Archive for the ‘Michele Bachmann’ Category

In 2008, El Tinklenberg almost defeated Michele Bachmann told Chris Matthews that there were Democrats in Congress that held un-American views. Michele was pilloried by the Twin Cities media for saying what conservatives knew at the time. Today, there’s no disputing the fact that Democrats don’t put America first. It’s clear that Democrats put their warped ideology first.

In their latest ‘negotiating’ session, President Trump walked out when Speaker Pelosi insisted that President Trump re-open the government. The meeting ended when President Trump asked Pelosi if she’d fund his wall if he re-opened government. She replied that she wouldn’t. News reports later said that Pelosi refused to negotiate, which is accurate.

Pence led a three-person White House team seeking to negotiate with Democratic leaders over the weekend, but he told reporters that Schumer and Pelosi have been unwilling to budge. “We incorporated Democrat ideas and language in our proposal and made an offer to resolve this impasse and address the crisis at our southern border. And today, in this brief meeting, we heard once again that Democratic leaders are unwilling to even negotiate,” Pence said.

In good-faith negotiations, each side gives a little. Neither side gets everything that they want. Pelosi thinks that she doesn’t have to budge an inch. Pelosi thinks that she can just play my-way-or-the-highway hardball.

Think of what Vice President Pence just said. He said that Republicans crafted legislation that “incorporated Democrat ideas and language in our proposal and made an offer to resolve this impasse.” The Democrats have stayed stuck on no. So much for Democrats negotiating in good faith.

That’s proof positive that Democrats put political victories ahead of doing what’s right for the nation. That’s the definition of being un-American.

It’s fair to ask whether or to what extent the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings have had on Senate races. In my estimation, BTW, the confirmation hearings have played a major role in reshaping the red state races.

House races have been flying under the radar this year. I admit that I don’t have as good a read on them as I normally have. That being said, I have some insights into the House races. First, I’m confident that the violent episodes shouldn’t be underestimated.

While these attacks haven’t directly happened against House members, they’ve happened relatively close to home. One attack happened to Kristin Davison, a female campaign manager for Nevada gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt. Another happened to Rep. Sarah Anderson, the chair of the Minnesota House Government Finance Committee. Still another attack happened against Shane Mekeland, a candidate for Minnesota’s House of Representatives. Last night, Mekeland was on Laura Ingraham’s show:

When Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat, says that people will be harassed in stores, gas stations and restaurants, she’s taking things up multiple notches from normal campaign activity. When Sen. Mazie Hirono, Amy Klobuchar, Dick Durbin, Kamala Harris and Corey Booker, aka Sen. Spartacus’, each a Democrat, says that Republicans are guilty until proven innocent, they’re far beyond being anti-American.

In 2008, Michele Bachmann told Chris Matthews that certain members of the Democratic Party were anti-American. The MSM ridiculed her from then until the election. It turns out she was right. Her real sin was that she said something others knew but weren’t willing to say.

There are patriots in the Democratic Party. Tammy Duckworth is one of them. It’s just that few of them are elected officials. Too many of them, unfortunately, support anarchism or care only about themselves. Hillary fits into that last category.

It’s time to get rid of these dregs. It’s time to make them pay a price for their anti-American actions.

Karen Cyson’s monthly columns are consistently intentionally misleading. This month’s column definitely fits that description. Here’s proof:

Previous Rep. Michele Bachmann had a 75 percent rating of spewing falsehoods (mostly false, false, or pants-on-fire), according to [Politifact], and missed 10.3 percent of her voting opportunities. The median absence rate in the House of Representatives is 2.5 percent. To represent a group, one of the most basic things a representative can do is show up.

I’m not here to defend Michele Bachmann’s statements, though I’ll definitely agree with her statements that the Muslim Brotherhood has tried infiltrating the State Department. There’s tons of proof of that, including the statement of a former terrorist who is now a Christian.

What I’m here to defend is Ms. Cyson’s statement that Michele missed “10.3% of her voting opportunities,” that’s true but misleading. That statistic is true because she ran for president in 2012. It’s inevitable that people running for president miss votes. Ms. Cyson, forever the partisan, intentionally omitted that important fact.

