August 30-31, 2007
Aug 30 00:32 Norm Coleman Earns An Up Arrow Aug 30 09:31 Economic Woes? Aug 30 11:15 Terror Tactics Dividing Dems Aug 31 03:10 Let's Hope They're Right Aug 31 14:01 That's My Goalie!!! Aug 31 18:56 Craig to Resign Tomorrow
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Prior Years: 2006
Norm Coleman Earns An Up Arrow
If I had a vote for the Beltway Boys' Ups and Downs segment, I'd give Norm Coleman an up arrow. According to this Strib article, Sen. Coleman is leaving on an Iraq fact-finding mission. Here's what he's quoted as saying in the Strib:
"My position is based on information that I get from people on the ground and things I hear," Coleman said in a phone interview Wednesday morning.That's one of the most intelligent positions I've heard. Better yet, it's great knowing that Sen. Coleman doesn't appear to consider abandoning our Iraq allies as a viable option. Rather, it appears as though he'd rather see us redouble our efforts to help with political reconciliation, which is the weak spot in our Iraq strategy right now.
The first-term senator's fourth trip to Iraq comes only weeks before U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus come to Washington to testify before lawmakers about progress in the region. Coleman said his trip's purpose is to understand how to accelerate political reconciliation without undermining military success. He said he plans to meet with Crocker in Baghdad and will travel to other parts of the country."
That alone would be enough to earn Sen. Coleman an up arrow but he didn't stop with enunciating an intelligent position on Iraq. Instead, he called for Sen. Craig to resign from the Senate:
"Senator Craig pled guilty to a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator," the Minnesota Republican said in a terse, two-sentence statement. "He should resign."Amen to that. Let's hope that Sen. Craig resigns quickly rather than dragging this out. The outcome would be the same either way.
Again, kudos to Sen. Coleman for taking strong principled stands on two big issues this week.
Posted Thursday, August 30, 2007 9:26 AM
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Economic Woes?
Despite all the worries about the housing bubble bursting, the U.S. economy still grew at an annual rate of 4.0 during the last quarter:
The economy grew at its strongest pace in more than a year during the spring as solid improvements in international trade and business investment helped offset weakness in housing.That isn't to say that I think the economy is running strong but it isn't the doom and gloom story that Democrats are likely to portray it as either. About a week ago, I read something about how Democrats planned on using the sub prime mortgage problems as a campaign issue. I don't know why they but they think it's a winning issue.
The gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, expanded at an annual rate of 4 percent in the April-June quarter, significantly higher than the 3.4 percent rate the government had initially estimated a month ago, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
I'll be checking for King's analysis later today.
Posted Thursday, August 30, 2007 9:31 AM
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Terror Tactics Dividing Dems
If Democrats were serious about preventing terrorist attacks, there wouldn't be a basis for an article like this.The fact that there's a basis for this article should be a warning sign to voters.
A growing clamor among rank-and-file Democrats to halt President Bush's most controversial tactics in the fight against terrorism has exposed deep divisions within the party, with many Democrats angry that they cannot defeat even a weakened president on issues that they believe should be front and center.The Nutroots are going to be exceptionally upset with Democrats when the FISA law that President Bush signed comes up for renewal. Despite Ms. Pelosi's charge to John Conyers and Silvestre Reyes to rewrite the FISA reform bill, it won't be a big enough change to satisfy the Nutroots because they're totally opposed to warrantless intercepts regardless of what intel is gleaned from them.
The Democrats' failure to rein in wiretapping without warrants, close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay or restore basic legal rights such as habeas corpus for terrorism suspects has opened the party's leaders to fierce criticism from some of their staunchest allies, on Capitol Hill, among liberal bloggers and at interest groups.
At the Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress yesterday, panelists discussing the balance between security and freedom lashed out at Democratic leaders for not standing up to the White House. "These are matters of principle," said Mark Agrast, a senior fellow at the center. "You don't temporize."Mr. Agrast is wrong. It isn't a matter of principle. It's a matter of survival. If we don't have the capability to intercept known al-Qa'ida terrorists' communications without a warrant, we will get hit. It isn't a question of if; it's a matter of when and how big of an attack it'll be. You can't sell it that you're serious about protecting us from future terrorist attacks at the same time that you're preventing the NSA from intercepting al-Qa'ida's communications.
The question now becomes whether they are enough adults in the Democratic Party to tell the Nutroots to take a hike on this issue. Frankly, I don't see it happening because they contribute too much money to their campaigns and too many workers for their GOTV operations.
Reid and Pelosi promised last week that they would at least confront the president next month over his wiretapping program, with Pelosi taking an uncompromising stand in a private conference call with House Democrats. When lawmakers return in September, Democrats will also push legislation to restore habeas corpus rights for terrorism suspects and may resume an effort to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.It's safe to say that Democrats have to tread lightly on this issue. They can't push too hard lest they lose alot of seats in the moderate to conservative districts. On the other hand, not pushing means that the Nutroots takes their money and energy and goes home. Simply put, they're to the east of the rock and west of the hard place on this issue.
