Posted on 06/04/2005 4:22:06 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper
GREAT FALLS - Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., called on fellow Montana Republicans on Friday night to volunteer their services, not just their money.
"We need to take the time to re-establish grass-roots politics," Rehberg, a Billings rancher and developer, told delegates to the Montana GOP officers convention.
If Republicans face campaign risks, it's because "we have become so arrogant we believe it's all about money," he said.
Rehberg, seeking his fourth term, put in a strong sales pitch for Sen. Conrad Burns' re-election, calling him "the best senator our state has ever seen."
He implored the party faithful to get out and work for Burns.
"We cannot afford to roll the dice against Conrad's knowledge and experience," he said.
Rehberg criticized Democrats for claiming they support family values as they vote against tax cuts, and for saying health insurance is a top priority as they oppose association health plans for small businesses.
Earlier in the day, Burns told GOP delegates that Social Security isn't financially sustainable in its present form. However, Burns, up for re-election in 2006, stopped well short of endorsing President Bush's controversial plan to give individuals the option of investing some of contributions in private accounts.
He criticized congressional Democrats for not offering an alternative except for "massive increases in payroll taxes."
"Let me make it perfectly clear," Burns said. "I will not support any increases in payroll taxes because that really hurts our working men and women and our small business owners," he said at a luncheon speech. "I will not support a cut in benefits."
Medicare, the federal health care program for the elderly, is in worse shape financial than Social Security, he said, while Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor and elderly, is "manageable but heading for trouble."
While Republicans are exploring solutions, he said, "the only sound we have heard from the other side is nothing, zip, zero. Only threats of shutting down the Senate."
The breakfast speaker was Tom Liddy, a Phoenix lawyer and talk-show host who is the son of G. Gordon Liddy, one of the planners of the 1972 Watergate break-in and now the host of a national radio talk show. G. Gordon Liddy was convicted for his Watergate role and other crimes and spent more than four years in federal prison.
Tom Liddy, chairman of the Republican Party in Maricopa County, told of how he attended President Bush's Christmas party at the White House last year after Bush won Arizona so handily. He said it was the first time he attended the gala since 1971, when at age 8 he accompanied his parents to the party during the Nixon administration.
He told the crowd how he was upset when The Washington Post in 1975 called his father the Darth Vader of the Nixon administration.
"I knew my dad," Tom Liddy said. "I knew he was a good man. My dad was not coming home. He was going to jail."
The younger Liddy said he then started to read newspapers and books voraciously to understand how the country is run, and "at a very young age, I became very committed to the principles of the Founding Fathers."
He passed on this advice to Montana Republicans: "You win by holding your base and winning the middle."
How interesting... 2 years before anyone but George Lucas had heard of Darth Vader !
Everyone knew about Darth Vader in 1975, back then, Star Wars was highly anticipated long before it actually screened worldwide.
I guess I didn't... but then, I was 1 year old in 1975.
I was 5 years old.
And now we're dusty old farts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.