This information is technically accurate and intentionally misleading:

Also of note: The sole piece of legislation introduced by Bachmann that passed the House and Senate and was signed into law by the president was a bill to rename the Cold Spring Post Office.

While Rep. Bachmann’s legislation to replace the Stillwater Bridge wasn’t signed into law, there’s no question that she was the driving force behind getting that bridge built. That project had been stalled for a decade. It was indisputable that the bridge needed to be replaced.

Jim Oberstar didn’t get the thing built. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken couldn’t be bothered with pushing the project. Gov. Dayton didn’t put a priority on the project, either. It wasn’t until Michele started pushing the bridge project that Sen. Klobuchar got interested.

This paragraph is stunning:

I am hopeful Emmer takes it upon himself to introduce and support legislation that backs those Minnesota values we support: quality education, safe infrastructure, environmental stewardship, affordable health care, equality under the law for all citizens.

TRANSLATION: I hope Emmer becomes a good liberal.

First, the federal government’s involvement in education has been disastrous. They provide a tiny percentage of per-pupil funding but impose the majority of regulations. Next, it’s virtually guaranteed that Rep. Emmer will fight hard for transportation funding. That’s because expanding highway capacity is one of the top priorities for the district. Third, it isn’t likely that Rep. Emmer will fight hard for the excessive federal environmental regulations that President Obama is famous for. Thank God for that. Finally, based on the campaigns that I’ve watched, social issues aren’t a high priority. It isn’t that Rep. Emmer doesn’t have opinions. It’s that increasing economic opportunity within the district is Rep. Emmer’s highest priority.

Technorati: Tom Emmer, Michele Bachmann, Transportation, Economic Development, I-94 Expansion, Republicans

For years, Democrats have said that we can’t drill our way to cheap oil prices. That’s part of the Democrats’ catechism. Today’s cheap oil prices are forcing Democrats to eat their words:

In 2012, President Obama called it “a slogan, a gimmick, and a bumper sticker … not a strategy. They were waving their three-point plans for $2-a-gallon gas,” Obama told a laughing audience during an energy speech in Washington. “You remember that? Drill, baby, drill. We were going through all that. And none of it was really going to do anything to solve the problem.”

“‘Drill, baby, drill’ won’t lower gas prices today or tomorrow,” Rep. Janice Hahn, D-Calif., echoed on the floor of Congress in 2012. “But it will fuel our addiction to fossil fuel.”

Here in St. Cloud, the cheapest gas I’ve seen this month is $1.91/gallon. I remember August, 2008 because the know-it-alls in the DFL were criticizing Michele Bachmann for saying that lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling would lead to $2.00/gallon gasoline if the Democrats would just let it happen. FYI- Gas was at $4.11/gallon at the time.

Naturally, the DFL accused Michele of being insane or of not knowing what she was talking about. On Jan. 20, 2009, the day Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th president, gas was $1.78/gallon. Nobody in the DFL admitted that Michele was right. The conservative blogosphere, however, was ‘admitting’ it frequently.

Then President Obama’s policies took over and gas prices started increasing. Intentionally.

President Obama is now attempting to claim credit for the latest dramatic drop in oil prices. He shouldn’t. Here’s why:

Oil production on federal lands, those under the president’s control, fell 6 percent since 2009, according to the federal Energy Information Administration, while production on private lands increased 61 percent.

Let’s restate that with different wording. Where President Obama can obstruct the flow of oil, production has dropped by 6% since 2009. Where President Obama can’t obstruct oil production because oil is discovered oil on private lands or under state-owned lands, production has grown by 61% since 2009.

A simple tongue-in-cheek observation is in order. If God is going to create oil, He should create it where the government can’t stop production. Here’s a different observation worth appreciating:

America built the Empire State Building, then the world’s tallest office building, in 410 days during the Depression. We built the Pentagon, still the world’s largest low-rise office building, in 16 months while waging a war across two oceans. Keystone has been studied for more than six years. And Obama considers this insufficient?

