Savage Republican

That is what Fox 9 News is calling their daily interviews with all of the politicians that are running for state wide office this year. Today’s interviewee was Michele Bachmann who is running for Mark Kennedy’s seat in the 6th Congressional District. Everything you could ever want to know about this race (one of the top 5 highest profile contests in the country) can be found at BachmannvWetterling (another Andy Aplikowski publication). The interview was unremarkable except for one thing. Three times during the interview, Alix Kendall (one of the two morning anchors) mentioned “gay marriage” three times including in a question that was designed to attempt to designate Michele as a divisive candidate. The question was ” Given some of the issues you have campaigned on (tax cuts, gay marriage) do you find your support to be cohesive?” Of course, was Michele’s answer.

This kind of question has been normal during the campaign. The local drive by media is not fond of Michele’s advocacy for allowing Minnesotans to vote on a state wide Defense of Marriage Act.

If you want to keep an eye on this targeted seat, stop by BVW often. If you want to help Michele, contact the campaign at her website. I know that they would love the help.

A few times a week I get an email brief from The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEE). They’ve got great comments on stories of the day. Today, I received the brief and there was a story on gas price projections from the Detroit auto-makers. The follow up at FEE was an article from Michael Heberling from the Mackinac Center (there is an absolutely excellent article on what everything you thought you knew about the Great Depression is wrong. It was a government caused and extended disaster).The article was about one more huge government disaster called Reformulated Gasoline (RFG). RFG flows from the amended Clean Air Act of 1990 and the EPA dictates that followed. It details quite nicely how government interference and mandates hurts the environment, business, health and citizens:
As a result of the government’’s overzealousness in “helping the environment, people pay more per gallon of gas, get fewer miles per gallon, and get sick. The biggest irony, however, is that the environment is worse off thanks to this environmental program. So far, the misguided policy has cost consumers untold billions of dollars. Unfortunately, the environmental and economic nightmare caused by government gas is not over. Be prepared to cough up another $30 billion or more to deal with the clean-up and phase-out costs of MTBE.

This is what always happens when we hear those evil and dangerous nine words “I’m from the government and I’m here to help!” As I said yesterday, if these people in Congress can’t even get a flush toilet right, why are they trusted with anything? And this morning I made a comment on KTLK that when it comes to Katrina, the left wing idiots and a significant number of Republicans, scream when they want the huge bull elephant bureaucracy called FEMA to dance Swan Lake, get angry when the elephant doesn’t and then blame the elephant. And try as they might, an elephant will never dance Swan Lake. But, the voters, both left and right, will keep thinking that the perfect government elephant can and will be designed if we just send the right person or their people to Congress or allow to live in the White House.
As Earnie Larson told me years ago “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
And voters on both sides keep thinking inside the same paradigm that government is the answer, has the answer or will be the answer. That we just need to send the right people to whatever capitol, spend more money, paint the same idea a different color and call it a different idea.
And the insanity continues.And if you, after reading just the few articles listed here, still believe that government is the answer or can be made responsive, well, you need to ask if you live inside or outside the asylum.

I began my college career in microbiology for pre-med. Unfortunately a chronic illness forestalled that idea. I changed to marketing and business finance. In marketing, there is a term called differentiation. Even if you don’t know exactly what the term means, you can easily infer it. How are you, in the customers eyes, different than your competition? Is it a real or perceived difference? Is it significant and/or meaningful to the customer (if not, you’re dead in the market)? And it’s all about the customer. In politics, the customer is the voter. And he buys your product by voting for you. And differentiation exists in politics also. And remember, perception is reality.

I blogged about Mark Kennedy and his lack of differentiation from Amy Klobuchar regarding oil. With the exception of just one point, he completely agrees with Amy Klobuchar’s policy on oil and energy. And so, with great anticipation, I was waiting for my friend and Congressman John Kline to debate his opponent for the Second Congressional District Coleen Rowley on the Jason Lewis Show at the State Fair. And I was crushed in what I heard!
Here was Congressman Kline arguing for ethanol! Supporting ethanol subsidies. Telling us how it was proper to have heavy tariffs on imported ethanol. That the tariffs were to protect the “emerging ethanol market”. Despite myriad studies (for over 30 years) showing ethanol is a failure, is an energy sink that gives us a net energy deficit (it takes more energy to produce than we get out of it), that producing ethanol raises food prices for you and me, and that all those subsidies go to support large ethanol producers like Archer Daniels Midland. (And a BTW: ethanol producers do not use ethanol in their ethanol producing plants. Why? Because it’s inefficient and too costly). And I thought “where on earth is the differentiation between John and his opponent?”
And in marketing, if there is no differentiation between you and your competition, well…
If ethanol is viable, the free market will bring it to the public, not Congress.
After all , why would we trust Congress on energy when they can’t even get a flush toilet or a washing machine right?

