The Savage Republican

Shooting the base...and your own foot

My fellow blogger Lady Logician took me gently to task regarding my blog about the upcoming election and Republicans behaving badly...very badly. As a matter of fact, behaving like, well, Democrats.
Well, in rebuttal, I offer in evidence, the latest TV ad for Mark Kennedy (the man who would be the other REPUBLICAN senator from Minnesota). I saw it for the first time last night:
1. The first thing I saw in the ad that caught my attention was the label "BIG OIL" on a panel with rapidly increasing prices. My first thought on seeing "BIG OIL" was "oh, oh".
2. Then another panel with the label "BIG OIL PROFITS $" with the comment that BIG OIL PROFITS $ are at an all time high..."OH,OH!"
3. Mark Kennedy's plan? Suspend, not eliminate, suspend gas taxes. OK. But then-
4. Take away tax breaks for oil companies.
5.Put more money into alternative fuels like ethanol, hybrids and hydrogen.
And it was his plan. And he stated quite clearly he approved it!

Wow, Mark. Have you gotten a thank you note from Amy Klobuchar for running and paying for her Big Oil ad ?
Point by point:
1. The first thing I saw in the ad last night was the label "BIG OIL" on a panel with rapidly increasing prices. My first thought on seeing "BIG OIL" was "oh, oh".- BIG OIL- give away right there. Left wing and Klobuchar talking point. Not private oil companies working to find more oil supplies. Nope. BIG OIL!
2. Then another panel with the label "BIG OIL PROFITS $" with the comment that BIG OIL PROFITS $ are at an all time high..."OH,OH!" Again, a great Klobuchar and lefty phrase. Not oil profits legitimately earned by a private company, but BIG OIL PROFITS.
3. Mark Kennedy's plan? Suspend, not eliminate, suspend gas taxes. OK. But then- Suspend huh? That means that they'll be back. That the government makes 600% more on a gallon of gas than the company that produces and sells it never enters into Marks Plan. No apology for BIG GOVERNMENT TAX GOUGING! And adding as much as a half dollar to the pump price. Not a peep or even a reference. Yup, another talking point from the Klobuchar campaign. And why not suspend, say, 50%, as a start, of all the onerous regulations that swallow up incentive, profits?
4. Take away tax breaks for oil companies. - In other words, raise taxes on oil companies. Tax profits. Tax them even more. Eliminate the incentive to find more oil. Not a word about eliminating draconian regulations that keep us from building more refineries, drilling in ANWR and the coastal regions. Nope. Don't eliminate any of those. Just take more money from a private company- at their and their shareholders and add to our expense. Exactly what the left has been calling for and saying for years. Supported by the Klobuchar campaign.
5.Put more money into alternative fuels like ethanol, hybrids and hydrogen.-never mind that there is NO evidence that any of these work. Not in 30 years with ethanol. Disregarding that hybrids don't work and consume more total energy. As a matter of fact, all the evidence of the effectiveness of alternative fuels shows that they are not effective or efficient. Another great Klobuchar election point.

Yup. A Republican acting and talking exactly like a DFL candidate.
So, what exactly are we supposed to do now?

P.S. Noticed a lot of "BIG OIL" in Mark's ad. But never saw or heard the term "BIG GOVERNMENT". And neither does Klobuchar's site.

A trip into the swamp

I don't normally delve into the depths of the fever swamp, but a friend sent me this and I just had to look. Now the diarist in question is of interest to me and it was interesting to see his side of the story but what was really amusing were the comments of the Kidz.

"You're already news, since he's personally attacked you twice. Also talk to a lawyer. If he sent a mass mailing to the whole district attacking you personally, that's libel and slander and you have grounds for a lawsuit. So talk to a lawyer and to the local paper."

Said one commenter. Another chimed in with this:

"and call a press conference to announce you're suing the bastard. You're NOT a public person, and this is damaging in so many ways it's not funny. Call the ACLU too, while you're at it. And the FEC, to find out what money (and whose time) was used to create that flyer. He might be in violation of some FEC regs. But I'd definitely call a lawyer right now. John Edwards might not be too busy... ;-)"

There was lots of advise to "sue the b*stard" and that led a self professed lawyer to chime in with this.

