Tagged: War on Jesus

Posted: January 30, 2012 at 5:55 pm

Further Thoughts about the Jesus Hearing

Many commenters weighed in on my discussion yesterday about Denny Rehberg’s play to get maximum publicity on his idiotic obsession with a Jesus statue. A robust discussion, as always.

A few commenters hit on what I believe are the most salient points: First, the statue isn’t going to be moved anywhere, nor has there ever been any real possibility that it would. The forest service obviously doesn’t set much store by a silly group from Wisconsin, claiming that the inquisition is upon us because a statue is still standing in the same spot it’s been standing in for the last 60 years. They will take comments from the public, and the most likely adopt status quo.

Second, and more to the point: isn’t there something more important than this statue that Montana’s lone Representative could be working on right now, given that a national recession is at hand? And even though Denny Rehberg is not the sharpest tool in the shed, doesn’t he see some risk of backlash in spending so much time on an issue like this, given that his reputation is already cemented as a Congressman that has never done anything for Montana except author a bill that re-named a Post Office?

Posted: January 28, 2012 at 11:05 pm

Tea Party Congressman to Hold Hearing on the Fate of Jesus

Who says Congress doesn’t work on issues that matter to Americans during tough economic times?

Montana congressman Denny Rehberg, co-founder of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus and Michelle Bachmann’s earliest endorser, has announced that he will hold a hearing this week on a crucial issue: a statue of Jesus at a ski resort.

For the last several months, Rehberg has been all Jesus all the time, obsessed with a small ceramic statue of Christ that sits on the edge of a ski run at Big Mountain Ski Resort in Whitefish, Montana.

There’s been a slew of press releases and a blitz of national TV appearances on shows like “Fox and Friends.” He put up a Save the Jesus Statue website (constructed with his congressional office funds) and went on a whirlwind Save Jesus tour around Montana, with e-mail action alerts, a “draft legislative solution,” and robo-calls to thousands of Montana voters, telling them that he is working hard to save Jesus and urging them to support him in this important work. He spent Veterans Day meeting with veterans to tell them that their support for him (Rehberg) in this important cause is crucial.

And now, the grand finale in Rehberg’s heroic effort to prove that he is pro-Jesus: a hearing about the statue, before a Congressional committee, this friday.

The small statue was erected in the 1950s on a piece of National Forest land that abuts the ski area, and the permit has now come up for renewal after six decades. The Forest Service was notified by an “anti-establishment” group from Wisconsin that if it renewed the permit, it would be in violation of the establishment clause. The Forest Service has thus considered options, one of which is to simply ignore the Wisconsin group’s threats. Another option is (gasp) to move the statue a few feet onto private land. That’s an outrage, says Rehberg.

Rehberg is five points down in his race against Jon Tester for the US Senate, so obviously he believes that a boost in his pro-Jesus street cred is needed to consolidate the evangelical vote.

Also, Tester’s star is very high among veterans, and has been so ever since he took office in 2007 and immediately made vets a centerpiece of his domestic policy. Of course, Tester focuses not on statues, but on services–health care for veterans, jobs for veterans, loans for veterans, things that matter. Veterans like Tester, a lot. But Montana Republicans (who after two decades of dominance have been virtually eradicated as statewide officeholders, thanks to Schweitzer, Tester and a resurgent Democratic party) believe that the veteran vote is a GOP birthright that can never be taken from them.

Tester also believes the statue should remain unmolested. But after making his opinion known, he moved on to doing real work on things that matter, because he understands (unlike Rehberg who is a man-child) that if you are in Congress, you should be acting like an adult.

And guess who is coming to the Big Mountain area in a few weeks? You guessed it. Tim Tebow will be in nearby Kalispell, Montana, to talk at a fundraiser for a Christian School. Tebow is sure to weigh in on the Big Mountain Jesus issue.

After all, what could be more important?

Posted: November 10, 2011 at 9:08 pm

Livingstone Hits Rock Bottom

The wheels of the strange campaign of Neil Livingstone for Governor are no longer turning and might soon come off the bus.

According to local Whitefish sources, Livingstone’s campaign bus, which has a giant photo of himself on the side of it, has been sitting still at Ryan Zinke’s house (Livingstone’s number two man) for several months.

