TPM hits Musgrave for using vets as campaign props

UPDATED!!!

Too bad I couldn't get a link out of it, but I'm really glad Talking Points Memo maestro Josh Marshall has picked up the Musgrave-politicizes-servicemen story:

Wait a second. Doesn't this break military regulations and probably several laws?

A few weeks ago we discussed the fact that the RNC was apparently working with the White House to send active duty members of the military in uniform to speak on behalf of the president's policies at Republican political events. That's against the law and military regulations. And for good reason since that's a quick ride to making the military -- or factions or individuals in the military -- tools of one or the other political party.

Now we seem to have an example in practice.

This is exactly what appears to have happened yesterday at a political event with Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO). This article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan shows a picture of Musgrave doing just that with the caption: "Marilyn Musgrave introduces Marine Sergeant Brandon Forsyth on Friday during the Larimer County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner."

A look at the picture shows pretty clearly that Forsyth was in uniform. Yet those regs linked above say clearly that military personnel can attend partisan events only as spectators and not in uniform. What am I missing?

Looks like Fair and Balanced Ranting is on the case too. And SoapBlox Colorado.

Sunday Morning Reading: Wow! This story is really getting picked up on blogs. The Agonist blasts the Republicans' conscious use of militarism in campaign politics. Un-American! They also have also given an URL for the above photo (just in case you need a host for your own site).

More at dKos, of course. Looks like they've gotten the Coloradoan to look into it.

5280 looks at the legal problem, not that the perception problem isn't bad enough.

And therein lies the rub: Military regulations prohibit members of the armed forces in active duty from attending partisan political events in uniform. Examples:

A member on active duty may….attend partisan and nonpartisan political meetings, rallies, or conventions as a spectator when not in uniform.

A member on active duty shall not…participate in partisan political management, campaigns, or conventions (unless attending a convention as a spectator when not in uniform).

The regulations even provide specific examples of allowed and prohibited conduct:

A member on active duty shall not ….Participate in partisan political management, campaigns, or conventions (except as a spectator when not in uniform), or make public speeches in the course thereof.

Marine Sergeant Brandon Forsyth sure looks like he’s wearing a military uniform, and he spoke at the partisan event.

More later, I'm sure . . . .

Josh Marshall has a fabulous follow-up post:

Here's a thought. Bob Novak pretty much put us on notice a couple weeks ago that the White House and the RNC were going to make a habit of using uniformed military personnel as props at Republican political rallies. This despite the fact that it is a plain violation of military regulations banning politicization of the armed forces.

Now, with Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's (R-CO) event in Colorado we seem to have the first actual example of it.

My gut tells me this isn't the only one. But in the nature of things the notations of it will show up only in local papers, well under the radar of the national press. So I'm curious whether folks have seen examples of similar things happening in their own districts. If you've seen examples, let us know.

Colorado Lib sends Marilyn his love.

Boy, Josh Marshall is really fired up about this. He writes, in another post:

The existence of this ban and the enforcement of it are hugely important both to good order and discipline within the military and to preserving our democratic republic. The military can't be made into an arm of one or the other political party. Nor can the executive be allowed to enlist
members of the armed forces, either individually or en masse, willingly or not, as soldiers in his domestic political battles.

This is about preserving a professional military and preserving our system of government. It's a big deal.

It's the difference between a healthy democracy and a banana republic. Keep it coming, Josh.

'Then I'll cut your benefits....'

The Coloradoan got to go to a GOP bigwig event at the Larimer County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner.

The clank of silverware echoed above the polite dinner conversation about topics such as fiscal discipline, permanent tax cuts and the war in Iraq when more than 250 Republicans gathered in Fort Collins on Friday night for the Larimer County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner.

That "politeness" must have included politely ignoring the gross contradictions between all three of those topics. Sheesh!

U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave said, despite the challenges set before it, the Republican party is strong.

"We should be very proud of the job the president has done on the war on terror," Musgrave said. "The economy has been doing well and national security is still a priority."

A priority for who, exactly? I know port security is a huge priority for the president. Just like deficit spending, energy security, and catching Osama bin Laden. We sure feel "secure" after Katrina, don't we? And we have to love someone who's got such a handle on Iraq, a mess of his own making. Puh-leeze!

