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100 Reasons I’m Voting For Lipp, Karschnia, Hernandez, Bills And Romney, And Not Their Opponents

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Here’s my biennial tradition – 100 reasons I’m voting for the Republicans, not the Democrats.

But this year, I’m not focusing just on the President.

Dan Lipp, HD65A

100. Because Dan’s a regular working guy from the neighborhood.

99. Dan is a Liberty guy.  He realizes, as all the smart ones do, that it’s not only through less government, but through rolling back some of the government we have, that this nation has any chance of prospering.

98. And the last thing the Midway needs is more DFL professional politicians telling us what regular working guys from the neighborhood need.

97. Because Rena Moran is one of those professional politicians…

96. …and one of the most extreme people in the Minnesota House.  Nothing useful will get done while her party is even close to influence.  And so I’ll be voting for Dan, and very, very much against Rena Moran.

Rick Karschnia, SD65

95. Because Rick comes from the world of business. And if there’s anything Saint Paul (to say nothing of our idiot legislature) needs, it’s more business people and fewer lawyers and professional career pols.

94. And while there are politicians in Minnesota more “professional” and “career” than DFL incumbent Sandy Pappas, it’s all pretty irrelevant.

93. Because Rick will be a Senator that votes for conservative and libertarian principle, at least conceptually in the mold of the Tea Party freshmen that did such a great job in the 2010-2011 sessions.

92. That stuff I said about Rena Moran being “extreme?”  She’s a a piker compared to Sandy Pappas.  If you look in the dictionary under “smug intransigence”, Sandy gets a two-page spread.

91. I’m voting for Rick and Dan because winning the Minnesota Legislature – keeping majorities in both chambers – will block Mark Dayton’s agenda.

90. Although it’s not Mark Dayton’s agenda.  Mark Dayton is really one of those disembodied brains kept alive in a jar, except he walks more or less under his own power.  But “his” agenda is really that of the unions and far-left plutocrats who own him in every meaningful way.

89. And defending our Legislative majorities will be a huge gut-shot to Dayton’s political future…

88. ….and help ensure he remains a one -term governor.

Tony Hernandez, MN CD4

87. I’m voting for Tony because he’s a Saint Paul guy with rock-solid integrity.

86. And because he’s done a great job of appealing both to liberty voters and conservative voters.

85. Because anyone that plans his wedding in mid-campaign is the kind of multi-tasker that can actually do things in DC.

84. Because his platform is the kind of thing that Americans of all political stripes should be able to agree with.  And that – not some kind of phony cross-aisle gesturing – is the essence of real bipartisanship.

83. And Betty McCollum is all about the empty gesture of bipartisanship…

82. …which doesn’t come close to covering the fact that she is among the most extreme, partisan Reps in the US Congress.

81. Because Tony’s a business guy, while Betty is a professional politician.

80. Because I’d rather have Tony working on writing up a new budget than Betty McCollum.

79. Because the Fourth Congressional District needs better.

78. Because Betty McCollum supported Obamacare, which is sending the health insurance premiums of working Minnesotans through the roof.

77. And because Tony will vote for repeal.

76. Because Betty McCollum supported the Central Corridor, which is gutting business in the Midway…

75. …while Tony knows better than that.

74. Because Tony is an independent thinker…

73…while Betty McCollum is a marionette whose strings are pulled by the Teachers Unions.

72. Because it’s a finger in the eye of all the blow-hard DFL jagoffs who bleat “this is a DFL town!”, as if having a one-party city is something to be proud of.

Kurt Bills, US Senate

71. Because Amy Klobuchar, media meme notwithstanding, is an extreme, partisan liberal.

70. Because a Bills win would give half the the Twin Cities media – which has cashed in much of what passed for its “integrity” to support the daughter of their ol’ buddy Jim Klobuchar – have a collective stroke over the loss.

69. Because Bills is a regular guy.

68. Because Bills is a Liberty candidate…

67…who endorsed Romney – because he realizes perfect IS the enemy of good enough!