Actually, there no longer is any reason to think he has ever reasoned about this. He said he would not make up his mind until the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled. It ruled to permit construction, so he promptly vowed to veto authorization of construction.

After reading all of this information, a person might believe that Democrats are stupid when it comes to the rules of supply and demand. They aren’t, though they frequently sound like it. It’s that Democrats are willing to say anything to appease the environment activist wing of the Democratic Party rather than doing the right thing.

This is instructive:

Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) objected that if Congress authorizes construction of Keystone this “would take consideration out of the hands of the administration,” and “out of the current administration process.”

The reason why Republicans want this taken “out of the current administration process” is because the process is the fast track to nowhere, which is the Democrats’ goal.

Simply put, it’s time to tell the Democrats to sit down and shut up when it comes to setting energy policy. Thanks to the work done at the state level and by private landowners, the US is on the cusp of regaining its status of being the world’s energy superpower.

It’s instructive that Democrats are attempting to obstruct that progress for the American people.

Despite what Sartell Mayor Joe Perske told WCCO’s Esme Murphy, he’s still fighting a steep uphill fight:

Perske said that he thinks, while the district may be heavily favored toward Republican candidates, “people want a change.”

Perkse added that he believes “people are sick of the polarizing politics that we’ve seen with Michele Bachmann, and I think we’re just going to get more of the same with Tom Emmer. If you take a look at his past record of what he’s done in the state legislature, and you take a look at the things he’s said, (he’s) very similar in being on that right side with the Tea Party.”

First, it’s clear that Perske’s only hope of getting elected is in a) turning Tom Emmer into the biggest boogeyman this side of the Koch Brothers and b) getting voters to ignore what’s important to them.

Perske needs three other things to happen to win. He needs to have an instant name ID bomb to go off in the Sixth so people south of St. Cloud know who he is. At the moment, his name ID in Andover, Annandale, Anoka, Becker, Big Lake, Clear Lake and Clearwater is on a par with my name ID in those cities.

I’m pretty certain my name ID is virtually non-existent in those cities. Welcome to the club, Joe.

Another thing Perske needs is a mass cash infusion so he can at least run enough ads so people in Big Lake and Clearwater know who he is. (Perske should forget about becoming known in the south Metro part of the district.)

Finally, to be competitive, Perske needs the Sixth to become much more moderate between now and election day. Since that ain’t happening, Perske should accept the fact that he’s gonna get beaten like a drum.

Emmer’s team is working hard. They’re showing up at all the right events. They’re having discussions with all the right people. They’ve got a great GOTV operation.

Most importantly, Emmer’s team has something that Perske doesn’t have. Specifically, they’ve got a candidate who’s a great fit for the Sixth.

In 2010, Tarryl Clark had a well-financed campaign. Michele beat her by 13 points. This year, Perske is woefully underfunded in a year that’s likely to be another good year for the MNGOP.

The likely outcome is Emmer beating Perske like a drum.

Technorati: Joe Perske, Name Recognition, Tarryl Clark, Fundraising Machine, DFL, Tom Emmer, Michele Bachmann, Sixth District, Conservatism, Redistricting, MNGOP, Election 2014

This LTE is just another helping of DFL gibberish:

Joe Perske, who is a candidate for the 6th Congressional District, is the kind of person we need to represent us in Washington.

Joe has worked in local politics for the past 10 years and has advocated diligently for workers and families in this area. He has an incredible gift of being able to relate to people from all walks of life. He has the integrity we are lacking in Washington today.

Recently he was endorsed by the Minnesota AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education for his positions and record on issues of importance to workers and their families. The endorsement is based on his steadfast support of working families.

The notion that a DFL congressional candidate getting endorsed by the AFL-CIO isn’t news. Based on their list of endorsees, if you had a D behind your name, you were endorsed.

Simply put, Perske is just another tax-raising liberal. His history is littered with raising propert taxes and spending money foolishly.

