August 19-22, 2019
Aug 19 00:17 The looming HHS disaster Aug 19 01:39 Trump's economy keeps growing Aug 19 14:37 DFL-DHS stunt isn't a game Aug 19 22:28 Tlaib, Omar reject official US policy Aug 20 13:01 Why Biden's lead is holding Aug 22 01:16 Democrats gift-wrap issues Aug 22 19:42 AOC hates the Electoral College Aug 22 23:19 Whistleblower gets threatened by MN Dept. of Human Services Aug 22 23:24 Why Jason Lewis is running
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The looming HHS disaster
Anyone that thinks that the Minnesota Department of Human Services crisis will soon be a thing of the past is either delusional or they didn't see Jodi Harpstead's opening interview on Almanac Friday night. Fortunately for those that want to be well-informed but were otherwise detained, I DVRed the interview. This is that interview:
[Video no longer available]
The first thing that Ms. Harpstead said is "Well, what I know first is that the people at the Department of Human Services are the same sort of caring and competent people that I work with at Lutheran Social Services." When I think of Lutheran Social Services, aka LSS, caring and competent aren't part of the list of nouns and adjectives I'd use to describe LSS. Unless there's divine intervention at LSS and HHS, those words won't become part of my list of nouns and adjectives describing those organizations.
When Eric Eskola asked Ms. Harpstead where the problem areas existed, Ms. Harpstead replied "Yeah, well, this year, there's been a lot of change, a lot of public change, there's been some morale issues and we need to get to work on all of that. When asked what was the first things she'd dive into, Ms. Harpstead replied "Well, the very first thing that I hope to bring is calm and healing and rebuilding teamwork among the people in the Department. They've been through a lot this year and they need to have a lot of that settle down so they can get back to their good and effective work."
Notice that Ms. Harpstead didn't mention a word about eliminating the corruption or fraud that Legislative Auditor Jim Nobles found. With Ms. Harpstead, it's all about restoring morale to the workers. Up to this point in the interview, she hasn't mentioned a word about eliminating the fraud and corruption identified within HHS. Pay attention to Ms. Harpstead's underlying message. Hint: It doesn't have anything to do with eliminating fraud or corruption.
Further, insisting that HHS has done "good and effective work" is like insisting that the Titanic didn't sink that fast . Here's more from the interview:
They've been through a lot this year. They've been through a lot of public scrutiny. There's been all kinds of comments made about their work and we need to get past that and get back to the good work that they do. When asked about how she'll deal with the "pretty low threshold" in terms of credibility, Ms. Harpstead replied "Well, first of all, I'd say that low credibility -- I appreciate what you're saying -- has not been my experience working with the Department of Human Services and so I think we need to get in there and settle things down, get back to work and do the good work that the Department has always done and yet we still have to solve some of the problems that are there, move on from there and have the Department get back to the work it does."
Later, Ms. Harpstead said that "The Department needs some space, though, to regroup and rebuild its teamwork to get back to its good work." Please, someone on the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee that she isn't walking into a smooth-running department with a reputation for integrity and excellence. She's walking into a department in turmoil that's known for "rampant fraud", corruption and arrogance. They haven't gotten this reputation by accident. They've earned this reputation.
Based on Ms. Harpstead's statements, she seems oblivious to the things that need fixing. If she maintains that attitude, this crisis will get worse.
Posted Monday, August 19, 2019 12:17 AM
No comments.
Trump's economy keeps growing
Though the Democrats have tried convincing consumers that the economic sky is falling, consumers aren't buying the Democrats' schtick. Instead, they're heading to Walmart to buy lots of things that they can suddenly afford thanks to the Trump/GOP tax cuts. In case you hadn't heard the economic good news, which is highly likely if you get your news from the New York Times or MSNBC, Walmart profits are up, consumer confidence is through the roof and retail sails are increasing, not decreasing.
