Who knew that Sue Ann Nivens’ alter ego*, The Kitchen Guy, is also acting as interim news director for Max Media’s KFBB these days?

All pretense of journalistic ethics was abandoned last week when the obviously biased news show dug up a personal photo of a Republican candidate from deep in her Face Book albums in order to provide visual contrast against the Democrat candidate in a feature on the race.

My buddy Tom over at Rockin’ on the Right Side postulated that perhaps it was some kind of “Bring Your Kids to Work Day” that resulted in the embarrassingly biased video clip used in a story designed to glorify the Democrat candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Nay, not so. The tasteless, tacky, petty, and juvenile attempt to skew a story for political advantage was so heavy-handed that no semblance of innocent naiveté can be ascribed to the piece.

What, pray tell, motivated this obnoxious bit of yellow journalism? I started with a little background search on the news director, Jim Gray – aka “The Kitchen Guy”:

“Chef Jim is well-known as the star of the weekly TV series, “Kitchen Guy.” His experience in television isn’t just limited to his culinary career; he also worked as a news anchor for an NBC affiliate and in the White House press corps for a financial newswire.

And what do you know – he lives in Missoula and has contributed exclusively to democrat candidates in the past and again this year. [You can look this up yourself. It’s public record.]

What do you think are the chances that the interim news editor, with years of news experience, just happened to choose that particular photo because it was the only one he could find in the public domain? Yeah – Slim and None, ’cause Fat just left.

In his lame response to the Welch campaign, Gray offered this excuse, “This was the only photo we could find of Ms. Welch, as we had no file video of her and we had a deadline crunch.”

A simple Google search took less than a half a second to return almost 20,000 images, several on the first page that were from Sandy’s campaign media kit – which Mr. Kitchen Guy obviously and deliberately chose not to use. Until KFBB’s gratuitous use of the Halloween picture, it would have taken several minutes to search Sandy’s personal FB account to find the album containing that shot. I know – I did the search. Deadline crunch??? That story smells like three-day-old fish in the kitchen garbage. Phewee!!!!

Apparently though, someone at the station had enough sense to realize just how far over the line the piece was and a more appropriate picture was edited in for the later program. Kudos for that.

However, for those of you who thought it was only the print media in Montana that leans left, let me assure you – liberal media bias is alive and well in TV-land too, and it’s a recipe for a dish that leaves Montana voters sick.

Word to the wise – when partaking of the entrees served up by the LSM, be it national or local, it always pays to remember that the quality of the ingredients will determine the edibility of the stew.

*Although Sue Ann presented an image of a sweet, perfect wife and homemaker on-screen, she was actually sardonic, man-obsessed, and very competitive… Always with her trademark dimpled smile, she was cruel and snide toward people she did not like or considered a threat.

And he isn’t a very good debater, either. I am speaking about Steve Bullock, Democrat candidate for governor of the great state of Montana. Last night he and Republican candidate Rick Hill met in the first of several debates to be held over the course of the next few weeks.

The debate started at approximately 7 p.m. By 7:15 it was obvious why Steve took a powder last month and canceled the debate that was to have been sponsored by the contractors’ association. He just isn’t ready for the pros. He was so anchored to the lectern he could hardly move his eyebrows, and he was so stiff members of his staff were worried that a CSI crew would have to be called to determine time of his demise. It turned out that part of the problem was that he was so ill-prepared that he had to sneak an illicit binder of notes and prepared responses onto the lectern so he would be able to read his talking points. Evidently, this was in violation of the agreed upon rules that called for both candidates to respond to the questions without notes or written remarks.

Wow. First, he cancels a scheduled event at practically the last minute and then he cheats to get through the second one. But it gets better – even with his notes and prepared talking points, he still couldn’t win a point. What is that old saying — winners never cheat and cheaters never win?? Yeah, that one.

The rout began with the first question – which was designed to give Steve a first possession touchdown – about whether or not the candidates supported the state employee pay raise that Governor BS and Eric Feaver negotiated last year and the legislature turned down. Given that the venue was Helena, it was a no-brainer that neither candidate was going to come out opposing pay raises and Steve didn’t disappoint with his boilerplate response about how hardworking state employees deserved more money – not even a first down with that play. But Rick grabbed the ball and made it to the end zone by reminding the audience that the real problem with the governor’s proposal was that he completely ignored the legislature when agreeing to the terms. Negotiating 101 – make sure that the guy who has the checkbook is included in the discussion! Rick – 7, Steve – 0.

