October 25, 2014
Oct 25 01:54 When Biden is right, he's right Oct 25 09:30 Westrom inspires, Peterson equivocates Oct 25 10:45 John Chisholm's McCarthyite tactics Oct 25 17:46 Are DCCC's ads backfiring? Oct 25 18:35 Is Ernst in Iowa driver seat? Oct 25 23:16 Identifying the Democrats' priorities
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
When Biden is right, he's right
Campaigning with Rick Nolan in the Eighth District, the gaffemeister made another appearance :
It was appropriate that Vice President Joe Biden spoke at an Iron Range community college during a campaign rally for 8th District U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan Thursday afternoon. The vice president's speech was professorial at times, citing data from several studies that he said proved the rich are getting richer at the expense of the country's middle class, which he said 'is getting crushed.'
Vice President Biden's speech is an unintentional indictment of the President Obama's administration. The policies in place affect job creation, wage growth and other important economic realities. By saying that the nation's middle class "is getting crushed", Biden was indicting President Obama's policies, starting with Obamacare.
President Obama can't claim to be the man that saved the economy one minute, then say that someone else's policies are crushing the middle class the next minute. Either his policies work or they don't. Though he and Vice President Biden won't admit it, they've gotten the policies they've pushed for. Their policies are the ones in place that are hurting middle class families. The Obama-Biden policies haven't worked. Their policies have prevented the Keystone XL Pipeline from getting built.
Thanks to that Obama-Biden policy, Minnesota farmers can't get their crops to market and Minnesota miners can't get their ore to port before Lake Superior freezes over.
Vice President Biden is the gift that keeps giving. It's one thing when Biden does something like this:
Everyone chuckled when they saw that video. It's a boneheaded mistake made by a bonehead. It's another Bidenism.
Saying that the middle class is "getting crushed", however, is different. That isn't a boneheaded mistake. It's a truth that Iron Rangers know altogether too well. The percentage of Minnesotans living below the poverty line is 11.2% . In St. Louis County, though, that percentage shoots up to 16.1%. By comparison, 8% of people living in Sherburne County live below the poverty line. St. Louis County, which has the biggest number of votes in Nolan's district, has 50% more people living under the poverty line than the statewide average. The percentage of people living below the poverty line in Sherburne County is half that of St. Louis County.
The truth be told, there isn't much of a middle class in Hibbing, where Thursday's rally was held. Income disparity is the rule, not the exception. Thanks to Vice President Biden, Rick Nolan is faced with the challenge of running against a top tier opponent while defending the Obama administration's economic policies.
Posted Saturday, October 25, 2014 1:54 AM
No comments.
Westrom inspires, Peterson equivocates
Friday night, Collin Peterson collided with Torrey Westrom in a debate. Here's the video for the entire debate:
Saying that it was contentious is understatement. It was also inspirational and infuriating. This clip fits into the infuriating category:
Here's what Collin Peterson said in defending his decision not to vote for Obamacare:
PETERSON: I didn't vote for this bill. The reason I didn't vote for it -- the reason I didn't vote for it is because I actually read the bill, which a lot of people didn't.
That's the first time Peterson said he'd read the bill prior to passing it. That runs contrary to what then-Speaker Pelosi said:
Here are her infamous words:
But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what's in it.
The key point in all this is that, if it's true, Collin Peterson knew what was in the bill but didn't criticize the ACA. It's one thing to stay silent on a bill you mildly disagree with. It's almost justifiable if you think it might work. There was nothing in the ACA that suggested it would work.
For instance, if Peterson actually read the bill, he would've known that people couldn't keep the plans they liked. Sitting silent while that abomination hits the American people is despicable. Edmund Burke got it right with this famous quote :
'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.'
Collin Peterson did nothing. As a result, people in the Seventh District are getting bad news. Torrey Westrom is definitely speaking up about it:
'All you need to do is travel the district and talk to the small business owners that are getting renewal notices from their employees,' Westrom responded. 'They're seeing 40, 50, 60, 80% increases. I just talked to a person in my home county two weeks ago at the coffee shop, and they said they're seeing a 100 percent increase because of Obamacare. That is a critical, a big concern, and why I am pushing that we need to repeal Obamacare, different from the congressman.'