"I would advise Bailey not to bother any attorneys with this garbage, and to quit "helping" congressional candidates. "

That led to an accusation of the poster being a troll. Her response is classic!

"I am attempting to point out that the people here talking about defamation claims don't know what they are talking about. What Kline says is a slight exaggeration at best -- it is essentially true. And its not actionable. If this guy sued,he would end up paying John Kline money. Although the diarist is not a public figure, he is working for a public figure and the allegations relate to his work on Rowley's behalf. This is political speech, and as such, the most first amendment protection is afforded to it, making it is very difficult to prove up a defamation claim.
If a staffer for a Republican congressional candidate had his own political website with controvertial positions, people on DailyKos would be all over it. The diarist screwed up bigtime, and writing a diary about it is even more of a disservice to Rowley. If he really wanted to help her out, he would delete this diary and shut up" (emphasis added)

Common sense out of a Kos commenter. Whoa - whodathunkit....but wait - there is even more common sense out of the poster in question.

"What frustrates me is the reaction to this. Republicans are dirty cheaters? Tell me something I don't know. Four years ago, Minnesota Republicans spun Paul Wellstone's funeral into electoral victory. They are going to keep doing it, especially if we keep making it easy for them.
Instead of talking about suing them or exposing Kline for this we should work on not giving the Republicans easy material to work with. Maybe some self-reflection instead of cheerleading. Despite all the bitching here, if you read the linked article about this with any objectivity, its Rowley who looks bad. Time to stop pretending everything is ok when its not.
Rowley needs to:
1) issue a statement explaining that this guy was not with the campaign when he went to Kline's office, and that the content on the website was not authorized by the campaign.
2) Sh__can him. "(not a direct quote - Kos may allow that kind of language on his site, but I don't!)

What was the reaction of the Kidz to such advice....when they couldn't "shout" the poster down, they ignored her. Keep on ignoring the views that don't agree with you Kidz and you will continue to loose elections! It's your choice... It makes no difference to me whether you pay attention to the common sense advise of a lawyer who knows better or not. Go ahead, distract yourself with a frivolous lawsuit and while you are off doing that, the Kline campaign will continue to do the work that needs to be done in order to win the election.

Reading writing and gay rights

My friend Amendment X asked (rather rhetorically) how the NEA would respond to a headline in the Red Star that laments about how Americans know little about the US. I think I know the reason why our children aren't learning about silly little things like "how many houses of Congress does the US have?" and "how many Congressmen from your state?" It is because the NEA are teaching "more important things" like acceptance of gays as "normal" and promoting atheism and Islam over the religion of the parents choosing. I have told (many times) the story of a "Diversity Day" program that was held at the Junior Logicians school 6 years ago. Speakers to the kiddies included an Islamic Imam and a Native American Holy man. No Christian pastor, no Jewish holy man.....just Native American and Islam. When the Logical Husband inquired as to why the school was promoting a religion - a clear violation of the "separation of church and state" the Imam was "uninvited"! Apparently they didn't think that Native American religion counted as a religion - I don't know.....

Phyllis Schlafly (a wonderfully logical lady) writes about the NEA agenda in a recent Townhall article.

"The NEA is determined to get control of children at the earliest possible age. One resolution calls for public school programs for children "from birth through age 8," another calls for pre-kindergarten for "all 3- and 4-year-old children," and still another demands "mandatory kindergarten with compulsory attendance."
The anti-parent animus of the NEA is apparent in its insistence that the public schools be in the driver's seat about the teaching of sex. Claiming that every child has the right to "freely available information and knowledge about sexuality," the NEA demands the right to teach children about diversity of sexual orientation and gender identification, incest, and homophobia. "

That is the thing that frightens me the most. These people, who are with my child 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 9 months want to tell me that they know my child better than I do???? I have already had more than a few discussions with teachers who have no interest in trying to figure out the Junior Logicians learning style, but want to brand him as uncooperative or unable to perform. We had a teacher this last year who took a kid who was in honors math (and who loved math) and in one year had him in remedial math and hating the subject. The teacher was astonished when we had the audacity to ask HIM what he did to change the equation.

