May 10-11, 2015
May 10 09:25 Media writing Dayton's legacy May 10 10:46 Correcting the SC Times May 10 18:03 Saudi King Salman snubs Obama May 11 01:09 Another Gov. Dayton shutdown? May 11 11:22 Gulf states avoid Obama summit May 11 13:23 All of Queen Hillary's horses... May 11 15:29 Gov. Dayton, Lt. Gov. Smith campaign for Hillary May 11 16:02 Sen. Cruz accepts Halperin's apology May 11 22:52 Lanny Davis 'helps' Hillary Clinton
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Media writing Dayton's legacy
D.J. Tice's article is instructive in that it brings up Gov. Dayton's legacy and how the media influence it:
All this may be on the minds of Daudt and Bakk (assuming they squeeze in any time to think about politics while meditating on what's best for Minnesota). They each have to lead a majority into electoral battle next year.
The complicated dance both are performing became evident in this session's early days, when Dayton's move to give rich raises to his Cabinet members inspired Bakk to revolt and Daudt to play peacemaker between an irritated governor and a Senate boss who wasn't prepared to see his members take the rap for any coddling of bureaucrats.
Dayton is largely free of such worries, having run his last campaign. Even if he's concerned about positioning the next DFL gubernatorial candidacy, that race is almost four years away. He has declared himself 'unbound,' and if some think it's more like 'unglued,' they should once and for all stop underestimating Dayton's strategic shrewdness.
What Tice essentially did was indict the media, himself included, by highlighting the fact that Sen. Bakk has to play politics enough to get re-elected whereas Gov. Dayton is free to be the ideologue he's always wanted to be.
Gov. Dayton, Tice admits, doesn't have to care about doing what's right. He just has to please the DFL's special interest allies, then let the media write Gov. Dayton's legacy. Gov. Dayton doesn't have to worry about his legacy because he knows that the Twin Cities Praetorian Guard will speak of him like he's Minnesota's greatest governor. It doesn't matter that Gov. Dayton's policies have driven businesses from Minnesota . It doesn't matter that Gov. Dayton made " historic investments " in education, only to have the achievement gap widen and property taxes skyrocket .
Rather than the Strib writing about who's winning or losing the political fights, perhaps they should write about what's actually in the bills. Articles that actually listed the pros and cons of a bill would help voters know what's going on. Apparently, the Strib thinks it's more important to write a false legacy for Gov. Dayton than it is to write honest articles that include hard-hitting questions.
As long as the articles only talk about who's winning politically, We The People lose. It's time to end the superficial 'reporting' that only talks about whether Gov. Dayton is winning or Speaker Daudt will have difficulty keeping his caucus together. (He won't.) Real reporting and commentary focuses on whether We The People are represented or whether the DFL's special interests prevail.
So far, Dayton seems to be revisiting his 2011 strategy, digging in on his priorities and daring legislative leaders to risk a shutdown and the resulting voter displeasure. His big asks this time, a middle-class tax hike to fund transportation and an expansion of the education establishment for universal preschool, constitute a boldly liberal continuation of his agenda when the DFL controlled the entire Legislature.
But in this year's complex three-part disharmony, an incumbent-wounding stalemate could be the undoing of Senate Democrats as easily as House Republicans, while striking too much of a big-government pose also may do for Bakk what it did for Thissen.
There is another possibility that isn't expressed. It's possible that Gov. Dayton and the DFL support policies that a) don't solve problems and b) go against the will of the people. Realistically, there isn't a great groundswell of support for universal pre-K. It's true that Education Minnesota supports it but that's about it. Honestly, there isn't a great groundswell of support for a gas tax increase anywhere in the state with the exception of the member organizations of Move MN.
If Tice actually wrote about that, perhaps we'd get to live in a state that puts a higher priority on doing the right thing that they put on doing what the special interests want.
Posted Sunday, May 10, 2015 9:25 AM
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Correcting the SC Times
Last week, the St. Cloud Times ran an editorial titled Why are House Republicans targeting college students? Here's the heart of the
In the higher education bill passed by the GOP-dominated House, more than $53 million has been cut from the state grant appropriation as part of the $128 million appropriation it has recommended for MnSCU.
