DFLer Behaves Badly at Community Forum

I attended the Rochester Post-Bulletin Dialogues community forum Thursday night and what a treat it was. Former Minnesota House Representative Carla Nelson and former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court Sandy Keith were chosen as panelists in what was billed as "a conversation about politics-- from the presidential level to local elections -- and legislative action to date."

The forum started badly, however, when wild-eyed DFL activist Mark Fredrickson tried to monopolize the discussion by casting aspersions on the composition of the panel. He objected to the fact that Carla Nelson is a Republican and that Sandy Keith supposedly leans that way. His faulty conclusion was that the panel lacked "balance." His partisan diatribe lasted longer than it should have.

Mr. Fredrickson was rude and impudent as if befits DFL party hacks. Sandy stood up and told Mr. Fredrickson to take his seat if he was not satisfied with the composition of the panel. Mr. Fredrickson balked and retreated like bullies do when decent folk stand up to them, though.

Frank Hawthorne, a local DFL party officer/hatchet man, union activist and pseudo-intellectual bloviator took offense online at the P-B's choice of Sandy Keith as one of the panelists as well. According to Mr. Hawthorne,

Though a DFL-er in his younger days, and a fine civic-minded guy till this moment, Judge Keith has shown by words, actions, and contributions to candidates in recent years that he is 99% Republican.Would the PB like the names of some equally articulate local Democrats for such forums?

I challenged Mr. Hawthorne to produce the names of "equally articulate local Democrats" who could hold a candle, or even a matchstick, to Sandy Keith. I would be interested to see who makes his list.

Sandy Keith has no equals locally or elsewhere. He is head and shoulders above any Republican or Democrat in the state - both intellectually as well as in terms of civic experience and maturity. Anyone who says anything different is either woefully ignorant or deliberately misleading.

Sandy is still a Democrat, by the way. The party abandoned him when it veered sharply to the left over the years.

Sandy is a friend and a mentor. I am privileged to know him. Despite bitter DFLer's feculent ageist comments, Sandy was in excellent form last night and as always. His mind is sharper than ever and there is a fighting spirit in him that young bucks like me long to have. Rochester is fortunate to have such an energetic and experienced civic leader spearheading the downtown renovation initiative. And I am personally blessed to count him as one of my dearest friends.

It's not surprising that the Saran Wrap-thin skinned Tina Liebling and Ann Lynch called the P-B newsroom late afternoon on Thursday to whine about the composition of the panel and the fact they were not invited to participate. I am glad they were nowhere to be seen last night.

Ann Lynch is consistently boring, often scripted and frequently incoherent. The consensus around town is that she is definitely not Mensa material.

Carla Nelson's sane representation of Rochester in the Minnesota Legislature is desperately missed. DFLer Tina Liebling, who now misrepresents District 30A, is an embarrassment to herself and her constituents. I've heard a DFL legislator say how embarrassed HE gets whenever she takes the floor of the Minnesota House.

Liebling's voting record is appalling. Parenthetically, I am readying a profile on her soon, so watch this blog closely over the next few days. Liebling consistently votes against the values and interests of the people she is supposed to represent.

One only needs to read the daily editorial page of any newspaper or watch a number of Sunday political shows to see what the leftist idea of "balance" is.

The liberal viewpoint is invariably overrepresented in the so-called mainstream media. And that's OK with liberals. They claim, hypocritically, to be tolerant. Challenge their left-of-center dogmas, however and you get the full brunt of their intolerance and vitriol.

DFL Haters Refuse to Confirm Molnau

Senate ditches MnDOT commissioner
2/28/2008 1:00:48 PM
By Martiga LohnAssociated Press

ST. PAUL -- Minnesota lawmakers threw the state's transportation commissioner out of office on Thursday, some six months after the Minneapolis bridge collapse crystallized discontent over her leadership.

State senators voted 44-22 against confirming Carol Molnau, who also doubles as Gov. Tim Pawlenty's lieutenant governor. The vote was widely expected since the chamber is controlled by Democrats, who have long seen Molnau as an obstacle to increased spending on roads and transit.

Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller blamed Molnau for standing with Pawlenty as he rejected bills that would have given her department more money. He recalled watching a video that showed her smiling and laughing a few years ago as the governor vetoed a road spending bill.

"She told committees over and over and over again that we didn't need the money," said Pogemiller, a Minneapolis Democrat. "I just think that goes to the point of whether the type of leadership that is necessary has been delivered."

Sen. Steve Murphy, a longtime Molnau antagonist who chairs the transportation committee, was more forceful.

"Carol Molnau has done an awful job as commissioner, period," he said.

Republicans on the losing side of the party-line vote said Democrats had ruined the reputation of "a wonderful individual, a fine public servant, a person who didn't deserve this at all," in the words of Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem. He also warned the move could taint the rest of the legislative session.

"Carol Molnau, hold your head high because you deserve it," said Sen. Betsy Wergin, R-Princeton.

The intellectually lazy who say people who oppose Hillary's candidacy are misogynists are strangely silent regarding Carol Molnau's ouster as transportation commissioner.

Steve Murphy is a hater. Murphy was on TV tonight lying about how the DFL's refusal to confirm Molnau had nothing to do with the I-35W bridge collapse.

Senate DFL leader Larry Pogemiller is a pathetically embarrassing political figure. Leadership to him means spending government money needlessly. For the sake of consistency, perhaps the DFL should oust Pogemiller as well while they are at it. Talk about incompetence and lack of effectiveness.