66. And the Paulbots gave him holy hell for it.

65. Because for all her palaver, A-Klo is in the left-most third of the US Senate.

64. And this state is no longer a hard-blue state.  We don’t need two “progressives” in Washington; it makes us look stupid.

63. Because Klobuchar belongs to a party that believes you should spend first, and cover it with money exacted from “the rich” and, when that runs out, money borne down from heaven on unicorns.

62. Because the Chinese want you to vote for A-Klo.

61. As does Hugo Chavez.

60. Because I’d rather have Bills confirming our next Supreme Court justice than Klobuchar.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, President and Vice President

59. Because Mitt will crank open the big brass nozzle for domestic energy production.

58.  In so doing, Mitt will actually do the ultimate “green jobs progrlam”.  Here’s how – are you an environmentalist?  Then get used to the idea that “saving the environment’ is something that requires prosperity first and foremost.

57. And at this point in our history, that means “enough energy to fuel a prosperous economy”.

56. MItt gets that.

55. Barack Obama does not.  He believes that direct subsidy of untried technology will accomplish a “green revolution” by sheer brute financial force.  That’s never, ever worked. Ever.

54. Mitt will roll back – not stop, but positively roll back  – the orgy of regulation that Obama has unleashed in the past four years.

53. Obama will make good on his promise to President Medvedev; free of worrying about re-election, he’ll ratched up the war on small business that he started with a bang in the past four years…

52. …which have made the US a terrible place for small business.

51.  Romney will renew the Bush tax cuts.

50. Obama will sunset them – and add in many, many, many more of his own.

49.  Mitt has promised to enact the first cut in discretionary spending since the Reagan Administration – five percent.

48.  Don’t believe him?  See Messrs. Hernandez and Bills, above.  We can force him to make good on the promise (not that I think we’ll need to) – but we’ve gotta control Congress.

47. In fact, Romney will be the first president since Reagan fundamentally disposed to cutting discretionary spending.

46. Obama, naturally, will ratched up discretionary spending.

45.  Romney will put everything on the table – means-tests, raising retirement age, whatever – to reform Medicare and Social Security.

44.  Obama will try to scare people into carrying on with a doomed status quo.

43.  Because Romney will end the user of federal power to browbeat Catholics, Evangelicals and other principled people into paying for federal programs that mortally offend their – our – beliefs.

42. And Obama will supercharge the attack on religion.

41. Romney will end the ratcheting-up of the civil sacrament of abortion.

40. Obama will not.

39.  Obama’s Homeland Security secretary Napolitano has spent four years scapegoating all of the many petty dissidents whose rights are supposedly protected by the Constituition, putting pro-lifers, tax-reform advocates, second-amendment activists, “preppers”, school choice advocates and Tea Partiers on “terrorist” watch lists.

38. Romney is a member of a faith that has been persecuted for its beliefs in the past; I find it highly unlikely that he’ll continue to use the Federal government – especially Homeland Security – to persecute people who dissent from government in good faith.

35. And he damned sure knows “Religious Freedom” isn’t served by forcing religious institutions to pay for things that their beliefs hold morally repulsive;

34. Because Barack Obama has a long history of actively working for gun control.

33.  Because Mitt Romney may not be Ted Nugent, but he’ll get out of the way of the Second Amendment.

32. Because while racism motivates almost none of the opposition to Barack Obama, it motivates a massive amount of his support.

31.  Because of Sonia Sotomayor…

30.  …and Elena Kagan.

29. Because David Breyer is almost 76.

28. Ginsberg?  She’s 80.  And it’d be great to have those two replaced by responsible conservatives for the next 20 or 30 years.

27. And while I know not every Republican-appointed justice has turned out to be a legal originalist (hello, David Freaking Souder), it’s for sure that a John Kerry or Algore appointment would have been worse (and Roberts, as bad as his Obamacare decision was, may have done us a favor via the back door, calling OCare a tax issue rather than a Commerce Clause issue; at least tax issues are legislated rather than litigated).