Torrey Westrom's closing statement was inspirational. Here's that closing statement:
Saying that he returned to bailing hay on the family farm just a year after permanently losing his sight is inspirational. I'd be remiss if I didn't say that I appreciated Westrom's statement that "even I can see that Washington is broken."
Torrey's sense of humor, combined with Torrey's can-do attitude speak to one thing: that Torrey will be a positive, powerful force in Washington, DC.
Posted Saturday, October 25, 2014 9:30 AM
No comments.
John Chisholm's McCarthyite tactics
I've believed that John Chisholm, the Milwaukee County District Attorney, was a vindictive partisan prosecutor long before George Will wrote this column . Will's column chief contribution is that it focuses attention on several key points that should receive additional highlighting. Here's one such point:
The early-morning paramilitary-style raids on citizens' homes were conducted by law enforcement officers, sometimes wearing bulletproof vests and lugging battering rams, pounding on doors and issuing threats. Spouses were separated as the police seized computers, including those of children still in pajamas. Clothes drawers, including the children's, were ransacked, cellphones were confiscated and the citizens were told that it would be a crime to tell anyone of the raids.
Some raids were precursors of, others were parts of, the nastiest episode of this unlovely political season, an episode that has occurred in an unlikely place. This attempted criminalization of politics to silence people occupying just one portion of the political spectrum has happened in Wisconsin, which often has conducted robust political arguments with Midwestern civility.
That's what the threats and intimidation wing of the Democratic Party looks like. John Chisholm is a thug with institutionalized authority to ruin innocent people's lives. He's the 'leader' of the Wisconsin chapter of the Democratic Party's threats and intimidation wing.
In collaboration with Wisconsin's misbegotten Government Accountability Board, which exists to regulate political speech, Chisholm has misinterpreted Wisconsin campaign law in a way that looks willful. He has done so to justify a 'John Doe' process that has searched for evidence of 'coordination' between Walker's campaign and conservative issue advocacy groups.
On Oct. 14, much too late in the campaign season to rescue the political-participation rights of conservative groups, a federal judge affirmed what Chisholm surely has known all along: Since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling 38 years ago, the only coordination that is forbidden is between candidates and independent groups that go beyond issue advocacy to 'express advocacy', explicitly advocating the election or defeat of a particular candidate.
Why Wisconsin ever passed these John Doe laws is inexplicable. It's authority to start a fishing expedition, something that's contrary to the principles of probable cause and the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Chisholm's goal might've already been achieved:
But Chisholm's aim, to have a chilling effect on conservative speech, has been achieved by bombarding Walker supporters with raids and subpoenas: Instead of raising money to disseminate their political speech, conservative individuals and groups, harassed and intimidated, have gone into a defensive crouch, raising little money and spending much money on defensive litigation. Liberal groups have not been targeted for their activities that are indistinguishable from those of their conservative counterparts.
I've written before about weaponized government. Chisholm's investigation (I hate using that term in this context) fits that description perfectly. It's the personification of weaponized government.
It's worth noting this sentence:
Liberal groups have not been targeted for their activities that are indistinguishable from those of their conservative counterparts.
I've seen nasty forms of weaponized government but this is the nastiest form of it. Law enforcement officials participating in this should be investigated, too. Their actions furthered this unconstitutional exercise of abusive government. Hans Spakovsky's op-ed nails it:
Oral arguments were heard Tuesday before the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in O'Keefe vs. Chisholm, the so-called John Doe investigation in which local prosecutors in Wisconsin tried to criminalize political speech and activity on public issues. The 7th Circuit should uphold the lower court decision halting this Star Chamber investigation that violated basic First Amendment rights.
The fact that such a secret persecution of citizen advocacy organizations even occurred ought to be an embarrassment to a state that prides itself on being a progressive bastion of individual freedom. It is more reminiscent of a banana republic than the world's foremost democracy.
Chisholm should be disbarred for intentionally violating private citizens' civil rights. Then he should be tried and, hopefully, be convicted, then incarcerated for many years. He's a nasty person helping the Democratic Party chill political speech. Saying that his actions are intimidating and that his tactics are the type that would be approved of by Joe McCarthy is understatement.
