July 9-12, 2012
Jul 09 02:19 Astroturf ankle-biters annoying Chip Jul 09 11:17 Economic fairness vs. lasting prosperity Jul 10 03:37 Entenza: DFL "has a great story to tell" Jul 11 01:11 Who abducted the 'nonpartisan Mark Ritchie'? Jul 11 05:00 Obama approval drops into danger zone Jul 11 15:56 Hann to Gov. Dayton: No health exchange vote before election Jul 12 04:48 Chip Cravaack conference call notes Jul 12 08:26 Cut taxes, then repeal Obama administration regulations
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Astroturf ankle-biters annoying Chip
There's no polite way to put this. An astroturfed organization is attempting to annoy Chip Cravaack. That's about all they can do since their candidates stink to the high heavens. This is a taste of the newest astroturfed anklebiters' schtick:
Congressman Cravaack is a leader in the Republican War on Women, and has voted repeatedly to deny women their basic rights.
Congressman Cravaack has:
Voted to defund Planned Parenthood
( Roll Call Vote #2011-93; H.R. 1; 2/18/11)
Called the Obama Administration's contraception mandate for insurance companies an ' an act of federal aggression .'
There's no question that this is an outside astroturf organization. Any organization that thinks being pro-life is a negative in the Eighth District is clueless.
There are tons of churches on the Iron Range. Parishioners, especially devout Catholics, care about the teachings of the church. To Catholic voters, there's nothing that'll get them to vote their religious beliefs first, their political party second, more than the government telling them that they have to violate their religious beliefs.
The HHS telling Catholic hospitals that they have to provide insurance policies that cover contraception will trigger a negative reaction from the Catholic church and their parishioners.
According to this website, Chip Cravaack has voted against women, seniors and students.
UPDATE: I was right. This is an out-of-town astroturf organization:
2012 Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect the name, address, occupation and employer for all contributors who contribute, in the aggregate, in excess of $200 in a calendar year. Contributions from foreign nationals who are not permanent resident aliens, national banks and federal contractors are prohibited.
Contributions are not tax deductible.
Paid for by CREDO SuperPAC, www.credosuperpac.com, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
According to OpenSecrets , the Working Assets Funding Service, Inc. of San Francisco contributed $422,690 to CREDO SuperPAC thus far.
It's foolish to think that a hard left superPAC from San Francisco has anything in common with the hard-working people of the Iron Range.
Check back later today for additional information on who's supporting CREDO. It's this morning's must reading.
Tags: CREDO SuperPAC , TakeDown Cravaack , Astroturf , San Francisco , Progressives , Contraception , Affordable Care Act , Democrats , Chip Cravaack , Iron Range , Catholics , First Amendment , GOP , Election 2012
Posted Monday, July 9, 2012 2:19 AM
Comment 1 by IndyJones at 09-Jul-12 04:44 PM
You're right. CREDO is not too bright but never interfere with a CREDO moron pissing into the wind. You can always recognize the none too bright by their moldy shoes.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 09-Jul-12 05:16 PM
Another telltale sign of the not-too-bright is their insistence that you don't really believe what you say you believe.
Comment 3 by eric z at 10-Jul-12 07:43 PM
And what about the district you live in?
Economic fairness vs. lasting prosperity
CBS News confirmed that President Obama will propose extending the middle class tax rates another year :
CBS News has confirmed that President Obama will call on Congress Monday to pass a temporary, one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for people who make less than $250,000 a year.
The tax cuts are set to expire on January 1. With Monday's announcement, the president is hoping to show voters a very clear difference between himself and Mitt Romney.
The White House started to lay the framework for its tax cut argument on Sunday by arguing that President Obama wants to help the middle class, while Romney and the Republican Party are interested primarily in helping the rich.
Frankly, this administration wants to change the subject from being about last Friday's disastrous jobs report. This administration wants to avoid talking about the Affordable Care Act, too.
Until the Affordable Care Act is repealed, hiring and economic growth will stay stagnant. It isn't that tax rates aren't important. It's that the Affordable Care Act and this administration's explosion of regulations are crippling the economy.
In fact, a loyal reader of this blog told me this morning that regulations have exploded during this administration. This loyal reader also said that the new trend is for companies to sue the government about the regulations they're imposing.
