Reviews of movies, anime, and the occasional TV show mixed with warnings on Blogger spam. Also to be found are musings on whatever I am thinking about - all from the point of view of being left to watch everything from the sidelines of life.
Well, Tuesday was some night for many of us and unfortunately for me, I overdid things making the upper respiratory infection that was nearly gone return. While I’m physically having some breathing problems, I can say that mentally, emotionally, and spiritually the atmosphere has lifted allowing me to metaphorically breathe easier. Time to ramble a bit for posterity.
President Trump. A year ago I was telling people to get used to saying this only to be greeted by laughter.
A highly abridged collection of my thoughts on the 2016 election written without any real structure with the purpose of jogging my memory later on.
What a bizarre election. It reminds me of reading accounts of Italian or Greek elections more than an American one.
Normally there is more excitement surrounding local candidates around here, but the strange presidential race has sucked most of the attention away this time out. One of the consequences of the immense damage the autocratic Obama administration has wrought over two terms is this weird (by American standards) faceoff between a billionaire populist not wanted by his party leadership and the most corrupt candidate to ever run for the office. Both have high negatives so it has been a marathon to see which one will be the most disliked.
With the re-election of Barack Obama to the presidency, there is no chance of turning things around. My analysis of the race turned out to be wrong due to two factors: thinking the 2010 elections indicated a change in the electorate and believing the Democratic Party affiliation sample was overstated dramatically. Well, 2010 appears to have been a temper tantrum rather than a real desire to change course and this is no longer a center-right country, but a left wing nation. Blame will be put on Romney’s campaign, but the reality is that we really are a +6 Democrat country despite what Gallup said.
The gains by the Democrats in the House and Senate show that nationally and the Minnesota state legislature has switched back to the DFL. So much for Minnesota being in play, not to mention many other states so listed. Pot legalization passed in Colorado and Washington, while gay marriage did in Maine. The left now own the country and will continue to do so until the country fails.
The media claim there is no mandate for Obama with this close an election, but I disagree. You will be seeing a lot of executive orders bypassing Congress in the future, for humility is not a trait the President has in any quantity. So, yes, he has a mandate.
In the end, we always end up with the President we deserve as a nation, not what we as individuals may deserve. Things are going to go very badly from here on out, though it was probably unavoidable no matter the outcome of the election.
With that in mind, I call upon all who read this post to come unto Christ, for it is only through him that we can be saved – not by any mortal politician.
Locally, Greg Davids and Jeremy Miller both won with 58% of the vote in a district that went DFL for everything else. Both amendments failed easily as did Quist and Bills.
For me, this is most likely the last hurrah in national and international affairs, since I feel a deep need to get my personal house in order. I’ve been a news junkie for all my adult life and it is time for that to change. Having fought the good fight, I am content with what I have done. Time to focus on the things in my life I can control.
Foreign policy is the subject of the last and probably least watched debate. On the anecdotal side, multiple people I know will not be watching this one who did watch the preceding debates. Make of that what you will.
Both candidates seemed a bit off at the very beginning. Lots of verbal stumbling and stuttering going on shows how the debates have worn them down.
President Obama was a jerk early and made things personal during the Libya question. Hitting Romney on saying Russia was the biggest geopolitical threat was predictable. Mitt was prepared for that and gave a very strong response. Obama said “clear” which is always a telltale he is about to fib big time. Seriously, he always does that.
It looks like his gambit will be to try to put words in Romney’s mouth, just like the previous debates and entire campaign. It must gall him that Mitt stands up for himself.
UPDATED:
It looks like the prepared statement and actual address were different, though I’m not sure if this can be definitively interpreted as calling the attack terror or if it was a reference to 9/11. I’ll put it up for comparison:
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
September 12, 2012
Remarks by the President on the Deaths of U.S. Embassy Staff in Libya
Rose Garden
10:43 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Every day, all across the world, American diplomats and civilians work tirelessly to advance the interests and values of our nation. Often, they are away from their families. Sometimes, they brave great danger.
Yesterday, four of these extraordinary Americans were killed in an attack on our diplomatic post in Benghazi. Among those killed was our Ambassador, Chris Stevens, as well as Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith. We are still notifying the families of the others who were killed. And today, the American people stand united in holding the families of the four Americans in our thoughts and in our prayers.
The United States condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack. We're working with the government of Libya to secure our diplomats. I've also directed my administration to increase our security at diplomatic posts around the world. And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.
Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence. None. The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts.
