To: The GOP Leadership In The Legislature, Whoever You End Up Being
From: Mitch Berg, Schnook Peasant
Re: Upcoming Session
All,
It’s two months ’til what is going to be a couple of very grueling sessions.
Now, Governor Dayton is an addled bobblehead who is nothing but a marionette for Alida Messinger and the unions that bought the office for him. Tom Bakk and Paul Thissen are not much but capos for two bodies that are, let’s be honest, more of the same. Our entire legislature will be owned and operated by Messinger, the “Alliance For A Better Minnesota”, the unions, the non-profits, and the media that serves as their PR wing.
The calls will go out; “time to be “bi-partisan””.
Don’t do it.
The DFL will be trying their best to give an air of “bipartisan” legitimacy to what is going to be an orgy of tax-hiking and spending.
Resist the temptation to try to go for the Lori Sturdevant seal of approval.
They are going to plunge this state into an orgy of spending, an taxation to support it. Major Minnesota business are going to ship jobs outstate or overseas as fast as FedEx can jam them onto the plane. Minnesota’s medical device industry is already evacuating; there will be more to follow.
You need to keep your fingerprints away from the scene of the crime.
If the Minnesota GOP has proven one thing, it sucks at messaging. You’ll need to learn it, and pronto – because the media will try to portray the upcoming disaster as “a result of GOP intransigence”, notwithstanding their complete control over government for the next (sigh) two years.
Stand astride history and yell “we told you so”, and for chrissake, get ready for 2014. The approval of the left’s pundits and the media (pardon the redundancy) will get you nothing. That is all.
The calls will go out; “time to be “bi-partisan””.
Don’t do it.
I agree 100% To hell with them all. Let them install their “Better Minnesota” and reap the whirlwind. Let them answer for why they are wholly owned subsidiaries of Alida Messinger, Tom Dooher and the rest of the goons. Let them explain what Mark Dayton is trying to say. Let them own it all.
The only responsibility the GOP has is to propose sensible, non-insane alternatives and watch them get shot down by Governor Marty Feldman Eyes. It’s a lot better to concentrate on minimizing the damage by working on things at the municipal and county level, where it’s possible to do so.
Yes, it’s going to be a bare-knuckles session but I’ve concluded something from this past election: our message, our philosophy is not wrong.
People are stupid.
They are misinformed, mis-served by media and incapable of seeing the color of the sunset that is falling upon the American experiment.
Pray.
After General Mills, Thomson Reuters and many others went all out and advertised that we need gay marriage, after Best Buy and Target became obsessed with “celebrating diversity”, I say screw Minnesota’s multi-nationals.
They humped the leg of Big Liberal, so they can live with it now.
Same with AFL-CIO. Let the miners work at the Hibbing Target for $8.50 an hour (and no benefits) when the mining permits are refused.
Oh, and Boy Pohlad. He wants free money so he can develop the area behind Target Field.
Big Stink….on the people being mis/uninformed. I talked to someone last night who voted straight Democrat on Tuesday. He is socially liberal, so fine with him voting no on the amendments. Both of his parents have health problems, but have gotten great care, including at the Mayo in Rochester.
I asked him if he thinks he and his wife will get as good care when they age, but have to deal with gov’t run healthcare.
He swears Obamacare is nothing but manditory insurance. That it has no controls or what is covered or how. That it will have no affect on private insurance or benefits business provide their employees. If smart people are this ignorant, no wonder Republicans lost huge this week.
Chuck, at which point of that conversation did you double over with laughter and almost wet yourself?
Chuck: You can’t compete with stupid.
Boss……..This was a social-nonpolittical setting, so I chose not to debate him.
Its amazing how simplistic many people are. Many smart and educated people. They are clueless about the scope and reach of Obamacare. And the ramifications of what happens after Wash DC bureaucrats control every aspect of healthcare.
My take…..many minor items will be mandated to be free. In aggregate, this will be very expensive. So major items will be rationed.
You get free birth control pills and checkups now, but when you get brain cancer, good luck getting that golden care at the Mayo Clinic.
Chuck: Heard from a reliable source that the Mayo Clinic will be sub-leased as office space for the new Affordable Care bureaucracy. You can go there to get authorization to see a doctor in Wyoming to write a prescription for marijuana.
When do we get to see Mitch’s analysis of how Nate Silver got is all wrong? And how about an explanation for how the Stib’s final poll showing Obama up only 3% helped Obama carry the state by 7.6%
Rick: We guessed wrong. We were right on the issues, but deadly wrong on the polls. We thought Americans were smarter, but they proved us wrong.
When it’s always “somebody else’s fault,” people begin to wonder…
Just saying…
I heard some national Republican spokespeople today who are beginning to figure out what happened…They make sense.
This</a ought to be required reading for all Republicans.
It applies in spades to the idiots who decided we needed a marriage amendment, especially in a presidential election cycle. Stupid under any circumstances, but really stupid this year. And by "those idiots," I mean the House and Senate Republicans, and the idiot groups who pushed it.
I hope my bishop is happy. He could have left well enough alone.