This administration's hostility towards job creators has led to President Obama becoming the worst jobs president ever. There's no disputing that. The money, an estimated $2,000,000,000,000, is sitting on the sidelines because businesses are worried about a) taxes, b) the Affordable Care Act and c) regulatory compliance costs.
In that setting, a CEO would be fired for putting their company's money at risk. Until the cost of putting capital at risk drops significantly, the money will stay on the sidelines. If money isn't being put at risk, the economy can't grow and jobs won't be created.
This administration continually ignores that fact. That's why we don't need another speech outlining President Obama's 'vision' for America. He's a one trick pony. His vision is the government spending lots of money to artificially prop up a staggering economy.
Tags: President Obama , Regulation , Tax Increase , Unemployment , Recession , Affordable Care Act , Democrats , Election 2012
Posted Monday, July 9, 2012 11:17 AM
No comments.
Entenza: DFL "has a great story to tell"
Matt Entenza must've felt out of his comfort zone when he debated Laura Brod on the issue of this year's legislative races. Here's part of what he said on the subject:
The DFL's got a great story to tell. We saw alot of legislative gridlock after the GOP took control. There was a terrible government shutdown that people had a sense didn't go anywhere. Gov. Dayton trying to compromise, trying to reach out.
That's proof that Mr. Entenza doesn't listen to the people. In the 2010 elections, people voted overwhelmingly for the people who promised not to raise taxes.
When Gov. Dayton went on his state tour to pressure the GOP, he met face to face with Minnesotans worried about the DFL raising their taxes. The response was so bad that he canceled half of his tour.
What's particularly noticeable in Entenza's response is that he didn't say anything positive about the DFL. He started with "the DFL has a great story to tell" before launching into a laundry list of negatives, most of which are negatives against the DFL.
Gov. Dayton shut the government down when it wasn't necessary. The documents prove Gov. Dayton twice agreed to a deal that would've averted a shutdown before going back on his word. Documents show Gov. Dayton rejected the opportunity to sign a lights-on bill that would've kept government operating while negotiations continued.
Instead of listening to Minnesotans, Gov. Dayton, Sen. Bakk and Rep. Thissen threw a hissy fit.
Meanwhile, the GOP has a great record to run on. They passed half a dozen major reforms, including permitting reform, alternative teacher licensure. The Sunset Advisory Commission from HF2 was included in the State Government Finance omnibus bill which Gov. Dayton signed.
The Sunset Advisory Commission is putting commissions, panels and councils on notice that their time is limited, their focus narrow.
Most importantly, the GOP's budget took Minnesota from a projected $6.2 billion deficit and turned it into a $1.3 billion surplus in less than a year.
The GOP's insistence on spending sanity and reforming the permitting system led to a surplus and a growth in job creation.
The GOP reformed government, held the line on taxes, balanced the budget, created jobs while keeping their promises.
Mr. Entenza, that's what a positive story to tell sounds like. That's what a list of real accomplishments looks like.
Tags: Government Shutdown , Unemployment Governor , Mark Dayton , Paul Thissen , Tom Bakk , Gridlock , DFL , Reforms , No New Taxes , Sunset Advisory Commission , Permitting , Job Growth , Surplus , MNGOP , Election 2012
Posted Tuesday, July 10, 2012 3:37 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 11-Jul-12 08:48 AM
Gary, sometime when you have the time, explain exactly how pushing the marriage amendment will create jobs and correct the economy. There is the phrase, "Fiddling while Rome burns." Criticize the Dems all you wish, but it's your special idiot bunch that's fiddling.
Who abducted the 'nonpartisan Mark Ritchie'?
In 2006, Mark Ritchie received tons of money from the now-defunct Secretary of State Project, aka SOSP, while campaigning as "nonpartisan Mark Ritchie." The partisan hack that's changing the titles to the constitutional amendments passed by the legislature isn't neutral:
Ritchie on Monday announced that he changed the title of the amendment, which would require photo identification to vote, to appear on the ballot as, 'Changes to In-Person and Absentee Voting and Voter Registration; Provisional Ballots.' Republicans had previously titled the amendment, 'Photo Identification Required for Voting.'
This is part of Sec. Ritchie's campaign against the proposed Photo ID constitutional amendment. That isn't Ritchie's worst transgression, though it exposes him as opposing election integrity.
The purpose behind Ritchie's title change is his anti-Photo ID Chanting Point is the unsubstantiated implication that Photo ID is wildly expensive to counties. Mr. Ritchie knows that the cost of state-required Photo IDs would be borne by the state, not the counties.