Posted Saturday, October 25, 2014 4:09 PM
Comment 1 by AnokaTony at 26-Oct-14 10:44 PM
It's a good thing that George Will has joined the obnoxiously partisan Fox News, so he can no longer do any damage posing as objective.
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 26-Oct-14 11:52 PM
I'm curious, Tony. What part of this investigation sounds legitimate? When government seizes children's computers & spouses cell phones, does that sound legitimate? When law enforcement officers wearing bulletproof vests and lugging battering rams raid a home, does that sound legitimate? When spouses are separated while police seize computers, including the children's computers, does that sound legitimate. When clothes drawers are ransacked, does that sound legitimate? When law enforcement tells these victims that they're forbidden to tell anyone about these questionable searches, does that sound legitimate?
Would you say the same thing if Republicans were raiding Democrats' places while using these Gestapo-like tactics? I'm betting you wouldn't be nearly as tolerant. Take off the partisan blinders. There's no such thing as acceptable corruption.
Are DCCC's ads backfiring?
Catherine Richert's article suggests a significant anti-DCCC backlash forming against Rick Nolan:
In the end, life-long Democrat Andy Larson's decision to vote for Republican Stewart Mills over DFL incumbent Rick Nolan came down to the ads he's seeing every day on television. "I'm very disappointed in my fellow party members in the types of advertisements just attacking Mr. Mills for his wealth," Larson said. "It's completely unwarranted. It's really turned me off."
Larson isn't the only Democrat disgusted with the DCCC's ads:
Paul Lemenager, a video producer in Duluth, feels the same way about the ads, which are coming from outside groups, not Nolan's campaign. But he also says Mills' business experience is attractive.
"The fact that his family owns a business and understands what it takes to develop a business and jobs and to put a business into the black," Lemenager said. "Nolan has taken on the tone of a career politician. We have so much of that in Washington. We really need someone who understands what it takes to pull out of the slump economically."
The Obama economy is the weakest economic recovery since the end of World War II. President Obama's policies have contributed directly to this current stagnation. There isn't a dime's worth of difference between President Obama's economic plan and Rick Nolan's voting record. Whatever President Obama wants, Rick Nolan votes for.
The thing that hasn't gotten talked about, though, is that Stewart Mills isn't a trust fund baby who's never worked a day in his life. That's just the propaganda that the DCCC and Nancy Pelosi's superPAC have spread since the start of the campaign. Unlike our governor, Stewart Mills has had professional, private sector responsibilities for which he's been rewarded financially. He's made things work. He's grown the Mills Fleet Farm chain. Lots of people are employed through that retail chain.
If it isn't Stewart's way to talk about his successes, then I'll tout them. Stewart Mills is obviously doing things right. Mills Fleet Farm is growing, partially because they self-insure their employees. That means they don't have to deal with the ACA's regulations and taxes. Their stores are growing more profitable because they're the ultimate blue collar retail chain. People in the Eighth District like the Mills chain because it's got the types of things people use frequently.
It's hard to characterize Stewart Mills as an out-of-touch rich kid when the retail chain he runs specializes in selling things that middle class families want.
Frankly, I've thought that the DCCC's ads and the ads from Pelosi's superPAC were way over the top. They aren't substantive ads, which is what many voters are looking for. These voters aren't looking for the Democrats' negativity. They're looking for solutions and common sense.
If voters elect Stewart Mills, that's exactly what they'll get. That's why the DCCC's ads are backfiring.
Posted Saturday, October 25, 2014 5:46 PM
No comments.
Is Ernst in Iowa driver seat?
Based on this article , things are looking grim for the Democrats holding Tom Harkin's Senate seat:
Joni Ernst is back to 'hogging' Iowa airwaves, as she barrels into Election Day with another pig-themed ad , a slight edge over her Democratic rival in the polls and a significant fundraising advantage.
This race is Ernst's to lose. Thus far, I haven't seen anything that suggests she'll mess up. Ernst's latest ad is fantastic. Here's the transcript:
It's a mess. It's dirty, noisy and it stinks. Not this lot. I'm talking about the one in Washington. Too many typical politicians hogging, wasting and full of -- well, let's just say bad ideas. It's time to stop spending money we don't have and balance the budget. I'm Joni Ernst and I approve this message because cleaning up the mess in Washington is going to take a whole lot of Iowa common sense.