Same thing happened on the next few questions – Steve would read his canned response and turn the ball over to Rick who ran it all the way back for the score.

Then each candidate got to ask the other a question. Oh, oh – the gotcha moments! The audience sucked all the air out of the universe as Steve focused his laser-like stare on his…notes… and attempted to tackle Rick behind the line of scrimmage with an accusatory inquiry about his support for a 1997 bill that – HORRORS!!! lowered tax rates for the rich!!!! With a tiny smile and a quick glance at the audience, Rick, metaphorically speaking, mowed right over Steve on his way to the end zone – as he explained that, yes, he had supported the bill that President Clinton referenced during his speech at the Democratic National Convention as the crowning achievement of his presidency. Poor Steve. Didn’t even see that one coming. The cleat marks on his face were visible clear up in the balcony.

The rest of the evening was more of the same. Steve played to his fans who cheered and groaned – sometimes literally, despite admonitions to remain quiet – with the usual unimaginative partisan pablum. Then Rick would provide the facts, figures, background, and pertinent details that carried the ball into the end zone. On resource development, property tax relief, education, Montana’s business climate, medical marijuana, and several other issues – Rick took it over the goal line every time. By the end of the evening, Steve looked like a seventh-round rookie QB after the first game against the Super Bowl champs.

There are supposed to be seven more debates. Steve may decide that avoidance therapy is his only hope. By now he should at least understand that he doesn’t have the experience, intellect, or speaking skills to win a debate against Rick Hill – even if he, uh, shall we say, cheats.

Last night’s performance was a battle of wits – unfortunately Steve came unarmed.

From the good folks over at the Treehouse:

Guest post by Loki

Well the Democrats finished their convention last week. Nothing new, the media fawned, Biden bloviated (and lied), and Bill nominated Obama for President. I was highly disappointed. I had hoped Bill would pull a last minute coup and throw Obama under the bus and nominate Hillary. Well a fellow can dream can’t he?

There was one minor surprise with the venue move to the smaller auditorium. It was funny watching the media and the DNC try to spin that one like a top. I thought President Obama could stop the storms just like he can stop the rise of the oceans.

But the best part was watching the DNC panic over the changes in their platform over the capital of Israel and God. They goofed… they let everyone in the country know where they really stand. President Obama couldn’t have that and demanded a change. Then in front of the world they ignored their own members and changed the platform to a raucous of boos. Imagine that. They booed adding God and Jerusalem back into their platform.

Their excuse was it was a big misunderstanding, a minor oversight. The media bought it and carried the DNC spin story. Glossed it over. I can imagine the stories from the media would that have happened to the RNC if they had done something similar. We would still be having man-in-the-street stories and interviews of women and children on the hatred of Republicans.

But we now have it on tape. We need to keep drumming this into the public. This is not the first time the Democrats have hidden their true hatred of Catholics and Jews. Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton’s known hatred of Jews is documented. The ACLU’s attacks on religion are well known. We have to keep repeating the story.

The DNC is actually the party of hatred. They have deceived minorities that they support them but it is all a lie. They just require the minority vote. And they are happy to use our tax money to support minority programs to buy the minority vote.

Today President Obama declined to meet Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu because he was too busy campaigning and he had to meet David Letterman. And yet Obama still repeats the lie that he supports Israel. He is only interested in getting re-elected.

Ed NOTE:

Pretty much says it all.

Another Democrat candidate for statewide office has developed a terminal case of cowardice. Late last week, Superintendent of Schools Denise Juneau suddenly cancelled a previously agreed upon debate scheduled for last night. Challenger Sandy Welch has posted this letter to her opponent:

August 21, 2012

Superintendent Juneau:

In light of your recent cancellation of our first agreed upon debate, I am writing you this letter to inform you of my unwavering call for debate. In public service, no official is exempt from appearing to debate and defend their record. Not only will I agree to any debate that meets the below criteria, I will also debate no matter how rushed or disorganized a host or venue may seem. Leaders show up, even when situations are disorganized. Education is no topic for political gaming. This demands transparent dialogue, in any setting.

I accept any offer to debate you, and hope you are willing to defend, publicly, your term as Superintendent. The voters of Montana deserve to hear you contrast yourself with my vision for OPI in an objective environment.

I will debate you in any setting that meets the following criteria:

– Each campaign will be equally given tickets to disperse to audience members.
– Media must be present.
– Our scheduling team has adequate time (at least seven days) to rearrange previously set calendar items.

Public officials must be held accountable and responsive to all voters. This is why we have a democratically elected government. As Superintendent, I won’t hide from fulfilling this duty. I look forward to debating you.

