January 23-25, 2014
Jan 23 01:03 Embattled Malhotra leaving SCSU Jan 23 02:34 What about the E wing of the DFL? Jan 23 11:45 Sen. Schumer vs. the Great Communicator Jan 23 15:11 SCSU spring enrollment disaster Jan 23 23:59 The Optum Indictment Jan 24 00:27 Abandoning Academic Affairs Department? Jan 24 13:11 The MNsure indictment Jan 25 01:51 Mike Huckabee and the first rule of holes Jan 25 10:30 Chuck Schumer, scam artist
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Embattled Malhotra leaving SCSU
Devinder Malhotra, St. Cloud State's provost since 2009, is leaving the University to become Metropolitan State University's interim president effective July 1, 2014. As usual, the Times' article isn't 100% accurate. Here's part of the Times' article:
Malhotra will succeed Sue Hammersmith, who is retiring after six years as president of Metropolitan State University. A national search for a permanent president will begin in 2015.
Officially, that might be accurate but it isn't telling the whole story. Here's what the Pioneer Press reported about the situation at Metropolitan State University:
The administration of Metropolitan State University said Thursday that summer instructors have been paid the past two days, nearly a week after the lump-sum payments were due.
Those paychecks, some of which amounted to thousands of dollars, were issued to "a couple dozen individuals," stated a memo to faculty from President Sue Hammersmith. They're one of several steps the university is taking to deal with a payroll crisis that erupted this month. Nevertheless, another crisis appears to be on the horizon: morale.
The leadership council of the school's Inter Faculty Organization, the collective bargaining representative for faculty at Metro State, voted on a series of demands Thursday morning.
Among the motions that passed, the IFO "demands that HR provide detailed enumeration on our paystubs (line items that reflect the multiple duties and activities which faculty perform, e.g., independent study, overload courses, etc.) as previously requested and as is done by other state agencies and other MnSCU Institutions."
Retiring apparently is the official explanation for why Dr. Hammersmith is leaving but that's omitting the part that the IFO was in the process of running her out of the position. There's an old saying that fits that situation perfectly: "If you're getting run out of town, it's best to jump in front of the crowd and act like you're leading a parade."
Here's part of Chancellor Rosenstone's statement on picking Dr. Malhotra:
"He brings a thorough understanding of what it means to lead a university and how to do so in a collaborative fashion," said Steven Rosenstone, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities chancellor, in a news release. "He is an outstanding leader who works effectively with faculty, community leaders, elected officials, and business and industry."
Based on his statements at the monthly Meet & Confer meetings and to the University newspaper, Dr. Malhotra is proficient at stonewalling when difficult situations arise. For instance, when the US Department of Education and the FBI 'visited' the St. Cloud State campus last summer, Dr. Malhotra said that the transcript fiasco was "mostly about late drops and withdrawals." That isn't true. In the faculty's minds, it's about students' participation in classes they failed outright disappeared from the official transcript system.
The transcript fiasco isn't going away even though Dr. Malhotra wishes it would disappear. His stonewalling guarantees that. Had he admitted that transcripts had been changed and that the people who'd improperly altered the transcripts had acted unethically, he wouldn't be the ethically-challenged provost he currently is.
Posted Thursday, January 23, 2014 1:03 AM
Comment 1 by Patrick-M at 23-Jan-14 07:21 AM
I am left with a lot of questions after reading Chancellor Rosenstone's comments in the mid-part of this article MnSCU, Metro State grapple with demand for four-year degrees http://tinyurl.com/lppkglc (PS - it reads like gibberish to me).
My first question is: can MNSCU (include campus level) and its administration be honest the citizens? The answer is probably no as they have a high need to protect perceived personal power and their high salaries.
Comment 2 by Jethro at 23-Jan-14 07:57 AM
Reminds me of another organization who is now being scrutinized for moving problem priests to different locations.
What about the E wing of the DFL?
