Conrad Burns of Montana may be the most vulnerable U.S. senator in the upcoming elections. His problems stem primarily from his association with the GOP’s prison-bound former wunderkind lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But Burns’ latest escapade, in which he publicly berated a crew of hard-working firefighters, probably won’t help make his case with rank and file voters, including even Republicans:
Paula Rosenthal, a [Montana] Department of Natural Resources and Conservation employee, wrote that members of the hotshot crew said Burns confronted them in the Billings, Mont., airport Sunday while they were awaiting a flight and told them they had done a “poor job” fighting the 92,000-acre Bundy Railroad fire…
Rosenthal, who was serving as a fire information officer in the Billings area at the time, prepared the report at the direction of agency supervisors. She said she was sent to the airport to meet with Burns after reports of an “altercation” between the firefighters and the senator.
“The toughest part of the conversation was the point where the senator was critical of a firefighter sitting across from us in the gate area,” Rosenthal’s report reads. “I offered to the senator that our firefighters make around $8 to $12 an hour and time-and-a-half for overtime. He seemed a bit surprised that it wasn’t higher.”
She said Burns also was concerned and upset about the overall “command and control” system for firefighting efforts and made “several comments about us ‘not letting ranchers fight the fire on their own land.’ ”
She said she responded that landowners were an important part of firefighting, but that safety was always a priority.
“He replied, ‘We’re fighting a war on terror and we’re concerned about safety there too, but we’re out there doing it,’ ” Rosenthal wrote.
See how they do it? In a discussion about firefighting, Sen. Burns attempts to stifle debate by bringing up the so-called War on Terror. Somewhere Karl Rove is smiling.
Casey Judd, business manager for the Federal Wildland Fire Service Assn., which represents federal firefighters, said he was disappointed Burns chose to confront the hotshot team. An Internet bulletin board for firefighters quickly filled Thursday with postings critical of Burns.
“We have expressed our support for him in the past,” Judd said. “But to make a point of blistering a bunch of hotshots — it’s really disconcerting.”
Sen. Burns is undoubtedly aware of the damage inflicted on California’s Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year when he faced a barrage of critical television ads featuring fire fighters.
Sensing incoming political damage, Burns quickly apologized: “In retrospect, I wish I had chosen my words more carefully … My criticism of the way the fire was handled should not have been directed at those who were working hard to put it out.”
More of the BURNS “Bushit” bable…What else is new?
Maybe next time those brave men fighting fires for another state will just tell Burns, “Sorry, Senator, we’re too busy fighting terrorism to send any firefighters to Montana – ever again!”
If Burns house is ever threatened by wildfire, I hope firefighters will live up to his criticism and fail to quench his fire. It would serve him right.
After spending 21 years is the fire service, I can’t believe this idiot could make a comment like that.
After all my years,he is lucky, someone didn’t bash his head in. He ought to start going to church and thank God, that it didn’t happen…
As an ex pat Montanan, I lived in the Billings area when Burns was still a county commissioner. I’ve always known him as a swarmy snake oil salesman (perfect for a Repug politician) and am only embaressed that it has taken my home state folks so long to understand the depth of his low life path. I can almost be that he has never fought a forest fire or range fire. I have, and it is hot, dirty, tiring, dangerous and often fruitless work (as in fires that jump the fire lines). His apology is too little, too late, his shallowness and callousness has been laid bare for all to see now.
Karl Rove be damned, this is not a HSA example and even the most raptured out Montanan will have second thoughts about this jerk now regardless of his attempt to “coattail” his patriotic concern for safety here. Who was it that said “patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”? I’d really like to know, I can’t get that sentence out of my head this week.
Perhaps, the firefighters should have told this jerk to go fight the fires himself if he was dissatisfied with the job that were done by the firefighters. Interesting, that he was surprised at the pay scale of these brave people. Congress people live in their ivory towers and it shows.
Burns, baby Burns.
Once again, a clueless and dispicable human republican ….
As a former fire fighter in region 1 (Sula MT) I found Burns remarks to be way out of line. He has no idea what he is talking about. Has he ever dug line in brutal mid summer heat that is further amplified by the intense heat of a forest fire? Compounding the heat is the smoke you have to eat. It is one of the most dangerous and physically demanding jobs on the planet. I hope the people of Montana are smart enough to see Burns for what he really is, a conniving political opportunist who has an over inflated opinion of himself. Burns is a pustule on the rear of society that is in urgent need of lancing.
I live in a state where there is very few wild fires. But I also live in a small town in MARYLAND at the very western end of the state a county called Garrett, TOwn of Oakland, where there is no paid firefighters the same as all the small towns arount us in WVA and PA when there is a big fire thay all join in and I would like to see Mr. Burns say that to any of these firefighters He would be picking his assoff the ground so fast that he would think that lighting struck if a firefighter did not do it a common Cit., would do it. No question asked. What a SHILL FOR ROVE that this BURNS is. NOT a GOOD spokesman for Montana. But has his talking points for CARLE ROVE down PAT.
Samuel Johnson is the one who first said, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”
Amrose Beirce in his famous dicionary–The Devil’s Dictionary–modified Johnson’s quote by saying that Patriotism was not the last, but, indeed, the first refuge of a scoundrel.”
Any representative of the people with any class would have asked the firefighters what he could do for them to improve their situation and make firefighting more effective. What a slob. And he’s out there fighting the war on terror? I wanna see him in a helicopter landing smack dab in the middle of the war on terror that we created ourselves in Iraq. He can go shoot it out with a few insurgents and death squads and then come back a brag about his fight in the war on terror.