That isn't to say that everything is hitting on all cylinders. China's tariffs on farmers are hurting them. Nancy Pelosi's unwillingness to hold a vote on ratifying the USMCA trade agreement is hurting farmers and car manufacturers, too. That's the intent of House Democrats. House Democrats hate President Trump more than they love prosperity and their constituents.
Desperate Democrats deny that they're trying to talk the nation into a recession but the proof is too abundant to ignore. First, Trump-hating Democrats put their eggs in the Trump-Russia collusion concoction. When that failed, Democrats put their eggs in the Mueller testimony Basket. When that failed, Democrats put their eggs in the Racism Basket. The minute that failed, Democrats hurriedly put their eggs in the Recession Basket.
Larry Kudlow dumped a few pales of ice-cold water on the recession talk during his interview on Meet the Press:
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Kudlow opened by saying "Well, I'll tell you what, I sure don't see a recession. We had some blockbuster retail sales consumer numbers towards the back end of last week, really blockbuster numbers...despite all of the worries about the volatile stock market, most of the economists on Wall Street towards the end of the week have been marking up their forecasts for the third and fourth quarters. That echoes our view."
It's worth noting that the negativity found in these doom-and-gloom reports talk about a slowdown. The minute that they hit the NYTimes or are reported on by CNN, the report changes from slowdown to recession. Isn't that interesting? I wonder what additional information the NYTimes or CNN has that Wall Street doesn't have.
Let's review the fundamentals. Marginal tax rates are low. Corporate tax cuts have given CEOs new incentives to invest in bigger plants and more employees. The deregulation has triggered a huge boom throughout the domestic energy industry.
Let's admit that the Democrats' economy grew at a pretty pathetic pace. Think of it as keeping the car idling. When Trump got in, the economy shifted from being a family station wagon into a 73 Mustang with a 351 Cleveland in it. Suddenly, that idling station wagon turned into Steve McQueen's Mustang from Bulitt:
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Eventually, we'll go through a recession. It won't be anytime in the next 6 months, though. Too many people have much bigger paychecks thanks to the Trump/GOP tax cuts to let this economy start contracting anytime soon.
Posted Monday, August 19, 2019 1:39 AM
No comments.
DFL-DHS stunt isn't a game
At last week's hearing about the crisis within the Minnesota Department of Human Services, it became instantly clear that transparency and cooperation weren't priorities for top HHS officials :
To get the answers to those questions, Benson and Sen. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, asked seven current and former top DHS brass to attend the hearing. They included Lourey and his chief of staff, Stacie Weeks; the on-leave inspector general, Carolyn Ham; acting inspector general Bob Jacobsen; and the two department deputies who resigned, then unresigned in the wake of Lourey's departure: Claire Wilson and Chuck Johnson. But of those seven invitees, only one showed up : acting DHS Commissioner Pam Wheelock, who took the job July 15 and will relinquish it to new DHS Commissioner Jodi Harpstead on Sept. 3.
This was Gov. Walz's equivalent of giving Sen. Benson the finger. While campaigning, Gov. Walz said that transparency and unity would be cornerstones of his administration. The evidence is now in. It proves that Gov. Walz doesn't put a high priority on transparency, cooperation or unity.
Carolyn Ham, disgraced HHS IG
It figures that the only official that showed up is the person that's leaving. That fits perfectly with the Walz administration's governance-by-stiff-arm philosophy.
The lack of participation - and the subsequent paucity of new information revealed - was anticipated by Benson in her opening comments, in which she compared trying to get information out of the agency with the arcade game "Whack-a-Mole." "Somehow the Legislature never gets direct answers," Benson said. "It's time for the shoulder-shrugging to stop. And for those who say it's time to move on, that there's nothing to see here, I can tell you it's not time to move on; it is time to learn a lesson."
