September 11-12, 2008
Sep 11 07:44 Dick Harpootlian Doing His Biden Impression Sep 11 10:26 Announcing the Bipartisan Mark Olson Good Riddance Party Sep 11 12:06 USS Obama Taking On Water Sep 11 15:22 NY Times (Unwittingly) Makes Case For McCain-Palin Sep 11 17:45 God Help Jim Oberstar If This Gets Out Sep 11 20:16 Ralph Peters Decries Anti-Religious Elitism Sep 11 21:30 Attention Gang Of 16: Stop Negotiating & Accept Victory Sep 12 10:47 Liveblog of St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce Forum Sep 12 19:02 Everything You Need to Know About the Palin Effect
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug
Dick Harpootlian Doing His Biden Impression
Dick Harpootlian is the former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. Last night, while appearing on Fox Report With Shepard Smith, Harpootlian went into Joe Biden Mode:
Here's a partial transcript of Shep's interview with Harpootlian:
Harpootlian: Well, she's very apologetic about it. She sorta didn't really mean to say to have an abortion, that she meant to say that she was against abortion but here's the other thing: Who really cares what Carol Fowler says? I talked with the Obama campaign and they reject what she says. She rejects what she says. The key question is do you want a 72 year old man who's been in Washington 30 years as the president of the United States?Talk about insulting. That's one of the most condescending interviews I've ever forced myself to listen to. Harpootlian saying that John McCain's been in Washington 30 years and hasn't gotten it done is insulting to thinking people. First, I'll nitpick a little: McCain's been in Washington 26 years, not 30. What's worse is that Harpootlian wants us to think that that's a major strike against Sen. McCain but he doesn't mention that Sen. Biden's been in Washington a full decade longer than Sen. McCain.
Shep: Is that an age dig?
Harpootlian: who hasn't brought about change, or Barack Obama, who has promised change, who has brought about change in a number of different ways. So those are your choices.
Shep: Is that an age dig?
Harpootlian: (crosstalk) ...lipstick on a pig.
Shep: Well but now there's this 72 year old age thing. Was that a dig?
Harpootlian: No. No. He's a 72-year-old man with 30 years of the Washington experience.
Shep: Dick, help me out with this because it seems to be a pattern. But going back to last Friday. I don't think that there's a political analyst who wouldn't have told you that the Democrats have the Big Mo. All of a sudden, there's an announcement of Sarah Palin and ever since then, it seems to me one thing after another. So many political analysts on both sides of the aisle who say that Democrats are just not as disciplined as they could be. These kinds of landmines keep coming out, these types of windows keep coming up for Republicans to jump through. Is that accurate?
Harpootlian: Well, you know, I think the media makes more out of this than it really is.
Shep: Wanna see my email inbox?
Harpootlian: Sarah Palin's gone back to Alaska. Hopefully she'll go back there and give back the money she took for the per diem while she was living in her house. But she's going back to Alaska...But this campaign is gonna focus on two people, John McCain and Barack Obama. Who do you want running the country? And who do you want a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States, Joe Biden or Sarah Palin? That's the question. And what plans do these candidates have for moving the country forward.
Shep: Maybe we'll get there some day.
Harpootlian: John McCain has had 30 years and he hasn't gotten it done.
Shep: Right. I remember. He's 72 years old.
Harpootlian: He's 72.
Shep: Right. I got it.
Harpootlian: Did I say that he's 72?
I'm betting that Harpootlian wouldn't say that Sen. Biden hadn't "gotten it done" in his extra decade in Washington.
It's insulting to hear Harpootlian say that John McCain hasn't brought about change. It's extremely insulting to hear Harpootlian say that Barack Obama "has promised change" and "who has brought about change in a number of different ways." I'd defy Mr. Harpootlian to name the changes that Sen. Obama has brought about, either in Washington or in the Illinois state senate. I'll reject the 130 times that Sen. Obama voted "present" as bringing "about change in a number of different ways."
I'll also reject his voting against the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act as bringing "about change in a number of different ways."
