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Wednesday, August 31, 2005

MT-Sen: Tester Values Community; Morrison Values Cash

Posted by Bob Brigham

Wow, the contrast could not be clearer. Yesterday, the two Democrats running against Conrad Burns sent an email to their supporters -- asking for contributions.

Jon Tester's Email:

So why is a U.S. Senate candidate from Montana asking you to help out?

Because it’s the right thing to do. Because this campaign isn’t just about politics—it’s about all of us pulling together to bring Montana values to Washington, D.C. and to the rest of the nation.

And in Montana, we help a neighbor in need. And sometimes that neighbor is very far away.

So please do what you can by supporting the efforts of the American Red Cross to help those affected by this disaster:

https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

John Morrison's Email:

I must gather the resources necessary to wage a tough, modern, winning campaign -- and, therefore, I am writing to ask for your generous help.

*Please take a moment right now to make a contribution today of $2,100, $1,000, $500, $250, $100, $50, $25 or whatever you can afford to give.* Mail your contribution to Morrison for Montana, Box 99, Helena MT 59624, or give using a major credit card by visiting www.johnmorrison.us on the Internet.

Both emails also had a post-script:

Posted at 12:52 PM in Montana | Technorati

Comments

Tester partied it up with pompous rock stars while the hurricane comes blowing in, then he covers his ass the next day. How dumb does he think we are?

Posted by: BrookiesRChamps at August 31, 2005 02:14 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

That is the most hilariously absurd gloss I could possibly imagine, Brookies. You're gonna have to work a little bit harder if you want us to take you seriously.

But if you wanna spend the whole election season trolling Tester, that's your choice.

Posted by: DavidNYC at August 31, 2005 02:16 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Perhaps I will troll Tester (I am sure he would make great sucker bait). Being from the great state of Montana I know a thing or two about fishing Mr. DavidNYC.

Posted by: BrookiesRChamps at August 31, 2005 02:25 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Just bear in mind that I didn't say you were welcome to act like a troll here.

Posted by: DavidNYC at August 31, 2005 03:04 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Once you're banned as a troll, I'll still be writing (and cross-posting). In fact, every time I see a troll comment, I'm going to whack Morrison one more time, just on general principle. Remember, Morrison is a member of the DLC so it is expected for bloggers to savage him. Thanks for stopping by, but for Morrison's sake, I would recommend against trolling.

Posted by: Bob Brigham at August 31, 2005 03:48 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Before you right off this guy as a troll, there is some merit to his original point. If Tester was really more concerned about the people in New Orleans as opposed to his campaign; wouldn't he offer to donate some, if not all, of the proceeds from his $200,000 fund raiser from the night before? It is amazing how a candidate is more willing to send out a heart felt email the day after he put a few hundred thousand in his pocket.

I was at the concert, I don't recall hearing anything about donating to the Red Cross or any disaster relief agencies during the concert. Maybe I was just in the really long beer line at the time. Maybe I am little too critical, I just have this thing where I believe actions speak louder than words. What were Morrison and Tester doing the day after the concert? Well, while Tester was presumably nursing his hangover, Morrison was out informing people on his new insurance plan http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050831/BUSINESS/508310318/1046. A plan that will provide insurance to 180,000 Montanans. That would be 180,000 people that could get their lives back together if a horrible natural disaster hit Montana. I hope being a vocal Morrison supporter doesn't get me labeled as a troll.

Posted by: Andy_Duphrane at August 31, 2005 04:46 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Being a Morrison supporter doesn't make you a troll, just a wanker.

Morrison values himself, Tester values people.

Morrison is all talk, but Tester has actually passed major health insurance legislation. That is why Tester is winning. Tester is the real deal while Morrison is just another politician.

There is no way Morrison can beat Burns, the voters will always choose a fake cowboy over a real lawyer.

As Governor Schweitzer says, "Don't dress like a lawyer," he counsels his fellow Democrats. "Don't talk like a lawyer."

A vote for Morrison is a vote for Burns.

Posted by: Bob Brigham at August 31, 2005 04:59 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

With all due respect, Bob, Andy has conducted himself politely in all discussions of Morisson v. Tester, and calling him a wanker for disagreeing with you is hardly returning the favor.

Andy, there should be no expectation that Tester should donate moneys given to support him to hurricane relief. That would be disrespectful in the extreme to those who payed the money in the first place, with the expectation that their money would get Jon Tester elected to the Senate. If they wish to donate for NOLA relief, Jon has provided them the direct opportunity and plea for them to do so. That's just how donating works.