If the DFL wants to offer nothing but silence on why there's rampant fraud in several major programs, that's their right -- for the moment. Don't be surprised if the DFL's refusal to be transparent is turned into a potent campaign issue. If Minnesotans hope to determine why there's rampant chaos within HHS, they'll need to rely on Michelle Benson and Jim Abeler.
Jim Nobles is the other official who will get to the bottom of this. It won't come from the Walz administration:
After 10 minutes of Wheelock going through slides describing the agency's functions and beneficiaries, Benson interrupted.
"We sent a list of the topics we were interested in and so far you haven't hit on any of those, and I am wondering when your presentation is going to get to those?" she asked.
"I'll get to those very quickly," Wheelock answered.
"I think now would be a good time," Benson said.
As obvious as it is that Wheelock was stalling, that isn't the galling part of her presentation. This is:
"At some point, we have to accept that these are personal choices," she continued. "I have not found any issue about impropriety. I have not found any issue about any kind of criminal activity. There is no scandal . There is no chaos . I think it's time to move on and let these people have some personal privacy and lives."
Right. Toney Lourey accepted a government job that afforded him a annual pay raise of over $100,000 dollars, then abandons it 6 months later. That happens all the time. It's virtually routine. Not. There's no question that there's a scandal here. Jim Nobles investigated the matter. He determined that there was rampant fraud.
If these DFL bureaucrats and DFL legislators want to say that there isn't a scandal within HHS, that's a fight Republicans should be thrilled to fight.
Posted Monday, August 19, 2019 2:37 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 20-Aug-19 09:59 AM
The image suggests Abeler is allowing Benson to be the lead voice in this inquiry. It fits Abeler as not being one to make partisan public waves. Where he comes out after the hearings will be important, but don't expect him to be a press hound about it. See if he ends up lead sponsor of any bill or resolution. Both Benson and Abeler have secure districts and can do this.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 20-Aug-19 12:19 PM
Benson is the chair & she's been leading on this issue since it first broke. Michelle Benson has been a total tiger on this issue. She's taken it quite seriously..
Tlaib, Omar reject official US policy
I'm tired of hearing Democrat freshmen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar whining about not being allowed to travel to Israel. That's a lie on multiple platforms. The first platform it's wrong on is the notion that Tlaib and Omar were there in their capacity as U.S. congresscritters. They weren't there in that capacity. They were there as BDS activists. They were there as Islamic terrorist-sympathizer activists, too.
Next, they weren't denied entry into Israel. According to Tlaib's and Omar's itineraries submitted to the Israeli Interior Ministry, their destination was Palestine, not Israel. How could they be denied entry into Israel when they said that their destination wasn't Israel? On the other hand, if these freshmen Democrats truly were visiting Israel, why did they list Palestine as their destination?
Might it be that these freshmen Democrats listed Palestine as their destination because they favor a one-state solution ? Tonight, Geraldo Rivera argued that it wasn't fact that Tlaib favored a one-state solution. This argues otherwise:
Since the primary win, Tlaib has staked out far different positions in media interviews, explicitly endorsing a one-state solution and opposing aid, a change celebrated by far-left Palestinian activists, who sharply criticized her for seeking out and receiving the J Street endorsement.
That isn't the position of a congresscritter. That's the position of a pro-Palestinian activist.
Third, traveling to another nation that has a law on the books that prohibits people from traveling to Israel to whip up support for the BDS movement is illegal. Period. Israel has a law on the books that prohibits travelers from promoting the BDS movement. The UN Charter explicitly states that all nations have the right to defend themselves. Simply put, that's a no-brainer. Of course they do.
Fourth, the BDS Movement isn't just meant to be a pesky little detail. It's intent was to destroy Israel :
The boycott was primarily conducted by Arab states until 2001. In August and September of that year, a forum of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) was held in Durban, South Africa, at the same time as the UN World Conference against Racism. The forum was marked by repeated expressions of naked anti-Semitism by NGO activists and condemned as such by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson who chaired the Conference.
