Et Tu, Sen. Keenan?

We all remember how George W. Bush promised he would be a "uniter, not a divider" and bring people from all different political perspectives to forge common ground. And we all remember how he then proceeded to push a far right agenda that made him the most polarizing president in modern times. Unfortunately, as I'm learning here in Montana, that kind of behavior is not limited to Washington, D.C.

As the legislature convened in January of 2005, the Billings Gazette wrote that "Minority Leader Bob Keenan (R-Bigfork) said Republicans planned to cooperate" with his political opponents, specifically promising to work to "find the common good for the common good."

Less than two months later, though, the Missoula Independent reports "Keenan has engaged in a crusade to politically destroy Gov. Brian Schweitzer."

Keenan's crusade has involved everything from killing major initiatives, to playing petty politics. For instance, despite the bipartisan support for a bill improving the state's ethanol economy, Keenan and his cronies tried to kill the legislation . This is a bill, mind you, that has broad support from rank-and-file legislators from both parties. As the Great Falls Tribune editorial board said, the bill is "a win-win-win" for Montana. But that apparently didn't matter to Keenan. What mattered was trying to stop the bill from passing so that the governor couldn't take any credit for it.

Look, I'm not saying people can't honestly disagree with Schweitzer - he's not perfect. But this kind of destructive behavior is not based on any policy disagreement - its based on vindictiveness. As the Missoula Independent reports, Keenan is so focused on destroying his opponents that he "spent more time on the [interview] airing his ethical concerns about Gov. Schweitzer than he’s spent actually researching those concerns." During his wild-eyed diatribe, he actually missed six votes on legislation, just to spew more vitriol.

From the unending witch hunts against Bill Clinton, to Bush's polarizing attacks on his opponents, to right-wing smears of war heroes like Max Cleland, to outrageous smears of AARP and now to these petty local wars, the question is: hasn't America had enough of this crap?