26. Because Antonin Scalia is 76/

25. And so is Anthony Kennedy.

24. And you know what whomever Obama appoints will be a nightmare for the rest of most of our natural lives.

23. And the thought of both of them being replaced by liberal bobbleheads is too horrific to think of.

22. A Romney administration will treat “separation of powers” as a limit to be observed.

21. For the past four years, Obama has treated it as an obstacle to be breached.

20. Because while our nation needs to re-evaluate its defense strategy and the spending that supports it, we certainly do need a Navy larger than we had in 1917.

19. Because Obama has been shamelessly leaching credit from the SEALs who actually killed Bin Laden, and from the planners and intelligence people who made the mission possible.  Obama does indeed deserve credit for making the call (finally); that credit is paid in full.

18. Because Barack Obama bowed, scraped and deferred to every foreign leader that’d have him (except Queen Elizabeth), and seemed to be looking for more…

17. …and Romney just isn’t going to do that.

15.  Because you are not better off than you were four years  ago.  Your income has dropped…
14. …as your taxes have risen.  
13. And if you are unemployed, you have been there longer than at any time in US history.  Our current “recovery” is the slowest since World War II.
12. Because by this time in the 1980 recession – the 1984 election – we were adding four times as many jobs per month as we are today.  That’s how sharp recessions are supposed to work…
11.  …but just as the New Deal did with the Great Depression, Obama’s interventions in the economy are preventing a big, dramatic economic comeback.  
10. Because Mitt Romney understands this.
9. And Barack Obama’s worldview hinges on not only denying it, but repudiating it.  
8. Because I’m a bitter, gun-clinging Jebus freak, and I’m proud of it. 
7. Because our nation’s economy is heading toward not one, but two cliffs; a tax cliff in January that will flense whatever “recovery” we’ve had so far, and a bigger, nastier one that will involve the devaluation of the dollar and, most likely, a depression that will make the Great Depression look like the deflation of the Dotcom Bubble,.  
6. And Romney and Ryan are the only candidates that seem to acknowledge this, much less take it seriously.  Obama does not; he and his followers continue to believe that money  will continue to be borne down from the heavens on magic unicorns.  
5. Because my granddaughter is already in debt thanks to Obama.
4. Because we may not really be better than this – but if we’re not, the consequences are truly, truly terrible.  
3. Because the media at all levels has been such a shameless Praetorian Guard for  Obama, reality and fact be damned.
2. . Obama sees America as one big Chicago…
1. …and Romney sees it as a shining city on the hill.  
Vote like your future depends on it.  Because it does depend on Obama, the Democrats and the DFL being retired to the septic tank of history as soon as possible. 

100 Reasons I’m Voting For Tom Emmer

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As I do before every important election, I’m listing the top 100 reasons I’m voting for the top of the ticket.

Of course, I became an Emmer supporter long ago.  The GOP started the campaign early – right around State Fair time in 2009 – with a crop of great candidates and rumored candidates.  Paul Kohls was a sharp guy; I could have easily supported Pat Anderson; Dave Hann is right about everything that matters; most of all, Marty Seifert would have been an excellent standard-bearer.  I would happily have written these 100 reasons about any of them.

But Emmer became my personal front-runner as Ed and I interviewed him at the Fair on September 4, 2009.  Someone asked him a question about some kind of wedge-y social issue or another.  And without skipping a beat, Tom responded “I dont’ care; this election is about jobs and the economy”.  Emmer is the single best stump speaker in Minnesota politics today.  And for all the left and media’s efforts to paint him as some sort of extremist, Tom has not only stuck to that message, but has shown himself superb at explaining that message to people who don’t start out as believers.  Which is the main reason the DFL has had to run such a superlatively slimy, negative campaign against him.

And to be honest, those were the only reasons I really need to support Tom Emmer.  But I came up with 99 more.  Because that’s what I do.

To wit – the 100 main reasons I’m voting for Tom Emmer today.

