Savage Republican

This evening, Coleen Rowley spoke to the SD35 DFL party. Since their news release said that this was open to the public, I trundled the Little Logician off to basketball practice and then I went to the Prior Lake Library to hear the candidate for myself. I took lots and lots of notes, so this will be the first of several posts on Ms. Rowley’s visit to SD35.

Coleen was introduced by the SD35 Chair who spoke glowingly of her “law enforcement credentials” and how that would be such an asset to Congress – yeah like Congress really needs another lawyer! Coleen then opened with a “good news/bad news” joke – “the good news is President Bush is finally listening to us…the bad news is it is via the NSA surveillance program”. This was not the last time she would bring up NSA…..

Coleen then went on to ask how many had watch the “excruciating” State of the Union address last week. Not many in the room had (surprise surprise) so Coleen went on to give her take on the speech. She talked about how one side of the room kept jumping up and down and how she was “certain” that Representative Kline was one the ones doing the jumping but that the camera did not pan to him (I believe that the congressman was out of DC at the time, but I am waiting for verification of that). She then went on to talk about how, in spite of the promises of increased funding for alternative energy and education, the administration announced “the very next day” massive budget cuts for both. She also mention that the only place to “win” in the budget was the Pentagon, conveniently forgetting that in the new Budget Social spending dwarfed Pentagon spending….why let the facts get in the way of a little stump speech I guess…

She did not mention her opponent (Congressman Kline) often, but when she did she called him a “cheerleader” for the administration (this after she had commented about how they needed to deal with facts instead of delving into name calling…) and that he had voted against veterans benefits 11 times (it has already been proven that she is incorrect in the by the Congressman).

Back to the NSA surveillance…Coleen said that intelligence gathering was like trying to find a needle in a haystack and that the NSA surveillance had “added more hay” to the haystack. A few minutes later she said that she didn’t see the courts “upholding” the NSA program, but she was contradicted by the SD35 chair (and her own words). The SD35 chair said that he had heard that the FISA court had already upheld similar surveillance – a ruling that Coleen admitted had been made. Coleen also repeated the DNC call for “Congressional oversight” of the NSA program, saying we didn’t need “full” congressional oversight – just have a “few trusted” congressmen overseeing classified intelligence information. Excuse me Ms. Rowley – we already have that. Select “trusted” members of both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees were aware of the NSA program. Unfortunately one of those “trusted members” went to Syria before the war and told the Syrian government all of our plans!

One of many laughs of the night came when Coleen asked is anyone in the group had heard the report that Scooter Libbey was “rolling over” on Vice President Cheney. That report cause one woman in the audience to shout “YES!!!! I KNEW IT!!!! I KNEW CHENEY WAS THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS….we just have to prove it.” Yes ma’am you do have to prove it.

End part 1

Howard Dean, speaking on Good Morning America, today accused President Bush of turning the US “into Iran”.

In related news, Howard has not yet reacted to this news that Harry Reid did indeed take action for the Abramoff tribes that he got money from. Someone needs to send this information to Al Franken and remind Howie what he said on Fox News Sunday.

The DNC has a serious problem on their hands and they refuse to realize it.

One issue that is sure to get tempers flaring is taxes. The right says that we are “over-taxed” and the left says that we are “under-taxed”, but what is the truth.

The Star Tribune published a report today that gives us an idea of where we stand here in Minnesota. In 2002, Minnesotans paid (per capita) $2631.65 in taxes to the state which ranks 3rd highest in the country. The US average is $1862.33. In 2004, Minnesotans paid (per capita) $2890.90 in taxes to the state (4th highest in the country). The highest in both surveys was Hawaii at $2769.77 and $3050.03! Now, remember this voters…..the DFL has said that they intend to make Minnesota the HIGHEST TAXED state in the union! So the next time you talk to someone who says they are “more than happy” to pay extra for all of this government spending, ask them do you really want to pay $3000+ per year in taxes to the state????? If so, how much is enough? Is there any such thing?