The DFL majority in the Minnesota House and Senate is out of control. It's time to send them packing. We have a wonderful opportunity this fall to bring renewal, sobriety and sanity to the Minnesota House of Representatives. Let's toss out Welti, Liebling and Norton this year. Too bad we will have to wait a little longer to ditch Lynch as well.

Tweedledee and Tweedledum

"In the last several debates I seem to get the first question all the time. I don't mind. I'll be happy to field it. I just find it curious if anybody saw "Saturday Night Live," maybe we should ask Barack if he's comfortable and needs another pillow."

-- Hillary Clinton whining about the fact that the liberal media like Obama and not her at the opening of their latest primary debate.

Clinton, Obama debate in Ohio
By DAVID ESPO

AP Special Correspondent

CLEVELAND - Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama clashed over trade, health care and the war in Iraq Tuesday night in a crackling debate at close quarters one week before a pivotal group of primaries.

Charges of negative campaign tactics were high on the program, too. Clinton said Obama's campaign had recently sent out mass mailings with false information about her health care proposal, adding, "it is almost as though the health insurance companies and the Republicans wrote it."

When it was his turn to speak, Obama said Clinton's campaign has "constantly sent out negative attacks on us ... We haven't whined about it because I understand that's the nature of these campaigns."

The tone was polite yet pointed, increasingly so as the 90-minute session wore on, a reflection of the stakes in a race in which Obama has won 11 straight primaries and caucuses and Clinton is in desperate need of a comeback.

Clinton also said as far as she knew her campaign had nothing to do with circulating a photograph of Obama wearing a white turban and a wraparound white robe presented to him by elders in Wajir, in northeastern Kenya.

Hillary is tanking. Fast. Her campaign is improvising. They have no credible tactic to combat Obama's popularity with Democrats and the media. Everything they do backfires. The "Clinton magic" has lost its power.

Hillary's contention that she had nothing to do with circulating a picture of Barack Obama wearing a turban is just not credible, particularly since her very racially divisive campaigns in Nevada and South Carolina.

Obama is indeed getting a free ride from the drive-by media because he is a better story than Hillary "Yesterday's News" Clinton.

Recall Petitions, Anyone?

How the House voted on the transportation bill veto override
2/25/2008 4:50:46 PM
Associated Press

ST. PAUL -- Votes Monday as the House, on a 91-41 vote, decided to override a veto from Gov. Tim Pawlenty on a transportation measure that would pay for newconstruction with tax increases. Voting yes were 85 Democrats and 6 Republicans. Voting no were 41 Republicans.

Here's how our area's House members voted:

MN HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTING YES

Liebling (Rochester)

E-mail: rep.tina.liebling@house.mn

Norton (Rochester)

E-mail: rep.kim.norton@house.mn

Welti (Plainview)

E-mail: rep.andy.welti@house.mn

REPUBLICANS VOTING NO

Demmer (Hayfield)

E-mail: rep.randy.demmer@house.mn

Drazkowski (Wabasha)
E-mail: rep.steve.drazkowski@house.mm

As for the senate, 45 Democrats and 2 Republicans voted to override. Twenty Republicans did the right thing and voted no. Here's how our area's state senators voted.

MN SENATE DEMOCRATS VOTING YES

Erickson Ropes (Winona)
Email Address: sen.sharon.erickson.ropes@senate.mn

Lynch (Rochester)

Email Address: sen.ann.lynch@senate.mn

And here's the Republican In Name Only (RINO) Hall of Shame:

MN HOUSE REPUBLICANS VOTING YES

Abeler (Anoka)
E-mail: rep.jim.abeler@house.mn

Erhardt (Edina)
E-mail: rep.ron.erhardt@house.mn

Hamilton (Mountain Lake)
E-mail: rep.rod.hamilton@house.mn

Heidgerken (Freeport)

E-mail: rep.bud.heidgerken@house.mn

Peterson (Bloomington)
E-mail: rep.neil.peterson@house.mn

Tingelstad (Andover)

E-mail: rep.kathy.tingelstad@house.mn

MN SENATE REPUBLICANS VOTING YES

Dille (Dassel)

Email Address: sen.steve.dille@senate.mn

Frederickson (New Ulm)

Email Address: sen.dennis.frederickson@senate.mn

Fish wrap

New York Times ombudsman slams article on McCain

Feb 23 06:48 PM US/Eastern

The New York Times' ombudsman strongly criticized the newspaper's insinuation this week that White House hopeful John McCain had a tryst with a female lobbyist 31 years his junior, nearly 10 years ago.

"The newspaper found itself in the uncomfortable position of being the story as much as publishing the story, in large part because, although it raised one of the most toxic subjects in politics -- sex -- it offered readers no proof that McCain and(Vicki) Iseman had a romance," public editor Clark Hoyte wrote in the Times' online edition.

In an article signed by four reporters that raised more backlash against the daily than the candidate, the Times Thursday cited unnamed McCain advisers who, "convinced the relationship had become romantic," had asked Iseman to keep away from the senator.

"The article was notable for what it did not say," wrote Hoyte in his column to be published Sunday. "It did not say what convinced the advisers that there was a romance.

"It did not make clear what McCain was admitting when he acknowledged behaving inappropriately -- an affair or just an association with a lobbyist that could look bad," he said of alleged comments McCain made to his advisers.

Hoyt also criticized Times executive editor Bill Keller's explanation that the article's main thrust was not the alleged affair but the political favors the Republican bestowed on a lobbyist, which Hoyt said "ignored the scarlet elephant in the room."

"A newspaper cannot begin a story about the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee with the suggestion of an extramarital affair with an attractive lobbyist 31 years his junior and expect readers to focus on anything other than what most of them did. ... The stakes are just too big."