The state grant program helps as many as 100,000 low- and middle-income Minnesota students pay for their college tuition. This covers students in public and private colleges. If the bill comes out unchanged in conference committee, more than 8,000 students in the St. Cloud area will receive a lower grant next year, according to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.
Thankfully, Rep. Jim Knoblach corrected the Times Editorial Board:
This is one of the more inaccurate editorials I have seen in the Times. The state grant program has a $72 million surplus. That is why House Republicans are proposing to take $53 million of it and give it to the MNSCU system. The writer of this should check their facts with someone with the House Republicans before just writing something like this. If anyone wants documentation please send an email to me at rep.jim.knoblach@house.mn and I will send it to you.
I'm not accusing the Times of intentionally misleading students. It's quite possible that they just did a sloppy job of researching this editorial.
Jim Knoblach has lots of information on this sort of thing as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. That's the last committee stop before financial bills go to the House floor. Jim has lots of experience with the Committee, having served as chairman in 2003-2006.
Posted Sunday, May 10, 2015 10:46 AM
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Saudi King Salman snubs Obama
Though the diplomats will insist Saudi King Salman skipping President Obama's summit isn't a snub, that's definitely what it is:
Saudi Arabia said Sunday that King Salman would skip a May 14 summit of Persian Gulf leaders at which President Barack Obama is expected to offer reassurances over U.S. efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran. The decision marks a diplomatic snub from one of the top leaders in the region, and follows U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the Saudi capital last week.
Foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said in a statement on state media that the king decided not to attend the meeting, which will be hosted at Camp David by Mr. Obama. The king instead would focus on the Yemen cease-fire and humanitarian aid effort, according to the statement. Saudi Arabia is currently leading an air offensive against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
It isn't just that King Salman isn't attending the summit :
President Barack Obama had planned to meet Salman one-on-one a day before the gathering of leaders at the presidential retreat...
When Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his speech to Congress last March, President Obama refused to meet with him. The press reported it as a major snub to Prime Minister Netanyahu. It isn't a secret that the Saudis aren't happy with the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran. That's the topic President Obama will talk about at the summit. Right now, Sunni Gulf states are worried President Obama is pitching them under his infamous bus in his pursuit of a presidential legacy item.
Sunni Gulf states are right in thinking that President Obama has put a higher priority on reaching an agreement with the Iranians than he's put on solidifying his relationship with Sunni Gulf states. In fact, that isn't disputable.
Posted Sunday, May 10, 2015 6:03 PM
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Another Gov. Dayton shutdown?
My LTE highlights the fact that Gov. Dayton and the DFL should be blamed if there's a state government shutdown. Anyways, here's the opening to my article:
With little time left in the Minnesota legislative regular session, there's a pretty decent chance there will be a special session. If that happens, Gov. Mark Dayton and the DFL should get the lion's share of the blame. Here's why:
Dayton's highest priority this session is universal pre-K. The DFL Senate and the Republican House agreed it shouldn't be funded at Dayton's level, which is $343 million. In fact, the House and Senate didn't fund it at all.
Needless to say, my LTE was rejected by the fringe activists that make up the dominant wing of the DFL. Here's the source for my LTE:
Dayton wants to spend $343 million for universal pre-K and scholarships. He believes it would get 47,000 young students get ready for kindergarten. But legislative leaders didn't even include universal pre-K in their budget proposals. " The House is zero, the Senate is zero ," Dayton told reporters. "I consider that, A, unacceptable, and B, insulting."
That's verifiable proof that there was a bipartisan rejection of Gov. Dayton's pre-K spending initiative. It isn't disputable.
Next, it's important to highlight the fact that the cost of fixing Minnesota's roads and bridges overshoots the price tag :
'When we're talking about significant investments of taxpayer dollars, I think it's always worth asking how did we come to this number, what assumptions led to it, and are there other assumptions that could have been used to improve that number one way or another,' said Bentley Graves, director of transportation policy for the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, one of 10 business associations funding the study.