Already, many Libyans have joined us in doing so, and this attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya. Libyan security personnel fought back against the attackers alongside Americans. Libyans helped some of our diplomats find safety, and they carried Ambassador Stevens’s body to the hospital, where we tragically learned that he had died.
It's especially tragic that Chris Stevens died in Benghazi because it is a city that he helped to save. At the height of the Libyan revolution, Chris led our diplomatic post in Benghazi. With characteristic skill, courage, and resolve, he built partnerships with Libyan revolutionaries, and helped them as they planned to build a new Libya. When the Qaddafi regime came to an end, Chris was there to serve as our ambassador to the new Libya, and he worked tirelessly to support this young democracy, and I think both Secretary Clinton and I relied deeply on his knowledge of the situation on the ground there. He was a role model to all who worked with him and to the young diplomats who aspire to walk in his footsteps.
Along with his colleagues, Chris died in a country that is still striving to emerge from the recent experience of war. Today, the loss of these four Americans is fresh, but our memories of them linger on. I have no doubt that their legacy will live on through the work that they did far from our shores and in the hearts of those who love them back home.
Of course, yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks. We mourned with the families who were lost on that day. I visited the graves of troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hallowed grounds of Arlington Cemetery, and had the opportunity to say thank you and visit some of our wounded warriors at Walter Reed. And then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi.
As Americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in some cases, lay down their lives for it. Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe.
No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done.
But we also know that the lives these Americans led stand in stark contrast to those of their attackers. These four Americans stood up for freedom and human dignity. They should give every American great pride in the country that they served, and the hope that our flag represents to people around the globe who also yearn to live in freedom and with dignity.
We grieve with their families, but let us carry on their memory, and let us continue their work of seeking a stronger America and a better world for all of our children.
Thank you. May God bless the memory of those we lost and may God bless the United States of America.
END
10:48 A.M. EDT
I’m not sure this makes him look better, since he still went to fund raising in Las Vegas the next day. That would be more forgivable if he thought it was a riot, but if he knew it was a terrorist attack it really rankles.
ORIGINAL POST:
I knew this would be an ugly one simply because of Joe Biden being there. I also expected the moderator to assist him in attacking Paul Ryan. So no surprises there.
What I did not expect was Biden to be arrogant enough to attack the moderator a couple of times. Despite that, Raddatz continued to help him out like an abused wife who won’t give up on the marriage.
Biden is a pathological and smooth liar who came into the debate with a clear agenda – rally the base with red meat. He succeeded very well, in my opinion. His facial expressions and nastiness will not play well outside that group. It tells me the campaign strategy is purely base rallying now.
Ryan did not do as well as many on the right thought he would. But he scored some serious blows that caused Biden to meltdown a couple of times. It is pretty clear that the campaign goal here is to be steady and appeal to a broader spectrum of voters.
I am not sure if this debate made a difference one way or another. Part of me thinks Biden breathed new life into demoralized Democrats. Part of me thinks Ryan may have won over more undecided moderates and independents.
And part of me has always wondered what difference VP debates make to anyone other than political wonks.
Ryan finished strong, but what a messy debate in total. Biden will not have done well with devout Catholics with the theological gymnastics at the end.
The only clear loser I see was Raddatz, who did an abysmal job. Anybody who complained about Jim Lehrer should take a second look at how he handled things. Man the questions at the end were puff piece interviewer pieces rather than needed debate topics.
We’ll see if this debate makes any difference with the voters.
Time to see how the third debate goes between the Minnesota Congressional District 1 candidates Allen Quist (R) and Tim Walz (D) goes. I missed the second one, but I will say as unimpressive as they both were in the first, they were both miles better than President Obama. By the way, typing the party next to each resulted in ® and 
Standing room only, it looks like they exceeded the seating for 350 by quite a bit. I’m watching the streaming video at Mankato Free Press.
Coin flip went to Walz, so he gets to go first. Oh great, confusion by the moderators on what happens first. I hope that doesn’t mean we’ll get a repeat of the first where confusion on turns reigned supreme. Both opening statements were inconsequential, which they normally are in a debate.
Twenty-five minutes in and it is obvious the two men cannot stand each other. What surprised me is that Republican Alan Quist managed to get under Democrat Tim Walz’s skin and make him angry. Quist is always angry with prickly being the mellowest you ever see him. The whole tone of the debate is personal attacks, led by Quist -- and complained about by Quist. I thought Walz was slicker than this, but he has been red faced multiple times throughout the debate.
