Over at Flathead Memo, James Conner says it’s “foolish and petty” for Dennis McDonald to ask that Montana U.S. Rep Denny Rehberg apologize for an August boat crash on Flathead Lake that injured him and four others.
McDonald is one of two declared candidates seeking the Democratic nomination and the right to challenge Rehberg in next year’s election. In an interview with the Associated Press Thursday, McDonald blasted Rehberg (a passenger) for drinking alcohol before boarding Kalispell Sen. Greg Barkus’ boat and heading off across the lake.
Conner, hardly a Rehberg fan, said he is “growing increasingly exasperated with the Democratic Party’s fixation on securing public apologies from Republicans for misdeeds, both real and imagined.”
Rehberg wasn’t at the helm. He was a passenger. Barkus was driving. He functioned as the designated driver, so he shouldn’t have consumed a drop of alcohol. There are unconfirmed reports that he did, but we don’t yet know his blood alcohol level. Rehberg knocked back a glass of ale, and had a BAC in the neighborhood of 0.05. But what’s wrong with that? Why does McDonald think Rehberg should have consumed only beverages with Carrie Nation’s stamp of approval?