Hired by Democrats that is.

PS: A-Klo is a former lobbyists.

The Democrats in Washington, just sinking their teeth back into what it is like to be in power, are sending a pretty clear message to Americans. They lied their arses off and said what ever they had to, to win the elections.

It was a solemn pledge, repeated by Democratic leaders and candidates over and over: If elected to the majority in Congress, Democrats would implement all of the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that examined the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

You remember that line, I’m sure you heard it, where ever you live. The Democrat candidates all memorized that one, for whenever national security issues were starting to turn against them. (read Iraq) They always threw that line out there, and even usually followed that up with something about Katrina. Well, seems now that the Dems are taking charge in DC, and getting their mitts on all the data, and controlling just what does happen, the fact that they were making false promises is becoming quite clear.

But with control of Congress now secured, Democratic leaders have decided for now against implementing the one measure that would affect them most directly: a wholesale reorganization of Congress to improve oversight and funding of the nation’s intelligence agencies. Instead, Democratic leaders may create a panel to look at the issue and produce recommendations, according to congressional aides and lawmakers.

So, the same people who blamed Bush for not taking the 9-11 commission’s recommendations and making them a reality, is going to out flank Bush on the matter, and create commissions to investigate the commission. Leave it to the Democrats.

It may seem like a minor matter, but members of the commission say Congress’s failure to change itself is anything but inconsequential. In 2004, the commission urged Congress to grant the House and Senate intelligence committees the power not only to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies but also to fund them and shape intelligence policy. The intelligence committees’ gains would come at the expense of the armed services committees and the appropriations panels’ defense subcommittees. Powerful lawmakers on those panels would have to give up prized legislative turf.

And now that those are Democratically controlled turfs, there ain’t no way in hell that they are going to lose those powers. Yep, the lying Democrats are breaking their campaign promises long before the keys to Congress are officially handed over.

It will be interesting to watch the backlash, if any, against certain freshman Democrats who owe their victories, to the carefully orchestrated campaign by national Democratic leaders. Well, what do you know, we have one or two of them right here in Minnesota. A-Klo (Amy Klobuchar) won the Senate seat by following the nay sayer game plan of Pelosi and Schumer. Maybe she didn’t really mean that she would fight to implement, all the 9-11 Commission recommendations.

Amy Klobuchar will fight to enact the 9/11 Commission recommendations, with particular emphasis on the following:  intelligence collection and sharing of information among agencies; passenger and cargo transportation security; border security; and agricultural, chemical and nuclear plant security. (Source: AmyKlobuchar.com)

Whoops. I guess she did mean that she would fight to implement all the recommendations. Well A-Klo, it is time to stand up to your party’s leadership and do what you said was so critical to national security. Will she buck her party’s leadership? Or will she carefully fall in line like a good Democrat and do as she is told and not question the leadership of her party? Will she become a lapdog for Pelosi and Reid? Is she the next rubberstamp for the liberal Democrats in Washington?

(Sorry, but after 6 years of that crap, you lefties didn’t really think it wasn’t going to be used against you when you did win control of Congress again, did you?)

The following confusing letter was run in the Strib. GOP HOUSE CLEANING

It went way too far

In “the blog house” of Nov. 25, Tim O’Brien mentions that Andy Aplikowski, in his Republican blog Residual Forces, is pointing out how the GOP leadership has lost touch with its roots.

That’s not the point I am making. The GOP leadership has lost touch with standing for something, other than the DFL sucks.

I would point out to Aplikowski that this was not a recent event. Ever since Ronald Reagan, the GOP leadership has deliberately been culling the moderates out of offices. I felt bad when U.S. Rep. Bill Frenzel decided to retire from politics. He was a good man, but a moderate; so he had to go.

So the GOP should be a moderate party? We should balance in the center, and dip our toes into both pools of liberalism and conservatism? Brilliant. Yeah yeah, that’s a bloody marvelous idea. Yeah, we’ll try to steal even more liberal ideas in the hopes that voters don’t figure out they can get even more, bigger, and more intrusive government from the DFL. Yeah yeah, that’s the ticket. We’ll out flank the DFL on that issue. Oh wait, most people don’t really want the government controlling every aspect of their life.

And regarding moderates being run out, I don’t support throwing people out of the party or office per say, but I do not support the party leadership deciding to back a moderate when a great conservative candidate challenges them. Or when the party cuts support for conservative candidates in order to protect a select few candidates who have plenty of resources of their own and have alienated a large portion of the conservative base.