The NY Times hit job on McCain was just that -- a hit job. And a poor one at that. They were working on the story when they endorsed McCain's primary bid for the Republican nomination for president. We should have known that they were already setting him up to take him down.

It's no wonder conservative blogger Michelle Malkin calls the NY Times "fish wrap." The Old Gray Lady has lost all credibility. Pity.

Broke

Spending by Clinton Campaign Worries Supporters
By MICHAEL LUO, JO BECKER and PATRICK HEALY

Nearly $100,000 went for party platters and groceries before the Iowa caucuses, even though the partying mood evaporated quickly. Rooms at the Bellagio luxury hotel in Las Vegas consumed more than $25,000; the Four Seasons, another $5,000. And top consultants collected about $5 million in January, a month of crucial expenses and tough fund-raising.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s latest campaign finance report, published Wednesday night, appeared even to her most stalwart supporters and donors to be a road map of her political and management failings. Several of them, echoing political analysts, expressed concerns that Mrs. Clinton’s spending priorities amounted to costly errors in judgment that have hamstrung her competitiveness against Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

“We didn’t raise all of this money to keep paying consultants who have pursued basically the wrong strategy for a year now,” said a prominent New York donor. “So much about her campaign needs to change — but it may be too late.”

Nice to hear someone finally admit that Hillary is pursuing the wrong strategy. That's a beginning. Now if they would just admit that she is the wrong candidate.

Hillary is behaving as she always has. She believes she is royalty and should spend as such. Just look at what Hillary's contributors' money is being spent on.

In other notable expenditures during the lean month of January, Mrs. Clinton paid $275,000 to Sunrise Communications, a South Carolina firm that was supposed to turn out black voters for her and collected nearly $800,000 in total. She lost that state to Mr. Obama by a wide margin. Even small expenses piled up in January: the campaign spent more than $11,000 on pizza and $1,200 on Dunkin’ Donuts runs.

Dunkin' Donut runs? That explains the pantsuits.

I really love this paragraph:

As part of their get-out-the-vote effort in Iowa, the campaign came up with a plan to have a local supermarket deliver sandwich platters to pre-caucus parties. It spent more than $95,384 on Jan. 1 at Hy-Vee Inc., a local grocery chain in West Des Moines, Iowa, in addition to buying loads of snow shovels to clear the walks for caucusgoers. Mrs. Clinton came in third in the Jan. 3 caucus. It did not snow.

Certifiable

Obama wins Wis. for 9th straight triumph
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama cruised past a fading Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Wisconsin primary Tuesday night, gaining the upper hand in a Democratic presidential race for the ages.

It was Obama's ninth straight victory over the past three weeks — with results unknown from the Hawaii caucuses — and left the former first lady in desperate need of a comeback in a race she long commanded as front-runner.

"The change we seek is still months and miles away," Obama told a boisterous crowd in Houston in a speech in which he also pledged to end the war in Iraq in his first year in office."I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009. It is time to bring our troops home," he declared.

In a race growing increasingly negative, Obama cut deeply into Clinton's political bedrock in Wisconsin, splitting the support of white women almost evenly with her. According to polling place interviews, he also ran well among working class voters in the blue collar battleground that was prelude to primaries in the larger industrial states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Clinton made no mention of her defeat, and showed no sign of surrender in an appearance in Youngstown, Ohio.

"Both Senator Obama and I would make history," the New York senator said. "But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy, and ready to defeat the Republicans. Only one of us has spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter and a champion for those who need a voice."

In a clear sign of their relative standing in the race, most cable television networks abruptly cut away from coverage of Clinton's rally when Obama began to speak in Texas.

Ouch! It looks like the cable TV networks see Hillary as yesterday's news. She is even losing ground among "Nascar Democrats."

Hillary's tired old line of being "ready on day one" is as stale after her ninth consecutive defeat as it was the first time she uttered it. By the way, you'd think that those who need a voice wouldn't choose one as strident as hers.

Hillary is in denial big time. If insanity is indeed doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, Hillary is certifiable.

Obama is a cut-and-run liberal. His pledge to bring the troops home from Iraq in his first year in office, should he get elected, is reckless and plays right into the hands of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida.

Anger Mismanagement: Bill Clinton, The Angry Bamboozler

“I think the president’s trying hoodwink us, bamboozle us, put us back in the okie doke. He had eight years to do what he was supposed to do. All the things he said that she’s gonna do, he had the same authority that he wants her to have. Now if one Clinton, the male Clinton can’t get it done, how is Ms. Clinton [going to].

--Barack Obama supporter Robert Holeman, after a confrontation with former president Bill Clinton at a campaign rally for his wife at Timken High School in Canton, Ohio, yesterday.

Bill Clinton did his angry white man impersonation again this past weekend. Clinton's infamous temper has become news one more time as he has been losing his cool in public over the last year while campaigning for his equally infamous wife.

Clinton's confrontation with Obama supporter Holeman was only the latest in a series of explosions over the past few months.

I have chronicled one campaign trail meltdown here. Before that, Angry Bill went ballistic on Chris Wallace while giving an interview on Fox News Sunday last year.

Watch Bill Clinton go nuts on pro-life protesters at another campaign event for Hillary here.

What a pathetic, thin-skinned little man.

The Many Faces of Hillary Rodham Clinton, The Power-Hungry Megalomaniac

The Madness of "Queen" Hillary

Payola III

Superdelegates get campaign cash
Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor

February 14, 2008 03:54 PM

Many of the superdelegates who could well decide the Democratic presidential nominee have already been plied with campaign contributions by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a new study shows.

