January 9-12, 2017
Jan 09 01:35 Sen. Schumer: Trump's rival? Jan 11 08:17 Cruz vs. Franken, Sessions edition Jan 11 16:57 Democrats desperation movement Jan 11 17:26 Breaking News: Nolan considering gubernatorial run Jan 12 00:50 More misguided thinking Jan 12 08:21 Testifying or speechifying? Jan 12 08:53 Repealing the ACA Jan 12 14:15 Croman's pro-DFL bias showing Jan 12 23:39 CNN hosts Paul Ryan's town hall
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Sen. Schumer: Trump's rival?
Years ago, the joke was that the most dangerous place to be in Washington, DC was between Sen. Schumer and either a microphone or a TV camera. The truth is that he's a politician with an oversized ego (by politicians' standards) who's about to get trampled by a guy with a 140-character megaphone.
Sen. Schumer talks tough but he isn't tough. Since taking office as the Senate Minority Leader for at least the next 8 years, he's talked about delaying the confirmation hearings for 8 of President-Elect Trump's cabinet officers. This past week, he said that he'd do whatever it takes to stop the confirmation of Trump's Supreme Court nominee. It's time for him to sit down and shut up. He's enhancing his reputation as a blowhard.
Sen. Schumer's recent appearance on Rachel Maddow's show didn't hurt his reputation with the far left. While appearing on Maddow's show, Sen. Schumer said he'd do his best "to hold the seat open." That's coming from a guy who's insisting on people in his political mainstream. Don't forget that he's endorsed Keith Ellison to be the next chairman of the DNC. Ellison isn't known for being a moderate, meaning we shouldn't trust Sen. Schumer's definition of mainstream. Apparently, Sen. Schumer's definition of mainstream is someone from the far left.
Posted Monday, January 9, 2017 1:35 AM
Comment 1 by JerryE9 at 09-Jan-17 09:35 AM
Mitch McConnell is finally learning hardball. Of the 8 Trump cabinet appointees Schumer said he would block, 6 are getting their Senate hearings on the SAME DAY this week.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 09-Jan-17 11:41 AM
Sen. McConnell's reply to Sen. Schumer was perfect. McConnell essentially flipped Schumer the bird. If Schumer tries retaliating, there are tons of procedural things that Sen. McConnell can do to mess with Democrats.
Cruz vs. Franken, Sessions edition
Al Franken's attempt to sink Sen. Jeff Sessions' confirmation as the 84th Attorney General of the United States failed. It failed partly because Sen. Franken is a buffoon. It failed partly because Sen. Franken essentially called Sen. Sessions a liar. Mostly, though, Sen. Franken failed because he attacked Sen. Sessions by basing his questions on an op-ed written by an attorney named Gerald Hebert. Sen. Cruz highlighted the problem with that during his time on the clock.
Sen. Cruz started by saying "It is unfortunate to see members of this body impugn the integrity of another senator with whom we've served for years. It is particularly unfortunate when that attack is not backed up by the facts. Sen. Franken based his attack on an op-ed by an attorney Gerald Hebert. There is an irony in relying on Mr. Hebert because, as you well know, in 1986 during your confirmation hearing, Mr. Hebert testified then and attacked you then, making false charges against you then and, indeed, I would note that, after the 1986 hearing, two days later, Mr. Hebert was forced to recant his testimony to say that he'd given false testimony and to apologize for giving false testimony and to say "I apologize for any inconvenience I might have caused Mr. Sessions or this committee."
Here's the video of Sen. Franken accusing Sen. Sessions of lying:
Here's the video of Sen. Cruz utterly dissecting Sen. Franken's attacks:
Sen. Franken is a disgusting excuse for a human being. As a senator, he's a joke. Personally, I'd rate him and Gov. Dayton as the worst senators in Minnesota's history.
I'd finally add that Sen. Sessions will fly through confirmation. The hype surrounding Sen. Sessions' confirmation has disappeared.
Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2017 8:17 AM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 11-Jan-17 05:28 PM
Progressive's from MN are a joke on the national stage. Look at the questions AKlo asked Sotomayor at her hearing and now you have this idiot trying to bring down Sessions quoting a guy who gave false testimony. How do these morons keep getting elected?