But conservative Democrats and some party leaders continue to worry that taking on those issues would expose them to Republican charges that they are weak on terrorism. And advocates of a strong push on the terrorism issues are increasingly skeptical that they can prevail.
That's what happens when a political party lets its fringe dictate the direction of the party.
Posted Thursday, August 30, 2007 11:16 AM
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Let's Hope They're Right
KSTP-TV is reporting that a special session isn't imminent. Let's hope they're right. Here's what they're reporting:
On Thursday, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS learned a special legislative session may be on hold.In other words, we're no closer to a special session than when the bridge collapsed. The thing that GOP activists should take from this is that Gov. Pawlenty is playing his cards well in the sense that he's painting the DFL into a tiny corner. If they don't agree to a limited session, something that 80 percent of the state agrees with, then the DFL will be blamed for a special session not being called.
Last week, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he was hoping to call lawmakers back to St. Paul after Labor Day to deal with the emergency issues that plague the state. But now, that may not happen any time soon.
Pawlenty wanted to call a special session to pass laws on four issues: bridge safety, flood relief, property taxes, and transportation. "Special session are supposed to be called for emergencies. And we have one," said Pawlenty. But the Governor won't call a special session unless he has in writing, an agreement from lawmakers that they'll stick to emergency issues only.
Let's look at this from a purely political standpoint for a minute. From a political responsibility standpoint, undecided voters are saying to themselves that Gov. Pawlenty is being reasonable by saying that he wants a limited, narrowly focused special session. These same people won't say that Larry Pogemiller and Maggie Kelliher are being reasonable. That's because Pogemiller and Kelliher can't afford to be reasonable. their supporters were upset with them for not getting more of their agenda signed into law. If they don't push for a more freewheeling special session, their supporters will think that they've caved. I can't imagine that Larry Pogemiller and Maggie Kelliher would enjoy defending themselves against those charges.
Here in St. Cloud, I don't think that Tarryl Clark is getting hurt the same way that it's hurting Pogemiller and Kelliher. That isn't to say that it isn't affecting her. It's still hurting her from the standpoint that she's seen as part of an ineffective leadership team that passed tons of taxes because it didn't get their priorities straight.
Six months from now, I suspect that we'll see that Larry Pogemiller and Maggie Kelliher substantially weakened. I also suspect that we'll see a number of deep divisions emerge within the DFL. The reason why I believe that is because the outstate freshmen that got swept into office last November won't want to side with Mr. Pogemiller and Ms. Kelliher. I suspect that these freshmen will be getting an earful from their constituents that they don't want their taxes raised.
In the meantime, each GOP activist should be calling their representatives to have them have a public town hall meeting focusing on our transportation priorities for the next decade. These meeting should also focus on how we'll pay for these priorities.
If the DFL leadership makes itself irrelevant by refusing to limit itself in a special session and if the GOP House leadership steps forward with a forward-looking plan for meeting our transportation needs, we will have given the voters another reason to vote Republican in 2008.
Posted Friday, August 31, 2007 3:10 AM
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That's My Goalie!!!
There's surely much weeping and gnashing of teeth in the DFL caucus today. Gov. Pawlenty has unilaterally started the flow of emergency relief to flood victims:
With agreement on a special legislative session still elusive, Gov. Tim Pawlenty has unilaterally opened the state's coffers to aid flood recovery in southeastern Minnesota, one of the emergencies a session would likely deal with.The DFL should look itself in the mirror sometime. Their pattern of overreaching has been consistent since the start of the legislative session opened in January. Gov. Pawlenty's initial statements after the bridge collapse more than met the DFL halfway. That wasn't good enough for the DFL.
With that action and his announcement that his staff has set up a new one-stop flood recovery website, Pawlenty continued to announce initiatives that suggest progress is underway, special session or no. And DFLers continued blasting him for not yet calling one.
In fact, the DFL's actions remind me of an old saying about Middle East politics, which reads "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." The DFL had a perfectly opportunity to look moderate and reasonable. They didn't take that opportunity, which is leading them to whine about Gov. Pawlenty. Minnesotans are smart enough to know that they should ignore the DFL's whining.
In a letter delivered to Pawlenty on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher indicated they want to revisit the tax bill that Pawlenty vetoed earlier this year and the broad transportation bill he also vetoed.Gov. Pawlenty won't call a special session just so the DFL can refight the battles it lost last session. That won't change even if Pogemiller and Kelliher hold their breath till they turn every color in the rainbow.
In their letter, Pogemiller and Kelliher told Pawlenty they "are getting a mixed message; on the one hand, you tell us you cannot call a special session until we have agreement on the bills, and on the other hand, your staff only give us broad, generalized ideas about your proposed agenda." Headway toward a special session, they wrote, "is slow."As a public service, I'll explain Gov. Pawlenty's actions to Kelliher, Pogemiller and the DFL leadership. Governors set the parameters of a debate. They do that because they're the leaders in times of crisis. Obviously, the DFL wants a freewheeling special session which would be nothing more than a do over of the last session. At the end of the day, that won't fly. That limits the DFL's options. Either they agree to Gov. Pawlenty's terms or they can whine about Gov. Pawlenty, in which case there won't be a special session.