"While it would be unseemly for the candidates to hand out thousands of dollars to primary voters, or to the delegates pledged to represent the will of those voters, elected officials serving as superdelegates have received about $890,000 from Obama and Clinton in the form of campaign contributions over the last three years," the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported today. About half the 800 superdelegates -- elected officials, party leaders, and others -- have committed to either Clinton or Obama, though they can change their minds until the convention.

Obama's political action committee has doled out more than $694,000 to superdelegates since 2005, the study found, and of the 81 who had announced their support for Obama, 34 had received donations totaling $228,000.

Clinton's political action committee has distributed about $195,000 to superdelegates, and only 13 of the 109 who had announced for her have received money, totaling about $95,000.

It does not "seem" unseemly for elected officials serving as superdelegates to receive "contributions" from the Democratic presidential nomination contenders. It IS unseemly. Must we discuss the meaning of "is" again?

Liberal corruption is in full display this presidential campaign season.

Minnesota Taxpayer Protection

"I still have an important tool to restrain taxes and spending. I call it the taxpayer protection pen, otherwise known as the veto pen."

- Governor Tim Pawlenty, promising to keep liberal Democrat legislators from "digging into [taxpayer] wallets" during his State-of-the-State speech at the St. Cloud Civic Center

The area liberal DFL legislators' response, as reported in the Rochester P-B was predictable:

"I think it's very disappointing that he's got this extreme rhetoric about using his veto pen." - Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-30A)

It is Tina Liebling's performance as a legislator that deserves the label "disappointing."

How far to the left is Tina when she says that Governor Tim Pawlent's promised use of the veto pen to stem the DFL tide of abusive taxation is "extreme rhetoric?"

Tina's embarrasing tenure as a legislator, as well as a voting record that reflects values contrary to those of her constituents, is what's truly extreme.

"Maybe he should talk to farmers in my district who pay large, increasing property taxes," Welti said. "His rhetoric about new sources of revenue when they are paying increasing property taxes, they know where it's coming from." - Rep. Andy Welti (DFL-30B)

Welti is an ignoramus. He is an embarrassment to his district and to himself. Welti's demagoguery on rural property taxes should sicken anyone who understands the pressure under which farmers and rural property owners find themselves.

Hillary's Base: Poorly-educated, Low-income, Elderly Female, Overwhelmingly Caucasian and Dwindling

Clinton's Edge Slips With Whites, Women
By ALAN FRAM and TREVOR TOMPSON
Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's crushing losses in Maryland and Virginia highlight an erosion in what had been solid advantages among women, whites and older and working-class voters. While this week's results can be explained by those states' relatively large numbers of blacks and well-educated residents - who tend to be Barack Obama supporters - her presidential campaign could be doomed if the trends continue.

Clinton is holding onto some of her supporters who are largely defined by race and often by level of education, such as low-income white workers and older white women, exit polls of voters show. She's been losing other blocs, again stamped by personal characteristics, such as blacks, men and young people both black and white, and better-educated whites.

The racial and gender breakdown of this political season's Democrat voter does not favor Hillary at all. She is losing votes wherever she goes. Only the Whitest of the White seem to be a reliable voting bloc for the NY senator.

Her flight to Texas in order to pander, I mean shore up the Hispanic vote while the Potomac primaries were still underway were a clear sign of the panic that has taken over Hillary's crumbling campaign.

Tsunami

Obama and McCain Sweep 3 Primaries

WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama rolled to victory by large margins in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia on Tuesday, extending his winning streak over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to eight Democratic nominating contests.

The outcome provided him his first chance to assert that the Democratic race, which had seemed to be heading into a protracted standoff, is beginning to break in his direction. And it left Mrs. Clinton facing weeks in which she has few opportunities for the kind of victory that would alter the race in her favor after a string of defeats notable not just for their number but also their magnitude.

In Tuesday’s contests, Mr. Obama showed impressive strength among not only the groups that have backed him in earlier contests — blacks, younger voters, the affluent and self-described independents — but also among older voters, women and lower-income people, the core of Mrs. Clinton’s support up to now, according to exit polls. Mr. Obama also won majorities of white men and Hispanic voters in Virginia, though not in Maryland.

With almost all precincts reporting, Mr. Obama won 75 percent of the vote in the District of Columbia and 64 percent in Virginia. He had 60 percent of the vote in Maryland with results from 67 percent of the precincts.

On the Republican side, Senator John McCain won in Virginia over Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, virtually eliminating any threat that Mr. Huckabee might have posed to Mr. McCain’s status as his party’s all but certain nominee.

Mr. Huckabee got a boost from conservative and evangelical Christian voters in the state, but not enough to overcome support among moderates and nonevangelical Christians for Mr. McCain, who won 50 percent of the vote. Mr. McCain also prevailed in the District of Columbia, with 68 percent of the vote, and in Maryland, where he had 55 percent of the vote with 67 percent of the precincts reporting.

He said of Mr. Huckabee, “He certainly keeps things interesting — maybe a little too interesting at times tonight, I must confess.”

Mr. McCain turned his attention to attacks on his Democratic opponents, saying they “promise a new approach to governing but offer only the policies of a political orthodoxy that insists the solution to government’s failures is to simply make it bigger.”

In all, 168 pledged delegates were at stake for the Democrats and 116 for the Republicans. The Democrats will divide delegates proportionally to the candidates’ vote statewide and at the Congressional level while the Republican races are winner-take-all.