Much of the magic in the math involves the inflation rate used to calculate construction costs in the Minnesota Transportation Finance Advisory Committee's 2012 report , upon which legislators and policymakers rely.
The state plugs in an inflation factor of 5 percent, more than twice the Consumer Price index average over the past 12 years. The Federal Highway Administration inflation factor for projects averaged 1.1 percent; the American Road and Transportation Building Association averaged 3.1 percent inflation during the same period, according to the report.
Thanks to this report, we know that we don't need to raise taxes by $13,000,000,000 to fix Minnesota's bridges and fill Minnesota's potholed roads.
If Gov. Dayton wants to shut Minnesota state government down, all he has to do is insist that we raise the gas tax and pay for universal pre-K. The DFL Senate opposes spending $343,000,000 on pre-K. 75% of Minnesotans polled by KSTP approve of the GOP transportation plan while 17% of Minnesotans reject the plan.
In other words, all Gov. Dayton has to do to shut state government down is defy the DFL Senate on pre-K and thumb his nose at three-fourths of Minnesotans on the gas tax.
Posted Monday, May 11, 2015 1:09 AM
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Gulf states avoid Obama summit
I wrote here that Saudi King Salman had snubbed President Obama's invitation to attend a summit on his administration's negotiations with Iran. This article says that other Sunni Gulf nations are following King Salman's lead:
- The tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said separately Sunday that its delegation would be headed by the country's crown prince, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
- The sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said, is also among those staying away.
- Health issues are also expected to keep the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, from attending.
4 of the 6 leaders of the nations invited to the Summit refuse to attend. This is a major public snub for President Obama:
Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a professor of political science at Emirates University, told the Associated Press Gulf leaders were staying away to signal their displeasure over the nuclear talks.
"I don't think they have a deep respect, a deep trust for Obama and his promises. There is a fundamental difference between his vision of post-nuclear-deal Iran and their vision," he said. "They think Iran is a destabilizing force and will remain so, probably even more, if the sanctions are lifted. ... They're just not seeing things eye to eye."
Check out this video:
Posted Monday, May 11, 2015 11:22 AM
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All of Queen Hillary's horses...
When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1991-92, their war room operations were second to none. Hillary's press operations are second to everyone. Check out this video:
Here's the transcript of what Bill Clinton, Brian Fallon, John Podesta and James Carville said:
BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even the guy that wrote the book apparently, had to admit under questioning that he didn't have a shred of evidence for this. He just sort of thought he would throw it out there and see if it'd fly.
BRIAN FALLON: It's full of sloppy research and attacks pulled out of thin air with no actual evidence.
JOHN PODESTA: It's a book that's written by a former Bush operative. He's cherry-picked information that's been disclosed and woven a bunch of conspiracy theories about it.
JAMES CARVILLE: There's everything here but that she did anything -- this is spaghetti journalism. There's throw spaghetti at the wall and hope something sticks.
Here's the transcript for Peter Schweizer's response to Team Clinton's ineffective response:
KELLY: Joining us now is the spaghetti maker, Peter Schweizer, author of "Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich."
Peter, good to see you. So, I mean, obviously, what those clips show is they are a little worried about you. And that's obvious. But their main line of attack seems to be, there's no there there, there's smoking gun. Something you've admitted yourself.
PETER SCHWEIZER, AUTHOR, "CLINTON CASH": Well, what I argue is the smoking gun, I don't have an e-mail that says, do this and we'll give you money. What I do have is a pattern of behavior that I think is very troubling. And the pattern is revealed in dozens of examples where there's an influx of money to the Clintons. Hillary Clinton and shortly thereafter takes favorable actions for the individuals who are giving them the money. You can look at one of two of these, Megyn, and say, come on, it's a coincidence. But when you see it replicated dozens of times, I think it warrants serious investigation by people that have subpoena power that can look at e-mails, that can look at correspondence.
KELLY: They don't seem to think it counts unless there is direct proof. They don't seem to believe in circumstantial evidence when it comes to their behavior.