This LTE is exceptionally defensive sounding:
Some people are making a big deal out of a story about the executive committee of a local DFL party unit coming out against copper-nickel mining jobs and, therefore, workers in Northeastern Minnesota. Some even wonder whether and when the DFL decided to drop the 'L' from its coalition ('DFL unit's resolution opposes copper mining,' Jan. 14).
The resolution was the action of a small minority of extreme folks who apparently don't believe in the regulatory process that Minnesotans worked together to develop over decades. This was not a reflection of the larger feelings of DFLers across the state or even in the Northland.
I can assure you, as a labor leader in Northeastern Minnesota, that the 'L' is alive and well in the DFL and that the party will stand strong for good-paying jobs and working people across our region and state. We hope.
Dan Olson
Superior
People aren't questioning that private sector unions support mining. That isn't the point. In fact, it's a non sequitur argument. The point the article made, which I wrote about here , is that elitist Twin Cities Metrocrats vehemently oppose mining. That part of the DFL isn't a tiny minority. They're the part of the DFL that writes the biggest campaign checks. That's why they get the preferential treatment from the DFL. Tom Rukavina represented the miners , which he told me in this email exchange. Here's Rep. Rukavina's response:
Gary
I'm perplexed. I sent an email to the three who voted no, I'm awaiting a reply. Frankly, if Gov Dayton is pissed off at the DNR (hell, Rangers have been pissed off at them forever), he should fire some top dogs over there. But don't take it out on the good people of the Range who have been mining for 130 years and playing by the rules that some folks now want to change.
Perplexed and pissed off would better describe my reaction. But hey, I'm a has been but I have been wondering why I'm the only member of the Range delegation who seems concerned about this. Perhaps it's because I'm the only member of the Range delegation who represents the real Iron Range and has never represented any other constituents in my 26 year tenure.
Rep. Rukavina is an old school Iron Ranger. While Metrocrats agreed with his tax and spending policies, they worked tirelessly to undermine his mining policies.
As long as the Metrocrats dominate the DFL, Mr. Olson can talk all he wants about the DFL still supporting Labor's issues. Their claims will ring hollow in the ears of the unemployed miners.
Posted Thursday, January 23, 2014 2:34 AM
No comments.
Sen. Schumer vs. the Great Communicator
Only in Washington, DC would people praise Sen. Schumer as being a top strategist. This morning, Schumer will deliver a speech that essentially disparages the TEA Party:
"There is a glaring weakness, one very weak link in the Tea Party's armor, which is an inherent contradiction within the Tea Party that I believe can be exposed to greatly weaken their hold on the policy debate," Schumer will say, according to excerpts of his remarks.
"The fundamental weakness in the Tea Party machine is the stark difference between what the leaders of the Tea Party elite, plutocrats like the Koch Brothers want and what the average grassroots Tea Party follower wants," he will say.
First, it's interesting that Sen. Schumer doesn't have the foggiest clue about the TEA Party and why people agree with their principles. TEA Party activists are foreign to him because he's a wealth redistributionist and they're capitalists. Let's have Sen. Schumer debate someone who actually knew what he was doing. Sen. Schumer, the wealth redistributionist, thinks that it's essential that we tax "the rich." Here's the counter to that:
Sen. Schumer thinks that government is the solution to our problems. The Anything But Affordable Care Act is proof of Sen. Schumer's belief in that philosophy. Our 'guest philosopher', like most TEA Party activists, thinks otherwise:
Our 'guest philosopher', like the TEA Party activists, thinks tax reform is essential:
Thanks to our guest philosopher's policies, the US economy experienced the longest economic recovery in our history. Thanks to the policies championed by President Obama and Sen. Schumer, we've had the longest economic stagnation since the Great Depression.
We're at a crossroads. We can tolerate President Obama's failed redistributionist economic policies and see our economic standing in the world disappear or we can embrace President Reagan's pro-growth economic policies that led to the greatest economic expansion in US history.
