Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s self-congratulatory Thanksgiving Day column (The New Normal) claiming a number of highly debatable “successes” for Idaho on his watch reminds one of a story his idol, former President Ronald Reagan, liked to tell. It’s the story about the guy digging madly through a huge pile of horse manure convinced that there has to be a pony in there someplace because there’s so much horse s___. With all due respect to the office he holds, Butch is just plain wrong in almost all he claims. It’s hard to believe he can look at his mismanagement of so much and claim success. This goes beyond rose-colored glasses, beyond the normal PR spin one has come to expect of so many of today’s officeholders. This is pure, unadulterated horse manure which anyone with an understanding of factual information can smell from far away/Chris Carlson, The Carlson Chronicles. More here.

• Chris Carlson, author of "Cecil Andrus: Idaho's Greatest Governor," will tell the noon Friday luncheon of the Kootenai County Democratic Club why he thinks Andrus was a great leader.

Question: Do you agree with Chris Carlson that Gov. Butch Otter is looking through rose-colored glasses when he touts successes of his administration?