Another thing mentioned in Ritchie's title change is the use of provisional ballots, which Ritchie insists excessively complicates the election process. While any additional requirement creates more work, it doesn't complicate life for election workers.
If a person who isn't registered to vote requests a ballot, that person is required to register before getting a ballot. That's true in our current system. That's true in a Photo ID system.
The only change to the system is that an unregistered voter in a Photo ID environment is required to present their state-issued Photo ID. If they don't product a state-issue ID, they're given a provisional ballot instead of getting a regular ballot.
If the person doesn't return to verify their identity, the provisional ballot isn't counted. That's why they're called provisional ballots.
Finally, the only change made to absentee ballot voting is that a person would be required to show their state-issued Photo ID before their ballot is counted. Again, it's an additional step in the process but it hardly complicates things.
Mr. Ritchie is attempting to make the case that any changes made will make Minnesota's election system unnecessarily complicated. While he's made that argument, he hasn't offered proof that Minnesota's election system would be that complicated in a Photo ID world.
It's important that Mr. Ritchie enforces state and federal election laws. It's equally important that he's impartial in enforcing those laws. Whether he likes certain parts of the laws or whether he thinks they're terrible isn't relevant.
Most importantly, Ritchie's blatant political activism makes it clear that he won't impartially enforce Photo ID if it's part of Minnesota's Constitution.
Tags: Photo ID , Provisional Ballots , Absentee Ballots , Mark Ritchie , Secretary of State Project , Partisanship , Election Enforcement , DFL , Elections
Posted Wednesday, July 11, 2012 1:11 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 11-Jul-12 06:31 AM
Ritchie has to mop up a pile of dreck that those favoring flaming rhetoric handed him, instead of a sensible and honest wording for our ballots. Hats off to Ritchie for doing the job, doing it well, and knowing he'd get criticism from unsavory folks intent on politicizing a flawed process they'd created - a wiping of feet on the Minnesota Constitution because bigotry could not get past a vigilant governor. Hat tip to both Ritchie and Dayton.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 11-Jul-12 12:58 PM
What "pile of dreck" is Ritchie supposedly cleaning up after? Did you know that a href='http://www.examiner.com/article/dfl-state-convention-debate-on-voter-fraud'>the DFL admitted that voter fraud is real at their state convention?
What "unsavory folks" are you talking about? The GOP? That isn't right. They're the party that's had the courage to admit the truth: that voter fraud exists & that it must be cleaned up.
Bigotry? When I attended the RightOnline Conference in Las Vegas, I met Anita Moncrief, the African-American lady that turned whistleblower against ACORN. She's able to talk about voter fraud with great specificity about the voter fraud she's seen. Not voter registration fraud. Voter fraud.
If you want to continue to lie about very real voter fraud in Minnesota, don't do it on LFR. This is your last warning. If you don't produce proof of your accusations, the comment will be deleted without hesitation.
Comment 2 by Barbara Erickson at 11-Jul-12 08:24 AM
Where are the Republicans in fighting this? Are they just giving Ritchie a pass? From what I understood, the House could impeach him on these grounds and I for one will be calling Zeller's office. Hope many other do. It appears we need NEED to light a fire under these people to get them to do their job!
Comment 3 by Terry Stone at 11-Jul-12 11:07 AM
This article understates the partisan excesses of a world-class Marxist Secretary of State. Ritchie has vastly exceeded Article V. There isn't much room for reasonable people to disagree. That doesn't mean that everyone will agree.
Obama approval drops into danger zone
President Obama is in deep trouble. President Obama's approval rating just dipped to 44%. That isn't a misprint. It's Gallup's latest polling. It's proof that President Obama's approval rating is in the danger zone. At this point, President Obama's best hope for re-election is divine intervention or national amnesia.
If people remember this administration's pathetic jobs record, it's toast. If they remember the stranglehold the EPA put on energy production, they're history. If people think about this administration's multiple predictions about Recovery Summer or that the economy has turned the corner, only to have those predictions proven inaccurate, voters will turn their backs on this administration.
At this late stage in the hardening process, they won't be returning.
What's worse is that Mitt's been saving his money while President Obama has been burning through his money. That means President Obama might be in a difficult position after their convention. His current cash on hand, coupled with his current burn rate and substandard fundraising, point to Obama being badly outspent the last 6-8 weeks of this campaign.
