Amazingly Minnesotans said, yes, please tax me so the rich sonzabiches can have good theaters and the U of M can have money to test water. You thought it was over and that this was the end all be all and you wou;dn’t be bothered again. 

But you weren’t propoerly educated and the proponents were lying to you. Now the greedy millionaires have opened the flood gates for cultural welfare. 

With voters passing a state sales tax increase to pay for environmental and arts initiatives, the primary beneficiaries of the dedicated dollars are figuring out how best to take the next step.

Arts and environmental groups are debating how to communicate their priorities for the new money to state lawmakers.

Now we get to see the arts community, the stream huggers, and park pushers hire top notch lobbyists and spend millions to get the millions. 

Just brilliant folks. Just brilliant. 

Oh and btw: Boycott the Twins. The Pohlad family dumped million into this tax increase campaign.

If elected I will not serve……

A lot of people are encouraging me to run for State Party Chair or Deputy Chair and I have to say thanks, but no thanks. 

You see if I was elected, or any other blogger was elected to one of the 3 paid leadership positions it would mean they would have to cease and desist on blogging. I’m considering a run for something bigger than I am now, or maybe just staying put in SD51 and enjoying my blogging. 

Frankly if I had to choose between blogging or being RNC Chair (if offered HA! ) I don’t know if I could walk away from blogging. I’ve busted my ass to make AAA & RF what it is. Love it or hate it, no one has ever paid me or given me paid research. I have earned my position, what ever it is, in the MN center right political online community. I have tried before, but I cannot walk away from this. 

So let all bloggers be aware, you really can’t do both. And if you try, you will blow all credibility. It would be clear that you are simply posting on internal stuff and you are merely an outlet for GOP research. That ain’t blogging. 

Besides that the clingers on at the party are all set with the research and attacks against me. There are very good people already lining up their runs and Carey and his band of followers are soon to be gone. 

I will say however that I am considering something in the 6th District. Unpaid and purely volunteer. 

Stay tuned……

Over on True North there’s an article about how Newt Gingrich may want to be RNC Chair. Frankly I think Newt is a great asset to conservatives, but he has a major failing on global warming that disqualifies him automatically. Leftists are using “Green” as a way of transforming our economy from capitalism to distributionism. 

In my mind, any “conservative” who believes man is causing global warming and that Government needs to forcibly coerce bio-fuels is not qualified to lead the party. The Democrats are going to try to bankrupt our cheapest and most reliable energy producers and then subsidize risky and expensive green energy to suit their fringe political agenda. 

So forgive me for polluting the center right political pool by saying that Newt is not qualified to lead conservatives against the liberals, but on the most critical issue, the pinnacle issue of today, Newt is a liberal. 

And on to Governor Tim Greeny Pawlenty’s new jobs program for Minnesota. I’ll sum it up this way. Any employer or industry that Sierra Club approves of will get a big old tax credit. The rest of the state’s employers and industries will continue to be screwed by liberal tax and regulatory policies.

As I said, anyone who drinks the green kool aid does not deserve to lead the conservative movement or the Republican party. 

I crown both Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty Lunacrats!

Where as, they believe in lunatic the policies of Al Gore that not only have science and common sense debunked, but any one with a functioning brainstem whose career doesn’t rely on public ignorance, can spot how the Earth has seen cooler temperatures this year and is forecast for 30 years of cooler temperatures. Be it resolved that neither of them ascend to any official leadership position of the free market oriented Republican party or conservative movement. 

Oh gee, I’m thrilled Tim Pawlenty is aiming to be part of the Republican rebuild….

But Pawlenty is concerned about the trouncing the GOP took nationally, especially in red states that turned blue.

“It’s time to turn the page,” he said. “Certainly we need to be true to our values and principles, but it opens the door to a discussion about how do you make the Republican Party more dynamic, energetic and successful going forward.”

Let me guess, ‘the era of small government is over’

We haven’t been conservatives! We haven’t had our conservative principles tried and rejected by the voters. We’ve had them rejected by politicians in office and strategists and pollsters in high paying GOP positions.

We will never be able to out bid the Democrats and win elections. Proof of that is Pawlenty’s failed barter with the Teacher’s Union. He upped education spending double digits and the teacher’s union still dropped a couple million defeating Republiocans, and guess what education spending is even further out of control and Republicans are on the verge of extinction in the state. 