Wow, neither candidate looked good in this forum. This debate is the epitome of complaints about a lack of civility in politics these days. Only partisans on each side would declare their candidate the winner. Quist was hectoring, took constant nasty shots, and was constantly confused whether it was his time for rebuttal. Walz was flustered and increasingly angry while sticking to boilerplate talking points (Akin SQUAWK).
Sometimes I wonder about the intelligence of humanity in general. But if there is one segment that has a disproportionate number of members who seem to be willing to do the stupidest thing possible in any given situation, it has to be politicians. They have gotten to be so much like the Hollywood/celebrity set in their peccadillos that they are indistinguishable -- except one group has control of our lives.
The latest wave of stupidity has hit both the Republican and Democratic parties. In Missouri, U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin said what has to be the most ill informed, if not mentally ill, statement about pregnancies and rape. Endorsed by Mike Huckabee and indirectly by his opponent, Claire McCaskill, the moron refuses to step aside even though it is obvious it cost him the election. By all accounts he was the weakest candidate, which is why McCaskill dropped over a million in ads calling him the most conservative candidate in a successful effort to influence the GOP primary.
Meanwhile, the state of Minnesota has produced yet another winner in State Representative Kerry Gauthier of Duluth. That moron was caught having oral sex with a seventeen year old boy at a rest stop. It was arranged through Craigslist so there is no doubt what was going on. His party leadership has called on him to go too.
It is said absolute power corrupts absolutely, but even a little power seems to do the trick for some. But it seems to lower the IQ as well. How can anyone be so stupid?
I have met intelligent and diligent elected officials and candidates many times, so this is not meant to tar and feather everyone involved in politics. It just seems more idiots have gotten involved and are having success in their endeavors. That is a scary concept and I hope I am simply being more aware of this kind of idiocy. If not, oh boy.
BTW, Joe Biden was not mentioned, simply because he is in a class by himself.
What can be learned from the fiasco that was the recall effort?
First, the Democratic Party will do anything to win. There is no depth too low, no line that cannot be crossed, and no limit to their harassment/bullying. Locally in La Crosse County, brand new roofing nails were tossed into driveways of residences that had Walker signs up. Signs were stolen, vandalized, and I directly know of one renter who had her sign taken by her landlord and replaced with a Barrett one.
So much money, time, and emotions were invested by the unions and their puppets in the Democratic Party that things got more than a little out of control. The image of Barrett being slapped for conceding illustrates that in a way no words can. All of this rage only netted State Senate District 21 for the Democrats, which gives them control of the Senate. However, that will most likely end in November due to redistricting. I should note they got another seat to flip in earlier recall elections, so they got two. Unless there is a special session called, they will not even meet until after November.
Today is a day about defending freedom of speech and exposing a man who will go to any lengths to suppress information about what he has done, including threatening people. That man’s name is Brett Kimberlin and I do not expect you to take my word on it. Instead, I will give you links to search engines for you to explore for yourself:
Check them out and come to your own conclusions about who Brett Kimberlin is and why this is important.
That is a pretty sensational headline and sounds inflammatory, doesn’t it? It also happens to be true. Beyond the idea of having to go on the run for your own safety reflecting the decay of America, this is a fascinating story of how a convicted terrorist and conman became influential in the Democratic Party. His nonprofit (for whom, I ask) has been heavily funded by some big name leftists such as the Tides Foundation, the Heinz Family, and Barbara Streisand.
I suggest people read up on Brett Kimberlin and ponder just how dysfunctional our society has become when people like him are allowed out of jail and into positions of influence. There has been a call to blog about him on Friday, but I felt the need to jump the gun in this case.
And people wonder why firearms sales are up.
UPDATED
The story gets worse as another blogger reveals how he has been harassed by Kimberlin and his cronies, including having an armed SWAT team sent to his house by placing a fake murder call to 911.
Basically everyone who posts about this thug are risking their livelihoods, if not their lives. While I am not even a small fry and will not be noticed, it does not matter. Unlike others, I really have nothing to lose, so I really appreciate what the bigger bloggers are doing by tackling Kimberlin.
There are those who actually believe we emerged out of the recession and are worried we are going into another. Well, we aren’t. We never got out of the first one and it isn’t a recession, but the early stages of another Great Depression. While we have more social safety nets in place, they aren’t going to last very long at this rate.
One myth on the Left is that Social Security is a “lockbox” and all the funds are safe there to pay it out. If that were true, how could President Obama threaten to not send checks out next month? Note that this is a threat in political speak and his verbal tones suggest he was eager to issue it. While it is a despicable thing to do, it does unmask the fallacy of the lockbox. Another Democrat President ended that isolation of Social Security funds from the general fund back in the 1960’s – Lyndon Baines Johnson. They are now controlled at the whim of our government and are not guaranteed.