UPDATE: MDE reported from the DFL candidate debate today that Becky Loury said that Minnesotans “want” their taxes raised and that Kelly Doran said that he didn’t care how much taxes were raised on Minnesota businesses! Read his report here.

We’ve seen glimpses of it here in Minnesota. Patty Wetterling drops out of a Senate race that she can not win and drops back into the 6th CD race and draws the wrath of candidate El Tinklenberger and the DFL grass roots. Colleen Rowley, the DNC “chosen one” running in the 2nd CD (against Rep John Kline) stumbles so badly that State Senator Sharon Marko files to run against her in the primary. Amy Klobuchar is being dogged by Ford Bell for the DFL Senatorial endorsement amid cries of “queenmaking”. We have 5 DFL candidates all fighting for the opportunity to run against Governor Pawlety and at least 2 are determined to take it to a primary fight.

Now the fractions are spreading nationwide. Sen Barbara Boxer is begging Mother Sheehan to not run against Senator Dianne Feinstein. House and Senate leadership is reeling and then comes this from the NY Times. You know things are bad when the DNC’s main cheerleader is asking “what is wrong?”

“Democrats are heading into this year’s elections in a position weaker than they had hoped for, party leaders say, stirring concern that they are letting pass an opportunity to exploit what they see as widespread Republican vulnerabilities.
In interviews, senior Democrats said they were optimistic about significant gains in Congressional elections this fall, calling this the best political environment they have faced since President Bush took office.
But Democrats described a growing sense that they had failed to take full advantage of the troubles that have plagued Mr. Bush and his party since the middle of last year, driving down the president’s approval ratings, opening divisions among Republicans in Congress over policy and potentially putting control of the House and Senate into play in November.”

No guys, the problem is not that you have failed to take advantage of “troubles” plaguing the President. Your problem is that these “failings” of the President’s are not seen as failings (NSA surveillance for example) with the heartland. You try to claim innocence in the so-called “culture of corruption” when your ranking Senator is under investigation for taking the same kind of money you are hammering Republicans on.

“Democrats said they had not yet figured out how to counter the White House’s long assault on their national security credentials. (ed – here’s a hot tip guys – listening in on the bad guys conversation is GOOD national security and you are against it!) And they said their opportunities to break through to voters with a coherent message on domestic and foreign policy — should they settle on one (emphasis added) — were restricted by the lack of an established, nationally known leader to carry their message this fall. “

OUCH! Even the Times see the problem here.

“Some Democrats said they favored remaining largely on the sidelines while Republicans struggled under the glare of a corruption inquiry. And some said there was still time for the party to get its act together. But many others said the party needed to move quickly to offer a comprehensive governing agenda, even as they expressed concern about who could make the case. “

And while the leadership sits on the sidelines, smart leaders like Senator Obama (IL) and Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen are left crying in the wilderness.

“”We’re selling our party short; you’ve got to stand for a lot more than just blasting the other side,” said Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee. “The country is wide open to hear some alternatives, but I don’t think it’s wide open to all these criticisms. “

I said at the time that Howard Dean was the best thing to happen to the RNC and so far things are looking good. We can not let our guard down, but right now it looks like the DFL and the DNC are going to continue to implode. We need to be ready to take advantage of it when it happens.

I had the pleasure of attending the SD 63 Chili Dinner last night.

Mark Kennedy (R-CD6) who is running for the Republican endorsement for Senator started the evening off with a red meat speech that got the crowd whipped up. He talked about the Presidential Line Item Veto bill (which he has sponsored in the House) and how we needed a few more “regular” guys (CPAs for example which Mark is by vocation) in the Senate and a few less lawyers. In keeping with the theme of the evening (Media Bias) he talked about all of the accomplishements that he has had in the House that do not get reported in Prairie Pravda. I’ve heard Mark on the stump before and while this was not his most rousing stump speech it was an appropriate start for the evening.