Mr. Obama’s victories gave him a lead over Mrs. Clinton among pledged delegates, according to preliminary counts by the Obama campaign and some news organizations. Obama aides calculate that he also leads in delegate counts that include so-called superdelegates, the party officers and elected officials who control 20 percent of the total delegates to the Democratic convention.


Hillary is currently in full retreat mode. She all but conceded the Potomac primaries to her challenger and is now concentrating on Texas and Ohio, hoping that the two primaries will act as a firewall to the Obama tsunami.

That strategy didn't work for Giuliani. It won't work for her.

Economic Death Sentence

Legislators seek to jump-start Minnesota's economy
2/12/2008 8:42:21 PM
By Matthew Stolle
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

ST. PAUL -- The 2008 Minnesota legislative session began today with Democratic legislative leaders promising to focus on legislation that would give the state's ailing economy a jolt. With the state's economist having declared Minnesota in a recession, state lawmakers said they would rush two major pieces of legislation to the governor's desk as fast as possible -- a comprehensive transportation funding bill and a $1 billion public works bill.

"Sometimes, we just need a jump-start," said DFL House Speaker Margaret Anderson-Kelliher. "We are ready to put Minnesotans back to work."

DFLers say they want to "jump start" the Minnesota economy but their exorbitant tax proposals will electrocute it instead.

"No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the Legislature is in session” - Gideon J. Tucker

The 2008 legislative session starts tomorrow. It is supposed to be short and deal with bonding only. But you know DFLers, why do the people's business when they can pose, posture and prevaricate? The latest Coffee and Conversation forum took place last Saturday morning at John Marshall High School. Here's a quick summary.

Senator Dave Senjem was the adult legislator in the meeting. He spoke eloquently about the main purpose of the 2008 legislative session: bonding for transportation. Dave does not believe the DFL will try to force Carol Molnau out of her position as Transportation Commissioner, but that remains to be seen.

I'm not sure what Senator Ann Lynch is drinking here but Dunn Brothers provided coffee for the meeting as they usually do.


In a bold move that is sure to further endear the freshman senator to her constituents and assure them of her sharp intellectual skills, Ann Lynch announced that during this legislative session she will focus her attention on ... dental care. Wow!



In her signature incoherent self, Lynch managed to say little while speaking a lot. I have lost count of the number of people who tell me she is not exactly Mensa material. After listening to her ramble last Saturday morning, I understand why.



Andy Welti was unimpressive as usual. He spent most of his time (I honestly thought he wasn't going to shut up) parroting the information he gleaned from a couple of meetings on the latest global warming craze: "peak oil." He nearly induced a collective coma by quoting statistic after boring statistic on the subject.

The "peak oil" theory says that worldwide oil production is beyond its maximum rate and is now in "terminal decline." Welti's solution? Government intrusion, abusive taxation and bike paths.

Mercifully, Reps. Tina Liebling and Kim Norton were not present. There is only so much insanity and self-importance I can endure.

I only had one request from each of the three legislators present as they gear up for the 2008 legislative session: sobriety.

Disarray: Hillary Loses Maine Caucuses, Fires Latina Campaign Manager

Clinton Replaces Campaign Manager
By BETH FOUHY

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton replaced campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with longtime aide Maggie Williams on Sunday, engineering a shake-up in a presidential campaign struggling to overcome rival Sen. Barack Obama's financial and political strengths.

The surprise announcement came hours after Obama's sweep of three contests Saturday and shortly before the Illinois senator won caucuses in Maine on Sunday. Determined to stem the tide, Clinton turned to a longtime confidante to manage her operations while the campaign acknowledged that she made a private visit to North Carolina this week to seek the endorsement of former rival John Edwards. Her rival Barack Obama was planning his own meeting Monday with Edwards, who confidants said was torn over which candidateto back.

The daughter of Mexican immigrants who cut her political teeth in Chicago, Solis Doyle served as Clinton's scheduler for eight years in the White House and began overseeing her political operation during her first run for Senate in 2000. But Solis Doyle's appointment as Clinton's presidential campaign manager last year surprised many Democratic operative including some in Clinton's inner circle, who believed she did not have sufficient political experience to run the operation.

Money will be crucial for a drawn-out fight for the party's nomination, an historic struggle between Clinton, who is seeking to become the first female commander in chief, and Obama, who would be the first black president. The Democratic Party's system of awarding pledged delegates proportionally and the oversized role of superdelegates, the 796 lawmakers, governors and party officials who are not bound by state votes, meant that no candidate had a commanding lead.

According to The Associated Press' latest survey, Clinton had 243 superdelegates and Obama had 156. That edge was responsible for Clinton's overall edge in the pursuit of delegates to secure the party's nomination for president. According to the AP's latest tally, Clinton has 1,125 total delegates and Obama has 1,087. A candidate must get 2,205 delegates to capture the nomination.

The delegate numbers increased the possibility of a protracted fight for the Democratic nomination, perhaps lasting through this summer's national convention in Denver.

Hillary's campaign is in full desperation mode. They have gone from inevitability to playing catch up in a matter of a few months. The signs of decline are obvious.

Super Tuesday was, for all practical purposes, a draw between Obama and Hillary.

Hillary's money is drying up as Obama proves a formidable fundraiser. She has resorted to dipping into her own nest egg to the tune of $5 million in order to cover a campaign finance shortfall.

Obama has won every contest since Super Tuesday and is expecte to win most, if not all, future ones.

Making a "private" (i.e. "secret") visit to John Edwards in order to beg for his support is yet another sign of weakness on her part. She is scraping the bottom of the barrel for support here, folks.