Tim pawlenty is the last person I want included in the national discussion over where the GOP goes from here. Why? Because he has helped turn Minnesota Blue. Oh yes, he has. He was elected in 2002 when we were a legitimate Purple state. And now? We’re a real blue state with the GOP on the verge of irrelevancy in the State Legislature. And all of that was while PAwlenty was the defacto Republican leader who defined the party and set the agenda. 

It appears Pawlenty is aiming for a 2012 run to me. He’s already got people out there spinning his record as Governor (that’d be Ron Carey MNGOP Chair) and other trying to knock off the obvious frontrunner Sarah Palin (Vin Weber). 

Anyways, if you think as I do, that the problem with the GOP and why voters are drifting away from it is that we have ignored our principles and not governed or legislated like the conservatives we claim to be, then you will want to get involved in the discussion over the party. The powerborkers are going to try to “fix” the party behind closed doors and if we let Pawlenty, Carey, and the other strategists get away with it, 2010 is going to be even uglier and the party will be even less conservative (if that is possible with out officially becoming Democrats). 

If Pawlenty decides to run for another term as Governor, and that marker will be if Ron Carey runs for reelection as party chair, he will face a very serious challenge from the conservatives in Minnesota. It will be very tough for him this time around, unless of course Ron Carey sticks around to silence all opposition like he did in 2006 for Pawlenty. 

If we’re going to get this party out of the gutter, the people who put us in it can’t be the ones diagnosising the ills and prescribing the reforms.  The time for new blood in this party is now. Pawlenty can stick around and run if he wants, but the clingers on at the party who think he is a true principled conservative who cannot be questioned from the right are exactly the people who need to be sent packing.

Previous 08 Post Facto breakdowns can be found here.

#1 Senator John McCain: 

Duh! but he is far from alone. McCain couldn’t rally the base and voters to him. The ultimate ‘I told you’ so to beltway types and political pundits and politicians who believe standing on the double yellow line is the only way in politics. 

Those who thought John McCain was the best person should be remembered for such. We had the most liberal Democrat in the history of politics, why we needed one of the most liberal Republicans is beyond me. The good news is a big government, global warming believer, cap and trade pushing, interventionist candidate lost. The bad news, the other one who is the same, but worse did win. 

We needed a staunch conservative who could articulate what real conservatism was to Americans. Most are disillusioned that George Bush is a text book conservative. McCain chose to distance himself on the wrong issues, ante up on other center left ones Bush embraced, and strayed as far from true Government reform as possible. (ahem) Bailout bill, McCain voted for it.

Along with McCain, the DC powerbrokers in the GOP have failed again. The idea that permeates far too many Republican think tanks, columnists’ punditry, and political policy setting war rooms is that true conservatism is dead. I’d believe it if someone would actually try running on, then implementing it in Washington. But no one has.

Those who pulled the strings on the Republican side of this election, especially the ones lashing out at Palin now, will hopefully have served in their last official Republican role and be sent to the posh retirement homes for their types on K Street. 

#2 Governor Tim Pawlenty (R MN): 

The fruits of his 2008 electoral labor died on the vine when Sarah Palin got the job he had been angling for since the 2008 race began in 2007. He wanted that VP slot and losing it was devastating for him. 

The time he spent on the National media and campaign circuits meant he wasn’t back home minding the store. While the cat was away the DFL mice were playing. The Minnesota Democrats and liberal special interests were waging a war on the State House races and 134 great Republicans were forced to fight door to door to defend the entire party. 

Pawlenty wasted his star power and media attention on McCain and failed to make the case for balancing power in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He chose to hitch his wagon to a Washington gravy train and ended up putting himself behind the 8 ball in Minnesota politics. Democrats have an even bigger majority, albeit by just 2, to set the policy and simply wear down the Republican Governor and weak minded liberal (R)epublicans so they can pass bills and override vetoes. Now they only need 3 RINOs to override.

Had he spent time campaigning Minnesota on state issues and the conservative/Republican agenda here, I fully believe the State House results would have been far different. Pawlenty no faces another 2 years of a one sided shoot out on the goalkeeping Governor. 

#3 Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Ron Carey:

This is now his second straight dismal election cycle. Minnesota was on the verge of going red before Ron Carey. Here’s some facts of where we were before Carey and where we are now thanks to his leadership. 