In 2010, I wrote that Tarryl faced an uphill climb against Michele Bachmann. Tarryl lost by 13 points, the biggest winning margin in Michele’s congressional career. If Republicans work hard this year, the DFL will look at the Michele vs. Tarryl as the good old days.

Tom Emmer is a great fit for the district. He’s fiscally conservative, which is important. Most importantly, he’s a reform-minded conservative.

Technorati: Joe Perske, Tax and Spend Liberal, Taxin Tarryl Clark, AFL-CIO, Endorsement, DFL, Tom Emmer, Michele Bachmann, GOP, Election 2014

This St. Cloud Times article reads like a Dayton administration press release. Here’s the newsy part of the Dayton press release:

Gov. Mark Dayton’s announcement Thursday that up to $46 million will be spent as soon as summer to expand Interstate Highway 94 between Rogers and St. Michael is extremely welcome news.

As Dayton and Minnesota Department of Transportation Charlie Zelle noted in meeting with this board prior to the announcement, these bonding dollars are not just a down payment on expanding this critical corridor all the way to St. Cloud, but in providing the funding necessary to maintain and expand roads and highways statewide.

Nowhere in the Dayton press release did they talk about the Dayton administration’s disapproval for the expansion project when they attempted to thwart Michele Bachmann’s proposal:

But Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Gutknecht said the I-94 widening doesn’t rank high on the agency’s long-term list of priority projects. “There are projects like this all across the state — really good projects, really important projects, projects that have tremendous support like this,” he said. “It all really boils down to the funding piece.”

It’s clear that the Dayton administration is talking out of both sides of its mouth. Here’s how the Times attempts to spin this project:

The focus of Corridors of Commerce is to improve roads that are bottlenecked or considered critical to regional economic development but not funded under MnDOT’s latest “fiscally constrained” 20-year transportation plan.

That’s insulting. MnDOT’s budget isn’t “fiscally constrained.” It’s politically constrained, especially when Michele Bachmann was trying to get I-94 expanded. Back then, MnDOT said directly that I-94 expansion didn’t “rank high on the agency’s…priority projects.” Back then, MnDOT’s spokesman hinted that the expansion ranked behind “really important projects.”

Gov. Dayton’s facade is that of a nice guy. When politics are involved, he’s a sharp-elbowed ideologue. I’m betting that he’s only supporting the I-94 expansion to get support for a massive tax increase to pay for his light rail projects. Minnesotans are taxed too much already. The last thing we need is to raise taxes to support failed light rail projects.

When Steve Murphy’s Transportation Tax Bill passed in 2008, I predicted that the DFL would whine that the tax increase wasn’t enough to add lanes to roads. I also predicted that they’d be back for another massive tax increase. It took them longer than I expected but they’re back asking for another major tax increase.

Expanding I-94 is the right thing to do. That’s why Michele Bachmann fought for it. Gov. Dayton isn’t as interested in doing the right thing as he is interested in playing politics with economic growth. Gov. Dayton didn’t like the expansion until he was pressured by David Fitzsimmons, Mary Kiffmeyer and other Republicans from central Minnesota.

Minnesota needs a governor who does the right thing for the right reasons. We don’t need a governor who moistens his finger before making a policy decision.

Technorati: Mark Dayton, Tax Increase, Kevin Gutknecht, Transportation, MnDOT, DFL, Michele Bachmann, Mary Kiffmeyer, Dave Fitzsimmons, I-94 Expansion, MnGOP, St. Cloud Times, Media Bias

This morning on @Issue, Javier Morillo-Alicea, the president of SEIU Local 26, hinted that state unions would work with ABM in funding a mudslinging campaign against the GOP-endorsed candidate for the Sixth District. Here’s what he said:

Michele Bachmann wasn’t the problem. Michele Bachmann was a symptom of the problem. The problem is a party that is so far outside the mainstream, a party that is so far outside of Americans’ thinking…We’ll see who the Republicans put up…because the Republican primary and endorsement process…even if the person isn’t Michele Bachmann at the start of the process, they’ll be Michele Bachmann by the end of the process.

That’s spin. It’s likely how ABM will attack the GOP-endorsed candidate, too.