Hillary has thrown her Latina campaign manager under the bus. So much for affirmative action.

As I have stated in the past, I don't care how Hillary loses. Whether Obama beats her in the Democratic primaries or she loses to the Republican nominee in the general election in November, I want the Clinton "dynasty" to be buried once and for all.

Hillary and Race Baiting: When Will It End?

Bill Clinton and "Bull" Connor: birds of a feather?

Frank Rich is second only to fellow NY Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman in rabid leftwing thought and rhetoric. But even he recognizes that Hillary Clinton and her campaign have resorted to the lowest forms of race baiting since the late 1960s.

"Next Up for the Democrats: Civil War," Rich's Sunday column, exposes Hillary's desperation and no-holds-barred tactics have reached new depths. Take a gander at some revealing tidbits from Rich's piece.

The [Clinton] campaign’s other most potent form of currency remains its thick deck of race cards. This was all too apparent in the Hallmark show. In its carefully calibrated cross section of geographically and demographically diverse cast members — young, old, one gay man, one vet, two union members — African-Americans were reduced to also-rans. One black woman, the former TV correspondent Carole Simpson, was given the servile role of the meeting’s nominal moderator, Ed McMahon to Mrs. Clinton’s top banana. Scattered black faces could be seen in the audience. But in the entire televised hour, there was not a single African-American questioner, whether to toss a softball or ask about the Clintons’ own recent misadventures in racial politics.

The Clinton camp does not leave such matters to chance. This decision was a cold, political cost-benefit calculus. In October, seven months after the two candidates’ dueling church perorations in Selma, USA Today found Hillary Clinton leading Mr. Obama among African-American Democrats
by a margin of 62 percent to 34 percent. But once black voters met Mr. Obama and started to gravitate toward him, Bill Clinton and the campaign’s other surrogates stopped caring about what African-Americans thought. In an effort to scare off white voters, Mr. Obama was ghettoized as a cocaine user (by the chief Clinton strategist, Mark Penn, among others), “the black candidate” (as Clinton strategists toldthe Associated Press) and Jesse Jackson redux (by Mr. Clinton himself).

The result? Black America has largely deserted the Clintons. In her California primary victory, Mrs. Clinton drew only 19 percent of the black vote. The campaign saw this coming and so saw no percentage in bestowing precious minutes of prime-time television on African-American queries.

That time went instead to the Hispanic population that was still in play in Super Tuesday’s voting in the West. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles had a cameo, and one of the satellite meetings was held in the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s smart politics, especially since Mr. Obama has been behind the curve in wooing this constituency.

But the wholesale substitution of Hispanics for blacks on the Hallmark show is tainted by a creepy racial back story. Last month a Hispanic pollster employed by the Clinton campaign pitted the two groups against each other by telling The New Yorker that Hispanic voters have “not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support black candidates.” Mrs. Clinton then seconded the motion by telling Tim Russert in a debate that her pollster was “making a historical statement.”

It wasn’t an accurate statement, historical or otherwise. It was a lie, and a bigoted lie at that, given that it branded Hispanics, a group as heterogeneous as any other, as monolithic racists. As the columnist Gregory Rodriguez pointed out in The Los Angeles Times, all three black members of Congress in that city won in heavily Latino districts; black mayors as various as David Dinkins in New York in the 1980s and Ron Kirk in Dallas in the 1990s received more than 70 percent of the Hispanic vote. The real point of the Clinton campaign’s decision to sow misinformation and racial division, Mr. Rodriguez concluded, was to “undermine one of Obama’s central selling points, that he can build bridges and unite Americans of all types.”

If that was the intent, it didn’t work. Mrs. Clinton did pile up her expected large margin among Latino voters in California. But her tight grip on that electorate is loosening. Mr. Obama, who captured only 26 percent of Hispanic voters in Nevada last month, did better than that in every state on Tuesday, reaching 41 percent in Arizona and 53 percent in Connecticut. Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign’s attempt to drive white voters away from Mr. Obama by playing the race card has backfired. His white vote tally rises every week. Though Mrs. Clinton won California by almost 10 percentage points, among whites she beat Mr. Obama by only 3 points.

The question now is how much more racial friction the Clinton campaign will gin up if its Hispanic support starts to erode in Texas, whose March 4 vote it sees as its latest firewall. Clearly it will stop at little. That’s why you now hear Clinton operatives talk ever more brazenly about trying to reverse party rulings so that they can hijack 366 ghost delegates from Florida and the other rogue primary, Michigan, where Mr. Obama wasn’t even on the ballot. So much for Mrs. Clinton’s assurance on New Hampshire Public Radio last fall that it didn’t matter if she alone kept her name on the Michigan ballot because the vote “is not going to count for anything.”

Last month, two eminent African-American historians who have served in government, Mary Frances Berry (in the Carter and Clinton years) and Roger Wilkins (in the Johnson administration), wrote Howard Dean, the Democrats’ chairman, to warn him of the perils of that credentials fight. Last week, Mr. Dean became sufficiently alarmed to propose brokering an “arrangement” if a clear-cut victory by one candidate hasn’t rendered the issue moot by the spring. But does anyone seriously believe that Howard Dean can deter a Clinton combine so ruthless that it risked shredding three decades of mutual affection with black America to win a primary?

We have not even began to see how ugly Hillary and her minions can get in their self-serving pursuit of the American presidency. They have been throwing Blacks, a historically reliable constituency, under the bus.

They will stop at absolutely NOTHING to amass power for themselves.

Watch your back, Barack!

Routed. Again.