Democrats desperation movement
Robert Reich's opposition article is proof that Democrats refuse to listen to the American people. In his article, Reich called for progressives to fight the Trump First-100-Days Agenda, listing off actions progressives should take. He listed 12 action items, none of which do a thing to solve a pressing problem.
Couple this with Chuck Schumer's promise to Rachel Maddow that he'll do anything possible to prevent a Trump Supreme Court justice nominee from reaching the high court unless Sen. Schumer deems the nominee a mainstream nominee. Schumer promises to lead the opposition to fixing the Anything But Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.
Combine Sen. Schumer's promises with Reich's action plan. It doesn't take Albert Einstein to figure out that Democrats plan to a) take a hard left turn, which will make them less popular in the all-important swing states than they already are and b) be all opposition all-the-time.
This is Reich's action agenda:
There's nothing positive or solutions-oriented about it. It's mean-spirited and vindictive from start to finish. The closest Reich comes to policy is this action point:
Start a move in your state to abolish the electoral college by committing your state's electors to vote for the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote.
This is anti-American. We're known as the United States of America. Winning landslides in California, New York, Illinois and winning a handful of other reliable left wing looney bins won't unite the country. This idea should be immediately rejected by people of all political stripes.
Democrats are bitter after losing an election they should've won. They rigged their primaries to favor a high profile candidate who wasn't qualified, honest or likable. They only have themselves to blame for their historic defeat. Rather than fess up, they've decided to be bitter partisans. It's going to take them time to be competitive again. (I'm thinking 2022.)
Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2017 4:57 PM
Comment 1 by Chad Q at 11-Jan-17 05:21 PM
This is what happens when a bunch entitlement mentality brats don't get their way and can't figure out why they didn't get their way. I really hope they keep it up as they will continue to lose elections.
Breaking News: Nolan considering gubernatorial run
According to this article , Rick Nolan is considering a run to be Minnesota's next governor. The article opens by saying "Rep. Rick Nolan is considering a 2018 run for governor, his spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday. Nolan, 73, would be a high profile addition to the DFL field. He represents the 8th Congressional District in northeastern Minnesota, winning a tough re-election fight in 2016 despite a bad year for his party, especially in greater Minnesota. This is Nolan's second go around in Congress, now in his third term after serving three terms in the 1970s. Having endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for president, Nolan could unite DFL progressives with rural moderates that he represents in Congress. 'Because several people who (Nolan)& respects have urged him to run, he is giving it thought,' said Samantha Bisogno, his spokeswoman. She added that he has not pursued the matter further and referred questions to his campaign operation."
Rick Nolan isn't the uniter that he's portrayed as in this article. He's a far left lefty who thinks Obamacare didn't go far enough. Further, he isn't trusted by Metrocrat environmental activists because he's (relatively) pro-mining. I don't know how he'd win enough votes in the DFL's urban stronghold to win either the primary or the general election.
As a Republican, I love the thought of Nolan running for governor because it gives Republicans a stronger chance of flipping the Eighth District. The NRCC would likely think of this as a gift. Obviously, this isn't decided. Still, it's another possible ray of sunshine for Republicans.
Posted Wednesday, January 11, 2017 5:26 PM
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More misguided thinking
This article contains one of the most stunning political quotes I've ever read. When I first read it, I immediately reread it to make sure I didn't misread it.
According to the article, Reps. Keith Ellison, (D-MN), Raul Grijalva, (D-AZ), and Mark Pocan, (D-WI), sent a letter to the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, saying "As our party deliberates on how best to move forward, the Congressional Progressive Caucus encourages our colleagues to move beyond misguided debates such as whether to aggressively court blue-collar, rural, and inland voters or instead focus on professional, urban, and coastal Democrats."
As a Republican, I wholeheartedly agree. Aggressively courting blue collar and rural voters is a waste of time for Democrats. Everyone's seen pictures of the red county-blue county maps. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that 98% of the Democratic Party lives either on the East or Left Coast, big cities or college campuses.