Oh, and Musgrave introduced a uniformed Marine Sergeant. Good for the cameras. Too bad she votes to cut military benefits every chance you get.

Having soldiers as props at Republican events is pretty tacky, probably illegal, and is a White House-directed public relations strategy that has no shame. Josh Marshall explains.

Money talks!

Okay then, this post is a random journey through corporate cash land, to see what we turn up.

1. OpenSecrets tells me one of Marilyn's top contributors is something called "Rely on Your Beliefs." That's one of those shady, vague names the perks up the ears. Guess what they b$li$ve in.
   
2. Wikipedia: It's got a pretty light entry for Rely on Your Beliefs, but I get the name now. It's the PAC operation for Roy Blunt, the majority whip. Read about how he uses lobbying money to get political power here.
   
3. Blunt's helper at ROYB was Jim Ellis. "Who?" you ask. Oh, just one of Tom DeLay's cronies who's used to run ARMPAC and is now under indictment along with the Big Steward for money laundering. ARMPAC has given Musgrave tens of thousands to keep her loyal to Tom DeLay. Guess that made it easier to try and give Tom a free pass on the ethics rules.
   

Plus Wikipedia cites ROYB's larget contributors:

• Altria (one of the top corporate contributors in 2001-02 according to [4]; Blunt's current wife was previously a lobbyist for the company)
• Enron [5]
• Microsoft PAC [6]
• In March 2002, the Tigua tribe began making political contributions on request of Jack Abramoff in hopes of getting a casino approved. [7]

Shows what beliefs they relied on. More on the Tigua shakedown.

Mike Pence's principles

The Loveland paper reports on a top House Republican's visit to to the town:

The chairman of the House Republican Study Committee and U.S. Representative for Indiana’s 6th Congressional District, Pence heads a group of more than 100 members of the House of Representatives who want to advance a social and economic conservative agenda in the House.

Pence, who says he has fought the rising tide of Republican Congressional spending, will speak Friday to about 300 Larimer County Republicans at the Lincoln Day Dinner.

The spending junkies want your vote because spending is real hard work:

Congress is spending at twice the rate of inflation, he says. He rattles off statistics to prove how spending has spiraled out of control.

So the strategy is for Republicans to run against themselves and their own records in order to keep their hold on power. For instance:

Pence also said he wanted to come to Fort Collins to support U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.

“There is no other member of Congress I have seen emerge more quickly or take a more consistent, principled stance than Marilyn Musgrave,” Pence said.

I guess it makes sense he's all for Marilyn Musgrave, whose I'm no Marilyn Musgrave campaign is still looking for its laughtrack.

We can't handle the truth?

Last week, Wikipedia temporarily blocked certain Capitol Hill Web addresses from altering any entries in the otherwise wide-open forum.

It seems Marilyn's people have lot of time on their hands up at the US Capitol ... and we get to pay them.

Someone also recast the state legislative record of Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), changing a passage reading, "one of her final, failed bills would have made it much more difficult for same-sex parents to see their children in the hospital during an emergency" to the less inflammatory, "Musgrave spent much of her time on social issues, particularly authoring bills to protect children and the traditional definition of marriage, as well as gun owner's rights."

A popular change in recent weeks has been deleting mentions of former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) from politicians' profiles.

Check out Marilyn's Wikipedia entry as it currently is.

Learn more about Marilyn

Here are some resources to help us examine Marilyn Musgrave's record:

• Beyond DeLay
• Right Web
• Wikipedia
• Open Secrets
• House of Scandal
• PoliticalMoneyLine

Anything I'm missing? Drop them in comments or send me an e-mail.

Link power

Check out my links that I just set up. There are a couple of other anti-Musgrave blogs I've found, and I linked to some group blogs pages on Musgrave.

I set up a Musgrave Must Go ActBlue page. Please consider contributing to Musgrave's opponent, Angie Paccione. Even if it's $5, $10, $20, or whatever, it's for the best of causes. Mobilize! It's time to put this netroots stuff to the test!

Introductory post

This is mostly a test post. This blog will be dedicated to chronicling the fun filled foibles of Colorado CD-4's very own Congresswoman, Marilyn Musgrave.

The site feed for this blog is: http://musgravemustgo.blogspot.com/atom.xml.