The guests of honor were the candidates – Vern Wilcox, David Alvarado and Ed Field. Ed’s speech was highly entertaining. He did a thorough job of researching his opponent’s voting record and used it to show where the two of the were different. Vern has the enjoyable track record of never loosing an election so the races will bear following.

The highlight of the evening (for me) were the featured speakers…the MOBs own Jerry Plagge (SD63 blog), Andy Aplikowski (AAA from Residual Forces and KennedyVMachine) and Mitch Berg (Shot in the Dark). Now I met Jerry and Andy before, but this was the first opportunity I had to meet Mitch, a blogger that I admire very much. It was interesting to hear what motivated Jerry and Andy to blogging (my story is similar to Andy’s – I got tired of submitting letters to the Strib that were never printed). Mitch was his usual shy, reticent self. If you have never listened to the Northern Alliance Radio program on AM1280 The Patriot you don’t know what you are missing. Mitch regaled the crowd with stories of how the blogosphere has already changed the course of history (the death of a thousand cuts inflicted on Mary Mapes/Dan Rather over their fake Texas ANG documents). He kept refering back to the fact that blogging is bringing the information back to the “regular schmucks”. While not all bloggers are “regular schmucks” (I’m thinking the Powerline guys here) I understand what he means. Blogging gives average people with particular expertise to be able to add their expertise to a situation. It bypasses the vaunted “gatekeepers” of the mainstream media (or the downstream media as Andy called them) to get the other side of the story out!

Last (but certainly not least) to speak was Col. Joe Repya. For those that don’t know Col. Repya’s story, on 9/11 he was a retired military officer, on 9/12 he re-enlisted! He is back (temporarily) from Iraq and he spoke to us about what the press is not covering in the Iraq story. He told us about all of the successes that are happening every day and that we can not judge what is happening by what the press is reporting, because most of them are not even leaving the safety of the Green Zone. He spoke glowingly of ABC camerman Doug Vogt who was recently injured in Iraq as one of the few who got out to try to tell the soldiers stories and the good news in Iraq.

Kudos to Loren Klassen and Rob Hewitt (Mitch said it was good to work with a Hewitt that did not “suck all of the air out of the room” in an obvious good natured dig at AM1280 weekday host Hugh Hewitt) and the rest of the SD63 Executive Committee. It was a well run, highly entertaining. Good luck with your races. I will be following them closely on Jerry’s blog!

Matt Drudge is reporting that fig trees bear figs and leopards don’t change their spots.
At the funeral of Coretta Scott King, the hatemongers on the left couldn’t even muster enough restraint to show only respect to Mrs. King and the event.They let their temper and sourness flow from their pores and mouths and blasted President Bush.
And these men call themselves Christians. One is even a Pastor. The other a Noble Peace Prize winner and former President.

Captain Ed at Captain’s Quarters reminds me of a lingering problem that bodes ill for all of us, right and left. And we on the right get it. The dangerous hate filled dolts on the left don’t.
All the left wing heroes of the Clinton era all talked about Saddam’s WMD. Officials and diplomats around the world repeated how Saddam must destroy his WMD’s. Resolution after resolution came out of the UN. Even Saddam admitted that he had WMD. The liars on the left seemingly can’t read as we did NOT go into Iraq to find WMD’s but because Saddam had not proven that he had destroyed his WMD’s. A very important point of departure from the left wing diatribes about no WMD’s and why we went to Iraq.
I had a conversation with Congressman John Kline before Christmas. One of the people around us asked about WMD and GWB going to Iraq and the War on Terror. Congressman Kline said that the President regrets using the term war on terror. He went to talk about the WMD’s. I mentioned two grossly under reported stories or conveniently ignored by the left. That makes them guilty of willful ignorance which is inexcusable!
1. David Kay in his report to Congress said that they had found no WMD’s. The left reported his testimony just up to that point. What he said next was critically important. He stated that what he and his team found was much worse than they had thought going in. That entire country of Iraq was basically a Home Depot for terrorists the world over. It was an open market for nearly every weapon imaginable. And that in fact Mr. Kay did believe that Iraq had WMD’s .
2. About two years ago, there was a convoy that was stopped on it’s way to Amman, Jordan coming from Syria. In the convoy were discovered chemical weapons. If they had been used, it’s estimated that up to 80,000 people would have died (depending on weather conditions at the time). Now, the intelligence community agrees that Syria has a WMD program of chemical and biological weapons. But thay also agree that the Syrian program could not produce that quality of material in the quantity found. And so the real question then is: Where did the material come from if not from Syria?

