Shot in the Dark

Tag: Pawlenty

  • Words In Search Of Meaning

    Let’s take a trip back through the history of Nick Coleman. In 2004, to impugn Governor Pawlenty’s budget-cutting platform, he paid a potemkin visit to an inner city school (one where my daughter had attended kindergarten) and bellowed “YOUR SCHOOLS ARE BURNING” – as if the academic and social failure, financial wastrelcy and generalized collapse…

  • Grasshoppers 700,000,000, Ants 0

    In the wake of Minneapolis’ 35W bridge disaster – which occured two years ago tomorrow – Democrats nationwide use the tragedy as yet another reason to call for more taxes, to pay for more “infrastructure” spending. Minnesota DFLers used the tragedy as an occasion to pillory Governor Pawlenty – in some particularly ghoulish cases, even…

  • You Down With OPM? Yeah, You Know Them!

    Grace Kelly at Minnesota Tragedy of Spyrochaetal Paresis “Progressive” Project lets us in on a key facet in the liberal psyche: They really do believe money grows on trees!  She assails Governor Pawlenty’s unallotment process: Perhaps here is why many people thought that unallotment was an empty threat! Balancing the budget through unallotment would violate…

  • Victim Culture

    To balance the state budget, Governor Pawlenty has “unallotted” – pulled the funding for – hundreds of millions of dollars of state spending… …including the state program that refunded campaign contributions to people. Naturally, Lori Sturdevant is painting campaign donors as  victims of unallotment: The Campaign Finance Institute, based at George Washington University in Washington,…

  • Perils Of Partisanship

    Most everyone thought Norm Coleman’s concession speech was gracious and classy.  There were some risible exceptions (see previous)… …and Charlie Quimby, who notes: I heard an MPR reporter say that cameras from The UpTake were excluded from livestreaming Coleman’s announcement. Instead, the news service shot shaky video from a neighbor’s yard and posted it here…

  • The Boogeyman Will Get You!

    Ever since Governor Pawlenty went down the unallotment route, the DFL has been “warning” that property taxes, inevitably and perforce, will rise. Gary Gross points out the vacuity and dishonesty of that statement: I’d love asking Mr. Entenza or these mayors whether they eliminated or reduced spending on wants to pay for the needs. I’d…

  • Unallotting The Ponzi Scheme

    We’ve visited this topic before; for the past forty years or so, when outstate Minnesota was lagging and the Twin Cities were booming, Minnesota’s government instituted “Local Government Aid”, which essentially subsidized the growth of the rest of the state.  This coincided with a period where Minnesota Republicans, like Republicans nationwide, were very different from…

  • What The Hell Do We Do With The MNGOP (Part II)`

    Manfred Von Richtoven – better known to history as the Red Baron, the highest-scoring fighter pilot of World War I – was once asked for his “mission statement”, as they’re called in business today. Paraphrasing closely, he said “My mission is to patrol my sector, and shoot down the enemy.  All else is bulls**t”.  ———-  As I…

  • What The Hell Do We Do About The MNGOP, Part I

    I was originally going to call this piece “What The Hell Is Wrong With the MNGOP, Part X”; there’s plenty more to talk about in that series. But in the aftermath of the last legislative session, and especially Governor Pawlenty’s epic, lone stand against the DFL’s tax-and-spend orgy, I’m inclined to answer my question “not…

  • The Pen of Pawlenty: A Beacon for Conservatives

    Governor Pawlenty’s discipline is tutelage for Republicans everywhere. Congressional Republicans — the ones who got tossed because of their embrace of spending and earmarks — might start looking for a message up north. Fiscal responsibility? “It is the fundamental tenet of our party, and the conservative coalition more broadly,” says Mr. Pawlenty, nicely. “If we…

  • Fearless Predictions

    Now that theLegislature has adjourned without the DFL majority’s budget passed, and with Governor Pawlenty promising to use the line-item veto to unallot the budget back into balance, look for the following: Predictions from DFLers of bodies lying in the street (oops – already happened) Threats from liberal-run school districts that they’ll have to close,…

  • Better News From The Legislature

    Twila Brase writes from the Capitol: It’s 1:15 a.m. and I want to report the good news. We won! The gavel came down at midnight, the Minnesota legislature adjourned in the nick of time, and the Baby DNA warehousing bill to repeal genetic privacy and DNA ownership rights at birth, never came up for a…

  • T-Pawerful

    Governor Pawlenty – virtually the sole Republican with any semblance of power anywhere near Capitol Hill – drops the “L” word, promising line-item vetoes rather than a shutdown or a special session: Turning the heat up to a boil in the closing days of the legislative session, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Thursday that he would…

  • At Least We Know They’ve Got Their Priorities Straight

    Governor Pawlenty, from his new Twitter account: hockey, teacher said she is being laid-off. Union in her district turned down more money to avoid performance-based pay. Go figure!!! Paying good teachers extra? All hell would break loose!