The Forum's final declaration described Israel as a "racist, apartheid state" that was guilty of "racist crimes including war crimes, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing." The declaration established an action plan - the "Durban Strategy" - promoting "a policy of complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state: the imposition of mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes, the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel " (para. 424).
Fifth, the official US policy towards Israel and the BDS Movement was recently expressed quite emphatically :
The U.S. House of Representatives pushed back against U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar's views Tuesday by passing a resolution calling Israel a "key ally" and criticizing a prominent movement to boycott the Jewish state. The pro-Israel resolution passed, 398-17, with 16 of the "no" votes coming from Democrats. Among the Democrats who voted against the resolution were Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.).
Rep. Omar submitted a pro-BDS resolution. It never got a vote. Finally, Rep. Omar said this during Monday's press conference:
"We give Israel more than $3 million in aid every year. This is predicated on they're being an important ally in the region and the 'only democracy' in the Middle East. But denying a visit to duly elected members of Congress is not consistent with being an ally, and denying millions of people freedom of movement or expression or self-determination is not consistent with being a democracy."
Actually, defending a nation's borders while maintaining its nation's security is entirely within a nation's rights. To expect a nation to leave itself vulnerable in the most hostile neighborhood in the world is utter foolishness. I'd love hearing the Democrats' explanation why they think that Reps. Omar and Tlaib have the right to impose their will on the sovereign nation of Israel, especially when they're acting in a bad faith manner.
Posted Monday, August 19, 2019 10:28 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 20-Aug-19 09:50 AM
In effect then, you are agreeing with the Pelosi approach to the issue? Or is that last quote saying Pelosi agrees with you? Or, seriously, Pelosi and Trump are on the same page?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 20-Aug-19 12:29 PM
They're on opposite pages. Pelosi criticized President Trump as being weak on Israel & for not standing up for elected U.S. officials. What contemptible BS. That pair was there to do whatever they could to destroy Israel. They weren't going to Israel on a fact-finding mission. That was total spin.
Why Biden's lead is holding
Much ink has been spilled over why Joe Biden's lead in the Democratic primaries is holding. Some rightly point out that he's a weak frontrunner. That's definitely true. Another theory on Biden's lead holding is that each time a new 'flavor-of-the-month candidate' pops up, they put in a poor debate performance.
Let's be realistic, though. There are only 4 candidates with any sort of a shot at winning the nomination. That short list is Biden, Warren, Bernie and Kamala Harris. The rest are pretenders, potential cabinet secretaries or unserious people. Marianne Williamson, Pete Buttigieg, Corey Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Seth Moulton, Tim Ryan, Bill de Blasio and Tom Steyer fit into that category.
Kamala Harris's campaign is virtually dead. She had a strong first debate, which caused her stock to rise briefly. By the time of the Detroit debates, she'd lost her momentum. Then Tulsi Gabbard utterly demolished her:
[Video no longer available]
Right now, Elizabeth Warren has some momentum. Will her apology to Native-Americans stop that momentum? I think it will. She's the so-called ideas lady but her ideas are far outside the mainstream. And who can forget this moment?
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If I were asked what word or term I'd use to describe that cringe-worthy moment, I'd say "Almost life-like." Like she's gonna come off as a regular Jane with legitimate blue collar credentials? Right !
The truth is two-fold. Biden is a weak frontrunner. Still, he's the strongest candidate in a weak class. The rest of the candidates are essentially pretenders.
Posted Tuesday, August 20, 2019 1:01 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 21-Aug-19 05:56 PM
Trump may be hoping Biden does not fade. But hope vs actuality needs months to show a trend. Say, middle of next year, after some primaries.
Have you any thought about a Biden-Klobuchar ticket. It seems Amy is running for second spot.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 22-Aug-19 09:40 AM
Amy is a nobody nationally. No, I haven't given her a split-second of thought.