But the most interesting thing about this is that there will be money to spend on Social Security and other needed things even if we can’t borrow money. It means drastic cuts elsewhere, but that is at the discretion of the Treasury. Which means it is at the discretion of the President. In other words, Obama is threatening to cut off benefits for political gain in the 2012 elections. Some servant of the people he is.
Being on Social Security Disability, this hits me directly. Loss of Social Security means no food, no shelter, no Internet, and the loss of everything I have. I can’t say I’m surprised how cavalier the President is about the people who will be affected as he is part of the Chicago Machine which is all about thuggery. The willingness to hurt the elderly and disabled just to damage the Republicans shows the quality of Obama’s character.
Sadly, that is only the beginning of our problems. The debt ceiling will mean nothing in the near future because an economic catastrophe has already begun across the globe. Large things tend to be slow moving and people don’t notice the changes until they hit critical mass. And much like an avalanche, they can’t be avoided.
The jobs report for June in the United States is an unmitigated disaster. 18,000 jobs were purportedly created when we need 150,000 new jobs created each month just to match population growth. Notice I used the word “purportedly.” At The NY Post it is revealed that 131,000 jobs were estimated out of thin air to pad the number upwards. In the United Kingdom, their latest report on employment isn’t quite as grim, but it isn’t good.
Meanwhile, the PIIGS crisis in the European Union continues unabated. Ireland just got relegated to junk bond status and Greece continues to be a bottomless sink hole despite hundreds of billions of Euros dumped into it. I don’t even want to discuss the problems China is having with inflation and bad loans. Two ballyhooed stimulus packages have failed to do anything positive at all and now they are talking about another one, QE3. Throwing money that doesn’t exist at something caused by spending money that doesn’t exist is not a sign of intelligent or even sapient behavior.
What will the second Great Depression look like? That’s hard to tell, since there has been so much wealth generated worldwide since the end of World War II. As mentioned before, there are safety nets in place that weren’t previously in developed countries. But there has never been so much debt in place as we have today. It will hit slower than in the 1920’s and 30’s and it has already begun.
We have much more to lose, so the possibility of it being more dramatic and catastrophic increases due to the simple fact the masses aren’t acquainted with real hardship anymore. What happens when food supplies become permanently disrupted? What happens when fuel is too expensive to allow easy migration to better places? What happens when electricity becomes unreliable with rolling blackouts the norm? What happens when groups begin hoarding resources? Those are all questions the world is going to have to face very soon.
Here in the U.S., we have a cultural divide that is now unbridgeable. The Left have gone so far away from common ground with the middle and right that the political frictions we see now are going to look quaint by comparison when the real crisis hits fully. Though the truth is the middle will do whatever the group in charge tells them to do, so really they don’t matter. It is a sad thing, but the result of apathy/fence sitting is the loss of any real say in things.
My prediction is greater division and rising violence, both of which have already begun. Frustrations will continue to grow and the political class will continue to play games as long as they are comfortable. By the time anything will be attempted seriously, it will be too late.
So where does that leave the little guy? Up a creek without a paddle in most cases.
All we can do is prepare ourselves for the worst outcome and pray for the best. Storing food for more than threes days of supplies is a beginning. Having the ability to protect yourself wherever you are means exercising your 2nd Amendment rights here in the States, no matter how you feel about firearms. Most of all, you need to be spiritually prepared.
In God you can trust, but not man. I wish people would remember that whenever the latest demagogue of any political persuasion shows up.
The big news in Minnesota is the state government shutdown due to an inability to get a budget passed. As I expected, the media is backing Governor Dayton and one of the main line of attacks is hammering on incessantly about the closure of state parks during the popular camping season of the 4th of July weekend. All very predictable and probably very effective in swaying public sentiment. Portraying the Republicans as only cutting spending when they actually presented an increase in spending is all part of the dishonest game.
I have to give credit to the state Republican leadership who didn’t cave in despite knowing this was exactly what Dayton wanted, contrary to his protestations to reporters. The surprising thing is how many Republicans I know who didn’t think the shutdown would happen. When a reversed version of this happened while Pawlenty was in office in 2005, the Democrats used it to great advantage to vilify the Republican party and it was believed it contributed to the rout of the GOP in 2006. Of course Dayton was going to return to that playbook!
