Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As I write this, I could comment instead about Day 3 of the Democrat National Convention in Chicago.

The party continued a rousing official start to make Donald Trump what he is, which is a loser.

Vice President Tim Walz introduced himself to the country in a speech illustrating what he has been before doing to Congress and leading Minnesota as its governor – a high school football coach.

Even as the convention prepares for an acceptance speech by Kamala Harris, we’ll begin to see whether the Democrat momentum can continue through to the election, now only about 75 days away.

Last night, my daughter, after watching Walz deliver his acceptance speech, said she wished he was at the top of the ticket.  That’s how well he did in inaugurating himself as a real, down-home American.

Back to the main point of this blog.

I suppose it could be said that “impersonation is the highest form of flattery.”

That would the only way to justify – if “justify” is the right word – what many Republicans are doing to take credit for developments in Washington, D.C. produced mainly by the other side, the Democrats.

Washington Post writer Catherine Rampell captured this very well this week when she wrote under this headline:  “The GOP’s greatest skill: Taking credit for things Democrats did; one party keeps lying about its public service record.  Talk about “stolen valor.”

Her use of the term “stolen valor” was a reference to the fact that some Republicans have been using that term to denigrate the military service of Democrat vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who left the military after 20+ years to run for Congress where he won.

For instance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance used the “stolen valor” term against Walz because he says Walz says he left the service before his unit was deployed overseas.

Note that Vance served, too, though was not exposed to combat.

So, on this point, I say to both – thank for your service and then getting about running for election in the right way.

Back to Rampell.

She jumped off the phrase “stolen valor” phrase to say this:  “But the actual perpetrators of ‘stolen valor’ in this election are Vance and his party — if not in the military context, then at least in the public service one. Republican politicians have repeatedly claimed credit for valiant actions they didn’t take, pro-family legislation they didn’t support and other popular policies they’re trying to repeal.”

Rampell provided these examples:

• For instance, as Democrats celebrated the Inflation Reduction Act’s two-year anniversary last week, Republicans, who unanimously voted against the law in 2022, condemned it and pledged to claw it back. (They’ve already voted a couple dozen times to repeal various portions of it.)

But when it comes to the projects the law subsidized, these same Republicans are big cheerleaders — both for the projects and their own (imagined) role in enabling them.

• This is hardly the only initiative Republican lawmakers have bogarted credit for despite their efforts to stop it.  Last fall, House Speaker Mike Johnson (Louisiana) cheered the expansion of Florida’s Sarasota airport, which he toured with Representative Vern Buchanan (R-Florida).

That project received at least $16 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. While some Republicans supported this law, both men voted against it.

• Similar examples abound for Republicans who voted against the Chips and Science Act.  Vance was not yet in the Senate when any of these blockbuster bills were enacted.  When he ran for office, though, he bashed the infrastructure law as “a total disaster for our country.”  He has since appeared to take credit for its funding for the Great Lakes as one of his top “accomplishments” in the Senate.

• More recently, Vance has spent the past month defending his “childless cat ladies” remarks by explaining he simply meant Republicans are more devoted to family-friendly policies than Democrats are.  Which family-friendly policies should Republicans be so proud of, you ask?  Oh, you know: the ones championed and passed by Democrats.

For instance, Vance often says he’s been fighting to expand the child tax credit. But earlier this month, when the Senate voted on a bill to do that, Vance couldn’t be bothered to show up.  His Republican colleagues blocked the bill from advancing.

• The other effort Vance has been citing as emblematic of his “pro-family” agenda:  Legislation to eliminate surprise, out-of-network medical bills.

“We got these ridiculous surprise medical billings from the hospital because we had chosen an out-of-network provider, of course, at this most stressful of all imaginable moments,” he recounted on ABC’s Face the Nation last week, when talking about the birth of his second child.  “I’ve actually introduced legislation to stop moms and dads from having to go through those surprise medical billings.”

Unable to find other legislation he sponsored on this issue, I contacted Vance’s Senate office to ask which bill he was referring to.  His spokesperson declined to speak on the record or give me the bill number for whatever legislation Vance was citing.

• To be fair, Vance has not stolen all the undue credit for himself. He’s also praised Trump for things Trump didn’t do. For instance, Vance credited Trump for a recent prisoner swap that, ahem, President Joe Biden negotiated.  And Trump himself is, of course, the master of laying claim to other presidents’ valorous and public-spirited achievements.

Back to the lead on this blog:  You know what they say — impersonation is the highest form of flattery.