Those attacks will start before the endorsing convention. They’ll intensify once a candidate is endorsed. ABM’s history, which the SEIU is part of, is littered with stinging criticism of their advertisements. ABM is known for having mounted the biggest smear campaign in Minnesota gubernatorial history.

Why should people think ABM won’t try smearing Michele’s successor? They’ve shown that the truth isn’t important to them.

Republicans shouldn’t take the Sixth for granted even though they start with a distinct advantage. Though it isn’t likely they’ll dump tons of money into this race, Republicans shouldn’t just assume ABM won’t try mounting a smear campaign against their endorsed candidate.

When Michele Bachmann officially becomes a private citizen again, the St. Cloud Times will need to find a new villain. Their hatred of all things Michele has been documented throughout the years. I’m not sure I ever read them praise her. If they did, it was buried in their avalanche of criticism of Michele. The Times’ hatred of her stems mostly from Randy Krebs. His op-ed is filled with incredible criticism. This one is most ironic:

I find the most stunning aspect of Bachmann’s political style is her refusal to admit she makes mistakes. It’s like she’s perfect, like she walks on water.

This coming from a man who isn’t capable of admitting he’s ever made a mistake. Last year, when Michele and 4 other conservative Republicans worried about the State Department’s pro-Muslim Brotherhood slant, I tried submitting a YTE editorial. Randy Krebs rejected the YTE, calling my statements “unsubstantiated allegations.” I explained in this post how Krebs wasn’t just a little bit wrong:

This week, I attempted to submit an LTE defending Michele Bachmann. I tried highlighting the fact that the questions Michele Bachmann, Louie Gohmert, Trent Franks, Lynn Westmoreland and Tom Rooney asked were both legitimate and substantive. I used information from Andrew McCarthy’s article to show that Huma Abedin’s parents had significant ties to radical Islam, including to the Wahhabist movement that produced 15 of the 19 9/11 terrorists.

Despite quoting Mr. McCarthy’s impeccable documentation for the LTE, Mr. Krebs told me that they wouldn’t publish an LTE based on “unsubstantiated allegations.” It’s insulting that Mr. Krebs would argue about “unsubstantiated allegations,” especially considering this research by Walid Shoebat. Shoebat’s research is detailed, on topic and damning. Mr. Shoebat was a “radicalized Muslim willing to die for the cause of Jihad” until his conversion to Christianity.

Here’s the subtitle to Mr. McCarthy’s article:

Michele Bachmann has every right to ask questions.

Krebs’ blind hatred of Michele Bachmann wouldn’t permit him to admit that his criticism of Michele wasn’t right. He’d excoriated her for her calling for an investigation. The lead prosecutor in the trial against the Blind Sheikh said this about Michele’s claims:

Representative Bachmann is one of five House conservatives who have raised concerns about Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of our government. Glenn Beck reported Tuesday that GOP leadership is trying to extort an apology out of Bachmann by threatening to boot her from the House Intelligence Committee if she fails to submit.

That got me to wondering: Any chance Speaker Boehner might take just a couple of minutes out of his busy jihad against Bachmann to focus on how the State Department, during Ms. Abedin’s tenure, has cozied up to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s chief sharia jurist?

I suspect that the man who led the successful prosecution and conviction of the Blind Sheikh might know more about the Muslim Brotherhood than Mr. Krebs. When I pointed out that Mr. McCarthy was a respected expert on terrorism, I got an email from Krebs saying that my YTE was based on “unsubstantiated allegations.”

Isn’t it a bit ironic that Krebs now whines that Michele can’t admit when she’s wrong? First, shouldn’t Krebs practice what he preaches before criticizing others for what he won’t do? Mr. Krebs, if you aren’t willing to admit your verifiable mistakes, why should we listen to anything you say?

Finally, it’s long past time for Mr. Krebs to admit that Michele’s positives exist and that they’re important. Perhaps that isn’t possible because he’s approved far too many I-hate-Michele LTEs. The common trait of those LTEs is that they’re filled with emotion-filled, fact-free anti-Michele rants.