Instead, I'll point to things that Sen. McCain has done that have brought "about change in a number of different ways." Let's start with being the lone voice in the Senate who insisted on changing course in Iraq. Gen. Petraeus might've put the plan together and the in-theater generals were the people who implemented the plan but it was Sen. McCain's insistence on adding troops that's changed the Iraqi landscape, thereby giving the United States a great ally in the heart of the Middle East.
Sen. McCain fought for other things like the BCRA and immigration reform which were wayward ideas but he worked to bring about change. Sen. McCain put together the Gang of 14, which helped get judges confirmed for the federal bench. Not only didn't Sen. Obama, who talks about bipartisanship, join the group. Instead, 'bipartisan' Sen. Obama voted against John Roberts and Samuel Alito as well as a nubmer of appellate court judges.
Mr. Harpootlian has a small amount of name recognition amongst political junkies, not unlike Joe Biden. What this interview proves is that he's just as inept as Sen. Biden in winning over voters, though he isn't as gaffe-prone as Sen. Biden. The arguments he makes in defending the Obama-Biden ticket are pretty lame.
I'd pity Democrats if that's the best they can do.
Technnorati: YouTube , Dick Harpootlian , Carol Fowler , Abortion , Barack Obama , Bipartisanship , Born-Alive Infant Potection Act , Change , Age , Joe Biden , Shepard Smith , John McCain , Sarah Palin , Reform , Election 2008
Cross-posted at California Conservative
Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008 7:46 AM
Comment 1 by Walter hanson at 11-Sep-08 11:19 AM
Lets not forget a real test of reform that Obama messed up on. In 2006 the President of the Cook County Board had it's election. Obama could've joined the people working to defeat the corrupt President of the Cook County board. No. He wound up endorsing the son of the President (the replacment candidate when ill health forced him to retire) that was going to keep the corruption going.
Obama isn't a reformer! So quit lying Democrats about his being a reformer.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Announcing the Bipartisan Mark Olson Good Riddance Party
Earlier this week, my archnemesis Eric at Liberal in the Land of Conservatives said that we could reach a brief moment of bipartisanship if Alison Krueger ended Mark Olson's political career. When the final votes were tallied, Mrs. Krueger had slayed the dragon known as Mark Olson.
As a result, Eric & I are hosting a party at Granite City Brewery celebrating Olson's involuntary retirement. While Eric & I don't agree on many things, one thing we agree on is that Minnesota politics is far better off without Mark Olson in the state legislature.
Good riddance.
Mark Olson 'voted right' on most issues but that isn't the sole benchmark for a legislator. If legislators aren't people of integrity, little else matters.
Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008 10:26 AM
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USS Obama Taking On Water
The USS Obama has ben taking on water for awhile now. In an effort to help the USS Obama, Ken Blackwell has thrown them a great big anchor. Actually, he uses this article to give the USS Obama a bunch of anchors but that's another story. Here's one anchor that Mr. Blackwell gave Sen. Obama:
On the hot-button issue of abortion, last month saw a growing concern over Mr. Obama's opposition to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which states if an abortion is botched and a live birth results, the baby is entitled to medical care. The federal version of this law unanimously passed the U.S. Senate.It takes some doing to get to Ted Kennedy's and Barbara Boxer's left on abortion but that's one thing that Sen. Obama accomplished in voting against BAIPA. Sen. Obama had worked from the start of his Senate career to craft a centrist image. That image disappeared when this information surfaced. It's one thing to be pro-choice, especially since it's above senators' pay grade. It's another to not be vehemently opposed to infanticide, which is where he's at.
However, when a version of this bill came to the Illinois Senate, Mr. Obama opposed it. When confronted last month with the fact that the federal version of this bill had been supported by the likes of Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer, Mr. Obama said the he would have supported the federal version. Those suggesting otherwise were lying, he said. Then it was revealed that a second bill was introduced in the Illinois Senate, and this one was identical to the federal version. Mr. Obama opposed that bill as well. He has yet to come up with an explanation on that one.