At this point, that isn't a difficult choice.
Posted Thursday, January 23, 2014 11:51 AM
No comments.
SCSU spring enrollment disaster
Spring Enrollment: Looking Good? NOT!
by Silence Dogood
The enrollment numbers for the first seven days of spring semester classes are in and the numbers do not look good for SCSU. From the MnSCU website, the data shows that FYE enrollment for Spring semester is currently down 454 FYE. This corresponds to a drop from last spring of 8.1% if no additional enrollment occurs. The data for the FY14 academic year are shown in the Table below:
There will be additional students registering for third trimester Senior-to-Sophomore classes and some online or part-term classes so final enrollment numbers will reduce the magnitude of the spring semester and full year declines. Historically, however, these additional registrations will not move the numbers significantly, leaving SCSU with a third year over year decline in the range of an average 6% decline.
For comparison sake, let's look at Minnesota State University-Mankato's enrollment:
From this comparison, it is clear that the annual drop in enrollment at SCSU is currently 10 times larger than MSU-Mankato! An explanation given to explain SCSU's enrollment drop is the planned reduction of 160 students in the Division of General Studies (now called ACE), a program for students who do not meet the admission requirements of the university. Looking at this explanation's impact on enrollment, the decrease in the numbers of DGS students accounts for only 20.2% (160/790) of the enrollment drop. Another explanation for decline being floated is that the university is "right sizing." However, no document has been shared explaining what the right size is so it is assumed that we'll be at the 'right size' when the enrollment stops declining. Then, we'll know what the 'right size' is.
With the departure, after three years, of Miguel Martinez-Saenz, Dean of University College and Associate Provost for Student Success, the job of Amber Schultz, who just arrived on campus at the beginning this month to become Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Recruitment and Transition Programs, has become more difficult and quite daunting.
In "12-step programs" that address destructive behaviors, the first step in addressing the destructive behavior is admitting there is a problem. It seems that the administration has been in a state of denial related to enrollment declines. As recently as October 12, 2013, the university sent out a press release stating: "The total enrollment for the university is down 1.3 percent." The press release was citing headcount enrollment, not FYE enrollment. Since budgets are based on FYE enrollment, and since it was known that FYE was down more than three times the reported headcount decline, the press release, at best, is misleading.
The 10-day enrollments will be available next week and if they continue to be down, don't expect a press release. As it was previously mentioned, when you are in denial, problems aren't discussed. Last Fall, President Potter emphatically stated that the enrollment would be down 5% for the year. The overall drop may be slightly larger than that predicted by President Potter. However, even the President's predicted decline is twice as large as the nearest decline for MnSCU universities shown.
Bemidji -2.1%
Metro -1.1%
Mankato -0.6%
Moorhead -2.5%
Winona -2.1%
If SCSU is only down 5% should we really be happy? Compared with the other MnSCU universities, we look like an outlier in the wrong direction. Moorhead is reducing its faculty by 10% and only experienced a 2.5% decline. If the enrollment trends at SCSU continue, retrenchments, layoffs and budget reductions are sure to follow. Pixie dust or smoke and mirrors simply won't continue to work.
Posted Thursday, January 23, 2014 3:11 PM
Comment 1 by Patrick-M at 23-Jan-14 06:31 PM
Enrollment plummets and the person who is in charge of that division (Academics) gets a promotion and a big pay raise. Accountability be damned, MNSCU gotta love that system!
The Optum Indictment
MNsure has been a disaster for months but, if this article is right, its worst days are still ahead. First, a little background is required. Optum, a software company, was hired by the MNsure Board of Directors to conduct a study on the state of the MNsure exchange. It's within that context that they made this statement:
"In its current state, the existing MNsure system will not support enrollment expectations," the Optum report stated.