Democrats gift-wrap issues
Let's be clear about something about this upcoming election. This is an entirely different cycle than 2018. In 2018, Democrats focused their attention on Republicans (Sen. McCain really) failed to fix health care after Democrats screwed it up in the first place. This year, Democrats have to defend Medicare-for-All and free health care for illegal aliens. That's only part of the Democrats' problems.
Another major problem for Democrats is defending Ilhan Omar's and Rashida Tlaib's outright hatred for Israel. In 2018, Republicans could talk about how crazy Democrats were. In this cycle, AOC's, Omar's, Tlaib's and Pelosi's insanity is on full display. Add to that the foolishness of Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, the Impeachment Caucus and the Democrats' presidential candidates.
They're all out there for the nation to see. The Democrats' presidential candidates have done as much damage to the Democrat brand as AOC, Omar and Tlaib have done. That's a stunning thing to say. Think about the things that the Democrats' presidential candidates have pushed:
- Decriminalizing illegal immigration.
- Giving illegal aliens free health care.
- Medicare for All
- Eliminating border walls. (Robert Francis O'Rourke)
- Mandatory gun confiscation ( Joe Biden )
- Wealth Tax (Elizabeth Warren)
- Green New Deal ( all candidates)
There are other policy initiatives that Democrats advocate that are beyond insanity but this list gives you a lengthy list of terrible ideas from this year's Democrats.
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Let's emphasize something I've repeatedly said on the pages of LFR. Bill Clinton's Democrat Party is dead. Barack Obama's Democrat Party is on life support and fading fast. These days, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Scoop Jackson, Hubert Humphrey and JFK wouldn't be welcome in today's Democrat Party. They're far too patriotic for today's Democrats.
Too many of today's Democrats think it's racist to enforce laws that President Obama or President Clinton signed. That's a stunning thought. If you think that providing free health care to illegal aliens is mainstream, that's proof you've spent too much time in DC. If you think that decriminalizing illegal immigration is mainstream, it's time for you to get out of DC. If you think that attempting to push Israel out of existence is mainstream, it's time to cancel your membership to CAIR and to start talking with people who don't support terrorism.
Posted Thursday, August 22, 2019 1:16 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 22-Aug-19 06:06 PM
Jason Lewis announced he will challenge Tina Smith. As yet, she has no DFL primary challenge.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 22-Aug-19 07:50 PM
I knew Tuesday that he was announcing that today. Tina won't have a primary challenger even though she's a far cry from Paul Wellstone. In fact, Sen. Wellstone & Rep. Lewis were close friends who discussed the issues quite frequently on Lewis' radio program.
AOC hates the Electoral College
AOC and other Democrats hate the Electoral College because they either don't understand history or they hate the system that the Founders gave us. I suspect that it's a little of both. Determining presidential (notice that I didn't say national) elections based on the popular vote would turn elections on their head. I'm writing this post to expose AOC's foolish plan to eliminate the electoral college .
Our government in DC is called the federal government, not the national government. The federation that the federal government is built from is the federation of states. That's why our nation is called the United States of America. Each state is sovereign. Without the states' consent, there isn't a federal government.
The purpose of the federal government is to represent the states. It wasn't created to represent just the people. Had the Founding Fathers wanted that, they wouldn't have formed the states. For instance, when the colonists won the Revolutionary War, France recognized each colony as a sovereign nation.
Apparently, AOC hasn't grasped the concept that the United States is built on the foundation of each state being sovereign. That's why each state's laws are unique to that state. No 2 states have identical statutes on how they pay for education or economic development or whatever the subject. Each state has different laws on what constitutes manslaughter or sexual assault.
AOC's desire to get rid of the Electoral College is partially because she wants to win more elections but it's also partially because she doesn't understand the foundation that the Constitution was built on. When the Revolutionary War ended, the federal government didn't exist. The colonies eventually created the federal government out of convenience and necessity. It was convenient in the sense that the President was authorized to negotiate treaties and trade agreements rather than each state being required to negotiate separate trade deals. It was built out of necessity in that the settlers needed someone to provide for the national defense.