Secondly, I maintain my contention that Morrison is a one trick pony, relying one one accomplishment (a huge one, no doubt) to catapult him past Burns. That won't happen.

And Brookies, I know where you're coming from. I too am upset that Jon Tester had a fundraiser while a catastrophy was happening, and then offered to help as he could. That's so shallow. Why, I'll bet he's gonna eat dinner tonight while people are starving in Botswana. He's going to continue his immoral campaign while rivers flood in China. He probably even has the gall to go to the bathroom while women in Thailand serve as sexual slaves. The Bastard! I mean, how dumb does he think we are?????

Posted by: Wulfgar at August 31, 2005 05:25 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

And just for the record, Brookies, I've always found the members of Pearl Jam to be remarkably more sincere than they are pompous. Keep it in mind that "common knowledge" of a bigoted belief is a poor substitute for actual argument.

Posted by: Wulfgar at August 31, 2005 05:29 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I don't understand the "fake cowboy vs. real lawyer" line. Tester isn't a cowboy, fake or otherwise - he's a farmer, as far as I understand. And as we all know from the show "Oklahoma," the farmer and the cow-man should be friends.

The only fake cowboy I know of is George Bush.

Andy: I'd be curious to know if there are any legal (or simply public relations) concerns with a campaign making a direct donation to relief efforts. And sure, as Wulfgar points out, Tester could give up everything he owns to help with relief efforts - so could we all. I can't really fault him for not donating a portion of the proceeds from the concert, especially when he did the next-best thing, which is ask his network of supports to help contribute to relief efforts.

In all the fundraising mailings I've ever gotten, I've never seen one like that.

Posted by: DavidNYC at August 31, 2005 06:15 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Hey let's lay off the dem bashing.

Posted by: jkfp2004 at August 31, 2005 06:20 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Andy, as you may have seen in the Great Falls Tribune, Jon Tester was actually headed to Helena the next day for the quality education committee meetings. The health insurance legislation you laud so heavily was requested by Tester and was moved through the legislature by him.

Additionally, he played a key hand in moving other bills as well, including the new renewable energy standard.

Most of this legislation was the result of a number of great Democrats working together during this last session.

Posted by: Left in the West at August 31, 2005 06:47 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I hate defending Morrison because I don't care which democrat wins, but do you have a link to Morrison's actual email? You have one for Tester's and its possible that there may be extenuating circumstances.

Posted by: JRyan at August 31, 2005 06:52 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I do agree that we should look forward to a good, clean primary fight. I'm no fan of Morrison's, and obviously I'm a big Tester partisan. But I think Tester's that good - and I think the DLC is that ineffectual - that our guy definitely ought to win, and that we can make this a good "test case." We fight a good, fair fight against Morrison (assuming he's willing to do the same) - then, when we win, we can claim both bragging rights and a recipe for success.

Posted by: DavidNYC at August 31, 2005 06:52 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Some of the stuff people here/elsewhere have said about Morrison makes it clear that some are not fighting a good, fair fight.

Posted by: JRyan at August 31, 2005 06:56 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

A wanker? Bob, are you British? Bob, your statements have been very misleading recently. Is that a British thing or did you take tips on reporting from Carl Rove?

"Morrison values himself, Tester values people."--Do you have anything to back up this slanderous claim?

"There is no way Morrison can beat Burns, the voters will always choose a fake cowboy over a real lawyer."--That’s strange I could swear Max Baucus was a layer and has approval ratings in the 60% range. Maybe one of Montanans most beloved senators Lee Metcalf, was an anthropologist, no wait I am wrong...HE WAS A LAWYER.

"Don't dress like a lawyer," he counsels his fellow Democrats. "Don't talk like a lawyer."--If anyone bothered to read the link, you would realize how that was completely taken out of context. It was about staying true to who you are, not about lawyers being unelectable. Bob, you know better than that.

"A vote for Morrison is a vote for Burns."—Bob, this was one was a little tougher. Not harder to debunk, but so stupid I wasn't sure if I should even acknowledge it. When looking at classic and logical indicators, Morrison is by far the most likely candidate to beat Conrad Burns. He has a better political infrastructure. More name recognition. Experience running state wide campaign. He is proven fund raiser. And in my opinion, the most qualified democrat for the job.