That's just the tip of the iceberg:
Starting next year, MNsure must fund its operations by withholding up to 3.5 percent of the value of premiums for commercial policies sold on the exchange. The current pace of enrollment is falling below targets, which means the health exchange could face a budget deficit starting next year .
That's adding insult to injury. The MNsure policies are expensive, with most people getting forced into policies with expensive deductibles and higher premiums. Next, they're getting into policies that include coverages that they don't need or want but that a government 'expert' says is required. Finally, some families get disjointed coverage rather than being able to buy a single policy for the entire family.
Unfortunately, the MNsure disaster doesn't end there:
The report recommended a new program management structure for MNsure because the current structure and process is "nonexistent." It added: "Management/leadership/decision making is occurring via crisis mode."
Optum's report supports Jim Nobles' observation :
Nobles also said he would look into the effects of the May contract amendments. 'It's certainly something that I will pursue very vigorously to find out what triggered that decision,' Nobles said when the amendment was brought to his attention. 'What exactly did it mean? Who exactly was...doing the project management ?'
This isn't surprising. Incompetence has been MNsure's hallmark since it was implemented. Here's Ed Morrissey's commentary on the sad state of affairs with MNsure's call center:
People can call into MNSure to get assistance in sign-ups, but that's also a problem. Wait times are averaging 50 minutes in the call center, which is another area in which management is non-existent. The independent panel recommends hiring another 100 operators, but that will take time, plenty of training, and one hopes no small amount of background investigation before allowing access to that kind of private identity data. Speaking as someone who ran specialized call centers for 15 years in the context of highly-sensitive data, I can attest that there is no way to get that many operators up to speed in that short of a time frame, even if you could hire them all today.
As predicted, MNSure is crashing and burning as we speak. Insurers here expecting a windfall of healthy, young enrollees are going to rethink next year's premium schedules - and Minnesotans will get the bill just as we go to the voting booth in the midterms.
Addendum: Even when I briefly ran a health-sector call center in the mid-90s, where wait times weren't a big focus of customer service, a 50-minute average would probably have gotten me fired .
This afternoon, DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin accused Republicans of not helping fix MNsure. What Martin isn't admitting is that MNsure isn't fixable. I don't doubt that they'll probably get the website running. That isn't the only problem with MNsure. The policies are expensive, the deductibles are sky-high and the management team is incompetent.
Other than those things, the other problems MNsure has are relatively minor.
There's no escaping the fact that MNsure is a disaster because the Anything But Affordable Care Act is a disaster. Here's another important part of Optum's report:
Their first two options take different approaches to reworking the website over the next two years. The third and more dramatic suggestion put forth Wednesday would have the state create new software architecture for the MNsure website.
In other words, admit that the thing is a total failure and start from scratch. I'd love hearing Chairman Martin explain how you fix a total disaster. If Chairman Martin thinks MNsure isn't a total disaster, he should watch Pat Kessler's report on its failures:
Chairman Martin, let's hear your explanation for fixing MNsure after watching that. Optum itself says it might be better to just scrap the existing system and start from scratch.
Posted Thursday, January 23, 2014 11:59 PM
Comment 1 by Jethro at 24-Jan-14 12:13 AM
Even WCCO doesn't have anything good to say about MnSure. So MnSure was worse than previously thought, huh? I'd rename it MnUnsure.
Comment 2 by Terry Stone at 24-Jan-14 12:37 AM
DFL Ken Martin seems reluctant to entertain the idea that MNsure is an artifact of single-party control of Minnesota government. When unbridled liberal ideology usurps the checks and balances of government, massive failures like MNsure are inevitable.
Response 2.1 by Gary Gross at 24-Jan-14 03:34 AM
DFLer Martin apparently wants us to think that Moody's downgrading of insurance companies is financially insignificant. MNsure, like the Anything But Affordable Care Act, is a disaster unfolding right before our eyes.
President Obama, Gov. Dayton, Democrats & the DFL broke the American health insurance industry. They broke it. They own it. I'd hate to be in their shoes this November.