You read me right! Mike Hatch was just on with Alix Kendall of Fox 9 Morning news. Most of the interview focused on health care. AG Hatch came out in support of Universal Health Care stating that “we have universal care in that if you are sick you can go to a hospital and they HAVE to treat you whether you can pay or not”. More on that later.

What really got to me was the AG’s hyping of stem cell research. The AG claimed that there would be a “cure for diabetes in 5 years” if we would only fund stem cell research. Now let’s first start with the fact that it is only EMBRYONIC stem cell research that doesn’t get federal funding. Then let’s start with the fact that the other types of stem cell research (adult and umbilical cord) are federally funded and are showing more promise. Let’s also talk about the fact that the Ag not only promised a cure for diabetes, but also heart disease and spinal cord damage! All we need is to do is federally fund embryonic stem cell research!

What the AG refuses to take into account (aside from the facts listed above) is that the most recent advances in embryonic stem cell research – the one JUST ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK came from privately funded research!

Regarding the comment on Universal Health Care….while the AG is totally correct in that if you are ill and you show up at a hospital, the hospital must treat you regardless of your ability to pay. He is absolutely correct that we all pay for that anyway – we pay for it in the high rates we pay for our health care! My mother, for many years, worked at a very affluent hospital in suburban Chicago. Even the hospital she worked at had to “give” away their services to people who refused to pay. She saw, first hand, how these costs are passed on to insurance companies and the self insured. Getting rid of the abuse of this will help bring down medical costs for all of us. One way to bring this down is to crack down on illegal immigration! Many Southern California hospitals have CLOSED because they got swampped with people who jump the border just to go to treated for illness and then they go back to Mexico! Hospitals can not afford to be “forced” to give services away. Closing these hospitals affected more than just the employees. When the hopitals closed, the businesses around the hopitals lost business and closed. Utilities laid off employees because of these business closures. The state loses tax dollars. The employees of the hospital (and the surrounding businesses that closed or laid off folks) were spending less since they had less income….like a stone tossed into a still pool – the economic ripples move outward!

I honestly don’t know which I dispise more. The absolute pandering that the Dems do to those that are sick, their total distortion of the facts that they choose to cite or their ignoring of the facts that don’t suit their predetermined talking points. Either way, I find their stand on the issue of stem cell research reeks of desperation – desperation to regain power.

When you think you’ve seen it all, I come across this ingenious trap for our military. Our enemies use what is forbidden to them to trap our military. This picture came as a warning from an FOB (Forward Operating Base) in Iraq. The picture is being sent to other FOB’s as a warning to soldiers. I know it would have gotten me a few years back! If you have friends or relatives in the military in Iraq, don’t hesitate to send them this picture as a warning. (Hat tip to Captain Ed for the link)

Well, well….the timing of this certainly could not have been coincidential, could it?

“SILVER SPRING, Md., Aug. 4 /U.S. Newswire/ — The political action committee of Peace Action, the nation’s largest grassroots peace organization, has lent its support to candidates who have consistently supported peace positions, in an election year that is likely to turn on public dissatisfaction with the Iraq war and the generally militarist policies of the Bush Administration.
Topping the list is the endorsement of Ned Lamont, the Connecticut businessman running to unseat three-term Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman. Sen. Lieberman’s, a consistent support of Bush policies in Iraq has helped galvanize support for Lamont’s rise from little-known underdog to potential victor in next week’s primary.
Peace Action PAC also endorsed Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, who expressed his gratitude and appreciation to Peace Action. “I am honored to work with Peace Action in stressing the need for a clear exit strategy from Iraq,” Akaka said. “I will continue my efforts in support of Peace Action’s mission to establish international peace.” Senator Akaka has also aggressively fought the development of new nuclear weapons and supported ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Other just-announced endorsements from the nation’s largest peace group include:
— Jerry McNerney, Democratic Nominee for California’s 11th Congressional District against U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo
— Patricia ‘Pan’ Godchaux, running in the Republican primary for Michigan’s 9th Congressional District against seven term incumbent Joe Knollenberg.
— Rep. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic nominee for the Senate in Ohio; in the last 3 years Rep. Brown has averaged 95 on the Peace Action voting record.
— Coleen Rowley, challenging John Kline in 2nd district of Minnesota
— Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), who has averaged 93 percent on the Peace Action voting record over the past two years and is in a tough primary race.
— Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), who has averaged 90 percent on the Peace Action voting record over the past three years.” (emphasis mine)

It was exactly 1 year ago that Coleen Rowley and State Senator (and now Gubernatorial Candidate) Becky Lourey went to Crawford TX to join Cindy Sheehan in her protest outside the President’s ranch. It was one year ago that Ms. Rowley started polishing her anti-war credentials.