  • Those Who Forget Their History Are Condemned To Write For Minnesota Progressive Project

    Eric “Big E” Pusey over at The Minnesota Short Bus Collection Of “Progressive” Whackdoodles So Big It Must Be A Stimulus-Funded Project hops up and down and notes the blazingly obvious; Tim Pawlenty has turned on his previous – as in, over 12-year-old – support of term limits: Dusty Trice brought it up and I…

  • We Paid For The Damn Cow

    I don’t believe in public subsidies of broadcasters – but I listen to MPR.  I mean, my tax dollars go to them, whether I support the concept of socialized radio or not, so it doesn’t give me any moral qualms. I didn’t support public money for the Midtown Greenway – but my taxes pay for…

  • Northern Alliance Takes Over As State Press Office

    I just got this:  SAINT PAUL –  The office of Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty announces that the staff of the radio talk show the “Northern Alliance Radio Network” will be taking over the duties of the state press-relations office. “We think this is a slapshot for good government, and will put us square in the…

  • Eighteen Million Dollars of Spam

    As Governor Pawlenty prudently cuts aid to local government, these cities will in turn need to prioritize their expenditures. I’ve got an idea. Cut lobbying expenditures. Plymouth taking an exit from I-494 lobbying group Unhappy that Interstate 494 has not been widened through Plymouth as it has through Minnetonka and Eden Prairie, Plymouth plans to…

  • Strib Editors: “Ignore The Man Behind The Curtain!”

    The Strib’s post-election editorial holds no major suprises – those all came before the election, when the Strib surprisingly endorsed Norm Coleman over Al Franken. But when I say “no surprises”, I also mean there’s no change in their overall policy toward Republicans; “the only good republican is one that’s indistinguishable from a DFLer”.  First,…

  • If A Plane Full Of Terrorists…

    …had crashed into the green room at Orchestra Hall last night, it could have had a sweeping effect on Minnesota conservatism. At one point, I was sitting with Senator Coleman, Governor Pawlenty, Representative Bachmann, candidates Erik Paulsen (who will be a guest on the NARN this weekend), Barb Davis-White and Ed Matthews, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved,…

  • Governor Pawlenty Exonerated

    So the veto of the gas tax didn’t result in the 35W bridge collapse? My esteemed overlord hates to say “I told you so.” Allow me. Mitch told you so. Number 1:  When the engineers finally release their report about what actually caused the 35W Bridge Collapse, a lot of regional lefties – Elwyn Tinklenberg,…

  • Across That Big Ol’ Aisle

    Regional pundits that remember the seventies constantly bemoan the lack of “bipartisanship” in Minnesota politics. Of course, the only “bipartisanship” they seem to get around to is the kind were Republicans act like and coalesce around DFL positions. Never, ever stories like this: Longtime DFL legislator Doug Johnson said he was ingrained with the political…

  • Did Tim Pawlenty get a phone call today?

    originally posted 2:35 PM Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) is canceling print and broadcast interviews for the day… Strib Pawlenty cancels TV interviews Pioneer Press Pawlenty abruptly cancels afternoon interviews in Denver CNN is reporting a “cone of silence” forming around Governor Pawlenty and that friends of the Governor are suddenly not able to reach him…

  • Just Desserts For A Collaborator

    Rod Hamilton – one of the six “Republican” legislators who stabbed Governor Pawlenty in the back last session – is learning the hard way; the DFL doesn’t make Republican friends; they just recruit stooges: Six months ago, Rod Hamilton was center stage in the biggest drama at the State Capitol. And so was Hwy. 60,…

  • Vee Pee, Vee Pee, Vee Pee

    I’ve heard Governor Pawlenty talk live twice while he’s been governor and have been tremendously impressed by his unflappable posture and his ability to successfully steer a talk away from politics when the subject of the talk was clearly not politics. He is one of the most comfortable, adept leaders we have had around here…