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 24-Jan-14 04:37 PM
Gary:
I might have added the following after Ken Martin's statement. "How can the GOP help fix MN Sure when they have no state officiers, don't control the State House of state Senate, and the GOP members on the oversight committee asking questions to try to get information have their questions ignored and not answered?"
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Abandoning Academic Affairs Department?
What's Going On in Academic Affairs?
by Silence Dogood
SCSU has a habit of filling vacancies with interim appointments without conducting any kind of a search. Consider last March. Dr. David DeGroote, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering (COSE) was removed, effectively immediately, from his responsibilities regarding construction and oversight of the $45,000,000 Integrated Science and Engineering Laboratory Facility (ISELF) only four months before it was to be completed. Dr. DeGroote also "resigned" as Dean of the College of Science and Engineering (COSE) effective three months later at the end of May. In the same email announcement concerning Dr. DeGroote's status, Dr. Dan Gregory was appointed, effectively immediately, the Director for ISELF construction/utilization and Interim Dean of the College of Science and Engineering effective June 1, 2013. At the same time, Dr. Patricia Hughes was appointed Interim Associate Provost for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies to fill the position being left by Dan Gregory. Neither one of these appointments went through any kind of search or consultative process.
In the early fall of 2013, Associate Vice President for International Studies, Dr. Ann Radwan was removed from her position and Margaret Vos was brought out of retirement to take over as Associate Vice President of International Studies. It's not clear if the omission of "Interim" from the title originally posted on the SCSU website was accidental or not. But, once again, as with the announcements related to COSE, this was announced without a search or consultation with the Faculty Association.
This past summer without any announcement or consultation, Associate Provost for Faculty Relations John Palmer moved out of his office and his position and his duties have apparently been 'distributed' to others in the administration. From the Office of the Provost/Academic Affairs website, we see that Dr. Phil Godding's title has changed to "Special Advisor to the Provost for Faculty and Student Relations," which indicates that he has taken over Dr. Palmer's duties. Originally, Dr. Godding was appointed as a "Special Adviser to the Provost" without a search process. Now almost three years later, Dr. Godding continues to serve the Provost.
Similarly, former COSE Dean Dr. David DeGroote has been appointed (after a six month sabbatical) to serve as a Special Advisor to the Provost without any explanation of what his duties will be. Again, this appointment was made on an interim basis without any search process. Considering how many interim appointments have been made without a search process, how long some people have stayed in "interim" positions on this campus, and how many of the interims were selected for the permanent positions, this is potentially problematic.
Also, consider the impact on future administrative searches of having the last three Dean's hired directly from being interim deans for their respective permanent positions. As a result of this recent history, many people believe that Dan Gregory, the Interim Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, is a shoe-in for the permanent position as Dean of COSE.
The Organizational Chart for the Office of the Provost/Academic Affairs is shown below:
Of the 11 MnSCU Administrators who report directly to the Provost, 6 are either serving as interims without the benefit of a search or are leaving the university. The people who are serving as interims or leaving are highlighted in yellow. Clearly, there is a lot of yellow on the chart! With over half of the administrators that directly report to the Provost serving as interims or leaving, the turnover and its associated problems leads to wondering what is going on within the Academic Affairs team. Some might liken it to rats leaving a sinking ship. Others might say it's because we attract the talent that others find desirable. Those that have insight to the facts think that the former is more likely than the latter.
With the appointment of Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs Devinder Malhotra as Interim President of Metro State effective July 1, 2014, speculation on campus as to who will succeed him is rampant. The percentage of people new to their administrative positions is staggering. Next to the name of the permanent deans is the date of their appointment. The longest serving academic dean is Osman Alawiye who has only been in his position since the summer of 2011 and that's less than three years!