2002 Elections resulted in the 2003-4 State House having : GOP 82- DFL 52

2004 Elections resulted in the 2005-6 State House having : GOP 68 - DFL 66

*** June 2005 Ron Carey was elected Party Chair. 

2006 Elections resulted in the 2007-8 State House having : GOP 49 - DFL 85

2008 Elections resulted in the 2009-10 State House having : GOP 47 - DFL 87

State Senate seats in Republican control have also dwindled under Carey. Upon his election in 2005, we were lead to believe Republicans could actually take control of the body. We were just 4 seats away from taking control in the 2006 elections. Republicans are now unable to sustain a veto. GOP 21 - DFL 45

Statewide Constitutional officers were dominated by Republicans going into the 2006 election. We held all of them except the Attorney General. After the 2006 election, we barely hung onto the Governor’s office, but only for the luck of the DFL Lt. Governor candidate not knowing what E-85 was when asked by a reporter. 

Republican members of Congress are also in decline as well. It was 4 to 4, but is now 3 GOP to 5 DFL. The Republican party has all but written off 4 of the Congressional Districts. A notion Carey promised against earlier in his tenure. 

And now we are on the cusp of losing a US Senate seat. Sen. Norm Coleman is having his reelection results recounted. The DFL Secretary of State has strong ties to ACORN, and guess what, ballots are appearing out of thin air and Counties are changing their totals to DFLer Al Franken’s favor. 

Oh and the sales tax has gone up almost 1% in parts of the state, including a Constitutionally passed one this election for the arts and outdoors. 

Far from a record of overall achievement. Hopefully Carey will announce his retirement from party leadership as soon as the recount is done and we can move forward to picking up the pieces and rebuilding the Minnesota Republican Party. 

#4 House Republican Minority Leader Marty Seifert :

He lost seats in this last election. He was unable to hold his caucus together on a veto override vote on  $6.6 Billion transit tax increase. He did not push his caucus on conservative issues like a state wide smoking ban and may have lost the faith of his fellow members of the state house along the way. I’d heard he would not be reelected to the position even before the election. I can’t believe he would after. 

Some have told me he had aspirations of higher office, and he is a great enough conservative that maybe he could do it, but he just doesn’t seem to have done a good job trying to be a caucus leader. 

#5 The Taxpayer’s League of Minnesota:

It fought against the millionaire’s amendment, oh sorry, it just seemed that way since the millionaire trust fund families of Minnesota banded together to pass it. The Outdoors and Legacy Amendment passed. This was a sales tax increase that passed in a time of recession and increasing unemployment. 

I love the Taxpayer’s League and it pains me to say it, but even though they were out funded by millions and millions in this one, it seems they are a loan wolf barking in the woods right now. They couldn’t mount a campaign or fundraising stream to stop a sales tax in a recession. Clearly they need some shaking up. Phil Krinkie is more than capable. They need to band together with new media, the radio hosts and blogs, and build a new educational outlet for the out of control spending and unaccountable government at all levels in Minnesota. 

#6 Center Right Minnesota Blogs: 

I know, this one pains me too, but the way the Republican party and conservative establishment treated their bloggers this year was a shame. Blogs are the future of the political world and hopefully this last media won election will be the final proof that the party not only needs to embrace blogs, but that they need to include them in the process. 

Sure, some blogs did manage to hold their head above water. Minnesota Democrats Exposed, the NARN/national blogs all did well, and True North emerged on the scene as go to places to find election news and commentary. But the media just doubled down and drank the “Change” kool aid and brainwashed voters as if they were the ones on the ballot. 

I’ll have more of a plan on what role blogs NEED to play in the future of the Republican party at a later date, but for now let’s just say that the Republican party leaders, candidates, and establishment wasted a huge advantage. 

Scores of us lowly bloggers are actively involved in politics and have our fingers on the pulse of the grassroots. We can reach readers who have abandoned the traditional media. We are a conduit to the grassroots base of the party, but we are also the ready, willing, and able alternative to the biased traditional media. 

The Republican party will continue its decline and dwindling electoral numbers unless the party embraces blogs and starts transitioning its media relations to favor those of us who agree with them. They have a friend in us and given a little help in expanding our readership, we will someday replace the biased local TV news and local papers in the minds of voters who want to find out about politics.

My hope is that the people who could change the media focus from the biased liberal to the blogs, realize just what they have been ignoring. We could build a partnership and forge a union that would make it so that most voters don’t turn to the Strib or WCCO to get their election news (ahem, the news Shelby and Editors, hack reporters, and spoon fed Editorialists see fit), but that will take some very highly paid and powerful people realizing that some of us very passionate people in our mom’s basement hold the future of information dissemination at their fingertips. 

