November 16th, 2009 • 1:41 amBachmann, Emmer Bullish On 2010
Saturday, I attended an event in Big Lake sponsored by the SD-16 GOP BPOU. SD-16 BPOU Chairman Jim Newberger emceed the event, which was held at The Friendly Buffalo just west off Highway 10. (Yes, that’s a plug. The owner of the Friendly Buffalo is a loyal conservative.)
The first speaker called to the micrphone was HD-16B Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer. Mary reminded the activists gathered there that the district was once a liberal district, reminding them that it started to turn with her husband Ralph’s election in the 80’s. Mary said that with hard work, SD-16 would reject Lisa Fobbe after her half-term in office. Na7turally, that got a nice round of applause from the activists gathered there.
After talking about taking back Betsy Wergin’s seat, Rep. Kiffmeyer then talked about the different tax increases that Gov. Pawlenty vetoed and that the House GOP sustained. She then talked about the tax credits that Ann Lenczewski’s tax bill would’ve eliminated, including the charitable contributions, the mortgage interest tax deduction and the property tax deduction for homeowners. Mary noted that those deductions would’ve been eliminated under Rep. Lenzcewski’s bill.
GOP gubernatorial candidates Marty Seifert and Tom Emmer both gave brief presentations, followed by a brief Q and A session. Both candidates’ presentations were pleasing to conservatives’ ears as both talked about their plans to create jobs.
The one point that stood out to me came when Marty said that he’d veto a bill if it didn’t include a voter ID provision. When it was Tom’s turn, he said that he was optimistic that we wouldn’t have to rely on vetoes but that we could be the majority party if we got our message out.
It wouldn’t be fair to characterize Marty’s attitude as defeatist but there was a significant difference in his response compared with Tom’s response. I’d also question whether it’s smart to veto bills if it’ll lead to a special session.The DFL would love making it difficult by insisting on leaving out the voter ID provision.
At that point, a GOP governor would have to decide whether it’s best to veto a bill, thereby causing a special session, then possibly a government shutdown, which the DFL and their media allies would blame on Republicans.
Regardless, the night’s highlight was Michele Bachmann’s presentation, which she followed up with a Q and A session. Michele said that she really didn’t know what to expect in terms of attendance for the Emergency House Call event. She said that it started on Hannity’s TV show the Friday night before the House vote on Pelosicare.
She said that people like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck got the word out through their shows. She said that the thing that made her beleive that it might get big was a phone call she got at home the Saturday before the event.
Jon Voight called and asked her if it’d be alright to fly to DC “to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with” people standing up for what’s right. When Thursday’s event rolled around, there was Jon Voight, standing with Michele, Levin, John Ratzenberger (Cliff Claven of Cheers) and a host of others.
Michele said that Pelosi walked Democrats off the plank by forcing them to vote for the Pelosicare bill. She said that Pelosi and the Democrats haven’t listened to the American people, which has sparked the TEA Party movement. Finally, she said that a wave is building and DC doesn’t think it’s real; they think it’s astroturf or overhyped, etc.
It’s my opinion that they’ll find out the hard way that their policies aren’t popular. They’ll find out that people aren’t in the mood to have their taxes raised when 1 in 6 people are unemployed or underemployed. They’ll find out that they aren’t popular after voting for economic policies that are making the economy worse and that are making deficits astronomical.
Saturday’s event was well-attended, with about 100-125 people attending.
Technorati: Tom Emmer, Marty Seifert, Mary Kiffmeyer, Kurt Zellers, Michele Bachmann, Jon Voight, Mark Levin, MNGOP, Pelosicare, Speaker Pelosi, Democrats, Election 2010
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[...] Gary from let Freedom Ring was also at the event Saturday. You can read his story on it here. [...]
Pingback by Residual Forces » Blog Archive » Recap From Saturday – Majority Mentality • 16Nov2009 @ 7:50 am
Did Kiffmeyer talk about the bank she’s president of–you know, Jesus Savings and Loan, the one the FDIC just took over because it’s insolvent?
Comment by Al • 16Nov2009 @ 7:53 am
The GOP is on the verge of having a “good year” next year, but it is a monumental undertaking and may not be good enogh. Just the small differences between Emmer and Seifert are enough to swing the balance, IMHO. Marty was taking a pragmatic but principled position; Tom was being cautiously optimistic.
Comment by J. Ewing • 16Nov2009 @ 8:57 am
Jerry, There was NO INDICATION that Marty had even thought about life in the majority.
Yes, it’ll take alot of work to retake the majorities. Yes, we might fall short. Yes, we still set our sights high because anything less says that our priorities aren’t winning priorities.
Comment by Gary Gross • 16Nov2009 @ 9:34 am
I can assure you that Marty HAS thought about it, and has actually taken steps to help make it so. But that wasn’t my point. My point was that there is a difference in style or tone (and very little of principle) between the two men and that it may make the difference between a new majority and ongoing minority status for Republicans.
Comment by J. Ewing • 16Nov2009 @ 2:30 pm
Jerry, If Marty has thought about creating a conservative majority, then I’d say that this was just posturing as the ONLY MAN who’d veto bills he didn’t like.
Comment by Gary Gross • 16Nov2009 @ 2:34 pm
You are entitled to your opinion of both men and about what they said, or didn’t say, or implied, and on the way they did or didn’t say what they did or should have said. That’s what makes a horse race.
If Marty said exactly that, he is wrong in a couple of ways (and must have misspoken; he knows better). First, all of the candidates are, AFAIK, good conservatives of one stripe or another. Second, vetoing things they don’t like is the absolute perogative and duty of any governor. Third, sometimes the best man for the job is a woman, and I wouldn’t discount Pat Anderson in this race.
Comment by J. Ewing • 16Nov2009 @ 4:39 pm
Gary:
One thing to keep in mind we will need a year bigger than the Minnesota massacre for the governor not to worry about veto’s.
On the house which in theory can be won we still have to gain 23 plus seats and in the senate we need over 10 seats.
It’s easy that at least one chamber won’t be controlled by Republicans and the democrats will continue to try to be the dominant party in budget issues.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment by Walter Hanson • 16Nov2009 @ 4:47 pm
Sounds like a ’60s love-in. Flowers and candles, and a smoke-filled house. Did they talk of the wars? Each is something Obama inherited. Did Michele talk about all she’s done in Congress to get jobs in the District? Housing and commercial real estate, credit, things that died three months or earlier before the start of 2009? Did Kiffmeyer propose any legislative agenda, priorities, things of that kind?
With the economy as it is, voter ID is a real timely issue.
Comment by eric z. • 16Nov2009 @ 5:50 pm
Well, yes, voter ID is an issue. Thanks to our POS SOS we have a situation where ACORN and its ilk can steal any election they want to, just by having more people cast ballots than actually walked through a polling place. Heck, we can find ballots in a car trunk a week later and still have them count. Then we simply throw out any absentee ballots we don’t like and Voila! Democrat victory!
And don’t pull that old “inherited recession” crap. Obama PROMISED, with real numbers and tons of “experts,” that if the stimulus passed unemployment would not get above 8%, but that without it, unemployment would likely peak just above 9%. Now that it is over 10% and climbing, it is obvious that what Obama did was WORSE THAN NOTHING! You can’t blame that on Bush. The Obamacle owns this mess. All Republicans have to do is to say, “We can’t possibly screw up any worse,” an they can get elected. If they offer a truly believable positive alternative, Katy bar the door.
Comment by J. Ewing • 16Nov2009 @ 9:37 pm