SCHWEIZER: Yes, that's exactly right. I mean, here's what I like to say, Megyn. Imagine three years from now we have a secretary of defense not named Clinton and she has a private foundation with her husband and a small company has business before the Pentagon, needs Pentagon approval for something and the shareholders in that company send $145 million to that family foundation. Are people going to just ask them, did anything happen here and we're going to take their word that everything was good? Of course not, we would investigate and look into it except for the fact that when it involves the Clintons they seem to operate on a level that's very different than anybody else in American politics.
KELLY: What should happen though? Because now she is going to testify before the Benghazi committee, at least. So, I mean, that she'll get asked and she will have to answer, correct?
SCHWEIZER: Yes, you know, I don't know in terms of the committee what the scope of their questioning is going to be, but look, I think we need to have somebody that has subpoena power look into some of these deals. We need to look at some of the inflated speaking fees that Bill Clinton got as she was considering everything from the Keystone Pipeline to issues related to sanctions on Iran.
KELLY: Who would look into it? Who specifically? I mean, O'Reilly is looking for the FBI to do it. Who specifically?
SCHWEIZER: Well, I think the FBI is an excellent suggestion. You could have Congressional committees do it. Frankly, I think I'd like to see somebody with subpoena power that is a prosecutor, possibly even convene a grand jury. I mean, look, you look at the Menendez case, you look at the case down in Virginia, you look out in Oregon with Keith Saber (ph), the pattern of behavior here is somewhat similar. And it is crying out for further investigation.
This is the part where Schweizer blows Bill Clinton out of the water:
I don't have an e-mail that says, do this and we'll give you money. What I do have is a pattern of behavior that I think is very troubling. And the pattern is revealed in dozens of examples where there's an influx of money to the Clintons. Hillary Clinton and shortly thereafter takes favorable actions for the individuals who are giving them the money. You can look at one of two of these, Megyn, and say, come on, it's a coincidence. But when you see it replicated dozens of times, I think it warrants serious investigation by people that have subpoena power that can look at e-mails, that can look at correspondence.
Like Schweizer said, if this happened once or twice, chalk it up to coincidence. When the same thing happens dozens of times and the outcome is always the same, that's a pattern. Patterns aren't coincidences. Here's the definition for coincidence :
a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance.
Here's the definition for pattern :
a combination of qualities, acts, tendencies, etc., forming a consistent or characteristic arrangement .
Hillary's rapid response team aren't top notch. They're leftovers who've hung around long after their sell-by date. John Podesta? James Carville? Lanny Davis? Seriously? They belong in the political geriatric ward, not on the campaign trail.
Thus far, Hillary's campaign has been a blast from the past. She isn't a fresh face peddling fresh ideas. She isn't energetic like Obama was. She's overstaged and overchoreographed. All of the queen's horses and all of the queen's messengers can't put Hillary's campaign back together again.
What's worst for Hillary is that she isn't the dynamic candidate Bill or Obama was. She's just Hillary.
Posted Monday, May 11, 2015 1:23 PM
Comment 1 by Rex Newman at 12-May-15 04:58 PM
So where then did their $150 million increase in net worth come from?
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 12-May-15 08:27 PM
Rex, that was flown in by the Clintons' herd of unicorns.
Gov. Dayton, Lt. Gov. Smith campaign for Hillary
With less than a week left in the Minnesota legislature's regular session, Gov. Dayton and Lt. Gov. Tina Smith aren't negotiating with legislators to prevent a state government shutdown. Instead, Gov. Dayton and Lt. Gov. Smith will spend Tuesday campaigning for Hillary Clinton :
The Dayton/Smith Democrat duo should be focused on the important decisions to be made about the future of our State during the final days of the legislative session. Instead, they are focused on campaigning for Hillary Clinton and her out-of-touch agenda.
Rather than working with fellow Minnesota leaders, Gov. Dayton and Lt. Gov. Smith will be busy campaigning for Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Their actions continue a pattern of unfortunate priorities and bad ideas that have been in place for over four years, as Democrat leadership at the Capitol has led Minnesota backwards.