Whether you see the glass half-full or half-empty may say a lot about a person's intrinsic personality. However, when you realize that the only Dean with more than five years of administrative experience who will be returning next year is John Burgerson, Dean of the Center for Continuing Studies, and that the average length of time for currently serving deans who supervise faculty next fall will be 3 years administrative experience is not a strength within Academic Affairs.
When you look at the recent experience in the Office of Finance and Administration, the situation is even scarier! The Chief Financial Officer at SCSU has been an almost a revolving door appointment with five persons (three permanent and two interims) serving in that capacity between June 30, 2012 and November 19, 2013.
With the imminent departure of the Chief Academic Officer, declining budgets, declining enrollments, no enrollment management plan, million dollar a year losses on the Coborn's Plaza Apartments, no apparent vision for the future that is understood by the faculty and staff, and a lot of inexperienced deans, it is very hard to see a future that is anything but bleak. A new brand 'Think, Do, Make a Difference' and saying "It's a Great Place to Work" just won't cut it.
Perhaps it's time to start thinking about a change at the top. The administrative team's record is a lot closer to 1-15 than 15-1 so it's appropriate to stark asking two important questions: First, how did we get where we are now (because I don't think anyone thinks we want to be in the position we are in now)? Secondly, how do we go forward (hopefully to a better place) and make a positive difference?
The answer to the first question is not just about blame although some of that will go with looking at how we went from growing enrollments and surpluses to significantly declining enrollments and budget shortfalls. The second will take a leader that can 'rally the troops' by a call to action with a vision that is truly shared, bought into and gotten behind. It's going to take a different approach to leadership where, when someone says "open and transparent", they really mean it! It will take an approach where the leader at the top has the ability to recognize that some of the people below may be able to help answering some of the important questions.
If nothing else, we might find out that the faculty and staff are rowing about as fast as they can and, since they don't steer the boat, we've ended up in place not of their choosing. It's time to stop blaming the faculty, staff, and the unions. A new model of leadership is needed. Otherwise, the negative trends will continue and SCSU's decline may not be reversible.
Posted Friday, January 24, 2014 12:27 AM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 24-Jan-14 07:37 PM
Weak leaders always hire weak subordinates, lest their competence exceed or expose fearless leader.
Comment 2 by Patrick-M at 24-Jan-14 08:28 PM
Rex so very true.
The MNsure indictment
I wrote here that MNsure's difficulties are an indictment of Gov. Dayton, the MNsure board of directors and the DFL co-chairs of the MNsure Legislative Oversight Committee. Here's an explanation of why each of these people should be fired for gross mismanagement:
Gov. Dayton, in addition to lobbying for the creation of MNsure, appointed the members of the MNsure board of directors. Apparently, he didn't think it was necessary to put anyone with management experience on the board. It's apparent because, according to Optum's report, "no one was in charge of the project to find out what was wrong and fix it." The report also said that management operated in "crisis mode."
That's what happens when a sensible management structure isn't implemented first.
There isn't proof that Gov. Dayton paid attention to MNsure after he signed the bill into law. If he paid attention, that's cause for being really afraid because he didn't recognize the problems during development. That means Gov. Dayton was either apathetic or incompetent. Neither outcome is flattering to Gov. Dayton's leadership image.
For his incredible display of indifference to this project, Gov. Dayton deserves getting fired this November. Minnesotans simply can't afford to have someone this incompetent handling the levers of power.
The next count of the indictment is against the MNsure board of directors. They're the people who didn't put the management structure together. As a result, the MNsure website is a failure. More importantly, the MNsure office is a picture of utter incompetence.
That's resulted in hundreds of millions of the taxpayers' dollars getting wasted on a) a disfunctional website and b) an incompetent management team. The Optum report, which I'm calling the Optum Indictment, estimates that between $150,000,000 and $160,000,000 have been spent thus far with at least another $50,000,000 to be spent on fixing things.
Management 101 requires management to establish a chain of accountability within the organization to ensure the project is completed successfully, on time and under budget. The MNsure board of directors essentially gave the project team a bunch of money, then told them to get to work.