“Morrison is all talk, but Tester has actually passed major health insurance legislation. That is why Tester is winning. Tester is the real deal while Morrison is just another politician.”—Bob this was my favorite so I saved it for last. This has it all, misleading, unsubstantiated claims, mixed in with some bizarre political insight of your own. That major health care legislation you are referring to was actually written in conjunction with the State Auditor John Morrison. After it was written in battled its way through the house, which was split 50/50, then Tester took over on the senate side. He managed to get it passed in the democratically controlled senate. Yep, all Tester on that one.

Since when is Tester winning? The only poll released on the race showed that Morrison was a strongest candidate running against Burns. There has been no poll for head to head match up of John v Jon. You wouldn’t just make something like that up, would you Bob?

Morrison is just another politician and tester is the real deal? Bob, that’s interesting. Tester was President of the Senate, the center of politics in Montana. Being in charge of one of the most political institution in Montana would make you…well Bob…a politician. Is Tester the real deal just because he has to be the center of attention, while Morrison is fine with taking a less high profile position where he knows he can work on behalf of people of Montana? Doesn’t add up Bob.

Bob, thanks for your response. It is always a pleasure.

Posted by: Andy_Duphrane at August 31, 2005 07:19 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Couple of points. The "fake cowboy" is Conrad Burns. He would stomp Morrison any day of the week.

As for the primary fight, since Morrison is a member of the DLC, I see no problem in waging a burn the buildings, salt the fields campaign against Morrison and his supporters.

As far as I'm concerned, it is open season on Morrison. But to date, I have not participated in anything near what I think Morrison should expect.

Remember when Jean Schmidt's campaign manager threatened to sue me before I even showed up in a place I had never been? Well Montana is the exact opposite, it is my home turf. This is going to be fun. Sucks to be in the DLC...

Posted by: Bob Brigham at August 31, 2005 07:20 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Wulfgar, DavidNYC,

I don’t expect Tester to donate his campaign proceeds to disaster relief. On the other hand I don’t expect him to be herald as hero for his email. I just think that if he was truly putting the people in New Orleans before his election he could have taken other approaches. For example, asking for money for the victims at the concert. To say that he wasn’t trying to score any political points with email is a complete fallacy. It is a lot easier to come out with heart felt email after the largest fundraiser of your campaign, maybe the largest fund raiser of entire election so far. When the email was originally posted, I didn’t say anything. It was when the emails were compared that I had an issue. Obviously the Morrison campaign had the email planned before the extent disaster was known. It arrived in my inbox early in the day, maybe even before the levies in New Orleans broke. I think the comparing emails the way he did and coming to the conclusions that bob came to was completely off base.

I agree this primary should stay as positive as possible. I have never said anything bad about Tester as a person. I hope the Morrison camp does the same. I don’t think this primary should ruin either candidate’s reputation. Dividing the party whether it is the DLC or two good democrats, is not the right track to reform.

I guess I am not ready to make a test case out of my state. Burns is as vulnerable as he ever has been and I am not ready to risk loosing this election on an experiment.

Posted by: Andy_Duphrane at August 31, 2005 08:13 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Does anyone remember the Governor primary last year? The repugs had 4 candidates up and two of them got in a real nasty fight, and it cost them big time. When Brown finally escaped with the nomination he was broke and out of resources and then had to go up against Schweitzer who still had lots of money and resources and guess what Schweitzer won!!

We have an opportunity here people, to finally beat Burns, it almost happened in 2000, and in my opinion he is more vulnerable now. The last thing we need to do is turn on one another and make this thing nasty and costly.

Bottom line is Burns needs to go, and right now I don't care if its Tester or Morrison, or even Richards. All three are much better than good old Conrad.

Posted by: sheenarice at August 31, 2005 08:15 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Bob, your tone is not helpful. I support Tester 100 percent, but lets face it, we also need Morrison's supporters to defeat Burns in case Tester wins the primary. I'm afraid this kind of harsh infighting would hurt our chances for retaining the Maryland senate seat.

Lets agree to be respecful of other Dem candidates no matter what side we are on. In the end, our ultimate aim is to defeat the GOP, so please stop the unnecessary bickering.

Posted by: purpleday at August 31, 2005 09:08 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Party unity is important, that is why there is a zero tolerance policy for members of the DLC. The DLC only has relevance to the degree they triangulate against fellow Democrats. This will not stand. We choose the course for our Party in the primaries and I play to win.