I think I have a few more 08 Post Facto recaps in my head. Stay tuned.

So this year’s Christmas wishlist for me includes something with a little more firepower than normal. Yep, I’m thinking it is time to get myself a handgun while I can. Um yes, I do believe that the new Democratic Congress and Democrat President will try to pacify their anti-Constitutional special interest friends by going after American’s right to defend themselves and their homes. 

I’m not alone it appears. I have never owned a handgun. I have a 30-06 that was my dads. I used to use a .308 when I hunted and loved it. But handguns are beyond my knowledge. The girlfriend and I are looking to pick one up for each of us and I guess we could use some advice. 

So if any of you out there have any ideas, by all means let me know. We swung by a chain hunting store this morning to just browse and get some handle on pricing. The person at the counter was helpful. 

A true 2nd Amendment loving American like me does gravitate over to the AR15s and the likes, but this new purchase is one that is aimed at hand guns. The obvious cool factor is a Glock. I love the look of the 1911 styles.

Price is a factor for us. So any tips or hidden gem places to go look and try  would be great.

I’m so ecstatic that we picked up a Democrat seat in 51A with Tim Sanders, but we’re not resting on our laurels after the election. David Balcom who ran in 51B and I had lunch today and talked about lessons learned and how to kick ass and take names for the next go around in SD51. 

I encourage each and every BPOU out there to look toward the future and how we can be better as a party next time. We need to better educate voters and remove dead weight from local party orgs. 

The BPOU Convention window, which is when we will elect new BPOU leaders is coming just around the corner in February to March. I encourage all BPOUs to start working on building a team that will work together and reform their operations to help make the difference. 

Like the State Party and many Congressional Districts, many BPOUs are held back by insiders who are stuck in the political world of yesterday and refuse to work together, locally, to win elections. 

The election may be over, but there is always another one coming down the road. It is high time that we understand that the off year is the perfect time to start laying the ground work for a better, more victorious Republican Party. I look forward to working with Mr. Balcom to reform our BPOU.

Here’s a run down of Anoka County State House races.

Three new Anoka County legislators elected to Minnesota House

We picked up one and held an open GOP seat. 

All in all, I think Republicans held their own in Anoka County.

I got an interesting email a few minutes ago from the Michigan Republican party. In it I found this great little article. 

Is it constitutional?

COMMENTARY:

Which section of the U.S. Constitution gives the federal government the power to bail out banks? If you don’t know, it could be because no constitutional authority exists for such an action. It is all too common for both Congress and the executive branch to ignore that the Constitution limits what they can and cannot do.

The United States is not a parliamentary democracy; it is a constitutional federal republic, giving basic rights to the people and limiting the powers of government. America’s Founding Fathers understood that simple majoritarian democracy could trample the rights of minorities and could lead to tyranny. One of the major reasons for the relative success of the American republic is the difficulty of making significant changes in the government structure and policies. Many find this frustrating, but it allows momentary passions to cool and a more deliberative process to take place. As a result, fewer mistakes are made, in contrast to many parliamentary democracies. Because it was more difficult to put socialist schemes in place in the U.S., such as the nationalization of major industries, the people observed the failure of such programs in parliamentary countries, which diminished the enthusiasm for doing it in America.

A number of constitutional scholars, including former New Jersey Supreme Court Judge Andrew P. Napolitano and Robert A. Levy (who spearheaded the recent successful suit to overturn Washington, D.C.’s unconstitutional ban on gun ownership), have argued that the bank bailout scheme is unconstitutional. In a recent article in the Legal Times,Robert Levy stated: “The federal government has no constitutional authority to spend taxpayers’ money to buy distressed assets, much less to take an ownership position in private financial institutions. And Congress has no constitutional authority to delegate nearly plenary legislative power to the Treasury secretary, an executive branch official.” (This violates the separation of powers provisions of the Constitution.)

It goes on. 

There’s a ton of other great links in this email. I’ll have to link to them later. Stay tuned and pray someday our state party will consider doing something like this or, God forbid, pointing people to the great local blogging community.

It sounds like Barrack Obama did only leave Rev. Wright’s church because he got caught, not by choice. 

Obama’s Former Pastor Blames Media for Campaign Controversy

Well, it is nice that this type of information is coming up finally. Would have been nicer a few days earlier, but beggars can’t be choosers. 

Any bets on if the media will ask Obama about this?