But then again this letter writer is probably just one of them lefties who is just too darn embarrassed to call himself a Democrat or a Republican, you may know those people as moderates. Yep, those people who want to have it both ways. Yep they want low taxes, for them, but government handouts and programs to the gills. A program for everything, and a rich person to pay for it all.

The Republicans kept that up until it was finally obvious to everybody that they had gone way too far. Not only were they out of touch, they didn’t care. They thought they owned the game.

And here is where the letter writer failed to realize that Republicans lost because we didn’t stand for conservative values. Too much spending. Too much government. Too many lefty ideas supported. It is a handful of Republicans that have handcuffed the border security and immigration issues. It was a handful of Republicans that wanted to liberalize the detention and interrogations of our enemies. It was a handful of Republicans that parted ways with the party of judges. It was a handful of Republicans who got caught up in corruption and scandals.

In an attempt to cover for that, and appease the opinion polls, Republicans moved to the center. Yes, they moved to the center, or moderated what they stood for in hopes of seeming less…. of what this letter writer hates, conservative. Yep, conservative is the new 4 letter word according to this guy.

But a funny thing happened. Some Republicans decided not to vote or even voted for the other guy. So now that they are losing the game, the GOP is surprised that they got out of touch? No. They just reached such a disgusting level that even loyal Republicans can’t stand to vote for them any more.

Yep, this guy is trying to say the GOP is too conservative. That’s how I read it. Am I wrong?

Well sir. Did you notice that a good share of the Democrats who knocked off Republicans this last election were actually running as conservatives? Hell look at A-Klo. She tried to hide all her ‘progressive’ and liberal tendencies from voters. Why would a progressive liberal have to run from her fringe leftism? Because even in Minnesota, conservative ideas can win.

People don’t want politicians that they can’t count on to vote one way or another. They don’t want politicians who lick their finger, hold it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. People are attracted to real leaders, and real leaders stand for something.

The way for Republicans to get back seats, is not to moderate their message even more, but to get back to it. Locally Republican legislators pushed for ideas that were completely devoid of conservatism for the past few years, trying to become moderates, and they lost even more seats.  That’s 2 elections in a row now here in Minnesota where the ‘new’ moderate Republican party, lost.

Some good conservatives did lose, but they were targeted by DFLers and liberal special interests like Education Minnesota, there was little that could be done, except maybe some major backing by the MNGOP. But there just wasn’t the resources left for that.

So, according to the letter writer the problem with the Republicans is that they aren’t moderate enough, well I guess all I can really say back to him is what Sisyphus said, “After all, why vote for a RINO when there is a real Democrat just down the ballot.”

This party doesn’t need more moderation, what it needs is common goals and ideals that can draw people to it. If it keeps moving to where it thinks the people want it, it will lose the people already there. That was what the lesson to be learned from the 2006 elections is. Our problem was not our ideas and the voters rejection of them, it was that the voters no longer know what our goals and agenda are, because they have changed too much of late.

Update:
And another thing, it was actually conservatives who took a big blow this election. And that blow was done, in large part, by conservative acting Democrats nationally, and the uber liberal Education Minnesota locally. So save your spineless crocodile tears for the DFL. If you want moderation and BIG Government to reign supreme in Minnesota and control every aspect of your life, there is already a party for you. Heck there is even a splinter group off shoot party now too that calls itself the Independence party. All the ideas you want represented can be found right there. I think it is a very bad idea for the 3 ‘major’ parties in Minnesota to all be competing for the same ideas. That will not bode well, for taxpayers.

Bidding wars are not something that should enter into politics and legislative agendas, but then again…. some people think education endorsements are up for sale.

After all, why vote for a RINO when there is a real Democrat just down the ballot.

The conclusion of the best analysis I have seen yet on what went wrong.

Work has been hellish today. Our secretary quit just before Thanksgiving week, so all that stuff is now on my plate too. It is end of the year time and that is always very demanding. Plus I am finding a ton of mistakes, so I spend a lot of time redoing and fixing stuff.

So yeah, it has been crazy and I have a post of 2 that I was going to throw up, but they weren’t quite polished enough yet. I know me, hesitating to just throw up an unproofed post. Amazing.

Well, I have a Community Meeting tonight here at work for my residents, and I will be the only employee there, so I have to do some cooking. Hey stop laughing, OK, frozen lasagna, go ahead. But I also have to run the meeting. So I gotta get my head on that stuff.