Obama Defeats Clinton in 3-State Sweep

By KATE ZERNIKE and KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

While Mr. Obama had been expected to win the contests on Saturday, the margin of victories were surprising, particularly in Washington, a predominately white state where he captured 57 percent of the vote in caucus voting compared to Mrs. Clinton’s 31 percent.

And in Nebraska, which also held caucuses, he received an impressive 68 percent of the vote to Mrs. Clinton’s 32 percent.

In the Lousiana primary, Mr. Obama received 56 percent of the vote to Mrs. Clinton’s 37 percent.

Shame on those misogynist Democrats in Washington, Nebraska and Louisiana - and Minnesota, for that matter.

How humiliating for Hillary, though. And it looks like it's going to get worse for the former first lady. Next Tuesday's Democratic primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia are considered to favor her rival Barack Obama.

Baggage Check

Mitt Romney: Class Act

Here are a few notable excerpts of Governor Romney’s address to the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC)– February 7, 2008

As I said to you last year, conservative principles are needed now more than ever. We face a new generation of challenges, challenges which threaten our prosperity, our security and our future. I am convinced that unless America changes course, we will become the France of the 21st century—still a great nation, but no longer the leader of the world, no longer the superpower. And to me, that is unthinkable.

What is it about American culture that has led us to become the most powerful nation in the history of the world? We believe in hard work and education. We love opportunity: almost all of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants who came here for opportunity—opportunity is in our DNA. Americans love God, and those who don’t have faith, typically believe in something greater than themselves—a “Purpose Driven Life.” And we sacrifice everything we have, even our lives, for our families, our freedoms and our country. The values and beliefs of the free American people are the source of our nation’s strength and they always will be!

The threat to our culture comes from within. The 1960’s welfare programs created a culture of poverty. Some think we won that battle when we reformed welfare, but the liberals haven’t given up. At every turn, they try to substitute government largesse for individual responsibility. They fight to strip work requirements from welfare, to put more people on Medicaid, and to remove more and more people from having to pay any income tax whatsoever. Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity. Dependency is a culture-killing drug—we have got to fight it like the poison it is!

The attack on faith and religion is no less relentless. And tolerance for pornography—even celebration of it—and sexual promiscuity, combined with the twisted incentives of government welfare programs have led to today’s grim realities: 68% of African American children are born out-of-wedlock, 45% of Hispanic children, and 25% of White children. How much harder it is for these children to succeed in school—and in life. A nation built on the principles of the founding fathers cannot long stand when its children are raised without fathers in the home.

Europe is facing a demographic disaster. That is the inevitable product of weakened faith in the Creator, failed families, disrespect for the sanctity of human life and eroded morality. Some reason that culture is merely an accessory to America’s vitality; we know that it is the source of our strength. And we are not dissuaded by the snickers and knowing glances when we stand up for family values, and morality, and culture. We will always be honored to stand on principle and to stand for principle.

Our prosperity and security also depend on finally acting to become energy secure. Oil producing states like Russia and Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran are siphoning over $400 billion per year from our economy—that’s almost what we spend annually for defense. It is past time for us to invest in energy technology, nuclear power, clean coal, liquid coal, renewable sources and energy efficiency. America must never be held hostage by the likes of Putin, Chavez, and Ahmendinejad.

Most politicians don’t seem to understand the connection between our ability to compete and our national wealth, and the wealth of our families. They act as if money just happens–that it’s just there. But every dollar represents a good or service produced in the private sector. Depress the private sector and you depress the well-being of Americans.

It’s high time to lower taxes, including corporate taxes, to take a weed-whacker to government regulations, to reform entitlements, and to stand up to the increasingly voracious appetite of the unions in our government!

And finally, let’s consider the greatest challenge facing America—and facing the entire civilized world: the threat of violent, radical Jihad. In one wing of the world of Islam, there is a conviction that all governments should be destroyed and replaced by a religious caliphate. These Jihadists will battle any form of democracy—to them, democracy is blasphemous for it says that citizens, not God shape the law. They find the idea of human equality to be offensive. They hate everything we believe about freedom just as we hate everything they believe about radical Jihad.

To battle this threat, we have sent the most courageous and brave soldiers in the world. But their numbers have been depleted by the Clinton years when troops were reduced by 500,000, when 80 ships were retired from the Navy, and when our human intelligence was slashed by 25%. We were told that we were getting a peace dividend. We got the dividend, but we didn’t get the peace. In the face of evil in radical Jihad and given the inevitable military ambitions of China, we must act to rebuild our military might. Raise military spending to 4% of our GDP, purchase the most modern armament, re-shape our fighting forces for the asymmetric demands we now face, and give the veterans the care they deserve!

[...] Barack and Hillary have made their intentions clear regarding Iraq and the war on terror. They would retreat and declare defeat. And the consequence of that would be devastating. It would mean attacks on America, launched from safe havens that make Afghanistan under the Taliban look like child’s play. About this, I have no doubt.

I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror. If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters… many of you right here in this room… have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming President. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country.

It is the common task of each generation—and the burden of liberty—to preserve this country, expand its freedoms and renew its spirit so that its noble past is prologue to its glorious future.

To this task… accepting this burden… we are all dedicated, and I firmly believe, by the providence of the Almighty, that we will succeed beyond our fondest hope. America must remain, as it has always been, the hope of the earth.

Thank you, and God bless America.

Thank YOU, Mitt. See you in 2012!

Divided They Fall

Race, Gender Divide Democratic Voters
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press Writer

Though insisting race and gender have little to do with it, many Democrats are supporting the presidential candidate who looks most like them.