  1. Because the DFL’s plan is a return to the past, in ways that just don’t make sense anymore.
  2. Because the DFL’s big-money, big-union, big-service model was based on economy that exploded at a time when America was the only serious economy on earth.
  3. And times have changed.
  4. And Tom Emmer knows that we have to change our government with those times.
  5. And Mark Dayton thinks that if you throw enough obstinacy and rhetoric and taxpayers money at life, the clock will turn itself back to the DFL’s glory days.
  6. Not to mention his own glory days.
  7. And as that great political commentator said, Glory Days will pass you by in the wink of a young girl’s eye.
  8. Because Emmer’s about providing three things; Jobs
  9. Jobs, and
  10. Jobs.
  11. And Dayton is not.
  12. Unless you’re an AFSCME, SEIU, MAPE other state employee.
  13. Indeed, we know of many companies that are going to leave Minnesota, sooner or later, if taxes don’t moderate.
  14. And we know many, many more that are waiting on the fence to see where their investments are going to go.
  15. Because it’s not just about creating jobs.  It’s about creating a climate where companies will create jobs, and new companies will form, and hire people to work for them, and more new companies will form to provide goods and services and wholesaling and distribution and support and markets and suppliers for the companies above.
  16. And Mark Dayton’s policies will curb that as effectively as any policy designed to curb business growth on purpose ever could.
  17. Because our state government needs to be re-engineered…
  18. …and Emmer has the plan to do it…
  19. …while Mark Dayton’s entire plan is to just pour more of our money down the rathole.
  20. Because of Emmer’s enemies; the SEIU, AFSCME, the Teamsters, and the bureaucracy are the only people who benefit from the current government.
  21. Because Tom Emmer is one of us.
  22. And I just know that some idiot leftyblogger will go “yeah, he’s a middle class white guy”, which shows you yet another reason Emmer needs to win; the phony “diversity” pimps must not be rewarded.
  23. No, Tom Emmer is a Minnesota guy who grew up the child of business people, worked for the business, worked his way through college and law school, worked his way up the hierarchy of his business – just the way most Minnesotans have to, whether they’re white middle class guys…
  24. …or Latino working-class gals…
  25. …or black single mothers who are fighting to keep their kids’ charter schools afloat…
  26. …or Asian immigrants who are working in their uncle’s restaurant while they earn their engineering degree.  It’s all part of a story…
  27. …that Mark Dayton never participated in, can not understand…
  28. …and has to have interpreted for him  by his advisers from the AFSCME, MFT, MAPE, SEIU, ACORN, CommonCause and MoveOn.
  29. Tom Emmer doesn’t have to have anyone explain “the Minnesota Dream” to him.  He’s lived it, and his whole plan is about opening up that dream to everyone.
  30. Because Mark Dayton is the wrong guy for the job.
  31. He was an unmitigated disaster as a Senator…
  32. …and an undistinguished State Auditor….
  33. …and a failure as Economic Development commissioner – so bad that his boss’ son wrote an Op-Ed claiming that he bailed on the job before a recession, to salvage his political future.
  34. And his only “plan” is to start jacking up taxes.
  35. And as much as he caterwauls about “taxing the rich”, the fact is that his proposed “taxes on the rich” won’t even begin to cover the deficit, will slow the state’s economy and sent it into a vicious, revenue-killing spiral…
  36. …that will result in the definition of “the rich” being pushed ever downward until pretty much everyone in Minnesota is “rich”…
  37. …while, paradoxically, poor.
  38. Because his plan will gut charter schools – a racist plan that will destroy the only meaninful “school choice” most inner-city parents of color, and from poor families, and immigrants and Native Americans, have to try to get their children a decent education.
  39. (But Dayton needn’t care, because he went to Yale).
  40. Dayton’s plan, indeed, is voodoo economics of the most trite, vapid order.
  41. And Minnesotans are smarter than that.
  42. (Or, after Ventura, McCollum, Ellison and Franken, I guess I should say they can be smarter than that.  Here’s your chance, Minnesota!)
  43. Because “Alliance For A Better Minnesota” is, paradoxically, an alliance for a much, much worse Minnesota.
  44. Because while I don’t really want big corporations buying my elections, I don’t want Alita Messenger buying them, either.
  45. Or Big Unions.  What’s the SEIU done for us lately, besides demand more money and more subsidies?
  46. Ditto the Minnesota Federation of Teachers?
  47. Or, more tellingly, the entire Dayton family?
  48. Because anyone the Twin Cities Media has been working so hard to gundeck this last six months has to be good.
  49. Because Pat Doyle smeared Emmer in the Strib…
  50. …and I busted Doyle.
  51. Because if Tom Emmer wins, maybe the Twin Cities media will examine some of their prejudices, and focus less on electing DFLers and more on…reporting the news?
  52. Because if Emmer wins, perhaps people will, once and for all, start treating the Minnesota Poll like “news”, and more like an “in-kind campaign contribution”, which is all it is.
  53. Ditto the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute Poll
  54. And “Mid-Morning with Keri Miller”.
  55. Because while I have no doubt that the Twin Cities media will eventually ask questions about Mark Dayton’s alcoholic relapses and mental health record, it’d be good to settle that before he takes on the most powerful job in Minnesota.