I wrote this post to highlight how much Democrats are in denial after the election. Couple that with this trio's letter and Corey Booker's publicity stunt today at Jeff Session's confirmation hearing and it's clear that they aren't willing to stop relying on identity politics or to admit that the Democratic Party is, right now, a niche party. Here's the video of Booker's 'testimony':
The truth is that Sen. Booker didn't add anything substantial to the confirmation hearing. This was him taking the opportunity to grab some spotlight to further his presidential ambitions. He came across as a phony. His 'testimony' was contrived and poorly delivered. He came across, too, as another windbag politician lacking in sincerity. Finally, his about-face on what he said about being honored to have worked with Sen. Sessions makes him look like a cheap politician.
But I digress. I hope these Democrats keep thinking that they don't have to moderate their positions. I hope they think the Obama coalition is all they need. That's how they dug this hole in the first place.
Posted Thursday, January 12, 2017 12:50 AM
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Testifying or speechifying?
Cory Booker didn't testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearing yesterday. In article after article, TV segment after TV segment, pundits and announcers insisted that Sen. Booker testified. This article is one such article that fits that description.
Caitlin Huey-Burns wrote that "one could almost mark January 11, 2017 as the day the 2020 presidential race began: That was the day New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker took the unprecedented opportunity to testify against colleague Jeff Sessions, Trump's choice for attorney general."
I watched parts of Sen. Booker's performance. I couldn't watch all of it because it was a lightweight's performance masquerading as a hit job. His emotions appeared contrived or manufactured. His sincerity was totally missing. He didn't add anything substantive to the confirmation hearing. Mostly, it was an appeal to be the next identity politics warrior for the Democratic Party. (As though they don't have enough of those already.)
Putting it bluntly, Sen. Booker is superficial and a lightweight. Watch for yourself:
Then there's this:
But as they settle into life in the minority in Washington, Democrats have the opportunity "to test-drive the opposition," says Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson. "We don't have to accept the course of the next four years as a foregone conclusion."
Still, Ferguson cautions that the trick is to oppose Trump's agenda because "it is the wrong direction for the country, not : merely for the sake of obstructing."
Thus far, they're looking like mean-spirited obstructionists. If they continue with that tactic, it won't be long before they'll have to accept the course of the next four years as a foregone conclusion. After 2018, the Democratic Party will be reduced to rubble in the Senate. They're already rubble in the House. If the Democratic Party doesn't figure out what the voters told them this election, they'll be in the wilderness an additional decade. That's certainly the direction they're heading.
Posted Thursday, January 12, 2017 8:21 AM
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Repealing the ACA
If she doesn't watch it, Patty Murray will explode. According to this article , Murray went on a diatribe of epic proportions, saying "If Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act, it's women, kids, seniors, patients with serious illnesses, and people with disabilities who will bear the burden. Premiums will skyrocket. Out-of-pocket prescription drug costs will rise. And overall health care costs will increase. It's a perfect storm to make America sick again - and absolutely the wrong direction for families and for our economy."
In other words, Sen. Murray insists that repealing the ACA will do what the ACA is already doing. The ACA is already driving up health care premiums. The ACA is already bankrupting states, many of whom are opting out of the exchanges they created . The ACA is already driving up out-of-pocket expenses for families.
Whenever Democrats pretend these things aren't already happening, they demolish their credibility. It isn't like people haven't noticed. If the ACA wasn't expensive, Republicans wouldn't have flipped the Minnesota Senate. If the ACA was affordable, the Democratic Party wouldn't be a shrinking national party.
Democrats are living in fantasyland if they haven't noticed the mess they're in.
Posted Thursday, January 12, 2017 8:53 AM
Comment 1 by JerryE9 at 13-Jan-17 06:01 AM
Democrats are continuously perplexed and angry because reality refuses to conform to their fantasyland wishes.
Croman's pro-DFL bias showing
John Croman's article reads like a DFL propaganda piece. That's mostly because that's what it is. The article starts by saying "Minnesota's top budget official warned Monday that the Republican health insurance premium relief plan will significantly delay aid payments to those facing sharp increases in 2017. Commissioner Myron Frans, who heads the Minnesota Management and Budget department, said the rebate program envisioned in the GOP legislation would required creating an apparatus to receive and vet applications for aid, which could involve hiring an additional 100 staff in his agency. 'Our first take is that this is going to cost a lot of money and it's going to take a lot of time. And if we're going to go down that road it's going to make it very difficult to get this implemented in 2017,' Commissioner Frans told reporters."