Here's another unexpected 'gift' from Mr. Blackwell:
Bill Ayers is another stunner. Mr. Ayers bombed a police station and the Pentagon, and recently said he wished he had done more. He is an unrepentant terrorist, but is popular among the ultra-left in Chicago. When Mr. Obama was asked about Mr. Ayers, he implied that he barely knew him.Sen. Obama first tried painting the picture that Ayers was just a guy who lived in his neighborhood. Then Sen. Obama tried this defense :
But once again facts have surfaced. We now know that Mr. Ayers hosted a fundraiser for Mr. Obama. They served for years together on a board with only a few people, and they worked closely on financial matters during those years. Does that sound like someone he barely knows?
This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.That defense lasted until the Chicago Annenberg Challenge documents were released. Those documents revealed that they worked together quite closely on a host of issues.
At this point, there's a significant portion of the electorate that isn't certain that they trust him. It's getting late to change those voters' minds. That's just another reason why I think Sen. Obama faces an uphill fight the rest of the campaign.
Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008 12:07 PM
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NY Times (Unwittingly) Makes Case For McCain-Palin
The NY Times must've felt a little left out recently. They haven't been able to defend their Annointed. Now they've decided to get involved by criticizing Gov. Palin's building the natural gas pipeline:
When Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska took center stage at the Republican convention last week, she sought to burnish her executive credentials by telling how she had engineered the deal that jump-started a long-delayed gas pipeline project.Does the NY Times think that building a 1,700 mile pipeline is an overnight project? Or is it that they think that we're too stupid to figure that out? Her point in highlighting the project was to highlight her ability to affect change despite entrenched powers opposed her. That's what we're hiring her to do.
Stretching more than 1,700 miles, it would deliver natural gas from the North Slope of Alaska to the lower 48 states and be the largest private-sector infrastructure project on the continent.
"And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence," said Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee. "That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart."
The NY Times isn't satisfied in throwing cold water on Gov. Palin's pushing back against the entrenched powers. Next they hint that Gov. Palin really hasn't accomplished anything:
The pipeline exists only on paper. The first section has yet to be laid, federal approvals are years away and the pipeline will not be completed for at least a decade. In fact, although it is the centerpiece of Ms. Palin's relatively brief record as governor, the pipeline might never be built , and under a worst-case scenario, the state could lose up to $500 million it committed to defray regulatory and other costs.Frankly, the paragraph highlights the need to streamline regulations so energy infrastructure can get built. It's insulting to think that legislators and bureaucrats make industries jump through one hoop after another. It's insulting to think that these legislators and bureaucrats think we won't mind their heavy-handed ways.
What's most insulting, though, is that these legislators and bureaucrats think that once a regulation is put into place, then it's treated like it was etched on stone tablets and brought down from Mount Sinai. When America's families are hurting, it's time for action. That isn't the time to worry whether control freak regulators ar happy. It's times like those when we need to remind the legislators and bureaucrats know that they work for us, that it's their job to make us more prosperous or more secure.
If anything, this NY Times articles show how difficult it is for government to do the right thing in a timely manner. That's what Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are promising to change if they're elected.
Based on this NY Times article, we can't afford to keep them from fulfilling that promise.
Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008 3:26 PM
No comments.
God Help Jim Oberstar If This Gets Out
Rep. Jim Oberstar had better hope that a recent GAO report doesn't get out. If it does, he could take quite a hit with Minnesota's taxpayers. Here's what the Pi-Press is reporting:
The Government Accountability Office report, to be discussed at Capitol Hill hearings today, calls for clearer goals and performance measures for the Highway Bridge Program, the $4.4 billion fund through which states help maintain their bridges.As Michael noted here , Jim Oberstar has diverted money from the Highway Bridge Trust Fund for bike trails since 1991:
The fund has been the source of controversy as many states, with Minnesota leading the way, have diverted available money for other transportation projects. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and others requested the report in the wake of last year's collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis.
"Oberstar wrote the legislation in 1991 that first allowed Highway Trust Funds to flow to states for bike trails. Until then, the 50 states combined for the past 20 years had spent only $40 million on bike trails.It's worth remembering what Rep. Oberstar said immediately after the I-35 Bridge collapse:
The 1991 law required each state to have a bicycle coordinator, funded from the Highway Trust Fund, to have a state bicycling plan, and would be given the authority to use abandoned railway grade beds as bicycle, pedestrian and in-line skating trails.