This is additional proof that Gov. Dayton isn't worried about a potential state government shutdown. If there is a shutdown, the blame for that shutdown falls exclusively on Gov. Dayton's shoulders . It's apparent that Gov. Dayton and the DFL think that they'll 'win the shutdown'. It's apparent that they're more worried about pleasing their special interest allies than they're worried about doing what's right for blue collar Minnesotans.
Gov. Dayton isn't for 'the little people'. He's for the least transparent presidential candidate in the race. He's for the presidential candidate most attached to Wall Street's lobbyists. Gov. Dayton isn't ready to govern but he's Ready for Hillary:
Posted Monday, May 11, 2015 3:29 PM
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Sen. Cruz accepts Halperin's apology
Last weekend, Mark Halperin found himself in the middle of an intense political firestorm because his interview came across to many as questioning Sen. Cruz's Hispanic credentials. This afternoon, Halperin apologized. Later this afternoon, Sen. Cruz graciously accepted Halperin's apology . Here's what started the firestorm:
In the interview, Halperin asked Cruz about his favorite Cuban food and Cuban music. He then asked the Texan to welcome Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) into the 2016 race 'en Espanol.' "Your last name is Cruz and you're from Texas. Just based on that, should you have appeal to Hispanic voters?"? Halperin also asked.
Here's Sen. Cruz's response to Halperin's apology:
Cruz praised Halperin in a Monday Facebook post as a "serious and fair-minded journalist" who asked "some silly questions." "The apology was unnecessary; no offense was taken, nor, I believe, intended; but is certainly appreciated," Cruz said.
Sen. Cruz would've been justified if he went ballistic responding to Halperin's interview. Instead, he reacted with grace by taking the high ground. Not only that but he probably gained a friend in Halperin by the way he handled the situation.
By responding gracefully, Sen. Cruz showed that the left's accusations that he's just a bomb-throwing conservative back bencher are baseless. He's a principled man, something that the Totalitarian Left isn't used to.
Posted Monday, May 11, 2015 4:02 PM
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Lanny Davis 'helps' Hillary Clinton
If you watch this video and can't understand why Lanny Davis is now on Hillary's frenemies list, you might be a liberal:
Here's part of Mr. Davis said on C-SPAN's Washington Journal Monday morning:
LANNY DAVIS: When I was raised in the 1950s -- I'm sure I'm showing my age -- there was a gentleman named Sen. Joseph McCarthy who held up a piece of paper and said "I have here in my hand 400 people working at the State Department who may be Communists. Headlines across the United States. The words may be are no different than Mr. Schweizer, who I give credit for never saying I have a single fact suggesting a speaking fee or a donation is connected to Secretary Clinton's policy decisions.
Here's Schweizer's response:
PETER SCHWEIZER: You know, I think it's crazy. On the one hand, they're saying the book is a dud, there's nothing in the book but their actions say otherwise. ... It shows me that they're very scared and concerned about the contents of this book.
Schweizer's onto something. It's difficult to fit the thought that the book is total nonsense but that Schweizer is as disgustingly as Joseph McCarthy even while admitting that Schweizer is essentially an honest guy.
I wrote this post to highlight the old geezers and intellectual lightweights who are defending Hillary. Old-timers like James Carville, Lanny Davis and John Podesta aren't going to connect with young people. They're machine operatives who've glided past their sell-by dates.
While Davis was dragging up McCarthy's ghost, Schweizer was highlighting Hillary's skeletons with a deftness not seen from the 'Under-the-Hill-Gang'.
Hillary's campaign feels more like the last hurrah of Bill's campaign than it feels like it's Hillary's fresh launch to the White House. If elections are about the future, then Hillary's 'Under-the-Hill-Gang' operation will bury Hillary in 17 months.
Posted Monday, May 11, 2015 10:52 PM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 12-May-15 01:53 PM
Gary:
Is Lanny crazier than I thought. I thought what got Sen McGarthy into trouble was he said he had a list and never showed it. In this the list that Peter has is shown and he has explained why they might have successfully corrupted the Clintons.
Not to mention it shows when Hillary sold out America for America.
It seems part of the problem with this reasoning by Lanny is that Peter is far more detailed than Mcgarthy ever was.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