So, please bear with me. I’ve had a crappy day, and I am just trying to get through until tonight so I can get home, crack a beer, and work on the civil war stuff.

Untill then. Send a word of advice to Pawlenty. REBATE! $2 billion! We’d better get a rebate. I’d also would have loved to see teh state party demand a rebate. But instead…

St. Paul-Republican Party of Minnesota Ron Carey today issued the following statement on the state’s $2.17 billion budget surplus.

“Today’s $2.17 billion budget surplus is fantastic news for Minnesota. After inheriting a record $4.5 billion deficit, Governor Pawlenty and Republican legislators have kept our state’s economy strong by holding the line on taxes and making government more accountable for results. This massive surplus shows that the Governor and Republican legislative leaders were right when they said Minnesotans aren’t undertaxed.

“During the 2007 session, we encourage Governor Pawlenty and legislators from both parties to provide permanent tax relief to help keep growing jobs in Minnesota. While big-spending special interests will line-up to spend the surplus many times over, this surplus was created by hardworking Minnesotans and they should share in the success through lower taxes.”

Now Carey kinda said it, but he didn’t *really* say it. Its easy. I want a tax rebate! Minnesotans should get a tax rebate! You took away too much money. Give it back! Give it back!

Great piece by/about soon to be MN House Deputy Minority Leader Tom Emmer in the Bemidji Pioneer. GOP must return to core issues

Pushed too far to the right, Minnesota House Republicans now need to return to the center — their center, says newly named House Deputy Minority Leader Tom Emmer.
“We have the best message out there,” Emmer, R-Delano, said in an interview Friday. “We have to get back to the core issues of Republican conservatives.

“We did a very poor job of distinguishing ourselves, and we need to get back on message,” he says.

Great piece, read the rest on the Bemidji Pioneer website, but she’s a subscription site. Its free, but I hate them as much as you do. I aim to please, so I went through it just for you all. I put the rest below the fold.
Read the rest of this entry »

(I had a great post on this one, but it got eaten last night by a crappy WiFi connection. Here’s an attempt at resurrecting the rant.)

Pawlenty had a powwow at the mansion to talk with the GOP folks about the future legislative session. It is chalk full of ups and downs.

Joking that the Republican legislative minorities are now so small that “we can accommodate the entire caucus for meetings at the governor’s residence,” Gov. Tim Pawlenty nevertheless said Tuesday that he was confident that his GOP allies will remain unified enough to sustain any possible vetoes in the 2007 session.

Good, good, keep it going.

After meeting at the Summit Avenue residence in St. Paul with new Senate Minority Leader David Senjem, of Rochester, and House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, of Marshall, Pawlenty said they agreed on “common goals” of modest spending increases and opposition to tax increases.

Don’t like the first part, but the second part is good. Just no more fees please.

Without offering specifics, Pawlenty said there is consensus among the leaders that the budget surplus to be announced today will allow increased funding for education but also for “reform and accountability” requirements in schools.

No. No more money. They get enough. Until they figure out how to live with in the means, they shouldn’t get more. Carrot on a stick approach. Has anyone done a study to compare our massive Education spending to other states? I bet we are near the tops. $14 billion plus! 50% of the budget. Hello!

“We are unified, we stand with our governor,” Seifert said. “We don’t expect we need to ask for more money out of people’s pockets.”

This coming from a guy who got a 64 from the TaxPayer’s League. But he is promising to spend more, modestly. WE HAVE A SPENDING PROBLEM!!!!!!!!

Senjem, who is considered something of a moderate, said there was agreement “to move Minnesota forward.”

Oh dear god! And get ready for the big drop on this roller coaster. Its all down hill from here.

Pawlenty said that he hopes to “avoid veto situations” and that he will work on the “front end” to compromise with majority DFLers. Since his narrow reelection win as the DFL made sweeping DFL legislative gains, Pawlenty has sounded conciliatory notes and promised to address demands for increased health-care access, reduced college tuition, property tax relief and more.

And thus, all hope is lost for small government in Minnesota. The only way the government can increase health care access is if the government pays for it. Jiminy crickets, he’s going to take us down the universal road. We’ll be lucky to avoid it, but with him leading the charge, we’re screwed I fear. Mr. pawlenty, if you go down this road, you will have to increase taxes. You’re opening a billion dollar can of worms. Oh wait, you didn’t sign the no new taxes pledge, did you? Oh and college tuition? Maybe that $300 million for that ludicrous Gopher stadium could have gone to buy down tuition. Or maybe some of the other hundreds of million you handed to them to build more buildings. For crying out loud, you gave them the money to build all that crap, and surprise they raised tuition costs to pay for it all. And the students got screwed. As for property tax relief, what ever happened to local control? Pushing the cost of government to the most local control? Capping property taxes will kill that Republican value. More big government!