And so, these people on the left, so filled with bile and rage at GWB, refuse to ask the resultant hard question:Ok, if WMD’s have not been found in Iraq,well then,where are they? Where did they go? Who had them after Saddam? Who has them now? How do we find them?
But, no. These “deeply concerned people” keep beating the same, old “this is the way I want to see the world” drum. These people are so filled with hate and loathing for GWB, America, the Constitution that they are willing to risk us all with their opinions and outlook.
Yup, and Hugh Hewitt keeps playing the Samuel L. Jackson quote from Die Hard III “I don’t like you because you’re going to get me killed!”
And when hate, rage and vitriol replace any shred of reason, we are in even more danger from the left…if that were possible.

All of my friends know that I am a die-hard Chicago Bears fan, what with growing up in Chicago and all. Mr. Logician is a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan, having grown up in the Steel City. All through the play-offs, we were actually hoping to have a Chicago/Pittsburgh Super Bowl, but if we had to fall short of that, we really wanted to see Jerome Bettis end his storied career in the city where it started. So seeing him come into town and getting the Key to the City, was no big surprise. What was surprising was this:

“Bettis was told the honor had once been bestowed upon Saddam Hussein in 1980.”

Saddam Hussein given the keys to a city??? For what? Single handedly surpassing the annual murder rate for the city?

Congratulations to Coach Cower, Jerome Bettis and the rest of the Steelers organization. Let’s see you back there again in 2007.

And it just keeps getting better:
Dennis Prager has quoted Andrew Sullivan noting that the stricture on depicting the prophet Mohammed is on Muslims,no one else. Prager quotes Sullivan saying that the Muslims outrage would be the same as Jews rioting because Gentiles are eating pork.
Sullivan’s quote (and pay particular attention to the last sentence):
“Muslim leaders say the cartoons are not just offensive. They’re blasphemy–the mother of all offenses. That’s because Islam forbids any visual depiction of the Prophet, even benign ones. Should non-Muslims respect this taboo? I see no reason why. You can respect a religion without honoring its taboos. I eat pork, and I’m not an anti-Semite. As a Catholic, I don’t expect atheists to genuflect before an altar. If violating a taboo is necessary to illustrate a political point, then the call is an easy one. Freedom means learning to deal with being offended.”

When I sign off from blogging, there is a scroll of blogs to see. One that scrolled by was Face of Muhammed . The blogger makes the point that 12 cartoons will spark outrage in the world-wide Muslim community. And the horrific deaths and mutilation and painful crippling of innocent men, women and children…not so much as a single sign.
And he makes great cultural points.
The left screams in support of these radical Islamists feelings and that people like me (an obvious Bible believing, God fearing, Christ loving, liberty loving, Constitution reading,gun carrying, ready to defend liberty and the innocents type) are obviously “insensitive” and need to be more open to the feelings of others. And these same “women’s rights” dolts apologize for Islamists who behead women in public or kill a female relative if she is raped, or sometimes even flirts (called honor killings).
I remember the quote from a woman in Kabul, Afghanistan after the city was liberated in 2002. She said that she went outside and felt the warm sun on her face for the first time in years.
It was such a simple comment. And such a simple pleasure to which I had never even given a thought. Yet it was such a measure of freedom for her that that was what she marked as her liberation.
And lefties that practice such gross hypocrisy don’t know true liberty when they see it.
And they don’t know and don’t care of the deep shame they bring on themselves.