The thing that people haven't talked about yet is the two parties' GOTV operations. At this point, Republicans are outdistancing Democrats:
The latest good omen for Republicans was in early voting and absentee ballots, where the party says more registered Republicans than Democrats are voting early for the first time in modern-Iowa election history.
For days, I've heard Democrats talking about how their GOTV was a major reason why they still had hope of keeping their Senate majority. If Iowa is a bellwether, then some of the polling that we're seeing won't pick up the Republicans' strength until the polls close.
That certainly isn't something that Democrats want to think of as a possibility.
David Yepsen, director of the Southern Illinois Paul Simon Public Policy Institute and former chief political reporter for the Des Moines Register, said Ernst would be wise to campaign on issues like President Obama, foreign policy, the economy, and jobs and stay away from social issues.
'She needs to stay on a soft conservative message,' said Yepsen, adding he thinks the Ernst campaign will stay fairly quiet on them for the remainder of the race. 'Social issues aren't a winning issue for Republicans as they used to be, so don't talk about it.'
To that end, Republicans have been hitting Braley on foreign policy, especially on the Islamic State threat. Ernst, a member of the Iowa National Guard who has served in Iraq, said in a press release that Braley is 'disengaged' and 'he doesn't even know what he's voted on,' when it came to airstrikes in Syria. Ernst also called Braley 'wishy-washy' on the issue of ISIS during a campaign stop. Braley's campaign has fought back on these claims.
Pardon the pun but this isn't the battlefield that Braley wants to fight on. He wants to fight on the 'War on women battlefield'. Frankly, I don't see that gaining traction. It hasn't thus far. Why think it'll change right before the election?
This race will be decided by the GOTV operations and Joni Ernst being the most likable, most approachable and, most importantly, most qualified candidate in the race.
Posted Saturday, October 25, 2014 6:35 PM
No comments.
Identifying the Democrats' priorities
Ed Morrissey's post about Hillary's intellectually dishonest statements about who creates jobs is statistically enlightening. Here's what I'm talking about:
In June 2007, the Household Survey of the BLS showed that the US economy had 146.063 million jobs in June 2007, just before the increase took place. Last month's data showed that the US economy had 146.6 million jobs, an increase of less than 500,000 in over 7 years, not 'millions of jobs' as Hillary claims here. In fact, the 146.6 million is the highest it's ever gotten since the passage of that law. In the same period, the civilian workforce participation rate has gone from 66% to 62.7%. On a population basis, there are a lot fewer people working after the last minimum wage hike, not more, and wages are actually down, not up.
Compare this to the 'trickle-down' era of the Reagan presidency. When Reagan took office in January 1981, the US economy had 99.995 million jobs and the participation rate was 63.9%. By the end of his presidency in January 1989, the US economy had grown more than 16 million jobs (116.708 million total) and the participation rate had leaped to 66.5%. That covers nearly the same length of time since the last minimum wage hike (96 months vs. 89 months), but both include about five years of technical economic recovery.
At the end of the article, Ed made this statement:
At some point, Democrats are going to have to come to grips with the fact that their front-runner is not just a lousy campaigner, but perhaps just as incompetent as the President from which they're all attempting to run away at the moment.
There's no doubt that Hillary is a terrible campaigner. That's a subjective opinion, though. The job creation and labor force participation rates earlier are objective, quantifiable statistics.
Another part of that last commentary is that Democrats will "have to come to grips with the fact that" their frontrunner is just "as incompetent as the President" that they're running away from. I suspect that they already know that. I'm betting that they simply don't care whether she's competent or not. I'm betting that their support for her will be based totally on whether she can win in November, 2016. If the answer to that is yes, they'll support her. If the answer to that question is no, they'll try finding a better alternative.
The point I'm making is that today's Democratic Party is based almost entirely on fulfilling their ideological checklist, not on doing what's best for America. It certainly isn't about creating jobs or making life better for the average American.
Republicans everywhere need to repeatedly remind themselves that Democrats are almost totally about gaining, then maintaining control of the levers of government. Public policy is a distant priority that they generally don't get to.
Here's the video of Hillary's boneheaded statements:
It's terrifying to say but Hillary and Obama are no Bill Clinton. That's a frightening thought.
Posted Saturday, October 25, 2014 11:16 PM
No comments.