Fortunately, Morrison has two solid options: quit the DLC or quit the race. Either way, the Democratic Party will be better off.

Posted by: Bob Brigham at August 31, 2005 09:37 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

My point is that we don't need to wage a nasty battle. If Tester's as good as we think he is, then he should steamroll Morrison without much of a problem. While I'm ready to fight the DLC tooth-and-nail, I think the best way to demonstrate how irrelevant they are is simply to show `em the back of our hand. They crave recognition and attention - I don't wanna give it to `em.

Posted by: DavidNYC at August 31, 2005 10:03 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Reply to JRyan (August 31, 2005 06:52 PM )
The complete text of Mr. Morrison's email:

Sender: "John Morrison"
Subject: The Countdown Begins!
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:28:54 -0700

Dear XXXX,

Conventional Wisdom 2004: Most of the fifty states are either
red, or blue.

Of course, that’s the thing about Conventional Wisdom.
It's...conventional. Somebody's always bucking the trend.
In 2004, here in Montana, we kicked it straight through the barn
door.

That's right -- color Montana a solid purple. At least, that's
what the statewide election results, achieved by virtue of your
hard work and commitment, proved.

In 2004, we Montanans finally elected a Governor with a genuine
commitment to affordable health care, excellence in public
education, and the creation of lasting jobs and economic
opportunity. Brian Schweitzer won a decisive victory, reclaiming
Democratic control of the Governor’s office for the first time in
fifteen years.

And Schweitzer's victory? It was merely the fresh powder atop a
mountain of Democratic victories up and down the rest of the
Montana ballot.

Democrats won every statewide office but one.

Now, looking ahead to 2006 we have yet another unique
opportunity: To capture another seat in the United States
Senate. During my years fighting the fights of everyday people, I've
demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the people of Montana.
And that same unrelenting commitment to Montana and her people
is exactly what we deserve in a United States Senator.

Working together, we have achieved much to be proud of extending
beyond our work to elect independent candidates who share the
values of Montanans.

With one-in-five Montanans lacking health insurance, I’m proud
to have worked to write and pass legislation in the 2005
session, that created a new tax credit proposal for Montana’s
smallest businesses to provide health insurance to their
employees.

Proud to have enacted new legislation that will provide start-up
businesses with the necessary capital they need to create jobs in
Montana.

And proud to have prosecuted the largest insurance and
securities fraud cases in Montana’s history -- recovering over
$20 million for Montana consumers and investors.

As I travel this state, Montanans tell me about their desire for
quality and affordability in our health care system, relief from
outrageous prescription drug prices, solutions for the
sustainability of Medicare and Social Security, and a decisive
crackdown on insurance company abuses. They want politicians in
Washington to be held accountable for holding the line on taxes,
controlling spending, and bringing the ballooning federal deficit
back down to earth so it doesn’t become the debt our children owe
tomorrow for the failures of Washington today.

No candidate in this race is better prepared to turn those
fundamental principles into real public policy, and to do so on
behalf of everyday people.

I'm a proven vote-getter with a reputation for delivering a
commonsense, people-centered approach to leadership.

And, make no mistake: I am in this campaign to win. So I take
absolutely nothing for granted. Nothing whatsoever.

I must gather the resources necessary to wage a tough, modern,
winning campaign -- and, therefore, I am writing to ask for your
generous help.

Help Boot Burns

Please take a moment right now to make a contribution today of
$2,100, $1,000, $500, $250, $100, $50, $25 or whatever you can
afford to give. Mail your contribution to Morrison for Montana,
Box 99, Helena MT 59624, or give using a major credit card by
visiting www.johnmorrison.us on the Internet.

Please know how profoundly grateful I am for your support, and
your commitment today, as we embark on this new and absolutely
necessary journey to the United States Senate – and a better
future for Montana and the nation.

Sincerely,

John Morrison

P.S. We have 32 days until the end of our second fundraising
quarter. I would appreciate it if you could forward this message
to your friends and neighbors. Forward this to your friends!

************
Paid for by Morrison for Montana, P.O. Box 99, Helena, MT 59624
(406) 457-5480

Posted by: lindabee*mt at September 1, 2005 07:01 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Thank you very much. Although it doesn't read the way I'd hoped, the email was almost certainly made before the true extent of the disaster was known, so I think its a little unfair to attack Morrison for it.

Posted by: JRyan at September 1, 2005 09:55 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment