Savage Republican

OK. In contrast to the Lady Logician, I AM a hunter. And I may be defined as a gun nut.
And I know that you never lag behind your hunting party. One of the first things I was told when I started walking the fields with my Dad, Grandpa Johnson and my Uncles at age six was you never walked ahead or behind the hunting party. That you knew where everyone was. So, shame on at least one member and possibly two in that party.
And now, to the Washington press corps-what a bunch of self absorbed twits! What a gaggle of whiney brats! Missing (nah, they were ignoring) the real story of substance in Saudi Arabia. The ALMOST President Gore was in Saudi Arabia inflaming radicals in the hotbed of radical Islamists (Whabiism) by lying about American abuse of Arabs.
Way to go ALMOST President Gore! I’m sure it just eluded you that more than half of all the 9-11 terrorists came from Saudi Arabia. Perhaps you were thinking that…you know, I really haven’t a clue what ALMOST President Gore was thinking.
By the way, wouldn’t it be much more consistent with ALMOST President Gore’s usual ranting to be excoriating the Saudis as what they export to America is the primary source of supposed global warming? Why isn’t he screaming at them for killing snail darters and spotted owls and the Amazon and melting the polar ice caps?
Looks like we dodged a real bullet (pun intended) when Vice President Gore became ALMOST President Gore.

I preface this post by saying I am not a hunter. I am not a “gun nut”, I am dreadfully uncomfortable around guns in spite of the good intentions of the Logical Husband and many, many friends. Disclaimers thus out of the way…..

Vice President Cheney (aka the “Prince of Darkness”) was involved in a hunting accident this weekend. The VP’s party was out shooting quail, which I am told is a difficult game bird to hunt, when a member of the party walked into the VP’s line of fire and was shot. The press reports that I have read, seen and heard say that the man shot had left the party to try to find a bird that he had shot and when he returned to the party unannounced he came up out of the VP’s line of vision.

I emphasize “unannounced” for a reason. Even I, a non-hunter, know that you do not leave your hunting party and if you do leave the party, you let them know where you are when you return for this very reason! I also know (thanks to living in Minnesota and Wisconsin where hunting and fishing are rights of passage) that hunting accidents happen every gun season. It is a given.

Now the White House Press corp is up in arms. It seems that they were not told of the accident for 18-24 hours after the accident had occurred. Helen Thomas even asked if the VP had or intended to “tender his resignation?” In answer to the question “what took him so long to notify somebody?”, Scott McClellan (White House Press Secretary) answered:

“You know what [the vice president’s] first reaction was? His first reaction was: Go to Mr. Whittington and get his team in there to provide him medical care,”

Get the man medical care or call the press? What to do, what to do??? Call the police (and an ambulance or Helen Thomas? Dang, that’s a toughie…

The MSM is in high umbrage over the delay in telling them about the accident. I certainly don’t remember such umbrage back in 1969, when Senator Teddy Kennedy accidentially drove his car into Poucha Pond. If you recall, Senator Kennedy waited until the next morning (after he had talked to several people including his lawyer) to report that Mary Jo Kopechne was still in the submerged car.

One of my favorite political websites is a site called Project Vote Smart. It allows the average voter to look up the record of politicians (mostly state level and up) on specific votes. No spin, no glorification, no shading – just a straight “did they vote? how?” and what was the bill about. Now while this is generally a bad thing for incumbents (Sen Kerry for example) it can, on occasion, bite a challenger or two. Thus may be the case with Coleen Rowley.

The Rowley campaign has accused Congressman Kline of voting against Veterans benefits 11 times. Now the Vote Smart site is partially under construction so the records are not complete, but the records seem to be closer to Congressman Kline’s version of the story (here) than they do Ms. Rowley’s version.

I have asked the Kline campaign for a list of the votes in question so that we can do our due diligence, but based on what I have seen so far, the “truth” seems to be in the Congressman’s corner.

Governor Pawlenty opened his statement with great praise for our troops. He spent this morning in Northfield at a National Guard return ceremony. He said that we live in the freest society because of our troops….we are a blessed people.

He said that we tend to lose sight of the big picture in the day to day headaches of life. Society is changing rapidly and that puts pressure on the economy. We need to be forward thinking enough to anticipate changes. The “legacy” institutions and practices that can’t change are “dead”. Government is one of those “legacy” institutions – it has no competition…customers have no choices and that needs to change!

He touched on the controversy surrounding his immigration policy by stating that legal and orderly immigration is “necessary” but we need to control illegal immigration as it is a burden to the system. He spoke of people going through the medical, legal, criminal justice and education systems with multiple id’s and that was costing the taxpayers.

He touched on the “Q-Comp” proposal saying that while on average our education system is good, the “below average” pockets need to be brought up to snuff. The current 40-year old platform “needs to be fixed” and that pay for performance will fix that along with the proposal to mandate that 70% of all school district spending needs to be “in the classroom” spending.

He said that we can not compete with a “broken” health care system that every year eats more and more of the state budget. At current increases, health care will consume the entire budget in 15 years. Simply raising taxes to meet the growth of health care is not going to work. We must fix the system.

Performance pay needs to apply to legislators (ed – woo hoo). The legislatures job is to get to get all work done without going into special session. The governor proposes that if the legislature can not get it’s job done in time, then they don’t get paid overtime! He would also like to see a form of initiative referendum put on the books. That way if things don’t get done in the legislature in a timely manner (marriage amendment???? stadiums????) then the people of Minnesota would have the opportunity to vote on it!

He closed with this – we can not have real security without prosperity. Government can mandate or pretend to make guarantees, but it will eventually fall without prosperity. Government can not provide prosperity – only businesses can. We need to make sure that our businesses can compete. The problem is not tax revenues – we have plenty of that – the problem is that we are not wise in our choices.

After he spoke, the Governor talked to various members of the audience, including yours truly. I had the opportunity to ask the Governor a couple of questions about issues that I know are “hot” with my right leaning friends and family.

I asked the Governor specificially about the cigarette “fee” that went into effect last August. He answered that it was a necessary compromise. He was given a choice between raising taxes across the board or raising this cigarette “fee”. I followed up asking why we didn’t call it what it was – a TAX? He responded that under the classic defination, this is a “user fee”. It only effects a small sub-set of the population and it is on a voluntary activity. Also we were held by the settlement of the tobacco lawsuit (thank you Mike Hatch). Raising taxes on cigarettes would put the state in violation of the settlement. However, a user fee is legally not a tax so….

He then laid it out….if you want to push a more conservative agenda, we need to get more Republicans in the House and Senate! We can not persue an agressive agenda with a 50/50 split in the Senate. I asked what those of us who live in an area that is considered to be relatively safe can do to get more conservatives elected and he said that we needed to get out and help candidates door knock and write letters and emails and make calls.

Well, I know a couple of candidates in a very blue district that needs some help. I think I’ll call my friends in SD63 and see if they need some help.

When I got home from listening to Coleen Rowley speak to the SD 35 DFL, I found an email in my inbox from Mike Beard, the current 35A Representative in St. Paul. It was an invitation to hear Governor Pawlenty speak today. So I packed up my trusty notepad and treked to Shakopee to the the Governor.

Mike opened with a few remarks, thanking the audience for coming on a sunny Saturday afternoon. He reminded the audience that 4 years ago, the state of Minnesota had a $4+ million dollar deficit and that the Governor and the Legislature fixed that without raising taxes. He mentioned that the state seems to run a 10 year cycle of deficits and if that is the case we could be looking at another deficit in 2010. We need to break that cycle, which is the Governor’s (and Republican leaderships) goal. He said that with great co-workers like Mark Buesgens and the Governor, the state had the potential to set the pace to break that cycle.

Mark spoke next. He thanked our hosts (Randy and Curt Sampson from Canterbury Park) and mentioned that Racino would be back on the table in this session. He said that the House is trying to hold to tru conservative values (some anti-gambling proponents would argue that statement). He reminded the audience of a time when the minority party (the Republicans) pushed the majority party (the DFL) to return the budget surplus to the taxpayers and they said “NO” – not one dollar! Minnesota was then the second or third most taxed state in the nation and now we are are out of the top 10 (only if you don’t go by the per capita rankings). Minnesota then had the most lenient abortion standards in the country – which is no longer the case. Minnesota also had no conceal carry legislation even pending – now it is law. All in all, there has been progress thanks to Governor Pawlenty’s leadership.

I will cover the Governor’s remarks in the next post.

Some final notes on last nights speech. Coleen’s came across as stiff and forced when she was speaking from her prepared remarks or when she was speaking on a subject that she was not comfortable but she was quite eloquent when speaking extemporaneously on a subject that she was well versed in. You can tell that she is an intelligent woman. However, she said some things that seemed to make sense to our hosts, but confused me greatly. Things like, we need to get voters to “vote in their enlightened self interests”.

She also mentioned a few other random things that I feel need addressing:

The Republicans have a very insideous way of instilling fear in the populace. This coming from the woman who agreed with the audience member who refered to Dick Cheney as the “Prince of Darkness” and nodded in agreement when another audience member stated “Karl Rove lies” and who said that “our democracy is at stake” in this election. Both sides use their “fear tactics” that they know works for the base. That is the way politics is done!

The 2 or 3 polarizing issues (abortion and marriage) are “wearing thin”. Coleen came to this “conclusion” door-knocking in one city this fall. I think she might want to take a little bit bigger polling sample before making such declarations. There are many “pockets” of thought and I know that there are several such pockets in the 2nd District where those issues are KING!

Media leaks saved my job at the FBI. Given what media leaks have done recently, that is a truly frightening statement. It is also, dare I say it, either a bit selfish or it is weak national security policy. If the leaks were ok across the board, why have classified information? Why have national security? If it was ok in her situation and not in the others…

There is “monumental arrogance” in the Republican Party. This coming out of a representative of the party that consistently tells us that they “know better” than we do is laughable!

The Republicans “own” the media – including the NY Times. Yeah right – that is why the NY Times is running stories like this. Along with all of the anti-administration leaks out of the CIA. Sure they “own” the media guys…..and I have a bridge to sell you cheap!

I saved the best for almost last dear readers. Here is the good news that Coleen Rowley brought to the SD35 DFL last night.

Three of the questions that were asked last night had a similar theme. That theme was “what is the DNC/DFL doing to win this thing?” Specifically she was asked 1)What issues do you want to bring to the table in this election?, 2) What are DFL hopefuls doing to find a uniform message and stick to it? and 3) Is there a “top down” message from the DNC that we need to be utilizing?

The answer (in revers order) is 3)NO, 2)we have solutions but the information is not being released (HUH?) and 1) Ethics.

I already discussed the ethics issue here so I will skip that and go right into 2 and 3.

We have solutions, but we are not going to divulge them to the people. Sound familiar? We have heard this before out of the Democratic House and Senate leadership. What are they afraid of? Why won’t they tell the American people what they stand for? Are they afraid that they will be roundly rejected – again?

No top down message tells you all you need to know. The DNC has cut their candidates loose with little ideological support and telling them “good luck”. Meanwhile, they are complaining about the “Republican marching orders” that Karl Rove is giving Republican candidates. What the DNC (and the DFL) percieve to be marching orders is actually a very co-ordinated and organized and successful campaign strategy. And they wonder why they are losing…..

Coleen Rowley did a great job “channeling” John Kerry last night. The biggest effort came when she spoke about the execution of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). She re-iterated the DNC charge that the President has no plan to “win the peace” (gack). So I guess that this is “no plan”? She spent several minutes waxing eloquently about the “natural, inherent accountability” of the criminal justice system and how it would be the “best place” to execute the GWOT! Yeah they did such a great job of it before 9/11….let’s do it again Coleen!

Later in the evening, while discussing election strategy (more on this in another post) Doug Zila – who is running for the State House 35A seat – (more on him later) said that he heard Senator Kerry speaking on the radio on what the Dems need to do in order to succeed this year. He said that Senator said “less is more” when it came to the message. That they needed to remember that the electorate had a “short attention span”. I have a better idea Mr. Zila (and Sen. Kerry) tell us what you are for! Tell us what you support and why!!!! It is not that the electorate has a “short attention span” it is that we have heard (ad naseum) your litany of complaints and we are tired of hearing it. Maybe if you came up with a solution or two, you might get someone’s attention!

I know that I am not the first (and probably far from the last) to say this but it’s true…you can’t beat something with nothing. It is your dearth of ideas, not the lack of voice that has kept you from winning elections.

I found it ironic (after the photoshopping fiasco) that Coleen would make ethics an integral part of her speech last night.

She mentioned that she was at the Naval Academy recently (I swear she spends more time out of the district than she does in the district) and that she was “impressed” with their dedication to accountability. She then went on to say that the Bush Administration lacked that accountability and that people who made mistakes are still working in the administration making mistakes (guess she forgot that Michael Brown – for one – is no longer with the adminstration).

Of course, you knew she would bring up “the horrible corruption” surrounding the Abramoff connection – which is hysterical considering the story that came out today about how Senate Minority Leader Reid worked (much harder than previously revealed) on behalf of Abramoff clients. Coleen – ever heard the old adage about people in glass houses throwing stones?

While speaking about “accountability” she threw out the following quote “Bank robbers go back to the same places if they can get away with it”. She threw that bon mot out in reference to how the Republicans keep going back to the national security issue.

She said that the Dems need to expose the lack of ethics in DC. On that we may agree, Coleen, but be careful what you wish for. It may come back to bite you in the rear if you are not careful.

One of the “highlights” from last nights visit with Coleen Rowley.

One of her supporters can into the meeting late (we had a bit of snow to deal with last night) highly agitated. During the Q&A session she commented on the reason for her agitation. The Shakopee Valley News came out and there were two letters (free registration required) to the editor “attacking” Coleen in the paper. The letters dealt with the this issue. I read both letters before writing this to make certain that they were not “attacks” and that leads to this….

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TAKING A CANDIDATE TO TASK OVER ISSUES VS ATTACK ADS

If a candidate runs for office based on an embelished war record, and someone who served in the same unit calls the candidate on the embelishment….that is not an attack that is taking the candidate to task on an issues (the candidates integrity).

If a story is run about a candidate that is built around forged documents, that is an attack!

If you or your campaign photoshops your opponents picture into a Nazi uniform (especially if said opponent is a retired Marine, that is an attack.

If your opponent (or his/her supporters) submit letters to the editor that you to task for running photoshopped pictures of said opponent on your website – that is not an attack. That is taking issue with your decision making skills.

It’s that simple folks.