  56. Or preferably rather than taking it on.
  57. Because it will pound a stake through the heart of the old, RINO Republican party
  58. Because Lori Sturdevant seems to have staked out a market at tut-tutting Republicans for not being like the Republicans of the 1970’s – and far be it from me to want to constrict somebody’s market.
  59. Because Tom Emmer survived the most epic smear campaign in Minnesota history.
  60. And that sort of behavior must not be rewarded.
  61. Think about it; if Mark Dayton wins, all of ABM’s lies will be considered justified.
  62. Because to the left, the end justifies the means – and since power is their end, this campaign will codify the means; lying, smearing, slandering.
  63. And “power”, in this case, means not only the power to tax you back to the stone age, but to scupper the economy of this state for a generation.
  64. Which, let us not forget, is yet another end that’d justify their means, if it succeeds. Because a state with lots of DFL dependants is a state with a happy DFL.
  65. Because if Tom Emmer beats out this epic smear campaign, perhaps the Minnesota DFL and its lefty allies will learn some f****ng manners.
  66. Because I don’t want the definition of “Marriage” decided by a bunch of moron legislators or bobbleheaded, agenda-driven judges.
  67. Because if Emmer wins, free speech wins.
  68. It was the “Citizens United” Supreme Court case that allowed corporations to contribute to political campaigns.
  69. And so a raft of Minnesota companies contributed to “MNForward”, a pro-business PAC.
  70. And a legion of howling lefty nutcases lined up to crucify these businesses…
  71. …well, no.  They didn’t line up to slander and badger Polaris or Davisco or Securian.  They lined up to attack Target Corporation as “anti-gay”…
  72. …even though Target is one of the most pro-equal-rights-for-gays companies in a state full of companies that bend over backwards to prove their “diversity”.   The attack wasnt’ because of anything Target did, but to try to bully and browbeat all Minnesota companies who dared to dissent from the DFL and their various hangers-on.
  73. BTW, Tom Emmer is no more “anti-gay” than Barack Obama or, for that matter, Mark Dayton.
  74. Because while the “Minnesota Miracle” of Minnesota Media Myth is indeed largely mythical, and would have happened anyway
  75. But today, Minnesota needs a real miracle, and we need it now.
  76. And real miracles come from the private sector…
  77. …and the best thing government can do is stand out of the way – lending the odd helping hand (by, say, providing an educated and competent work force – ooops, sorry about that, Minnesota Federation of Teachers) and letting private enterprise and the market do the hard stuff.
  78. Because while Governor Pawlenty has done a helluvva job keeping the wheels on this state, it’s only going to get more difficult as the Obama Depression grinds on.
  79. And we have two more years of The One to survive; and electing a responsible, grownup, conservative government is a great first step in telling the rapacious federal regime “not so fast, bitches”.
  80. Because it’s a big wave.
  81. And if Emmer wins, then so will Michele Bachmann.
  82. And Erik Paulsen.
  83. And John Kline.
  84. And since the Constitutional Officer races usually follow the governor’s race, an Emmer win will bring back Pat Anderson to State Auditor, replacing the fairly useless but boundlessly venal Rebecca Otto.
  85. And Dan Severson could win, replacing Mark Ritchie, who was basically put into office to further George Soros’ grand scheme of having fifty in-the-bag secretaries of state.
  86. And Chris Barden could become the Attorney General, giving us an AG that will work for Minnesota, rather than for Mike Hatch.
  87. And if Emmer wins big, there’s a decent shot that Chip Cravaack will win as well – and Congress desperately needs Jim Oberstar to leave and go into the lobbyling business, where his heart really belongs.
  88. And if Emmer wins, the coattails will help Randy Demmer, too; every little bit helps.
  89. And of Tom and Chip take it downtown, then Lee Byberg will stand a decent chance of toppling Colin Peterson.
  90. And if Tom, Chip, Randy and Lee pull it off, then the heretofore unthinkable – Teresa Collett knocking off Betty “Mission Accomplished” McCollum – is suddenly thinkable.
  91. And Joel Demos might just be able to pack his wife and kids up and head off to DC as well.  Because we’re Minnesotans, and we do believe in Miracles.
  92. And if that happens, somewhere on the campus of the Blake School, some mirthless harpy’s head is going to explode.
  93. And some hard-scrabble Latina will make a few bucks cleaning up the mess, giving her the money to feed her kids and drive them to a good charter school,  where they become good educated citizens, who vote Republican…
  94. …and help repeat the cycle…
  95. …so that before too terribly long the DFL – the great destroyer of jobs, the albatross on the back of the Minnesota economy, the racist ravager of school choice, the thuggish apparatchik that wants to make sure you do no better than they do, will become a third party.  Like it so richly deserves.
  96. Because I want Minnesota to be a good place for my children.
  97. I don’t want Minnesota to become a Cold California, a windy Greece, a passive-aggressive Michigan, a “nice” Massachusetts.
  98. And DFL rule merely ensures that that is exactly what will happen.
  99. And conservative government is not just sane, stable government, it’s the key to a prosperous, sustainable state.  Even the parts that aren’t government.
  100. Because it’s something you can do for A Better Minnesota.  All of us. Together.

