This Is My “Representative”

Do I envy people in places like the Second District, where John Kline will win by forty points over whatever hapless stooge the DFL puts forth this November?

Or even the Sixth, where Michele Bachmann will endure a full court press from the national (also local) Democraticicicic party to win by (I predict) eight this fall?

Heck – I envy people who live in districts with functioning two-party systems.

I do not live in a place with a functioning two-party system, of course.  I live in Saint Paul; Ramsey County; the Fourth Congressional District.  The place is controlled with Cominternish efficiency by the DFL; so much of city and county is either employed by or dependent on the government, its unions, its contractors and its social welfare that it really is a company town.

And so we are “represented” by Betty McCollum.

I have in the past said things about Rep. McCollum that have been less than flattering; “the dumbest person in Congress” and that sort of thing. And as I’ve attacked that sort of ad-hominem when directed against conservative women (although, to be fair to me, ad-hominem is the first and largely only tactic most liberals have against conservative women), it’d be disingenuous of me to do it myself.  So I won’t.

I’ll just let you listen to the person who “represents” me yourself :

She’s right in the thick of the BP disaster, doncha know:

“We need to be doing due diligence so that the taxpayer isn’t cleaning up British Petroleum’s mess, and we don’t have more job loss, more environmental loss in the Gulf that goes un-cleaned up…”

Ah.  So BettyMac opposes the Administration’s various demands for moritoriums on drilling, then?

On the economy, Esme Murphy – who isn’t a DFL hack in the sense that Lori Sturdevant is, but whose sympathies seem generally pretty clear – asks about the economy.  I’m not going to “fisk” McCollum – address each point in line – but rather let the full trascribed glory of her oratory stand on its own and answer each point afterward:

Murphy:  There’s been some criticism from Republicans that the recovery isn’t enough, and what the president has done with the stimulus package, while it did make some improvements in thers of the economy, it’s pust us in the position of a trillion dollar deficit.   Your thoughts about whether or not there needs to be second wave of stimulus spending.”

McCollum:  “Well first, the defiict was caused by the un-paid-for Bush Tax Cuts, by two wars, both Afghanistan and Iraq, being put on a credit card with no shared responsibility for the American public to pay for the wars, as our servicemen and women have given their all and maxde huge sacrifices . So that’s the big bulk we inherited that mess. and then you add the Wall Street crisis, being unregulated for all those years, andt the failure of our financial institutions to protect consumers investments and peoples retirements and the rest.  So if you look at that, that is the big part of our debt.

Now what do we do in the meantime?  Well, stimulus, finunding to keep Americans working and keep the economy moving forward and create confidence is what the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was about, that’s what I voted for, and we’re going to see some big things happening for instance in Saint Paulfor example with Central Corridor being the largest work project in the state of Minnesota , with state and local and government funding, investing in our community um so I’m very pleased that people’re going to see more of those projects moving forward  there’s a lot of the traffic inconvenience we’re all suffering, our investments make putting Minnesotans to work through the recovery act and um I’m not gonna be apologetic for making sure that americans have a chance get up annd go to work in the morning peole in Minnesota do, there’s still too many people without jobs.

Rep. McCollum:

  1. I wasn’t aware that FDR fought World War II on a cash and carry basis!  Oh, wait – he didn’t.  In the interest of national security, he ran a deficit, like Wilson and Lincoln before him, during wartime.  Of course, FDR institutionalized deficit spending for peacetime “emergencies”, although it was LBJ that made it a regular feature of peacetime life.  But you didn’t know that, Rep. McCollum.  Did you?  Be honest.
  2. Well, thanks for noting the troops’ sacrifice (although never, ever their achievements).  Now – how many more would have died had the US followed your spectacularly uninformed advice in Iraq?
  3. No, Rep. McCollum; leaving the financial sector “unregulated” (by, for instance, compelling them to make sub-prime loans and then subsidizing the lending) did not cause the debt or the deficit; believing that any financial institution is “too big to fail”, and then subsidizing the non-failure, and finally pretending that “stimulus” subsidies and rampant socialization and higher spending can revive an economy (even ignoring the higher taxes to pay for it all) is doing it.  Thanks for nothing.
  4. The Central Corridor is “putting people to work”, all right – your union constituents, anyway.  Not so much all the little businesspeople up and down the street.  But they’re non-union, so they don’t count, do they?