Livingstone’s Facebook page and website have also been parked idle for a long while. As of this morning, the campaign hadn’t posted anything on Facebook since July 28th and as for Livingstone’s website, the last posting was from April 19th. The posting was a “weekly recipe” (Livingstone was once fond of regularly posting his delicious cooking ideas) and was “chile con carne“, presumably the Peruvian variety.

And the campaign was broke as of the last fundraising report (which is probably why the bus has been idle–no gas money).

It had once been assumed that Livingstone would put personal money into this race, given his supposed high net worth. But it now seems like either Livingstone’s assets are fewer than previously thought, or he has simply lost interest in the whole enterprise.

Nonetheless, there is one important piece of activity coming from Livingstone’s running mate Zinke.

Zinke, on his own personal Facebook page, has just today called for a rally to “Occupy Whitefish”. But not as an objection to big bailed out banks and fat Wall Street bonuses. Nor in response to a seven percent unemployment rate or the fact that middle class wages have been stagnant for a decade. No. It’s an “Occupy Whitefish In Support of the Jesus Statue” rally, scheduled for Friday, at the local Chevrolet dealership.

Unfortunately, I hear that Jesus is supporting Ken Miller.

Posted: November 6, 2011 at 4:23 pm

War on Jesus

Jesus jumps into the Montana Senate Race

Amid the worst recession in 50 years and with unemployment at record levels, Montana GOP congressman Denny Rehberg is focusing on what matters: a statue of Jesus.

For the last three weeks, Rehberg, who is challenging Jon Tester for a Senate seat, has been entirely consumed with a small statue of our savior that sits next to a ski slope at the Big Mountain Ski resort in Whitefish, MT. Rehberg began with a press release, followed by a blitz of national TV appearances, including one on Fox and Friends. He then put up a Save the Jesus Statue website (the site was constructed with his congressional office funds, by the way). Then he went on a whirlwind Save Jesus tour with an email action alert about a rally and a “DRAFT legislative solution” and robo-calls to thousands of Montana voters, telling them that he is working hard to save Jesus and urging them to support him in this important work. (You can hear the robo call from Rehberg here: Rehberg Robo-call). Finally, he spent Veterans Day meeting with veterans to tell them their support for him (Rehberg) in this important cause is crucial. Other Republicans this week held an “Occupy Whitefish to Save the Jesus Statue.”

So from here on out, it’s going to be all Jesus, all the time. Why?

The statue was erected on a piece of National Forest land in the 1950s and the permit has now come up for renewal. The Forest Service was notified by some silly group from Wisconsin that if it renewed the permit, it would be in violation of the establishment clause. And so the agency said it might consider moving the statue a few feet onto private land. That’s an outrage, says Rehberg.

At first I had thought maybe Rehberg had seen an opportunity to make inroads among persuadable churchgoing voters.

But I now realize that all of this Jesus stuff is being aimed at Tester for his strength: support from veterans. The statue was constructed 50 years ago by World War II veterans, as a memorial, an homage to a similar statue that these vets had seen in Italy during their tour of duty.

And Jon Tester’s star is very high among veterans, and has been so ever since he took office in 2007 and immediately made vets a centerpiece of his domestic policy. He focuses not on statues, but on services–health care for veterans, jobs for veterans, loans for veterans, things that matter. Veterans like Tester, a lot.

Naturally, Montana Republicans (who after two decades of dominance have been virtually eradicated as statewide officeholders, thanks to Schweitzer, Tester and a resurgent Democratic party) believe that the veteran vote is a GOP birthright that can never be taken from them. And now that Tester has taken it from them, Rehberg had decided to pander to vets. He is has taken up a meaningless issue, trying to seem as if he is fighting a battle for their statue, when in fact the statue never stood any chance of being moved.

And so Tester is in the news this weekend, for example, fighting for a bill that would help decrease unemployment among veterans by offering tax credits to businesses who employ them. He is fighting for soldiers who fought foreign wars, while the dunce Rehberg is looking for credit for fighting a fictitious War on Jesus.

As between nonsensical pandering and real results, I suspect veterans will see the difference.