In the next six years, $1.3 billion was invested in bicycling facilities nationwide, Oberstar, an avid biker, said."
"If you're not prepared to invest another 5 cents in road reconstruction and bridge reconstruction, God help you. You don't have a sense of the future."That $1.3 billion that got diverted from the Highway Trust Fund into the building of bike trails nationwide would've maintain alot of roads and bridges nationwide.
It's worth remembering that Jim Oberstar chairs the House Transportation Committee. The GAO's report is essentially an indictment against him for not performing his oversight duties. It's Rep. Oberstar's responsibility to schedule the oversight hearings for his committee. The GAO's report says that Rep. Oberstar's committee didn't set "clear goals and performance measures for the Highway Bridge Program."
How dare Jim Oberstar stand in front of a microphone and tell us that we aren't taxed enough after he's diverted money from road and bridge maintenance to build bike trails. If he wants to build bike trails, then that shouldn't be funded with Highway Trust Fund dollars. That's a dangerous and irresponsible misuse of those monies.
This has put a burr under my saddle on a number of different levels. The DFL, with State Sen. Transportation Committee Chairman Steve Murphy leading the way, used the bridge collapse to rationalize a $6.6 billion tax increase, most of which has nothing to do with road construction and bridge maintenance.
Sen. Murphy criticized Lt. Gov. Molnau, saying she was incompetent even though El Tinklenberg refused to fix the gusset plates when HNTB, a Kansas City engineering firm, recommended it.
Now we find out that the Federah Highway Trust Fund hasn't had serious oversight. It's time we told Rep. Oberstar that that's simply unacceptable. The trust fund was established to maintain federal roads and bridges. Under Rep. Oberstar's leadership, legislators haven't prioritized the things that are most important while wasting billions of dollars on niceties and frivolous projects like the Bridge to Nowhere.
Instead of conducting serious oversight on the Highway Bridge Program, they propose raising our taxes.
I've got this simple message for Rep. Oberstar:
God help the politicians that neglects his oversight responsibilities and raises taxes to cover up his pet pork projects.
Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008 5:45 PM
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Ralph Peters Decries Anti-Religious Elitism
Ralph Peters isn't just a little upset with liberal elites about their criticism of Sarah Palin's religious beliefs. Based on this article , I'd bet the ranch that Ralph Peters is PO'ed and then some. Here's the first hint that there was a bee in Col. Peters' bonnet:
NOTHING in recent memory has driven home the divide between our self-appointed aristocracy and "commoners" as sharply as the intelligentsia's rush to mock Gov. Sarah Palin's religious faith.Here's where Col. Peters empties the clip:
While the attacks and insults are backfiring on the mortified elites, the double standard applied to "Sarah America" is a disgrace that can't be excused as "just politics ."
But the root of the left's dread of this happily married mother of five seems to be that she actually believes in God: How could anyone be that stupid?I remember in 1994 how Rep. Vic Fazio, (D-Calif.), ridiculed people of faith, essentially saying that Republicans wouldn't retake the House because people were turned off by religious fanatics. It was apparent that he thought of Christians and other people of faith as foreign as people from a different solar system.
Such a woman wouldn't fit in Washington (nor would a man of equal faith). In the DC area (where I live), plenty of government-affiliated men and women regularly attend a church or synagogue. But their appearances are perfunctory and well-mannered. Passionate faith is regarded as an embarrassment.
Washington fears faith, even nominal believers inside the Beltway have been shaped by secular educations and secular caste values.
Humans fear what they can't understand, and our comfortable ruling class just can't comprehend the power and the glory, the beauty and the ecstasy, the awe and commitment experienced by those who believe in a divine power. To paraphrase the late Leona Helmsley, "Faith is for the little people."
After President Bush was sworn in as president, Washington was abuzz with rumors that "George Bush shuts his eyes when he prays." The practice was apparently totally foreign to them.