An incumbent with a 44% approval rating is trouble. An incumbent with a 44% approval rating and a cash shortage the last 6-8 weeks of the campaign is a potential disaster.
Tags: President Obama , Fundraising , Polling , Gallup , Democrats , Election 2012
Posted Wednesday, July 11, 2012 5:13 AM
Comment 1 by J. Ewing at 11-Jul-12 09:47 AM
If this be disaster, I'm all for it!
Comment 2 by Jethro at 11-Jul-12 10:51 AM
I am all for this natural disaster.
Hann to Gov. Dayton: No health exchange vote before election
Sen. David Hann, the leading health care expert in the Senate, just told Gov. Dayton the health care exchanges called for by the Affordable Care Act won't get examined until after a new congress is sworn in:
In his letter, Dayton said that Democrats and Republicans share the responsibility for creating a Minnesota exchange, or else the state will be forced to accept a federal model for how the marketplace should function.
"By working together, we can make this project non-partisan and maximize its benefits for all Minnesotans," Dayton wrote, suggesting that action is needed since the U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the constitutionality of the health law.
But Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, responded that " there is nothing more partisan than this health care law given the way it was passed ." No Republicans voted for the measure when it was passed by Congress in 2010.
"Most people don't like this law," Hann said. "As a practical matter, the Legislature will not be in session until January...Let's give the public a chance to weigh in on this during the next election."
What Sen. Hann is saying is that exchanges won't get a hearing until a new president and new Congress have a chance at repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Sen. Hann also let it be known that talk of bipartisanship with regards to implementing provisions in the Affordable Care Act aren't going anywhere after Democrats shoved it down Americans' throats without their consent.
Now that Democrats don't have the ability to shove wildly unpopular legislation down the American people's throats, their tone changed from I won to 'Let's work together in the spirit of bipartisanship.'
It's refreshing to hear Sen. Hann essentially say that the bipartisanship will start after the new Congress and new president repeal the Affordable Care Act.
It wouldn't be surprising to see Gov. Dayton attempt to establish these exchanges via executive order. He's tried implementing things that way before . The good news is that the courts slapped him down before for attempting to enact legislation without subjecting the bill to legislative scrutiny.
If there weren't strings attached to the exchanges through the Affordable Care Act, they'd be a fine idea. Since these exchanges have to comply with the minimum requirements of the federal government, things like providing free contraception coverage would be required of these exchanges.
Minnesotans would reject that without hesitation. So should the legislature.
Tags: Affordable Care Act , Exchanges , Mark Dayton , Contraception , DFL , David Hann , Health Care , MNGOP , Election 2012
Posted Wednesday, July 11, 2012 3:56 PM
Comment 1 by eric z at 12-Jul-12 09:25 AM
"... given the way it was passed." I agree that with so much off the table at the start, and with Blue Dogs, it is less than it should have been. But that is the fault of no Republicans having the national interest in mind ahead of partisan lockstep with leadership obstruction. Nobody but GOP leadership is to blame for that, except those who blindly took marching orders.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 12-Jul-12 09:34 AM
Eric, why won't you learn that the federal government interfering in health care is the cause of the problem?
Yesterday, it was announced that the federal government paid out $14 billion in fraudulent unemployment checks. Tens of billions of dollars are paid out fraudulently on Medicare & Medicaid claims.
When did it become in the national interest to have tens of billions of dollars paid to crooks?
Tear off the ideological blinders. Pull your head out of your ass, too. Then start thinking things through.
Do those things & you won't make stupid statements as much as you're currently doing.
Comment 3 by J. Ewing at 12-Jul-12 11:39 AM
The problem with Medicare (and Medicaid) fraud is that the vast majority of it ISN'T FRAUD at all. It is the natural reaction of the marketplace to the artificial and arbitrary price controls that are at the heart of Medicare. A doctor that gets paid only half of his costs for seeing a patient is going to take the few extra minutes to do something "extra" that pays better, or he can't afford to see that patient at all. That's bad for the patient, needless to say. If we got rid of the "fee for service" model of government health care, all of that fraud would go away immediately, the quality of care (fewer largely unnecessary procedures) would improve and the cost would drop dramatically. Obamacare simply goes in the opposite direction from what's needed and it should have been voted against by any Congressperson with a brain. I guess we have the measure of THAT now, don't we?