My first question for Commissioner Frans would be why this wouldn't apply to Gov. Dayton's plan. Wouldn't they need to verify that applicants' income is truthful? Or would Gov. Dayton's system run on the honor system?
The Republican plan, by contrast, calls for people to apply to the state for aid. The state would review the applications and issue State checks directly to the insurance customers. The Legislative Auditor would conduct the audits, if this plan passes and is signed into law.
I don't know that that's true but let's stipulate that it is for this conversation. Couldn't the DFL offer an amendment to change that part of the legislation?
The main question that hasn't gotten asked is why Gov. Dayton and the DFL haven't offered a plan to fix all the things that are wrong with Minnesota's Obamacare health care system. Why haven't the media asked Gov. Dayton, Sen. Bakk or Rep. Hortman where their comprehensive health care reform legislation is?
Does the Twin Cities media think, like Gov. Dayton and the DFL, that these skyrocketing health insurance premiums are a one-time thing? If they aren't a one-time thing but are caused by systemic flaws, why haven't the DFL written legislation that would fix that situation?
Commissioner Frans can complain all he wants about not getting the rebate fixed but the truth is that Minnesotans are worried about other parts of Minnesota's health care system. Further, if Gov. Dayton vetoes premium relief, the DFL will wear that like a cement block during the 2018 campaign.
Posted Thursday, January 12, 2017 2:16 PM
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CNN hosts Paul Ryan's town hall
One of the major highlights of CNN's townhall meeting with Speaker Ryan at George Washington University came during the question of the night. That's when Speaker Ryan announced that the House would repeal the ACA and pass the Republican replacement "at the same time, and in some cases in the same bill." Speaker Ryan continued, saying "So we want to advance repealing this law with its replacement at the same time."
The first person to ask a question of Speaker Ryan was a small business owner named Jeff Jeans, who identified himself as a former Republican and a cancer survivor. Jeans told Speaker Ryan "Just like you, I was opposed to the Affordable Care Act. When it was passed, I told my wife we would close our business before I'd comply with this law. Then, at 49, I was given 6 weeks to live and with a very curable type of cancer. We offered 3 times the cost of my treatments, which was rejected. They required an insurance card. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, I'm standing here alive. Being both a small business person and a person with pre-existing conditions, I rely on the Affordable Care Act to purchase my own insurance. Why would you repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement?"
Ryan replied "We wouldn't do that. We want to replace it with something better. ... We believe that state high risk pools are a smarter way of guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. We had a really good one in Wisconsin. Utah had a really great one. I was talking with a congresswoman from Washington today who was telling me how good their high risk pool is. What I mean when I say this is that about 8% of all the people less than 65 years of age have that type of pre-existing condition. ... We don't want people to go poor or go bankrupt because this thing happens to them so we obviously want a system where they can get affordable coverage without going bankrupt when they get sick. But we can do that without destroying the rest of the health care system for everybody else. That's the point I'm trying to make. What we should have done is fix what was broken in health care without breaking what was working with health care and that's what Obamacare unfortunately did."
Here's the video of that exchange:
It's worth noting that Minnesota had a high risk pool, too, which was also working well until the ACA destroyed it. In 2007, before then-Sen. Obama was elected president, Minnesota boasted that 92.8% of its citizens were insured. Of those that didn't have health insurance, more than half were eligible for some sort of taxpayer-subsidized health insurance. Had those people gotten signed up, Minnesota's insured rate would've exceeded 97%, which would've been better than anything that the ACA could ever hope to accomplish.
What's particularly insulting and infuriating is the fact that Democrats know the Republicans' plans. It's infuriating because Ryan's plan has been out there for months. If there's anything certain about Speaker Ryan, it's that he's a policy junkie in the best sense of the word. He lives to write great legislation.
Speaker Ryan said that he didn't have a specific date that he'd put on repealing and replacing the ACA, though he told Jake Tapper that he thinks it will happen in President Trump's first 100 days.
If that happens, you'll see the economy take off because Obamacare is sucking the incentive out of growing small businesses. Watch the entire video. It's educational and enlightening.
Posted Thursday, January 12, 2017 11:39 PM
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