Don't get me wrong, we have had good teachers - teachers who looked to us as partners in the Junior Logicians education. That is as it should be. The NEA needs to remember that. They also need to remember that the TAXPAYERS are the ones who pay the teachers salaries and that it is not a good thing to "dis" the boss.

Ethical Decision Making

I have followed this story, like most folks, in the pages of the Star Tribune and the blog Minnesota Democrats Exposed. MDE first broke the story last week.

"Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., accused Democratic challenger Coleen Rowley Wednesday of using a "double-agent" to attempt to make an illegal campaign contribution and infiltrate his reelection campaign."

Much has been said about the actions of both campaigns in this incident. The Congressman's detractors complain about the timing of the allegations. The illegal campaign contribution was apparently made back in February - why did the Kline camp not make their complaint until August? According to a letter sent out by the campaign, they were going to let it slide but when Ms. Rowley's supporters turned nasty (in letters to the editor and calls to local talk radio) they changed their minds. I suppose that could be the case, but...

I would like to focus on two things. First is this - the volunteer in question, David Bailey, said that his actions were purely innocent. I highly doubt that. The fact that any citizen that is interested in signing up for campaign literature can do so online. Any citizen that wants to get on the campaign mailing lists can do so online. In either case - NO CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION IS NECESSARY! I am on several campaign mailing lists and I have yet to contribute to any of them. Then there is the fact that he went to the Congressman's local office first (as opposed to the campaign office). There are strict federal laws against campaign business being done in an elected officials office - and for good reason! Since Mr. Bailey's blatent attempt to trap an unwitting staffer into commiting a federal crime, the Rowley campaign has promoted him to a paid staff position. Something certainly seems fishy here.

Second is this:

"Our campaign has never sent anyone in there to do anything like that," said Rowley campaign manager Terry Rogers. "

I don't doubt this for a second. I imagine that Mr. Rogers is savvy enough to know that these kinds of actions are suicide for a campaign. However, the culture that has flourished within the Rowley campaign has been less than honorable. As I have recounted in other posts Ms. Rowley and her campaign has made it a campaign staple to distort and tell outright lies about Congressman Kline. Their clumsy attempts at distortion are easily disproven by tools such as Project Vote Smart - something that the campaign really should be looking at from time to time. Then there is the infamous "photo-shopping" incident, something that (again) is blamed on an uncontrolable volunteer. Obviously the volunteers believe that these actions are condoned, maybe even encouraged, by the campaign otherwise they would not do it.

For someone who has made the phrase "ethical decision making" a staple of her campaign, the Rowley campaign has been rife with less than ethical decisions. That is the thing that saddens me most. I love a good, well fought campaign and the Rowley camp has run neither. It seems to be the norm, right now, for Democratic candidates...

And more $$'s won't help

OK kids, here's quick little quiz: How would the NEA (National Education Association, aka , THE teachers union) respond to this headline in Prairie Pravda:
"New poll shows that Americans know little about the U.S."
1.YIKES! That's awful! We obviously have been directing education down the wrong path! Please, allow us to get out of the way and become a partner to success rather the reason for failure in education.
2.School choice.Now more than ever, the only obvious way to get education back on track.
3.Obviously the schools need much, much more money and we need to reduce class sizes.

Yah, that would have been my guess too.

Oh, and a little help for Zogby, as his organization ran this poll : There are ten Congressmen from Minnesota. Eight members of the House of Representatives and two Senators. As so many people ALWAYS get this wrong, and it seems so did Zogby, the Congress of the United States consists of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate.All Senators are also Congressmen.
And a P.S.: Doug Grow said the poll should knock the smug out of politicians. Partly right Doug. It should knock the smug out of left wing politicians and their fellow travelers in the teachers' unions who have been behind this failure for decades. And this is only a new poll that shows the same old failures. There really is nothing new here Doug. Nothing new at all.

Well now, I almost missed this.

I was reading this story in the local Prior Lake MN (which is next door to Savage) paper this weekend.

"Veterans Field at Memorial Park would more than quadruple in seat capacity by 2008 under a proposal to bring a Northwoods League baseball team to Prior Lake.
The plan calls for expanded seating and other renovations at both Veterans Field, where the league's new club team would play, and Ryan Park, where some local teams would move."

Well, this sounds familiar - build us a ball park in order to attract or keep a ball club. However, this was the part that was missed in the local story.