In an e-mail, party chair Brian Melendez decried Pawlenty's "dithering" and "stubbornness [that] is blocking our constitutional processes from working for the public good." A few hours later, Pawlenty's office announced the creation of www.minnesotarecovers.org, a website in which homeowners, farmers and business owners can obtain information from local, state and federal government on assistance, cleanup and other flood-related topics.Don't look now but Gov. Pawlenty just demolished Mr. Melendez' arguments. The Governor's staff creating a website that lets flood victims apply for local, state and federal assistance doesn't just give Gov. Pawlenty a nice bargaining chip. It totally undercuts the DFL. I'd bet the proverbial ranch that flood victims won't give a tinker's damn whether Gov. Pawlenty blocked the "constitutional processes from working for the public good" as long as they're able to get the help they need.
A quick examination of the DFL website gives us a great insight into the DFL's intellectual bankruptcy:
"The governor has exclusive constitutional powers at the front end and the back end of a special session, to call it and sign or veto legislation. But during the session, the governor isn't the only player, the people's elected legislators also have a constitutional duty to pass the laws that the people's interests require," said Minnesota DFL Chair Brian Melendez. "Minnesota is a constitutional democracy, not a dictatorship, but Governor Pawlenty's stubbornness is blocking our constitutional processes from working for the public good."This sentence in Melendez' statement is laughable on its face:
"DFL legislative leaders have clearly said that they are united and ready to get to work with the governor," Melendez continued. "But even while they agree with the governor's clear principles for a special session, Pawlenty continues to sit on his hands, and now even suggests that a special session might not be necessary."
"But even while they agree with the governor's clear principles for a special session, Pawlenty continues to sit on his hands, and now even suggests that a special session might not be necessary."Considering the joint statement that Sen. Pogemiller and Speaker Kelliher put out saying that they want to revisit the Transportation Bill and the Tax Bill, how can Brian Melendez say with a straight face that the DFL leadership agrees "with the governor's clear principles for a special session"? That's an absurd statement that can't be substantiated.
Considering the fact that he's a lawyer, it's impossible to believe that Mr. Melendez didn't know about Gov. Pawlenty's constitutional authority during emergencies. The legislature only has a constitutional responsibility in disaster recoveries if a special session is called. The DFL's statement contains some misleading headlines, like this one:
Molnau Questioned the Need for a Special Session.Here's what they wrote to 'prove' their accusation:
"Molnau says she doesn't want to rush into a special session without having a complete sense of the region's needs. If there is opportunity for us to help, you don't want to miss something significant and needs to be addressed. You don't know that until a full assessment is done,' she said."Where in Lt. Gov. Molnau's statement does she say that a special session isn't needed? Simply put, the DFL's accusations can't be substantiated. They also accused Gov. Pawlenty of dithering:
But Governor Continued to Dither.According to Dictionary.com, here's the definition of dither:
to act irresolutely; vacillate.Based on the consistency of Gov. Pawlenty's statements on what a special session would involve, it's impossible for the DFL to truthfully say that Gov. Pawlenty hasn't been resolute in his positions on the special session.
An important question must be asked here, though. In the opening paragraph of the DFL statement, they talk about the need to "call a special session of the Legislature on this "extraordinary occasion." This certainly gives the impression that a special session should be called so that the recovery can start. While that's the DFL's official position, Sen. Pogemiller and Speaker Kelliher are quoted as saying that they'd revisit the Tax Bill and the Transportation Bill during that special session.
Why does the legislature have to revisit the vetoed Transportation and Tax bills if the session's objective is about starting the recovery from the bridge collapse and the flooding? The simple answer is that the two things don't go together.
That's why Gov. Pawlenty is right in not having already called a special session.
Originally posted Friday, August 31, 2007, revised 02-Sep 1:54 AM
Comment 1 by Carol Cooper at 01-Sep-07 02:28 PM
Great news that Pawlenty may not call a special session!
Craig to Resign Tomorrow
The AP is reporting that Sen. Larry Craig will resign tomorrow. My initial reaction is simple. Good riddance. He's disgraced himself by putting himself in an untenable position.
The announcement follows by just five days the disclosure that he had pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to a reduced misdemeanor charge arising out of his arrest June 11 at the Minneapolis airport.What type of defense is that? Now he's claiming that his only mistake was in not consulting a lawyer before pleading guilty? If he wasn't guilty, that should've been his first move. That move should've been a total no-brainer. The only thing more insulting is his claim that he was entrapped.
The three-term Republican senator had maintained that he did nothing wrong except for making the guilty plea without consulting a lawyer. But he found almost no support among Republicans in his home state or Washington.
As the audiotape clearly shows, Craig initiated the contact. It isn't entrapment when the criminal makes the first move.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter appeared Friday to have already settled on a successor: Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, according to several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations.This is the best option under the circumstances for Republicans. They won't have to run a primary challenger against a sitting senator, thereby saving the party alot of money. They also sweep this story out of the news. I'd be surprised if it had legs beyond Labor Day.
Posted Friday, August 31, 2007 6:57 PM
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