Murphy on the potential Dem losses this fall, asking how many Bettymac thinks Dems will lose:

Well, I don’t have a crystal ball in front of me, I don’t know what’s going to happen, I’m working really hard for my seat, I take nothing for granted, I’m out doorknocking, visiting with condsitutients and heaging the direction they wan tot see the country go in, and what I’m hearing is that they don’t want to go backwards, they don’t want to  to the failed policies uh that got us in this economic jam we’re in, that got us in the  war we’re in in Iraq unjustifiably, they want to see our country moving forward. So what Democrats have to do here and nationally is talk about how we’re still on a road to recovery, we have a plan to put America first, to make America competitive, to educate our children to be the best and brightest in the world, and the voters will judge us on those  messages.  I’ve heard nothing from our colleagues about going forward, it’s all about going back,  repealing health care, going back and putting the Bush tax cuts in place and we need to be moving forward, not backward.

Rep. McCollum:

  1. Since you’re working so hard for that seat of yours, perhaps you can take me up on my two-year-old invitation to come on the Northern Alliance Radio Network to defend all your claims?
  2. You have a “plan” to “put America first?”  Really?  Excellent!  Let’s see it!
  3. You have a plan to educate our children to be the best and the brightest?  Wow!  So since the Minnesota Federation of Teachers and Education Minnesota are two of your biggest supporters, by all means tell us – why they haven’t been doing that all along?

Listen.  And compare her to the smart, articulate Teresa Collett (whom Ed and I interviewed last Saturday – after the halfway point of this hour), running her underdog battle against McCollum in the Fourth.

It’s what “moving forward” really sounds like.

(Gary at LFR pointed the appearance out out to me, and hammers it too)

26 thoughts on “This Is My “Representative”

  1. “I do not live in a place with a functioning two-party system, of course. I live in Saint Paul; Ramsey County; the Fourth Congressional District.”

    You could move!

  2. Pingback: Let Freedom Ring » Blog Archive » McCollum’s Disastrous Interview

  3. McCollum is a self-parody. The only reason we don’t hear more about her is that someone evidently has put a staff in place for her that is very good at keeping her in the closet.

    I have to believe that her care givers were cringing in the wings….

    investing in our community um so I’m very pleased that people’re going to see more of those projects moving forward there’s a lot of the traffic inconvenience we’re all suffering, our investments make putting Minnesotans to work through the recovery act and um I’m not gonna be apologetic

    What the hell is that?

    Count me as one constituent that is anxiously awaiting my door knock.

  4. Hey Flash…how’s that 42% tax hike working out for ya? Enjoying that sweet quality of life?

    I hope so, because your moonbat leaders have another double digit increase for ya next year…more quality, right?

    HAHAHA

  5. Anyone who blathers to a media person about the “Bush tax cuts” should immediately have to answer these questions:
    How much were federal income tax receipts reduced by the Bush tax cuts?
    How much of that reduction came from the top quintile of income earners?
    In nine years I have never met a liberal who could answer those questions, and I live in a very blue state.

  6. I am really tired of that bullshit “we inherited this problem” meme. Hey Betty! Who has controlled Congress since freking 2006? I’ll give you a hint: NOT the GOP.
    The only thing worse than a liberal progressive is a whiney liberal progressive.

  7. Count me as one constituent that is anxiously awaiting my door knock.

    I’m one of her constituents, too, and I’ll never get a door knock. Live on the wrong side of Larpenteur Avenue.

  8. So she is on record supporting the increases to every ones taxes at a time that would hurt what little recovery to the economy we have so far. Her opponent should be hammering her with this. As should all politiciuans who are running against an incumbent. All those extra taxes I will be paying next year sure will be getting me out stimulating the economy, not.

  9. “McCollum is a self-parody. The only reason we don’t hear more about her is that someone evidently has put a staff in place for her that is very good at keeping her in the closet.”