"Prior Lake, on the other hand, is finalizing details on an agreement with former Star Tribune executive editor and publisher Joel Kramer, who contacted Mayor Jack Haugen in early July."

Joel Kramer....that name sounds familiar...former Star Tribune editor and publisher Joel Kramer.....OH HIM!!!!!

" Several well-off Minnesotans who believe more tax money should be pumped into public initiatives said the state can start with them. More than 200 wealthy Minnesotans signed a full-page ad appearing Thursday in the Star Tribune asking the state to raise $2 billion for various initiatives by increasing the state's tax burden for high-salary earners. "We need to invest more in our future," said Joel Kramer, former publisher of the Star Tribune and founder of the think tank Growth and Justice, which organized the "Invest for Real Prosperity" fiscal strategy.

Co-chair of "Works for Minnesota" the group of leftists that decided that "we can afford to pay more state taxes!", founder of a leftist think tank which wants to take money from the middle class under the guise that the money is really coming from "the rich". Now he wants to force the citizens of the City of Prior Lake to build him a baseball stadium for his semi-pro team? I hope that the people of Prior Lake realize what is being foisted on them by someone who can afford to build his own stadium.

Cross posted at Ladies Logic

Minnesota's version of "Where are they now?"

While perusing the headlines of the online version of Prairie Pravda, I came across the wrenching story of Kathleen Soliah (aka Sara Jane Olson) complete with a picture of her appearing before a magistrate in 2002, and of course the obligatory "weeping" picture of her at her 1999 trial. The story, of course, is supposed to be a tear jerker and a hope to give us a sympathetic look at this poor suffering woman as she just hopes to endure prison and hope to never become ill because "in the prison healthcare organization that experts say claims one life a week through malpractice or neglect." Oh, and she feels badly that she has nothing meaningful to do, such as possibly killing little girls with concrete nails as shrapnel in a pipe bomb. Or mudering church secretaries as they make a cash deposit in a bank. You know,meaningful things like that.
Front Page Magazine has a great article about Sara Jane's false tears, empty apologies and the sheer and utter hypocrisy of the left. And by association the pukes at Prairie Pravda as they attempt to manipulate the readers to have any compassion for this disgusting human being. James Lileks also had a column that excoriated Olson and her reprehensible apologists.
The Front Page column takes no prisoners and offers no apologies in the Sara Jane Olson saga (an excerpt):

This Leftist charade has been discredited long ago. The history of the 20^th Century has taught a profound lesson: the moment anyone starts talking about "eliminating" poverty and inequality, we must immediately recognize that person to be as dangerous and evil as a Nazi that talks about the importance of a "Final Solution."

Indeed, the moment a Leftist begins to imply that humans can be their own redeemers, and that the perfectibility of human institutions and of the human race is possible, it must be recognized that another re-enactment of Pol Pot's killing fields is in its starting stages. That's why I have a dream that one day the verbal articulation of class hatred will be criminalized - just as racist hate speech is criminalized now. But in that context we have a long way to go, since the Left clearly controls our society's political language.

Oh yes, I forgot: Soliah has articulated some real tear-jerking apologies. But if you deconstruct her "apologies" carefully, you will find that they are directed at her family members for the "pain" she has caused them. Nowhere has she yet to utter one mea culpa for the murderous ideology that she upheld - which, when imposed by her ruthless comrades, snuffed out the lives of people who wanted to live and who wanted to see their children grow up. Never has she apologized for perpetuating ideas that are complicit in the mass genocide that has been practiced throughout the 20^th Century.

This is no surprise, of course, because being a Leftist means never having to say you're sorry."

Read all the articles. Sara Jane "The Recipe Queen" Olson is right where she belongs.

And, BTW, don't forget that these examples of sewer food also repeatedly raped an innocent 19 year old woman over many days to break her spirit. Her name is Patty Hearst.

And Jennifer Warren at the LA Times (and the Prairie Pravda Pukes as they published the story) wants us to feel sorry for Olson.

Well, I do feel sorry for this situation. I feel sorry that Olson will be getting out of prison as soon as 2009.

And when will Myrna Opsahl and Dr. Marcus Foster be getting out of their prison cells called a coffin?

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Friday, August 18, 2006