In the end, there is a high probability that doing the right thing on holding back spending will damage Republican chances statewide in 2012. The power of the media is still great and that can’t be ignored. For all the talk of how the new methods of communication like Twitter and Facebook have changed things, the old partisan media is still where most people get their information. However, there is a lot going on nationally that will effect the local races, especially the economy. That keeps things unpredictable for the moment.
Frankly, I don’t think the public has the intestinal fortitude to deal with the extensive cuts that are really required and we will see Minnesota and the nation collapse into economic ruins. Cynical pandering and class warfare are already being used to buttress the Left’s insane devotion to Keynesian economics. Spending when you have no savings will never get a person, a state, or a nation out of debt. So all of that stimulus into the economy just made things worse and yes, both political parties are to blame for it. You would have thought the lessons of the 1970’s would have been remembered.
Dark times are ahead, far darker than most expect because it is a systemic problem with how our government “works.” People look to the demonstrations and riots in Europe while wondering if it can happen here. It can and could get much worse with the Left’s history of violence.
I would like to be wrong about this.
Starting this week, I’ve been getting targeted ads in several places I visit on the Net. They all say “Tell Sen. Jeremy Miller to stand up for the middle class.” Next to the white text on a somber black background is a poorly dithered grayscale portrait shot of Jeremy with a “Click to learn more.”
Click on it and it takes you to a dishonest video attacking Senator Miller and extolling our rather strange governor’s plan -- which isn’t a balanced budget but instead features massive spending increases. It is fascinating seeing a rookie Republican State Senator come under attack this way. To me, it shows he is doing a good job at being fiscally responsible in a very bad economic situation. That’s more than I can say about Governor Dayton as he’d rather have a shutdown than not pander to the special interests that got him elected.
This soak the rich campaign shows how utterly out of touch the socialist Democratic Party people have become. You will never hear someone talk about how a poor man gave them their job… Wait, there is one way for that to be true. Overtax and over spend and pretty soon everyone will be poor except the politicians and unionized government workers. Technically, the public is supposed to be the employer, right? So if we are all poor… Well you get the picture.
Funny how the Alliance for a Better Minnesota is a union funded PAC out to help Mark Dayton. Are they looking out for the best interest of the people of Minnesota or their own pocket books? The answer is pretty clear.
Senator Miller is standing for the middle class, the people who have to balance their budgets and don’t have infinite credit to borrow from.
Looks like the House will have more to say.
Pic and idea conveniently, if not shamelessly stolen from Ace of Spades.
In the fall out of the shooting of Rep. Giffords and others at her public meeting in Arizona, the politics of demonization of the political right has been quick and ruthless by the political left. Their puppets in the news media have been quick to try to pin blame on the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Republicans. Claims that violent rhetoric from Republicans inspired this has become a chanting point. while the real facts that keep trickling out show that the shooter, Jarod Loughner, was a pot smoking, anti-religion, anti-war left winger with an obsession with Giffords dating back to 2007.
1. feigned high principles: the false claim to or pretense of having admirable principles, beliefs, or feelings 
It would be sheer hypocrisy for them to turn around and do what they criticize in others.
Warning: NSFW in some cases -- Michelle Malkin has an astounding and very long list of the violence called for and perpetrated by the left in the past ten years. Read through it and the definition of hypocrisy above is well proven, I think. As I mentioned, beware foul language and crude imagery at the link.
The desire to vilify the right has trumped anything approaching fairness or rationality on the left. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame has an editorial at the Wall Street Journal that further points out the hypocrisy going on. I will quote him:
To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the "rhetoric" of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the "rhetoric" and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?
Frankly, I don’t expect an honest answer from the left on that one. But I don’t expect honest answers from them on anything these days.
This rant by krakatoa at Ace of Spades pretty sums up how fed up we are with this. It is horrible that the acts of an extremely mentally ill young man are being used for attempted political gain by the left. Appalling barely begins to describe it.
I used to defend people on the left as being well intentioned if misguided. The events of the last several years have taught me otherwise. Dishonesty, intolerance, and hate is all I’m seeing out of them and it is getting worse. This trend cannot be good for the country and will lead to real conflict down the road.
Since I was up until 3:00 A.M., I’m hoping I have some semblance of coherency writing this post. My father and I spent the evening with our State Representative Greg Davids with other supporters of his (kudos to Bonnie for being such a great hostess). We’ve been doing this since election night in 2006, which unfolded like a horror movie as the Democratic tsunami took Greg and most of the other state Republicans out of office. I imagine that was the feeling in many a DFL victory party last night that turned into funerals when both the state house and senate went from veto proof majorities for them to Republican majorities.