Sen. Barack Obama's behind-closed-doors remark in San Francisco to the effect that worried blue-collar chumps cling to God and guns perfectly captured the left's worldview, equating faith and firearms as equal menaces to an enlightened society.This highlights why I think Sen. McCain has a great shot at flipping Pennsylvania and holding Ohio. There's alot of culturally conservative Democrats living in Pennsylvania's T and throughout Ohio.
Elitist attitudes towards people of faith would get our Founding Fathers' blood boiling. Europe's dictatorial rule over faith issues is one of the reasons why we declared our independence from the throne. The last thing we need is to heed the anti-religious elitists.
Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008 8:17 PM
Comment 1 by Walter hanson at 11-Sep-08 10:20 PM
Didn't Franklin Roosevelt on June 6, 1944 do a six minute prayer with the American people. Or doesn't that count?
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Attention Gang Of 16: Stop Negotiating & Accept Victory
The more I read about the Democrats' divisions on drilling, the more I'm inclined to believe that the Gang of 16 is actually negotiating against themselves. There's an article in Roll Call that encapsulates why Senate Republicans should respectfully decline to meet the Democrats' demands. Here's what jumped off the page at me:
House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WVA) also acknowledged that Democrats don't have the votes to pass a continuing resolution that would retain the offshore drilling ban . Rahall said that if it expired, drilling would be allowed as close as three miles to shore.First, some important process-related information. Continuing resolutions must originate in the House of Representatives. If Democrats can't pass a CR that extends the drilling ban, the die will have been cast before it reaches the Senate.
This is important for this reason: If Democrats can't pass a CR with a drilling ban in it, they'll have to pass one that lets the moratoria lapse. That means that President Bush wouldn't have to veto a CR. That means Democrats can't accuse President Bush of shutting down the government. If the government shuts down, it'll place the burden squarely on Nancy Pelosi's shoulders.
That's huge because a government shutdown would happen just a month before the elections. Does anyone seriously think that Democrats would benefit from shutting down the government in opposition to lifting the moratoria that 70 percent of Americans want lifted a month before going to the polls?
If Speaker Pelosi were that foolish, she'd cause a House GOP landslide.
That's just one reason why the Gang of 16 negotiating with Senate Democrats isn't smart strategy. Here's another explanation why it isn't wise:
The bill would open up a tiny little smidgen of space on the Outer Continental Shelf for oil and gas exploration, just enough that Democrats who vote for it can claim to be pro-drilling, neutralizing one of the Republicans' most energizing issues going into the November elections. But the benefits of the bill's meager drilling provisions would be negated (and then some) by $30 billion in tax hikes on U.S. oil companies, placing our own domestic producers at an additional disadvantage compared to their overseas competitors. In exchange for very little new supply, these companies would pay higher taxes related to the crucial activities of exploration and refinery-capacity expansion. To nobody's great surprise, the industry is not eager to accept this trade.It's time to get smart in negotiating with Democrats. They're panicking because they're in charge of Congress. If they do nothing, they know they'll get creamed this November. Not only would they get the political cover they desperately covet but they'd also energize their environmental allies right before the election.
Here's another consideration that's worth pondering:
The government is simply no good at picking winners and losers in the energy market (or any market, for that matter). Renewable energy works when it comes from consumer-driven innovation, not from politics. The government has been subsidizing inefficient forms of renewable energy for decades, and it has gotten us nowhere. Ethanol subsidies are a case in point: The 2005 energy bill mandated the use of ethanol in gasoline. As farmers shifted corn production from food to fuel, corn prices (and, consequently, meat and dairy prices) skyrocketed. Corn ethanol, inefficient as a gasoline additive, had a negative impact on gas mileage as refiners used more of it.America has realized that ethanol mandates aren't smart policy. We know that it drives up commodity prices. We've learned that ethanol gets worthless gas mileage, meaning it's counterproductive in weaning us from foreign oil. It's time that politicians let the markets work. If something's viable, investors will find it and support it.