Sandy Welch

We understand that Montana Democrats are finding themselves wedged squarely between rocks and hard places. Bullock and Juneau are firmly tied to the far left, anti-development environmental lobby and President Obama’s unpopular and failed policies and programs. Having to defend their votes against the Otter Creek coal lease which flooded state coffers with $85 million dollars is not the kind of position any politician wants to be in. For Juneau especially, it’s hard to advocate for increased revenues for public schools after having turned down that kind of cash. It’s also got to be pretty intimidating to stand in front of an audience who thinks that having job opportunities for the kids who graduate from our public schools is high on the list of priorities when you’ve voted against those jobs.

Juneau has much to defend from her four years at the helm of OPI. She’s gotten a failing grade (65% – what we call a “solid F”) when it comes to meeting accreditation standards. Parents and school boards are equally frustrated with the high school dropout rates and overall academic achievement scores throughout K-12. The increasing demand for charter schools, private schools, and home schooling is a direct result of her tenure.

It’s no wonder that she would rather stay hidden behind her office door or skee-daddle off to the Democratic National Convention rather than face Montana voters. A cursory review of her latest campaign finance report underscores her lack of support from Montanans – 20 out of 23 named donors are from out of state. The people of Montana are looking for leadership and accountability. Denise Juneau however would rather run away than face the people she’s accountable to.

Sandy Welch is the most credible candidate for the office of public instruction that Montanans have had in a long time. She’s got an awesome resume and great experience to bring to the job. She’s knowledgeable, articulate, and really understands the issues surrounding education. She has proposed workable, realistic, practical solutions and common-sense approaches to improving our school system. And she’s enthusiastically taking that message to the receptive voters all over the state. It’s no wonder that Juneau is ducking the debates.

There are precious few days left before the election and the latest polls aren’t going to warm the cockles of any Democrat’s heart. But avoiding the tough questions and pandering to friends-only audiences won’t win elections. Make no mistake – the word is out – Democrats are afraid. Very afraid.

This strain of yellow fever can be a fatal diagnosis for a political career.

In what can only be called a shocking move, Steve Bullock virtually threw in the towel on his bid to become Montana’s next governor. By cancelling his participation in the first of a series of debates against the frontrunner, Republican Rick Hill, Bullock signaled that he had no hope of winning the election with his extremist, liberal, anti-jobs agenda. Bullock has communicated to the people of Montana that his unwavering support for the vastly unpopular ObamaCare and his vote against coal development, which is supported by over 80% of Montana’s voters, are insurmountable negatives in the contest against the pro-growth, responsible platform put forth by Hill and his running mate Jon Sonju.

Montana voters have come to expect the opportunity to take the measure of their statewide political candidates by virtue of head to head comparisons. Following the June 5 primary, both the Hill and Bullock campaign teams advocated taking their campaigns to the people.

Bullock proposed that they have eight debates — one each in the state’s largest cities of Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell and Missoula, plus one in Eastern Montana to focus on the needs of communities addressing energy development.

“There are strong differences between the way each of us would approach creating jobs in Montana, balancing our state’s budget and supporting our strong system of public education,” Bullock said. “And I believe voters deserve to understand our records of accomplishment, the policies we’re proposing and the values we’ll bring as Montana’s next chief executive.”

Hill said he looks forward to joining them in eight debates and added: “I anticipate that we will commit to even more.”

“It’s important that we give Montanans as many opportunities as possible to understand the difference in our accomplishments, our values, our policy proposals and our leadership opportunities,” Hill said.

The Republican nominee also suggested that each debate be set up as Lincoln-Douglas debates, where the candidates ask each other questions and answer them. That differs from the typical debate or forums in which a moderator or members of a panel ask the questions.

“This will assure an open and honest discussion of the issues, which will enable voters to better understand our differing visions for the future of our great state as well as address specific topics,” Hill said.

At some point during the ten weeks since the primary someone on his campaign staff explained the definition of “debate” to him and Stevie immediately headed for the executive washroom for a change of underwear. All this time, he was under the misguided perception that debate was synonymous with “oral interp” – a high school competitive speech event designed for those who want to become late-night infomercial spokespeople, where the most important skills are pretty hair and neatly knotted ties. Due to his receding hairline this a real challenge for Steve.