He acknowledged that on one front, a gasoline tax increase that he vetoed last year despite support from some Republicans, he may be in a “danger zone” for a possible veto override, which requires two-thirds majorities. But he said he still opposes the proposal and would veto it again.

Well that just warms the heart, doesn’t it? Well he is better than Hatch on that one. He knows it would pass and he’d be overridden, but he’d still veto it. Maybe.

DFLers expanded their Senate majority to 44-23 and regained control of the House after eight years of GOP majorities, now outnumbering Republicans 85-49. A veto override would need votes of all DFLers and one Republican in the Senate, and all DFLers and five Republicans in the House.

But hey, we held the Governor’s office! Woo hoo. You are great Chairman Carey. Oh wait, this guy is starting to adopt DFL goals, and is willing to work with them on others. Gee, I sure wish we hadn’t written the rest of the statewide and legislative offices off. Oh, I know, you did all you could. All those smear pieces that you sent out that the GOP candidates had to spend resources on to apologize for helped so much.
Had someone been spewing forth conservatism and why people should vote for Republicans, maybe, just maybe someone would have. Elections have consequences. We will be paying some very big prices this year for the mitigating of the defeat.

If nothing else happens from this little civil war I started, one thing has to change. The leadership of the state party should coincide with the election cycles. We should elect the Chair, Deputy Chair, and Secretary/Treasurer immediately following the November elections. By the first of the year, the next round of candidate and officials up for election should know who they will have to work with.

These people are responsible for far too many decisions to change or leave to doubt in mid stream. The candidates do start working immediately after election day getting ready for the next round, our party should too. This 8 to 9 months of figuring out what went wrong and waiting to implement the changes until their jobs are secure is BS. Or in this year’s case, give the failed leaders a chance to cover their butts.

This would mirror what the House and Senate caucuses do by electing new leadership right away so they can hit the ground running. It just isn’t fair to change leaders in mid stride like we do. Changing horses in mid stream never goes well.

This would require some Constitution changes as I see it. We’d need to change the schedule a tad so that we elect Party leadership with in say 45 days of a general election, instead of “in the off year”. The elections work on a schedule, our Republican Party should too.

I just switched servers, well not me, but RF did. I made the move to some big boy thing or something. All technical and who really care. Basically, RF should be faster and stuff for y’all now, and the server hosts won’t melt anymore.

There was a short term glitch and the old database was used. It was from last night, and didn’t have today’s content and comments. That has been corrected, and the poor moonbat comment troll who thought I was taking away his freedom of speech (which btw I have never granted to anyone here on RF except myself) got his undies in a bunch for nothing, because his comments are now back.

I should point out that as I understand things, I don’t have to give you freedom of speech here on RF. It is the government who can’t take away those rights. I ain’t the government. So stop being melodramatic.

Also, Bachmannvwetterling.com is also being moved over, but they may have figured out a nifty way where it will be part of RF, but just the regular old BvW.com url will get you there.

So anyways, welcome to my new home. Yes the sidebar blogroll is dreadful and way out of date. But I’m still busting heads and stuff. So shut up.

The Pawlenty apologists must really be worried about their boys’ future. Even the once uber conservative Center for the American Experiment is now trying to spin the Universal Health Care plea Pawlenty made mere days after winning reelection. (You can read their pap here.)

Now here is why it is so damn bad for Pawlenty to say the word Universal. It is a pandering word. Amy Klobuchar was using that word when she was facing a threat from the Single Payer supporting Ford Bell. By her using that word, to fool the activists desperate to get the true Universal coverage the word Universal implies, she forced Bell to drop out of the race.

Pawlenty is misreading the results, again, and is trying to race to the middle by proposing, even if he doesn’t mean what it sounds like, that there will be Universal coverage.

When in the heck did it become Government’s job to wipe every snotty nose? All this big government crap is doing is opening the door to ‘cradle to grave’ health care here in Minnesota. There is no way Republicans will stop the DFL controlled MN Legislature from passing the real Universal version of what Pawlenty proposed, and I do not have faith that the Governor would veto it.

It was foolish and a political mistake to even bring it up. But then again, maybe he does want it. I don’t know anymore.

Spending problem? What spending problem?