What did the government do in response to this failure? It increased the ethanol mandate five-fold in 2007. Now the Gang of 16 wants even more subsidies for biofuels, though the emphasis has shifted from corn-based ethanol to other, more experimental forms made from trees and grass. These biofuel subsidies explain why the gang has attracted Republicans like Saxby Chambliss, Johnny Isakson, John Thune, and Bob Corker, all of whom come from states that stand to reap tremendous financial benefits from biofuel handouts. We should call this what it is: A sop to a large and growing special-interest group.
If government wants to assist, let them fund studies into the viability of various types of alternative energy. That should be the extent of their involvement. PERIOD.
President Bush has made it clear that he will not sign any bill that renews the ban. All Republicans have to do is stand with the president and let the ban expire. No new taxes. No new spending. Just a new supply of domestically produced energy.Nervous Republicans will privately say that it's difficult siding with President Bush on oil. I say nonsense. On this issue, President Bush is on the side of the angels as far as the public is concerned. While President Bush's overall job approval rating is in the low 30's, his job approval rating on this issue is in the 70 percent range. That's the number Gang of 16 Republicans need to focus on.
My advice to the Gang of 16 is simple: Stop negotiating with desperate Democrats and accept victory instead of negotiating defeat from a position of strength.
Posted Thursday, September 11, 2008 9:33 PM
Comment 1 by Walter hanson at 11-Sep-08 10:18 PM
Don't the Republicans understand we're going to get something better because Nancy can't pass the cr. Don't they have a brain. I thought Thome did.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by J. Ewing at 12-Sep-08 08:15 AM
And Coleman is one of them, too. What I don't understand is why this isn't just dirt simple. I know common sense is highly uncommon amongst the elected class, but still: Why are there any restrictions on drilling at all? It doesn't cost the taxpayer a nickel, and in fact oil companies will pay US for the leases! How smart do you have to be to just /let/ them? How stupid do you have to be to tell them they can't give you money AND fuel?
Liveblog of St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce Forum
7:40 - Chamber President Theresa Bohnen is making the introductions.
7:44 -Steve Gottwalt giving opening statement, focusing on community service & family first, then jumps into job creation & prosperity.
7:46 -Joanne Dorsher is giving her opening statement, focusing on her service with the ISD742 school board.
7:48 -Next is Larry Haws. Starts with a joke, which elicited dead silence. Larry then tells everyone that he's been a public servant all his adult life. Change agent he isn't.
7:50 -Josh Behling giving his opening statement. Josh starts by talking about his experience with various chambers of commerce, then talks about being a private businessman, saying that he empathizes with small business owners because he knows the challenges they face.
7:53 -First question is how we solve the upcoming budget deficit. Larry's giving a rambling answer. He started by talking about coaching sports and how you learn teamwork and putting personal sacrifice first.
7:55 -Josh Behling is next, saying that we shouldn't raise taxes or cut spending on education. He then says that there's "a lot of fluff" in the budget. That's the understatement of the forum.
7:57 -Steve Gottwalt is next, saying we need to cut the fluff out of the House's administrative budget, (which was doubled under the DFL's 'leadership) but then setting good priorities. Steve then finishes by talking about private sector job growth. VERY STRONG ANSWER.
7:59 -Dorsher is next. "We need to look for efficiencies, certainly", then doesn't mention anything that she'd look to improve eficiencies in. It comes across as lip service rather than a commitment. I'd bet that she wouldn't have mentioned it if Rep. Gottwalt hadn't mentioned it first. She's now making a case for the inflation escalator which Gov. Pawlenty vetoed and the House GOP sustained. It's a bad idea. It's time to drop it.
8:01 -Joanne Dorsher is talking about her priorities. Talking about health care & education. Very short on specifics.
8:03 -Steve Gottwalt's answer is making businesses profitable. He's saying that we need to make a commitment to lower taxes. "My opponent says that we have a good health care system. We've got the best system." It's obvious Rep. Gottwalt knows his audience and that he's sincere about writing laws that give Minnesota a better business climate.
8:06 -Josh- I see how taxes impact businesses. I know about health care because my wife is a nurse. The message is clear: I have real life experience. Josh then launches into funding all schools, not just the Twin Cities.