After much negotiation – consisting mostly of foot-stomping, whining, and holding his breath until his face turned blue on Steve’s part – the local sponsors and the TV station that had agreed to broadcast the event finally had enough of the temper tantrum and advised Bullock’s campaign that 90 minutes of mind-numbing prepared political pontificating would be even less entertaining than watching paint dry and they wanted no part of it. He had to agree to some kind of question/answer format with extemporaneous responses or they weren’t interested.

Although Bullock has amassed a somewhat larger war chest – largely because he didn’t have a credible opponent in the primary and didn’t have to compete for dollars or spend much during the primary season – his financial resources aren’t sufficient to give the Democrat candidate enough warm fuzzies to overcome the stark raving reality of his hugely unpopular progressive policies, extreme liberal values, comparative lack of experience, and relatively weak speaking prowess. Somewhere along the line Steve realized that his abilities were no match for his bravado and when his stalling tactics and unreasonable demands became too much for debate sponsors, he was left with two options: Put on his big-boy pants and play – or run and hide.

After careful thought and much consideration, it’s now obvious that the Democrats’ local golden boy has evaluated the situation and decided on the only logical course of action. He will be spending more quality time with his lovely family.

Guest post by Loki

The Middle East is a powder keg just waiting for a small spark to ignite and destroy the whole area. Iran continues its development of nuclear weapons while the UN and the USA delude themselves that talking will bring sanity to radical anti-Semitics bent on a religious war.

Lately I have noticed a slight change in the banal rhetoric coming from Washington. They report that Iran is closer to building a nuclear bomb than they realized. Which is not surprising as the Obama administration is quite surprised about every report. They are the most unaware administration in my life time.

I now wonder if this is not part of a great October surprise. Bomb the nuclear facilities in Iran, help Israel and get a popularity bump from the Jewish community and American voters. It also would boost President Obama’s credibility as a world leader who is not afraid to fight. And nobody would be thinking about the terrible shape of the economy.

This would have the added advantage of not allowing for any blowback from any problems that could arise. Gas prices would take a bump, but since Obama is all for $5/gal gas that would be inline with his plans. Iran would not have time to devise any type of a counter attack. And our naval fleet already has three carrier groups in the area to protect shipping lanes. Terrorist counter attacks would take time to plan and carryout. And once the election is over none of that would mater.

So the question is would President Obama who has constantly delayed helping Israel with the Iran problem commit a military action purely to get re-elected. Why yes, yes I believe he would.

Guest Post by Loki

(Bread and Circuses, so you don’t have to run to your Latin dictionaries)

The Roman leaders kept the people entertained while making sure they had bread and circuses. In other words they diverted the attention of the populace of the disastrous state of the nation while making sure the people were fed and entertained. Meanwhile the country went bankrupt and lost its identity. It was so infused with foreigners that there was no desire to fight for the people that had lost its national identity. It was everyone for themselves. And the Roman Empire was broke and spread too thin to protect itself. The people were united in greed alone.

After the SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare I wonder if this nation is not in the same position. Keep the people fed with subsidized food and medicine. Promise more trinkets. Keep them entertained with movies, booze and illegal drugs. All the while the nation’s economy is falling in to an abyss and we have jumped onto a jet flight to reach the bottom.

This country is fractionized with labels. If you are American today you are a white racist. Otherwise your nation of origin is listed before your being a citizen of America. You are an Afro-American, Latin-American or Asian-American. We have lost our group identity as each group fights for itself. Just like the Japanese had thought at the start of WWII. They could not imagine a diverse group fighting for a single nation. And today we have met that Japanese notion. It is everyone for themselves. Get what you can. The government owes me and needs to take it from someone else. I don’t care what the other guy pays as long as I’m not taxed. We argue over fairness. We are not a united nation. We are a nation of diversity.

When did the Roman citizens realize their country was lost? It must have been gradual, maybe even decades. I am sure that everyone did not wake up and say the country is lost. It was a slow process. And at some point the nation could have been saved… but it was not. I now wonder if we have also reached that tipping point. Are we close or have we already gone over the tipping point. Recent studies have suggested that we are more fractionized then we were at the Civil War. Our nation is near bankruptcy and yet still our leaders keep trying to divert our attention with trinkets while we fight over the crumbs of bread the government doles out.

Meanwhile Russia laughs at our president and sees him as the amateur statesman. China builds its nation for war. And many smaller nations prepare for joining the nuclear brotherhood of destruction. Europe collapses in socialism while American liberals rush this nation into socialism while abandoning capitalism.

I hope we have not reached the tipping point. I hope we can correct the direction of this country in the next election and that we are not too late. But in the meanwhile I am preparing for the Visigoths.

From Loki