The governor of Montana, the Democratic governor of The Big Sky State, elected in 2000 despite Montanans preferring George Bush over John Kerry in a landslide, has no use for the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). That subject, and other topics, are touched on in the November 18, 2005 Joel Connelly/Seattle Post Intelligencer column.
Political reform, ethics reform, energy reform, straight talk (not the well cast and scripted, polished productions that are presently performed)—these will be the crucial and winning areas of concern in the 2008 presidential race. The American public will by then be even more upset with the immoral and callous lawlessness of the Bush Administration, of Tom DeLay, of Jack Abramoff, of Halliburton, of…
Rightly or wrongly, John McCain and Rudy Guilani are correctly positioned now as Republicans to take advantage of the voting public’s desire to end the on-going sleaze-fest. Whether either is acceptable to the ‘evangelical base’ remains a question.
But who on the Democratic side can figuratively and literally ride atop the white horse? Possibly Mark Warner. Maybe Wes Clark. Brian Schweitzer—absolutely.
Yes, Schweitzer is a newcomer and a race for the presidency involving him would be politically complicated but we are still planning on ‘drafting’ Schweitzer in 2007 because the Democrats need him and the country needs him.
Here are some excerpts from Connelly’s column:
Big Sky governor has big dreams
By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
November 18, 2005
CHENEY — A sky-high dreamer from the Big Sky State, Gov. Brian Schweitzer aims to make Montana government a lobbyist-free zone and to “create the new energy center of the world.”
The mint farmer and cattle rancher — he once exported bull semen — has already accomplished a near impossible task. He has revived the Democratic Party in an inland-west state snubbed by his party’s presidential candidates.
A statewide poll released last week by Montana State UniversityBillings gives Schweitzer an approval rating of 68 percent, compared with 45 percent for President Bush. Schweitzer is getting noticed in nearby states.
The Montana governor whipped off his bolo tie for auction recently at a Spokane fund-raiser for Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. It went for $2,500…
…he governor is no fan of the Democratic Leadership Council — the centrist outfit, once headed by an ambitious Arkansas governor named Bill Clinton, that is populated by Washington, D.C., lobbyists and funded by their corporate overlords.
“Washington, D.C., is a giant cesspool filled with special interests,” Schweitzer said. “Unless we change the culture of Washington, D.C., we’re not going to change the country.”
In Helena, Schweitzer has adopted a policy of not allowing any lobbyist to serve on a state board or commission.
Montana is a state with a strong — almost ornery — sense of independence. The attitude has been spawned by a history of rough exploitation.
Railroads lured 19th century homesteaders to land that was too arid for farming. Mining companies left a legacy of polluted streams and, in the town of Libby, workers dying from asbestos-related cancers. Timber multinationals stripped miles of forests from private land.
Montana has gotten its fill of lobbyists, or “manure piled around government,” in Schweitzer’s words. Lobbyists were behind an energy deregulation bill that allowed Wall Street to strip Montana Power of $2.7 billion in power assets, leaving the company bankrupt and its investors out in the cold…
…The Iraq war has galvanized Schweitzer, who in his youth spent seven years working on irrigation projects in Saudi Arabia.
“It isn’t U.S. senators, the secretary of defense or the secretary of energy who go to funerals when bodies come back from Iraq. It’s governors,” he said. “I recommit myself, at every funeral, to energy independence.
“Unless we do that, governors will be going to funerals for 30 years. Unless energy security is under our control, our communities are not safe.”
“I’m a pragmatist. I’d be more than happy to go to Afghanistan and put Osama bin Laden’s head on a stick. Why, though, fight an energy war when we have the solution right at hand?”…
For the complete column and do read it in its entirety, go here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/248852_joel18.html