Super Tuesday polls showed clear racial and sexual divisions between backers of the two candidates hoping for historic firsts: Hillary Rodham Clinton, seeking to become the first female president, and Barack Obama, trying to become the first black commander in chief.

Each campaign is working hard to lure the other's supporters. So far, Obama seems to have outdone Clinton, making progress among whites and women since this year's earlier contests, according to polls of people leaving voting booths in this week's primaries.

That still leaves the two rivals with supporters who look different from each other. Two-thirds of Clinton's supporters on Tuesday were white and nearly as many were female, compared with just slightly over half for Obama. That's an advantage for Clinton because whites and women dominate Democratic voting _ 61 percent of the party's Super Tuesday voters were white, and 57 percent were female, the exit polls showed.

Seven in 10 Democrats said they'd be happy if Clinton were the nominee, and a virtually identical portion said the same about Obama. But as the party faithful mulled whether they'd most like to make history by putting the first woman or the first black man in the White House, some said they felt pressure to conform.

Nicole Brown, a homemaker from McDonough, Ga., said she supported Clinton, a New York senator, because she has more confidence in Clinton's abilities and track record. She said sex and race were not factors in her decision, but she said she has run into resistance. "Even in talking to my parents, they're surprised," said Brown, 31 and black. "You feel like a sense of obligation, you're letting your race down. But I'm not one to follow the masses, I follow my heart and my mind."

Three in 10 blacks said race was an important factor in choosing a candidate. About one in 10 whites said so. Most of those whites back Clinton, while blacks considering race overwhelmingly backed Obama, the Illinois senator.

What a sad state of liberal affairs. Whenever I read news stories such as this or I see and hear Bill Clinton race baiting on the campaign trail, I have to look at the calendar and remind myself that it's 2008 - not 1958!

Maybe liberal Democrats go by a different calendar. One that moves backwards. In every possible way.

Makes sense. After all, Democrats are the party of the past.

Well Done, Boys!

Republicans join to block stimulus bill

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and ANDREW TAYLOR,
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.

GOP senators banded together Wednesday to thwart the $205 billion plan, leaving Democrats with a difficult choice either to quickly accept a House bill they have said is inadequate or risk being blamed for delaying a measure designed as a swift shot in the arm for the lagging economy.

The tally was 58-41 to end debate on the Senate measure, just short of the 60 votes Democrats would have needed to scale procedural hurdles and move the bill to a final vote. In a suspenseful showdown vote that capped days of partisan infighting and procedural jockeying, eight Republicans — four of them up for re-election this year — joined Democrats to back the plan, bucking GOP leaders and President Bush, who objected to the costly add-ons.

Democrats choreographed the vote for maximum political advantage, presenting their aid proposal as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition for Republicans and calling back their presidential candidates to make a show of party unity behind their stimulus plan. They calculated that Republicans would pay a steep price for opposing rebates for older Americans and disabled veterans, as well as heating aid for the poor, unemployment benefits and a much larger collection of business tax breaks than the House approved.

Even after their effort fell short Wednesday, Democrats seemed determined to keep the pressure on Republicans to accept the measure, threatening to hold more votes on it in the coming days.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is "going to give Republicans a chance to reconsider their vote against efforts to strengthen the economy by helping those who need it most," his spokesman, Jim Manley, said Wednesday night.

Republicans said they were ready to accept rebates for seniors and disabled veterans and accused Democrats of delaying the stimulus plan for political gain and loading it down with special-interest extras.

Leave it to liberal Democrats to politicize measures designed to stimulate the economy. Just when you think they have reached bottom, they dig more vigorously.

Liberals misunderestimated Senate Republicans' resolve and lost their own political game. It always happens: when you stare them down, liberals blink then melt like butter.

Caucus Results: Minnesota *Hearts* Romney, Hates Hillary

Check out the unofficial results of Tuesday's presidential preference ballot here.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney garnered 41.48% of the Republican preference.

On the liberal side, an overwhelming 66.53% of Democrats in the state prefer the other guy. Misogynism perhaps? From "enlightened" liberals no less.

No love for Hillary from Minnesota lefties. Boo hoo.

Uh-oh! Not Her Piggy Bank!

Clinton Lent Campaign $5 Million, Considers More
By Kate Phillips

At her news conference this afternoon, Senator Clinton acknowledged the loan, saying: “I loaned the campaign $5 million from my money. That’s where I got the money. I did it because I believe very strongly in this campaign, and we had a great month fund-raising in January, broke all our records, but my opponent was able to raise more money and we intended to be competitive – and we were – and I think the results last night proved the wisdom of my investment.”

Her advisers says she’s considering another loan because money is tight now — the mega-primaries yesterday were quite the financial drain. And although she won many states yesterday, including some very big states like New York and California, the victories weren’t resoundingly decisive enough — especially when you look at the extremely tight delegate matchup right now — to inspire a lot of new giving

At the risk of sounding misogynistic, Hillary is the Queen of Spin. In her twisted, megalomaniacal mind, she is not strapped for cash, she is making "an investment" in her own campaign. The woman is a sociopath.

The truth - Hillary's mortal enemy - is that she is "broke." Obama outraised her in January. Big. The freshman senator's campaign raked in a whopping $32 million last month.

Poor Hillary had to dig into her own piggy bank and scrape a meager $ 5 million to tide her over. Hillary is on the run, folks.

In the meantime, the intellectually lazy decry the fact that Mitt Romney is partly financing his own campaign. They are as hypocritical and deluded as their mistress Hillary.