Response 3.1 by Gary Gross at 12-Jul-12 11:53 AM
Jerry, that rationalization is stunning. Your argument appears to be that the villain isn't the doctor who files a fraudulent bill. It's the government that underpays him, causing him to act dishonestly.
The doctor has the responsibility of being honest. PERIOD.
Chip Cravaack conference call notes
Tuesday night, Congressman Chip Cravaack fielded questions from a panel of conservative bloggers. The conversation jumped from his priorities during his first term in office, his work on the miners' behalf to jumpstart Minnesota's mining industry to praising the volunteers who've marched in parades with him.
Congressman Cravaack clearly wasn't satisfied with the EPA's productivity, saying that miners and mining investors needed a speedier permitting process. Congressman Cravaack noted that PolyMet has spent $40,000,000 drilling test holes. He said that it's ridiculous for the permitting to take 8 years and counting.
Based on the reception he's getting in parades, miners appreciate that he's fighting the good fight for their families in DC. He said that's the result of his hard work on the miners' behalf and his telling his staff to build bridges with constituents whenever possible without sacrificing their principles.
While Chip was respectful when talking about the people competing in the DFL primary, it's painfully obvious that he's confident in his ability to defeat the DFL primary winner.
One trip to the CD-8 Facebook page will give people an idea of how enthusiastically Chip's supported:
I've said it before and I'll repeat it again and again: the DFL and the DCCC painted a bullseye on Chip's back minutes after he defeated Jim Oberstar in 2010. Minnesota's Eighth district is to the DFL what Ted Kennedy's seat was in Massachusetts.
The tide has turned, the pendulum has swung. This isn't the DFL's Eighth anymore.
Tags: Chip Cravaack , Blogger Conference Call , Parades , PolyMet , Volunteers , Logging , Mining , Iron Range , Red Tape , EPA , MNGOP , Election 2012
Posted Thursday, July 12, 2012 4:48 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 12-Jul-12 09:27 AM
Chip is for Logging and Mining; but Chip does not live where the damage will be done. He lives in New Hampshire.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 12-Jul-12 09:40 AM
First, shame on all Twin Cities elites for telling the families on the Iron Range that they don't have the right to make a living for their families.
The DFL says that they're for working families. That they are except when they're hating on working families.
Second, Chip lives in Minnesota. His wife lives in New Hampshire.
Eric, quit reciting the DFL's talking points. It isn't flattering. You're looking like a punk.
Cut taxes, then repeal Obama administration regulations
The GOP worships too much at the altar of tax cuts. That's right. I said it. It isn't that I think taxes should be increased. It's that I think the income tax system should be reformed, the marginal rates reduced and the Affordable Care Act's taxes repealed.
The minute that's done, the GOP should start repealing the regulations that this administration has implemented. I'd start with repealing the EPA's most expensive regulations, including the MACT rules. These regulations are killing the mining industry while driving up energy prices.
They don't serve any useful purpose. They kill jobs. The health benefits are miniscule or nonexistent.
Mostly, they're vindictive. When Congress didn't get Cap and Trade passed, this administration decided they'd kill the coal industry through regulations :
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.
If I were advising Mitt Romney's campaign, I'd tell him to highlight his solutions to high gas prices, high electricity prices and the onerous taxes in the Affordable Care Act.
There's a reason why this administration is the worst administration in terms of job creation. Actually, there's dozens of reasons but that's another story for another day. They're terrible because their hostility towards job creators is self-evident.
This administration's NLRB is the first to tell a manufacturer (Boeing) they couldn't build a plant where the company wanted to build it. This administration implemented the MACT rules based on a discredited junk science theory.
This stupidity must end ASAP.
Tax reform must be a priority from the outset of the Romney administration. The minute that's accomplished, they should set their sights on cutting into the regulatory overload that's hostile to families and businesses.
Cutting regulations will assist in jumpstarting domestic energy production, too, which equals cheaper prices and vibrant job creation.
The failed policies of the past 4 years must be eliminated. They've led to the worst 'recovery' since the Great Depression.
Tags: Taxes , Reform , Regulations , MACT Rules , Gas Prices , Electricity , Coal Industry , Mitt Romney , GOP , President Obama , Affordable Care Act , Democrats , Election 2012
Posted Thursday, July 12, 2012 8:26 AM
No comments.