I refused to make any solid predictions this year when asked by friends and political activists because at some point I realized none of the data coming in fit anything I’d seen before. Combined that with a very strange atmosphere of smoldering resentment toward all politicians that I found amongst the average citizen of the area and I concluded this was going to be a strange election. Even the political activists didn’t have much passion, aside from some of the Tea Partiers. I knew the Republicans would win and win big nationally, but Minnesota looked bad.
Thanks to Mark Ritchie’s incompetence (or is it something more sinister?) at managing the Secretary of State office, results for our local counties of Fillmore and Houston trickled in very slowly if at all on the SoS website. That meant phone calls and trips to the local county courthouses to find out what was going on. Houston County was forced to email results in because the line for the counting machines to the state capitol was dead. That made for a long evening watching national and statewide races seesaw back and forth.
In the end, we saw the voters of the United States punish the Democratic Party for their ignoring the will of the people and following an extreme left wing agenda. That agenda is over, even though Republicans only took the U.S. House. The gains in the U.S. Senate were large enough to make things very difficult for certain Democrat Senators to toe the party line when they are looking to get re-elected in 2012.
The bigger news is that many state legislatures and governorships flipped to the GOP. Why is this bigger news? 2010 is a census year and that means federal and state redistricting of voting districts. With their penchant for gerrymandering, the Democrats had to hold on to everything they had to keep those districts or tamper with Republican dominated ones. Now Republican dominated legislatures will control the redistricting in many critical states and Minnesota. Never thought I’d see that!
I’m pleased to say Houston County went completely red this election.
On to some specific races:
Greg Davids won HD-31B outright despite having two opponents. Steve Kemp (DFL) and Al Hein (Ind) split the liberal vote but even that didn’t matter as Greg won 53% of the vote for a clear knock out. Surprising, I thought it would be tighter.
Rhett Zenke put up a good fight but Gene Pelowski HD-31A will never be knocked out as he is the last of the conservative Democrat breed. At least Rhett won in Houston County and I hope he sticks around after redistricting.
Jeremy Miller upset Sharon Ropes in SD-31 which surprised many. This one didn’t surprise me, I knew Miller would win a close race and it was very close. Congratulations on winning and securing the state senate for us, Jeremy!
Randy Demmer made it close against Tim Walz in CD-1, but enough people buy into Walz’s phony moderate act to keep him in office. There was a poisoned atmosphere the unfairly hurt Randy that originated in the 2006 endorsement campaign that I think affected things. But the biggest problem is that unless we find a multimillionaire to self finance, Walz will always have a ridiculous money advantage. The union money borders on the infinite there.
The governor’s race is going into automatic recount with Emmer trailing Dayton by half a percent. This race went bad because “moderate” Republicans decided to go out and get Horner elected. His 12 % didn’t come from Dayton like some activists insisted, but mostly from Emmer. But this gets uglier. Hennepin County managed to have 180,000 more ballots cast than there are registered voters when there was only 58% turnout statewide. This stinks of voter fraud and I predict the recounts will get ugly.
Those 180,000 votes would be enough to change the outcomes of the state constitutional offices as well. As it stands, they all remain in the hands of the DFL.
That leads me to point out a problem that Minnesota has – we don’t have clean elections and haven’t for some time. The corruption and fraud in the Twin Cities has spilled out to affect smaller cities in the state as well. Voter fraud is extremely hard to prove because there are very few safeguards against it in the system. Voter ID is desperately needed here and would prevent it up front.
Finally, a comment on two races that gained national attention. In Nevada, Harry Reid won when he shouldn’t have. In Delaware, Coons destroyed O’Donnell easily. Both those candidates were poor choices and in O’Donnell’s case, became a litmus test for purity amongst some conservatives. Those who pointed out her Grand Canyon sized flaws were shouted down and accused of being RINO’s. Quality of character matters and should matter to those of use who are conservatives. Just because someone says things we want to hear doesn’t make them a good candidate or trustworthy. That lesson needs to be driven home before November 2012 comes around.
Why? Because the American public hates Republicans almost as much as they hate Democrats. Republicans have to come through on fiscal issues or else they will be dumped out of office too. I expect the electorate to fragment over the next few years and there will be growing instability if the GOP screws up again. Hostility toward the federal government is growing in proportion to the expansion of it. Big government has been rejected along with Barack Obama’s radical agenda. All newly elected Republicans better keep that in mind because the public is watching.