That isn't managing a project. That's the equivalent of giving people a project, then taking a 2-week vacation to Costa Rica. Thank God that didn't happen.
Finally, the MNsure Legislative Oversight Committee should be indicted, then convicted, for not giving a damn about the website or the office. Republicans on the commitee raised lots of issues. The committee's co-chairs weren't interested in accountability. They held a contentious meeting on Sept. 24, 2013, then didn't call another hearing until January, months after reports surfaced talking about data security and systemic management failures.
The DFL has shown that they aren't serious about accountability or competence. They've shown that they're just interested in spending the taxpayers' money foolishly.
That's why the DFL legislature must be fired this November. Their apathy, indifference and incompetence is frightening.
Posted Friday, January 24, 2014 1:11 PM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 24-Jan-14 04:33 PM
Um Gary didn't one of the members on MN Sure Board (now resigned) take that two week vacation to Costa Rica. You implied that didn't happen when you wrote, "Thank God that didn't happen."
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 24-Jan-14 10:15 PM
I was being sarcastic.
Comment 2 by Rex Newman at 24-Jan-14 07:31 PM
Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Mark Dayton: The only thing necessary for the triumph of the DFL is for good lib's to run everything.
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 26-Jan-14 12:39 PM
Gary:
Sorry for not catching that you were being sarcastic, but there might be some people paying attention now that weren't when MNSure was going through their problems which means they didn't know about the two week vacation and will be even angrier if they knew about the vacation being taken.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Mike Huckabee and the first rule of holes
If there's one thing Mike Huckabee needs to learn ASAP, it's the First Rule of Holes, which is, if you're in one, stop digging. In his interview with Megyn Kelly, Huckabee tried playing the role of victim:
Yes, he talked about his strong wife of 40 years being able to do things he can't do, then talking about how he sees her as his equal. That's slipping the real issue, though. Gov. Huckabee isn't getting pelted with criticism because he sees his wife as his equal. He's getting pelted with criticism because he made some stupid comments during a speech to the RNC this week. He's also getting criticized because CNN's Dana Bash mischaracterized his statements.
While watching the speech, I thought Gov. Huckabee tried to do too much. There's no question whether he wanted to throw some red meat to the partisans in the room. Likewise, there's no question that he wanted to be funny at the same time. Had I written his speech, I would've worded things totally differently. Here's what I would've written:
In their attempt to win women votes, the Democratic Party has treated them like reproductive rights are all that women care about. It's insulting to women to think of them as single-subject voters. Any thoughtful, honest person knows that women care about a wide range of issues, from health care to education to jobs to their families to whether the government is doing all they can to protect us from terrorist attacks.If Gov. Huckabee wants to play the victim, that's his right and, to an extent, he was the victim of some terrible reporting. That being said, whining about being the victim doesn't persuade a single voter or help people reach a solution to the problems they're facing.
I'm proud that the Republican is the party of life. Republicans of all stripes agree that late term abortions are despicable, except when the life of the mother is involved. Republicans of all stripes suppported the ban on partial birth abortions. All Republicans were repulsed when they found out about the evil being conducted in Kermit Gosnell's abortion factory.
Republicans should pledge to the nation that we'll do everything possible to end late term abortions. Republicans should do that because women who've seen the ultrasound know that they're watching their unborn, but feeling, baby. The vast majority of people agree with that opinion.
If the Democrats want to be the party that panders to women by thinking of them as single subject voters, Republicans should prepare to win women voters by showing them that we care about reducing health care costs, creating good-paying full-time jobs and making education the vehicle for upward mobility. We should be the party that tells women that we want to limit government intrusion into their families' lives so their families can live prosperous, productive lives.
Gov. Huckabee, put down the shovel. Stop playing the victim care. It isn't flattering. Admit you tried to do too much with that speech, them move on.