Note the company that Ms. Rowley is in. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Rep. Sherrod Brown, Sen. Robert Byrd all staunchly left and anti-war. You would think that Ms. Rowley would be proud to be held in such esteemed company and would have the endorsement prominently displayed on her campaign website, wouldn’t you? Well if you did think that, you would be incorrect. She lists all sorts of endorsements – the NEA, Clean Water Action, the National Women’s Campaign Fund, the Council for a Livable World, the Teamsters – but no mention at all about this endorsement. I wonder why that is?

It is becoming clearer (by the company that she keeps) that Coleen Rowley will toe the line established by the Kos left should she be elected to the US House of Representatives. It is also becoming clearer why Coleen Rowley is the wrong person for the job. Hopefully the residents of Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District will see that as well.

I mentioned this theory before, but it came up again. This time in the Wall Street Journal.

“Simply put, liberals have a big baby problem: They’re not having enough of them, they haven’t for a long time, and their pool of potential new voters is suffering as a result. According to the 2004 General Social Survey, if you picked 100 unrelated politically liberal adults at random, you would find that they had, between them, 147 children. If you picked 100 conservatives, you would find 208 kids. That’s a “fertility gap” of 41%. Given that about 80% of people with an identifiable party preference grow up to vote the same way as their parents, this gap translates into lots more little Republicans than little Democrats to vote in future elections. Over the past 30 years this gap has not been below 20%–explaining, to a large extent, the current ineffectiveness of liberal youth voter campaigns today.”

Now of course, the article does not take into account the “rebellion” factor. I know more than a few college Republicans who are Republican partly out of rebellion, just as many of their parents became liberal out of rebellion to their parents. However, are we are seeing with the Junior Logician, politics is partly a learned behavior. The Junior Logician has, on more than one occasion, argued a conservative point of view on a political issue. Heck, he has already stated that he WILL be campaigning for Senator Coleman when he is up for re-election in 2006! However, the liberal indoctrination that he will get in High School and College so who knows what will happen between now and then.

Rebellion factor aside, the fact is that the liberals are just not having kids like the conservatives are. Even if the liberals DID start having 2-4 kids (to catch up with the conservatives) it will take 18 years for those kids to hit the voter rolls. Either way, this will have an effect on future elections.

Love her or hate her, Ann Coulter does bring up a lot of logical points about the ideas and ideals of the left. She usually has the audacity to ask the question that everyone else is afraid to ask. This week’s column is not different. What makes this week different is that she finally asks the question that the Democrats are afraid to answer.

“What Part of the War on Terrorism Do They Support?”

Ms. Coulter is right – time after time the Democrats say that they support the war and support the troops. Yet time after time, they vote against giving the President, the Intelligence Community and the troops the tools they need to fight the war on terror.

Ann lays it out better than I ever could. Please go read the article NOW!

Nick Coleman in his article “In a Wayzata yard, 2 signs of trouble for Bush and GOP”
He describes shock at finding someone who lives in Wayzata protesting the president.
Because all rich people are Republicans, how can this be.

So he has a nice interview with Betsy Hannaford who describes herself as a reformed Republican and that George Bush “reformed” her with his war policy etc..

Great story except one problem – Betsy is not a Republican. A quick check of contributions shows she has consistently given to Democrat candidates.

As early as May 2001 (long before Iraq and only a few months after Bush was in office) she is giving money to Bill Luther. She also gave money to Betty McCollum.
Bush must have really reformed her.

The story mentions her husband gave money to Norm, but She gave 5 times that amount to Democrats. I can find no record of her giving to any MN Republican candidates.

So the big story – Rich Liberal Democrats who live in Wayzata take time from racing their Yacht to put up sign to protest president.

Another indepth fact filled report from Nick – but as my friend often says:
“Why are we suprised when a fig tree bears figs”

I saw this headline,on a link from Drudge, from the Shreveport, LA newspaper “Black students ordered to give up seats to white children“. Well, this demanded a closer look, especially as the link was in red. Seems that the bus driver ordered black children at the front of the bus give up their seats to white children. Now, given the accuracy of MSM lately, I’m waiting for the real and full story to come out. That being said, of course the usual victim’s groups, NAALCP (National Association for the Advancement of Left wing Colored People),etc calling on the Justice Department to investigate.
Now, reverse the headline to “White students ordered to give up seats to black children“.
That headline would be called evidence of affirmative action. It would not only be tolerated by the usual victim’s groups, but would also be lustily and mightily defended as fair, just, right and proper. That when it’s done to blacks, it’s wrong and racist. When it’s done to whites, it’s the right thing to do.
And this is the hypocrisy that runs rampant when there are “group” rights (and you’ll notice there are no groups in the Constitution). When you have a “protected” group with rights, those are not rights. They are government granted “rights”, in direct contradiction to the Declaration of Independence and they are correctly called “privileges”. And where does “equal protection under the law” then exist”?
And racism has to be redefined to include terms that exclude certain groups.
Finally time to push the reset button on the trip odometer.