8:07 -Larry says that "I can't be all over the place. I need to be focused." Larry then talks about how we can't just dump money into the general formula. WRONG LARRY.
8:11 -Josh says that taxes are a big priority; most people he meets doorknocking say that we're taxed too much.
8:13 -Larry Haws is making the case for the DFL's tax policies. He isn't that successful at it either. The moral of that story: It's difficult making something unappealing sound appealing.
8:15 - Ms. Dorsher said that property taxes would be a priority. She says that 300 of 340 school districts will be asking for levies this November, supposedly to prove we aren't doing enough. Then she talks about transparency in funding. Ask King if he thinks the current system is transparent. Be prepared to stay awhile if that's the subject.
Next subject is levy referenda.
8:19 -Joanne defends DFL position, which means "more."
8:20 -Steve Gottwalt said that we didn't spend levy increase on counselors, not teachers. That's efficient? I think not. Steve supports the school levy, then adds that the formula got worse last year, not better.
8:24 -Joanne Dorsher says that we did close the gap in education funding. I don't know how you argue that point successfully but that's what she tried doing.
8:25 -Larry says that the legislature doesn't deserve praise for education. Finally, I agree with him on something. Larry's now about to blow a gasket. He isn't making sense but, by God, there's passion there.
8:27 -Josh Behling is making a case against all day kindergarten. He then talks about reading to his son & how his son will benefit. Next he refers to HF2029, though not by name, which Steve & Dan co-sponsored, saying that that bill would've benefitted Minnesotans.
8:30 -Ms. Dorsher is talking about the "crumbling infrastructure" and how the transportation bill created 30K jobs, a statistic that's been refuted. Next she talks about providing incentives to bring in innovative industries.
8:33 -Steve is making the case for smarter tax policies. People are choosing between food, gas and going out for dinner. "We need to get off business's backs."
8:35 -Josh is saying that there's a lot of different things hurting businesses. "I've overseen tax payments" for businesses. We need to decrease taxes on businesses.
Next, Theresa Bohnen asks about a tip credit for hospitality industry.
8:39 -Larry says that the devil's in the details.
8:39 -Josh supports it.
8:39 -Joanne agrees with Larry.
8:40 -Steve "I have and will support tip credits."
Next question is about taxes.
8:41 -Ms. Dorsher spends about 10 seconds saying that we need to talk about taxes, then spends the rest of her time talking about living wage laws. HUH? What's that got to do with small business tax climate?
8:42 -Steve "My opponent said that she'll raise taxes." Ms. Dorsher disputes that. Steve says that he'll make the document public. This is easily the biggest flashpoint of the debate.
8:43 -Larry says that we have to compete with other states. Here's what my followup would be: Then why haven't you done anything to cut taxes?
8:45 -Josh "I'll fight hard for lower taxes so we can grow [private sector] jobs."
8:47 -Larry talking about transportation bill and how it was important to pass it.
8:50 - Josh says he didn't support the wheelage fee, the sales tax increases, etc.
8:51 -Steve is getting into the transportation bill's inequities. He's talking about money being spent on LRT instead of roads & bridges. His point is obvious: We raised taxes on lower priority items instead of properly funding higher priority items like road repairs and bridge reconstruction. He finishes by stating that outstate Minnesota won't benefit enough from the Transportation Bill, then predicts that that's why they'll be back for more son.
Posted Friday, September 12, 2008 11:01 AM
No comments.
Everything You Need to Know About the Palin Effect
Everything you need to know about the effect Sarah Palin is having on the race is summed up in this Washington Times article . You can't get more explicit than this:
Despite the talk about a changing electoral map and new strategies, Barack Obama is pulling back from his 50-state plan as John McCain has solidified Republican support , turning November's presidential election into a contest for the same handful of states that have swung the last two contests.The only change I'd make to this article would be to modify Mr. Zogby's last quote. Here's how I would've characterized it: "Sen. McCain has strung together a series of impressive weeks recently which started with Steve Schmidt's arrival, which them got strengthened by the House Oil Party, then which got the ultimate boost when he picked Sarah Palin as his running mate."