Posted Saturday, January 25, 2014 1:51 AM
No comments.
Chuck Schumer, scam artist
Sen. Schumer's speech to the Center for American Progress is proof that he isn't an honest man. Here's one of the things he said in his speech, which was dedicated to dishonestly criticizing the TEA Party:
There's so much misinformation in those paragraphs that it's difficult figuring out where to start.
Over the years, they built a powerful and successful message machine that amplified and sold this anti-government theory to their followers and to many other Americans. The Rush Limbaughs and the Fox Newses agree with the plutocrats and spread their propaganda to the masses. Their message machine spends virtually all its time not in delivering objective news - but in tearing down government.
They spend countless hours magnifying the smallest of government foibles and virtually no time recounting any government successes. They blame the failures of society on government, often with convoluted but convincing illogic. This message machine and the spin masters were ready to pounce in 2009 to channel the anger of average Americans into a philosophy which painted government as the root of their problems and anxieties and the dramatic reduction of government as the solution to their ills.
Fed by their message machine, the word government quickly became the shibboleth for everything that Tea Party grassrooters and many other Americans didn't like, regardless of whether government was responsible for those problems. The very real social and economic anxiety was the petri dish in which the Tea Party elite could let their message grow and mature, and they directed the public's anxiety and anger at their favorite boogeyman: government.
First, if Sen. Schumer honestly thinks that the TEA Party is ruled by "plutocrats", then he's an idiot. I don't think he's an idiot. I think he's comfortable lying about the TEA Party if he thinks it'll help fire up the Democrats' base. The TEA Party isn't run by plutocrats. It's the ultimate grass roots movement. Sen. Schumer knows it's impossible for plutocrats to run the show, then accuse the movement of not having a face to the organization.
As for this supposedly vaunted messaging machine that "sold this anti-government theory to their followers", that's absurd. The TEA Party didn't have to sell it. This administration's incompetence and their unwillingness to listen to people told people that the federal government should have limited authority.
When the TEA Party first gained steam, it attracted people who weren't interested in politics. The proof is clear. Government isn't good at running things.
FOOTNOTE: Last night on Almanac, Jim Nobles said that MNsure was unprecedented, noting that government had never gotten into running an online retail store before. Mr. Nobles is right. Government hasn't run a business. TEA Party activists said from the start that they should let businesses run businesses.
Magnifying the smallest of government foibles
That's an interesting characterization for the government destroying the health insurance industry, which it's in the process of doing. I'd love hearing Sen. Schumer's explanation for the Anything But Affordable Care Act pushing people out of the policies, doctors and networks they love. I'd love hearing Sen. Schumer's explanation for how policies that paid for life-saving medical procedures and that paid $1,000,000 in medical bills without question were suddenly characterized as "substandard" by Democrats, from President Obama to Kathleen Sebelius to Jay Carney to ideologues like Sen. Schumer.
TEA Party elite?
Sen. Schumer has used that phrase repeatedly in his attempt to mischaracterize the TEA Party movement. He used it in this article for the Huffington Post, too. The notion that the TEA Party's 'shadow leaders' (people that nobody has identified) are elitists is insulting to the previously apolitical women that got involved because they saw the danger of government essentially taking over the health insurance and health care industries.
Sen. Schumer would have us believe that these little-talked-about TEA Party activists are mind-numbed robots acting out the TEA Party's elitists orders. That's insulting to these women. They didn't show up at these protests because they're controlled by the Koch Brothers. They showed up at these rallies because politicians stopped listening to them. They showed up because politicians told them that they knew best.
Sen. Schumer's speech had a single intent: to fire up the Democrats' base. His speech was dishonest from start to finish. It served its purpose, though, because the Democratic Party can't win elections without a boogeyman. This year, the TEA Party apparently is the Democrats' boogeyman of choice.
Originally posted Saturday, January 25, 2014, revised 06-Aug 8:19 AM
No comments.