The Founding Fathers wanted the states to be the "laboratories of democracy." They wrote the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to keep as much power as close to the families as possible. Here's the text of the Ninth Amendment :
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Here's the text of the Tenth Amendment :
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people .
AOC's push for electing presidents by popular vote is understandable from a partisan standpoint. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst pointed this out:
Actually @AOC, eliminating the Electoral College would silence our voices here in Iowa and in many other states across the country.
This is just more evidence of how out of touch the Democrats have become. https://t.co/yfm4oDCpkm
- Joni Ernst (@joniernst) August 21, 2019
In AOC's mind, the Electoral College is -- brace yourself -- racist. Actually, it prevents some of the states who created the federal government from being represented by the federal government. That's beyond foolish.
People pushing the national popular vote initiative aren't interested in the US's Heartland, aka Flyover Country. It's time to push these idiots off the national stage. They aren't rational human beings. Either that or they're exceptionally despicable people.
The Electoral College isn't outdated. It just isn't wanted by progressive elitists who think of the men and women of America's Heartland as unsophisticated rubes. That sounds frighteningly similar to Barack Obama when he said this:
[Video no longer available]
Posted Thursday, August 22, 2019 7:42 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 22-Aug-19 08:38 PM
AOC is stupid and is going to show her stupidity even more now that the brains of her campaign is leaving her.
Whistleblower gets threatened by MN Dept. of Human Services
It's getting pretty disgusting within Minnesota's Department of Human Services. A whistleblower was allegedly threatened by "a DHS employee then telephoned her last week to warn against testifying, even though she had taken a vacation day to speak to senators who are looking into wrongdoing at Minnesota's biggest state agency. 'The way that information was presented to me wasn't threatening,' Bernstein said. 'However, the content, the words -- saying that I could be discharged for this -- that is threatening.'"
Things aren't getting fixed, either, according to this article . According to the Pi-Press article, "the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said DHS used federal money to pay for treatment services at 'institutions for mental diseases.' These institutions include hospitals, nursing homes or other facilities that have more than 16 beds and treat people with mental illness or chemical dependency. Federal Medicaid money generally cannot be used to cover treatment in these institutions."
Then there's this:
Minnesota will be on the hook for this amount plus another $25.3 million that DHS overpaid to two Native American tribes for substance abuse treatment covered under Medicaid. DHS wants the Indian bands to pay back the $25 million even though tribal leaders have produced emails in which the agency appeared to tell them to bill at a rate that caused the overpayments.
Do these people do anything right? The documented incompetence is stunning. Unfortunately, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Jim Nobles, Minnesota's Legislative Auditor, "has launched an investigation of the overpayment issue. He told senators Tuesday that it would be a lengthy process."
Nobles told legislators that "We cannot audit our way to good government." Knowing Nobles' well-documented habit for understatement, that's a major slap in the face for DHS. That's Nobles' way of saying there's a need for competence that isn't there currently.
Still, threatening a whistleblower isn't the type of thing that DHS should be doing. That's far outside the lines of what's allowed.
What could possibly go wrong?
Wheelock, who took charge of the agency in July after several top officials resigned, said an investigation against former Inspector General Carolyn Ham could wrap up soon. But she could not name the outside law firm conducting the investigation, how much the contract was worth, or why Ham was under investigation.
How is the public supposed to have confidence in an investigation that's confidential? Further, why should the public trust an investigation that's conducted by a law firm that's being kept confidential? Finally, why should anyone trust an investigation whose cost isn't made public? DHS hasn't banked much in the way of trust lately, with lately being defined in this instance as 'anytime within the last 5-7 years of DFL control'.
I'd argue that these DFL employees are a rerun of the Keystone Cops if it wasn't such an insult to the Keystone Cops.