Pretty good advice from Mr. Berg. Remain calm, explain that the minority party wants to do all the same wonderful things for education, poverty, etc., but only to a spending limit of, say 37.26 billion (34.5 billion present spending multiplied by 4% times two years) as that is all we can afford. Then let the majority herd their cats as they try to spend 40 billion plus. When the final bills are signed, calmly repeat that the minority party believes that the spending was excessive but was powerless to stop it.
The fun will be watching just who the extra money will be extracted from to pay for: Returning the Homestead Tax Credit, reducing class sizes, improving veteran care, repairing our roads and bridges, returning $2 billion borrowed from schools, increase funding for colleges and universites, etc.
Raising the taxes on the top 2% (highest rate in the nation) maybe gets 2 billion, internet taxes and tax loopholes maybe half a billion, but who will provide the rest? Remember, there will be no shifts or gimmicks. My guess is that business gets stuck with the bill.
And don’t forget that we’ll bond for at least another billion this 2013 session too.
When do we get to see Mitch’s analysis of how Nate Silver got is all wrong?
He got the final result right. Doesn’t mean the data he used to get there wasn’t garbage.
And how about an explanation for how the Stib’s final poll showing Obama up only 3% helped Obama carry the state by 7.6%
Not so much an “explanation” as an interview to come soon.
Sorry about the tag screw up. Can’t figure out how to edit or delete comments.
One thing that will bear watching in the coming years is CA, and how soon businesses begin (or increase the rate of) exodus from that state. Also, how many businesses that are somewhat mobile will move from St. Paul and the east Metro to Hudson or Western WI.
Should be interesting.
PJ; I think that we’ll even see at least one major company move out within the next 4 years.Most of them have established facilities in more business friendly states like Texas and Arizona, so it wouldn’t be a stretch that it could happen. Moneygram International already moved their HQ to Dallas, with a significant portion of the remaining operations leaving within the next 12 – 16 months.
“You need to keep your fingerprints away from the scene of the crime.”
You better do that, and you better damn well have obvious and rock solid evidence you did that as well.
PJ:
First off all the marriage amendment got more votes then the voter ID which was suppose to have broad support so it wasn’t dumb in that sense.
Second, it’s kind of hard to have a discussion when everyone has been convinced or scared to death that this is harming gays and there is no harm to society. I had two sisters one of which when I showed her the Dennis Prager piece that said it was straw man’s argument.
Third, can you tell me when the Republicans had both control of the state senate and the state house at the same time to propose it?
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
The Democrats think they are in heaven in Minnesota. Tax increases, dramatic new spending, voter ID killed. Fine let them destroy the state and in two years when the voters are wondering what happened to that $1 billion surplus, why Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa are doing much better they will learn and all of the money and brain washed volunteers won’t be able to reelect their house.
Unfortunately there will be horrible permanent damage to this state.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
The Big Stink: “We guessed wrong.” That about sums it up. We were not guessing. We had evidence and science. Try it sometime.
Mitch: “He got the final result right. Doesn’t mean the data he used to get there wasn’t garbage.” Actually it does. Getting the result right is the best test of whether your data was good. What other test would there be?
It is really strange, but at some fundamental point, your team really does not believe in science and evidence.
As Mr. D says “Let them own it all.” They bought and paid for it now they own it.
“get ready for 2014” The time to start is now with a re-build of the GOP in the State (and Fed as far as that goes). We’ll need develop a whole new crop for 2014. There are good candidates we can put forward. How about we start a list of potential candidates for different positions. I’ll start with one possibility, Dave Thompson for Gov. Thoughts?
Actually it does. Getting the result right is the best test of whether your data was good.
If Pundit A predicted Obama wins because of Facts A through Z, and Pundit B predicts a victory because Cthulhu told him in a dream, they’re both right, aren’t they?
By your logic, Pundit B has all the evidence he needs that he’s got a great system.
If you reach a correct conclusion using bad data – and it happens all the time – it’s going to come out in the wash eventually.
As I showed in the MN Governor’s race, he got the final prediction right – but ONLY the final prediction.
It is really strange, but at some fundamental point, your team really does not believe in science and evidence.
Nah, we’re fine with science. Your idea of “Science” is what is really called “begging the question”; using a conclusion as evidence of a conclusion – and, of course, mindless cheerleading for whomever puts some sort of “scientific” veneer on your existing prejudices (see the endless reams of self-adulatory “science” liberals trumpet showing how very very very much smarter they are).
That’s not very scientific.
your team really does not believe in science and evidence.
Do you work at any substantial level with either as part of your day job?
Just curious. I do. But I’m a conservative, so DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDUUUH I Gess I bE teh Dum.
Yes, RickDFL “does science”, so his faith in the scientific method and “evidence” is entirely situational.
Mitch: “If you reach a correct conclusion using bad data” How do you know the data is bad, unless it reliably produces the correct conclusion. Dreams are bad evidence, not because they come from Cthulhu or some other source, but because they rarely if ever produces accurate predictions. Nate Silver OTOH nailed 2008, 2010, and 2012.
“mindless cheerleading for whomever puts some sort of “scientific” veneer on your existing prejudices” No that is Dick Morris. My existing prejudices favored a Dem victory in 2010, but Silver’s evidence pointed in the opposite direction. Because of that I was worried, but at least I did not end up looking stupid like the Romney team who thought it was in the bag.