Witness her 2012 campaign. She agreed to only three debates with challenger Jim Graves, all within the last two weeks of the election. Only one of those was in a public setting, here in St. Cloud. But even it was moderated by the deep-red St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce.

The St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce is filled with people who believe in capitalism and who do good work. Saying that they’re “deep-red” isn’t just a stretch. It’s an exaggeration of epic proportions. That statement by Mr. Krebs shows just how liberal he is.

The Times is running a loose shop. If they don’t get their act together quickly, they’ll fade into irrelevance. That said, Mr. Krebs is in danger of that already.

When it comes to intellectual foolishness, it’s difficult to beat the St. Cloud Times Editorial Board. This editorial is laced with that intellectual foolishness. Here’s a prime example:

Sure, his desire to beat Bachmann is implied in most every speech, news release and public appearance. However, the words he speaks (and writes) literally list priorities that go well beyond who isn’t in office. Here are two very recent examples:

“… I’m running to work with both sides to find ways to balance the budget, keep our promises to seniors, create jobs and strengthen the middle class,” closes out a “Why I’m Running” explanation on his website.

“… As a businessman who has balanced budgets and created jobs, I’m running to work with both sides to find ways to balance the budget, keep our promises to seniors, create jobs and strengthen the middle class,” is the final quote he issued in announcing April 12 his candidacy for the 6th District seat in the 2014 elections.

So was that all just lip service?

It’s amazing that a supposedly high profile newspaper didn’t notice that Jim Graves’ platform was all about him not being Michele Bachmann. Either they didn’t notice or they’re pretending that they didn’t notice that that’s Graves’ motivation.

The foolishness continues:

Another big reason for disappointment is the stark reality that, contrary to Graves’ belief, Minnesota’s Republican Party, foundering amid an internal ideological war and massive debt, could very well end up nominating a candidate similar to Bachmann.

And to be even more honest, who is to say the DFL Party, emboldened by its dominance at the state level, might not just find an extreme DFLer to put on its ticket?

First, there isn’t another person who is as steadfast in her belief in the right things as Michele Bachmann. Her charisma, her policy chops and her love of limited government gave people a reason to vote for her.

Next, the DFL has nominated extremists before to run against Michele. Graves’ talk about being a new Democrat was a fallacy. Barney Frank, one of the most extremist, hateful Democrats in DC, hosted a fundraiser for him. Graves told me that the PPACA was a free market solution to the health care crisis. The truth is that it’s a government-centered program.

As this board noted last fall, the appeal of Graves is his moderate viewpoints. He was an island of common sense and potential compromise amid a sea of political extremism.

On the issues, Graves sounded more moderate than he really was. More importantly, his policies wouldn’t solve America’s problems. The PPACA won’t lower health care costs. In fact, health insurance premiums are rising rapidly. There will be almost as many uninsured with the PPACA in place as before. Graves the politician didn’t see the need for uprooting the PPACA.

Graves the politician never talked about the crippling effects of the federal government’s overregulation. Michele Bachmann fought against the federal government’s overregulation every minute she was in DC. America’s economy can’t grow with the regulators running wild. Graves didn’t have a plan for that. That’s because it wasn’t a priority for him.

If you don’t reduce the federal government’s overregulation, we can’t achieve energy independence. Jim Graves didn’t speak about the need for achieving energy independence. Michele frequently spoke about reducing regulations and achieving energy independence.

For all the Times talk about Graves the moderate, they’ve never spoken about his policies or his problem-solving abilities. They seemed to think that being a compromiser was the chief qualification for being a congressman. That type of wrong-headed thinking is what’s gotten America in the trouble it’s in.

We don’t need compromisers as much as we need people who get policies right. Michele Bachmann made some indefensible statements. That said, she’s been right on the issues, from energy independence to health care to taxes to regulations. I’d love it if the Times got rid of their irrational hatred of Michele. If they’d paid attention to the issues, they might’ve appreciated what Michele brought to the table.

Instead, they got a tingle up their leg for any DFL politician who criticized Michele. What a pathetic excuse for a newspaper.