    Yup. No debates. Little or no press conferences. Only very controlled public events (and not many of those). Even things like when she referred to limited gov’t activitists as “angry tea baggers” got scrubbed. Star-Tribune removed the story from their web site the same day, and it also was removed from Betty’s web site.

  10. It will be interesting to see how many more companies move out of Minnesota if a Dim gets in as Governor.

    Many of our staunch home town firms have established beach heads in more business friendly states, i.e. 3M, Medtronic, UHG. Just like Lund International a couple of years ago, they will get fed up with tax and spend Dims ruining this state, the usurious workman’s comp costs and other assorted BS that they put up with and move out.

    Matt Expenza’s utopian plan of turning Minnesota into an “alternative energy” powerhouse, is a pipe dream. Ethanol and wind power both have merit, but are jokes in their own right. In fact, several experts have already written volumes on the folly of ethanol, yet the libs and greenies still cling to it. Amazing!

  11. Wikipedia lists the “gaffes” of Sheila Jackson Lee:

    In 2010, Jackson Lee stated that, “…victory had been achieved” by the United States in Vietnam. She went on to state, “Today, we have two Vietnams; side-by-side, North and South, exchanging and working. We may not agree with all that North Vietnam is doing, but they are living in peace. I would look for a better human rights record for North Vietnam, but they are living side by side. Because that was a civil war, and because the leadership of this nation did not listen to the mothers and fathers who beared…bore the burden of 58,000 dead and did not declare victory; the mounting deaths; the violence continued going up and up, rather than understanding the political nature of the war in Vietnam, we did not listen to those families.”[6][7][8] In fact, the territories of North and South Vietnam were united under communist rule after the withdrawal of the United States in the 1970s.

    In 2009, Jackson Lee reintroduced a proposal to amend the Constitution to guarantee the rights of women. “Twenty-seven other countries, including Rwanda, Afghanistan, Algeria and China have equality provisions,” Lee said.[9] It is generally recognized that countries such as Afghanistan refuse to respect the rights of women.[10]

    In 1997, during a subcommittee briefing, Jackson Lee asked a NASA scientist if the Mars Pathfinder had photographed the flag that Neil Armstrong had left behind. The flag was planted on the moon.[11]

    Sheila Jackson Lee has a degree in political science from Yale and a JD from the University of Virginia. The University of Virginia law school consistently places in the top 14 law schools in the USNWR ranking.

  12. There are a few “Vote Betty!” signs in my neighborhood, so perhaps she’ll venture out to door-knock here. If so, I’ve got a new Flip video camera and I’ll have a few questions (such as the ones Terry posed) for her. Instant press conference!

  13. As an intern for Collett I think you guys just saved me about 2 hours of opposition research, expect this to go up on the Collett website before friday.

  14. # You have a plan to educate our children to be the best and the brightest? Wow! So since the Minnesota Federation of Teachers and Education Minnesota are two of your biggest supporters, by all means tell us – why they haven’t been doing that all along?

    Silly! It’s because the fat cats aren’t paying their fair share!

  15. “Sheila Jackson Lee has a degree in political science from Yale and a JD from the University of Virginia. The University of Virginia law school consistently places in the top 14 law schools in the USNWR ranking”.

    And yer point would be that…..

  16. Pingback: Tweets that mention MUST READ #bettymccollum Recap of her interview on this blog #stribpol #mn4 #teaparty #vote2010 -- Topsy.com

  17. Mitch, tell me there’s a chance LRT Central Corridor could get blocked by a Governor Emmer next year.

    Central Corridor is going to suck like a Hoover.

  18. Trying to debate or analyze McCollum is pointless. She’s got one of the safest seats in Congress and and a supine uncurious local media. She doesn’t need to answer your questions as long as your District is dominated by the ignorati.

  19. The media might not be able to afford to stay uncurious for long:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/business/media/19press.html?_r=1
    All these people just desperate for a story! They could, say, investigate the role affirmative action played in Obama’s acceptance by Harvard (he has admitted he was a so-so scholar as an undergrad), or they could actually talk to some people he knew in NY, like his drug-dealing room mate. It’s not as easy as running Palin’s tweets through spell-checker, but it shouldn’t be too much to expect from a “journalist” with a graduate degree from Columbia!

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