Posted Thursday, August 22, 2019 11:19 PM
No comments.
Why Jason Lewis is running
It's incredibly clear why Jason Lewis is running for Paul Wellstone's former seat. According to his announcement address, we are at an inflection point in US history.
In his announcement, Lewis stated quite correctly that "Today we are at a crossroads in Minnesota and across this country not seen since the chaos and turmoil of the 1960s. Private property, religious liberty, due process, the pride of citizenship, the national anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance, even Betsy Ross's flag, are now seen as dispensable relics to a radical political movement that appears to be gaining steam in the corridors of power."
In his announcement statement, Jason Lewis essentially said that he's running do-nothing Senate Democrats, the Squad and against the entire Resist Movement. People who've assumed that today's Democrats are just wrong on the issues but have debated the issues in good faith are kidding themselves. This isn't to say that people who believe that are evil or something. It's that that's what Democrats like Daniel Patrick Moynihan, John Breaux and Hubert Humphrey did.
Today's Democrats are centuries different than those Democrats. Al Franken wrote a book titled "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them." It's categorized as satire. There isn't anything in the book that proves that. Barack Obama had a phone and a pen. He didn't give a rip about making deals with Republicans. Harry Reid was President Obama's chief henchman. Reid prevented any bill that was passed by the Republican House from even getting a committee hearing.
Tina Smith is cut from the same cloth as Al Franken. I'll stipulate that she doesn't have Franken's gruff mannerisms. Still, she's just as close-minded and hyper-partisan as Franken. She voted against Justice Kavanaugh. She even announced that she wouldn't vote for whoever President Trump picked before the pick was made.
Congressman Lewis isn't afraid to debate issues. He thrives on those debates. Jason Lewis has an independent streak, too. He's willing to break from Republicans on issues. Every newspaper in the state has pined for politicians who break from their parties on the pages of their newspapers. Now that Jason Lewis has announced his candidacy for the Senate, what are the odds that these two-faced newspapers will endorse Jason Lewis? I'd put it at almost zero percent.
Earlier, I spoke about the Resist Movement. More than AOC + 3, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, the Resist Movement is the biggest impediment to getting things done in Washington, DC. Jason Lewis and President Trump are the perfect tag-team to trounce the Swamp, aka the Resist Movement. If we want to end gridlock in DC, a vote for Tina Smith is a wasted voted. She's proven that she'll do whatever Chuck Schumer tells her to do.
Tina Smith a typical Democrat. Tina's got an independent streak that's a quarter of an inch wide and a millimeter deep. Smith is the political equivalent of a Rambler. That isn't what Minnesotans need. Minnesotans, especially blue collar Minnesotans and entrepreneurs, need a fighter who will fight smart fights. That describes Jason Lewis perfectly. He's the political equivalent of a championship debater. That's what Minnesotans need.
Finally, check out this announcement video:
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The first thing that's apparent is that Jason Lewis isn't a cookie cutter politician. He's a policymaker who isn't afraid to challenge the status quo or expose the flimsiness of a politician's argument.
That's what Minnesota needs in the US Senate. God knows we've sent too many buffoons to DC since 2000. The list of Democrat buffoons include Al Franken, Mark Dayton and Tina Smith.
Posted Thursday, August 22, 2019 11:24 PM
Comment 1 by Gretchen L Leisen at 24-Aug-19 09:11 AM
I hope the MN GOP has learned a lesson by their feeble campaign in 2018. The GOP should never have lost that senate election to Tina Smith. Smith's record of Planned Parenthood's leaders and the MN history of being pro-life makes no sense. For some reason the GOP seems unable to really fight hard against the nasty tactics of the DFLers. There should be NO OUTSTATE COUNTIES that vote for Democrats in Minnesota. That they do, is evidence of lack of efficient campaigning outstate. Making voters aware of the real platform of the Democrat party would flip the rural areas to the GOP. Leftists do not respect people outside the large metro areas.
