” (a self described “progressive veterans group”), that helped Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) in 2012 is back trying to boost the Democratic US Senate candidate in this election. Vote Vets is the same group that has been covering for the Obama administration in the midst of the VA scandal and everything else. It also turns out that one of their leaders, now an Obama Administration official, is bashing the soldiers who served in Bowe Bergdahl’s platoon. This, as the White House has tried to claim that Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers are trying to “swift boat” Bergdahl.
We’ll get to that very quickly, but first- as Bloomberg News reports: Oil, Gas Producers Bypassing Walsh
In Montana, energy-industry donors have bypassed the re-election coffers of Democratic Senator John Walsh, who replaced Senator Max Baucus in February. Walsh has declared on his campaign website that he’s “very concerned about the consequences of climate change.”
Industry donors instead are backing Walsh’s challenger, Republican Steve Daines, who serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and helped lead unsuccessful efforts to approve Keystone XL. Daines also favors expanded hydraulic fracturing to produce more oil, and voted to limit how regulators apply a carbon-cost calculation in decision-making.
Daines at the end of March had $2.2 million cash on hand, almost triple Walsh’s $697,000, with oil and gas donors ranked No. 4 among all his contributors.
Now, back to this shady “Vote Vets” group.
While Vote Vets has been covering for the Obama Administration during the latest VA scandal, Congressman Steve Daines (R-MT) has been demaning accountability:
After covering for the Obama administration, Politico reports that “Vote Vets” intends to dump nearly $300,000 into the race supporting appointed Sen. Walsh (D-MT) in Montana.
As veterans’ issues and the Department of Veterans Affairs scandal put Democrats on the defensive, the outside group VoteVets will announce it’s planning to spend $5 million in competitive Senate races this year — providing Democrats some much-needed cover.
The effort begins Thursday with a $275,000 ad buy in Montana, boosting Democratic Sen. John Walsh…The group spent $3.2 million on direct efforts for candidates in 2012, according to OpenSecrets, including in a handful of red-leaning states where Democrats ultimately ended up winning. Soltz says the group’s total overall expenditures in 2012 were close to double that figure.
One of its biggest investments was in Montana, on Sen. Jon Tester’s behalf. The group spent $560,000 there, including $200,000 that went toward canvassing activities.
Aside from Vote Vets’ covering for the Obama administration on the VA scandal, Twitchy.com points out that a Vote Vets leader (also an Obama admin official) is now trashing the soldiers who served in Bergdahl’s platoon following the highly questionable release of 5 “worst of the worst” Taliban.
Twitchy.com: Obama administration official Brandon Friedman floats ‘psychopaths’ smear of Bergdahl’s platoon mates
Twitchy.com: Obama admin official scrubs Twitter bio after suggesting Bergdahl’s platoon was full of ‘psychopaths’
The Daily Caller: Bergdahl’s Army Comrades May Be ‘Psychopaths,’ Says Administration Official
An administration press secretary suggested overnight that U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl might have been justified in deserting his battlefield post, partly because his platoon-mates might have been “psychopaths.”
Bergdahl might “be worthy of sympathy” for distrusting his leadership and for having “walked off,” said Brandon Friedman, a Democratic activist, a former Iraq and Afghan veteran and now a top public affairs official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
WSJ editorial: “What Sgt. Bergdahl now owes his comrades, and his country, is a full accounting of his actions before and after he was taken prisoner. The videos he made while captive were no doubt coerced under duress. But serving as an enemy prisoner is not absolution for any military dereliction that led to his capture. His fellow soldiers and now his government have risked much to get Sgt. Bergdahl home. Now Sgt. Bergdahl’s duty is to face up to the consequences of his own actions as a soldier.”
AP: Heated Debate over Bergdahl-Taliban Swap
A Pentagon investigation concluded in 2010 that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his unit, and after an initial flurry of searching the military decided not to exert extraordinary efforts to rescue him, according to a former senior defense official who was involved in the matter.
Hagel, visiting troops in Afghanistan, was met with silence when he told a group of them in a Bagram Air Field hangar: “This is a happy day. We got one of our own back.”
Asked in an NBC “Today” show interview about victory claims by the Taliban, Carney replied, “I caution anyone against buying the propaganda of terrorists.”
(So they did negotiate with terrorists?)
The Hill: Obama defends deal to free Bergdahl
In a post to his Facebook page on Tuesday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey said that questions about Bergdahl’s conduct were “separate from our effort to recover ANY U.S. service member in enemy captivity.”
“As for the circumstances of his capture, when he is able to provide them, we’ll learn the facts,” Dempsey said. “Like any American, he is innocent until proven guilty. Our Army’s leaders will not look away from misconduct if it occurred.”
The Daily Caller- Pro-Obama Harvard Professor: President ‘Clearly Broke The Law’ With Gitmo Prisoner Transfer
Liberal Harvard professor and CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin turned on the president Monday, telling a surprised Wolf Blitzer that Preident Barack Obama “clearly broke the law” by failing to provide Congress 30-days notice before releasing five high-level Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
“You’ve looked at the law, you’ve looked at the signing statement, you’ve gone through it,” Blitzer asked Toobin. “Did the president break the law?
“Oh, I think he clearly broke the law,” Toobin replied. “The law says 30 days’ notice. He didn’t give 30 days’ notice.”
Fox News– KELLY FILE: NO DOUBT OF DESERTION
Two American soldiers who were assigned to a platoon alongside Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl told Fox News’ Megyn Kelly Monday they believe Bergdahl deliberately walked off base. Gerald Sutton and Cody Full served with Bergdahl in Afghanistan at the time he vanished and was later captured by the Taliban. Full told Kelly there were “telltale signs” that has left him with no doubt that Bergdahl had deserted. “[Berghdal was] talking extensively to the Afghan national police in a way that was not about hearts and minds, there was an agenda there when he spoke to them,” said Full. “I just don’t want to see him hailed as a hero, and I just want him face the consequences of his own actions and possibly face a court martial for desertion,” Sutton added. Watch the full interview here, courtesy of the “Kelly File.”
Meanwhile….
The Daily Caller- VA Hospital Axed Veteran Programs While Approving $1 Million In Bonuses
The Memphis Veteran Administration (VA) Medical Center approved over $1 million in bonuses months before closing a therapeutic aquatic pool citing a lack of funds.
The Memphis VA Medical Center handed out $1,005,644 in bonuses for its approximately 2,000 employees in fiscal year 2010, according to data provided to The Daily Caller by Sandra Glover, the communications officer for Veteran Integrated Services Network (VISN) 9, which includes the Memphis VA Medical Center. Glover told TheDC that cost factored into the decision to close the therapeutic aquatic pool in July 2011.