The New Willard

By now, I’m sure everyone involved in the Montanan world of blogs knows about Rehberg’s “spirited defense of President Bush,” but just in case you missed this story, here’s a little recap:

U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg gave a spirited defense of President Bush Friday evening, telling fellow Republicans the president is a “fabulous individual” who has stood firm on national defense and against terrorism.

“Why do we turn our back on a president who has not turned his back on us?” Rehberg asked. “The day will come that we will thank him for what he’s doing.”

And this:

Rehberg called President Bush a “victim of his own success,” saying he has protected the nation from harm after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and allowed citizens to go on with their lives and sometimes worry about other issues like health care, the economy and energy prices.

“But he stays focused on security, on defense,” Rehberg said. “He understands what it means to fight a war somewhere else rather than inside our own boundaries.”

Rehberg said a little-known fact about the president is that he has personally visited with the families of more than 2,500 of the 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed in the war in Iraq since 2003.

“You don’t hear that,” Rehberg said. “Nobody talks about that. He doesn’t advertise that.”

Rehberg suggested that Republicans perhaps deserved to lose control of Congress in the 2006 election, saying they had forgotten about their philosophy of smaller government and fiscal responsibility.

What? What?! What?!? Seriously, is Rehberg on acid or is he just really, really high? Rehberg claims that perhaps Republicans deserved to loose in ‘06 because “they had forgotten about their philosophy of smaller government and fiscal responsibility” and then goes on to praise President Bush for doing such a good job. Small government, fiscal responsibility, and Bush aren’t exactly three terms that usually find in one coherent speech.

Rehberg also talked about how nice it is of Bush to visit the families of those that have died in Afghanistan and Iraq and then to keep it quit. According to Rehberg, Bush “doesn’t advertise that.” What? We recently passed the 4,000th death in Iraq and all the White House had to say was how Bush carried the biggest burden (not those in harms way) and how he visits with so many families, etc., etc.

Rehberg also claims that Bush, by protecting us, has “allowed citizens to go on with their lives and sometimes worry about other issues like health care, the economy and energy prices.” THEN, Rehberg goes on to say – at the same event and in countless other interviews and events – that there is no health care problem.

AHH! Maybe we shouldn’t have legalized medical marijuana in 2004, because Rehberg is obviously getting some kind of prescription.

In addition to all of this contradicting rhetoric, Rehberg continues to illustrate his disconnect with Montanans: Montanans, on the whole, don’t like Bush; why is our Representative going around the state praising him? Is that representation? Nope.