The first round of post-convention polling shows Mr. McCain, in picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, has enthused Republicans. Meanwhile Mr. Obama, the Democrats' nominee, is pulling back resources from Georgia, a state he once boasted he would flip Democratic; is stepping up efforts to hold Democrats in Pennsylvania and Michigan; and is showering attention on Ohio, the lynchpin in Republicans' 2004 victory.
"The Republican brand has been revived, and the conservative base has been solidified," said pollster John Zogby. "McCain has had a few good weeks, so now what we have to do is see if Obama can come back because it is still very competitive."
Let's be clear about this: this isn't the ticket Democrats wanted to run against. Sarah Palin is getting rock star treatment but there's a difference between Barack Obama and her. That difference is that she's got a record of accomplishments in getting rid of corruption within her party. as people focus more and more on her, don't think that they won't notice the difference.
This shouldn't be ignored either:
No Republican has won the presidency since Abraham Lincoln without carrying Ohio, but a Quinnipiac University Poll showed Thursday that Mr. Obama had lengthened his lead in Ohio by 49 percent to 44 percent, compared with a narrow 1 point lead in its Aug. 26 survey. That's the reverse of a Fox News/Rasmussen poll earlier this week that found Mr. McCain with a seven percentage point lead.I'm betting that the Quinnipiac University Poll is flawed. It's the only one showing Sen. Obama leading in Ohio less than the margin of error, with the Strategic Vision and University of Cinncinnati poll showing Sen. McCain leading by 4 points, with the FNC/Rasmussen poll showing McCain leading by 7. If Sen. Obama can't connect with blue collar workers in Ohio, something that I doubt he's able to do, Ohio will stay in the GOP's column.
Mr. McCain announced Mrs. Palin's selection as running mate in Dayton, Ohio, two weeks ago, drawing a crowd of 10,000. And in campaigning this week in Lebanon, Ohio, the two drew 16,000. "We're confident that the McCain-Palin agenda of shaking up Washington, with a record to support it, will make the difference in the fall," said spokesman Tucker Bounds.Gov. Palin will be a hit in Ohio, as will John Kasich, who's been working the state hard since early spring. Gov. Palin and Rep. Kasich connect with blue collar workers in ways that Sen. Biden and Sen. Obama can't.
I'm not going out on a limb with this prediction: Sen. Obama won't be president if he can't flip either Ohio or Virginia. At this point, both races will be tight but I'd give the McCain-Palin ticket the advantage in both states. McCain's appeal to veterans in Virginia will be substantial, as will retiring Sen. John Warner's support. The combination of Gov. Palin and Rep. Kasich campaigning in Ohio will likely be enough to push him over the top.
In a briefing for reporters Monday, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said they expected to hold all of the states won by Mr. Kerry in 2004, which gave him 251 electoral votes out of the 270 needed to win.I don't think Mr. Plouffe's predictions will come true. One state that I expect to flip back into the GOP column is New Hampshire. Though that state's undergone some changes, with many from Massachusetts moving there, the reality is that they're moving there to get away from Massachusetts' oppressive taxes. Sen. Obama's tax policies aren't likely to play well there. Couple that with the fact that Sen. McCain is well-loved by voters all across New Hampshire and I think you're looking at that state flipping.
I still think that McCain-Palin will flip either Pennsylvania or Michigan, with Michigan the more likely of the two. There's still alot of work to get done between now and Election Day but I'd much rather be in the Sen. McCain's shoes than in Sen. Obama's.
Posted Friday, September 12, 2008 7:03 PM
Comment 1 by Walter hanson at 12-Sep-08 11:19 PM
Right now I have Obama having to run a 22 state and DC group just to get to 273. I think if it's 51-49 like 2004 Mccain wins with 274. The percentage if gets up to 53% and at the rate Obama is self destructing that is going to happen states like New Hampshire, Michigan, and Penn. will flip for Mccain.
The fact that Obama won't win a large landslide election and drag in a lot of Democrat Senators and House members is gone.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by anokacountyred at 13-Sep-08 08:03 PM
I am looking forward to the Biden Blackout when he has a meltdown.