So let’s make this happen.

Previous “100 Reasons” posts:

100 Reasons I’m Voting For Eva Ng Tomorrow

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Look – there’s no real suspense.  I’m voting for Eva Ng for Mayor of Saint Paul tomorrow.

Why?  Well, I have 100 reasons:

  1. Because in the 22 years since I first moved to Saint Paul, things have gone way downhill…
  2. …after going way way way uphill for a solid decade under Norm Coleman and Randy Kelly.  Lost progress is like no progress at all.
  3. And it stinks to watch a lot of progress getting flushed down the drain.
  4. Because Saint Paul’s school system is an unmitigated disaster…
  5. …and the only way it’s going to change is if there’s an epic realignment in City Hall…
  6. …and at 360 Colborn (which is also why I’m voting for John Krenik, Pat Igo and Chris Conner for School Board).
  7. Because she scares the crap out of the status quo.  She’s female and she’s Asian – two constituencies that the DFL basically considers trained pets, best seen (at the polls) but not heard (if they disagree with the DFL line in any way).
  8. And until these “hereditary DFL constituencies” show the DFL that they’re not just a bunch of sinecure voters they can count on no matter what kind of crap they throw out, there’ll never be any improvement.
  9. And she will be seen and heard in office.  And that’s good for everyone…
  10. …but the Saint Paul DFL.  Tough.
  11. Because it can be done.  If Bret Schundler could win three terms as mayor of Jersey City, Eva Ng can win Saint Paul.
  12. And Eva’s message – fiscal responsibility, jobs, business – aren’t that different from Schundler’s.
  13. And while too many people in Saint Paul are immune to common sense, quite a few – in Frogtown, Dayton’s Bluff, the North End, Battle Creek – are all too well aware of how badly the Coleman Administration’ policies have failed them.
  14. Because this is a city crammed with beautiful, solid, wonderfully-built homes that are just dying to have a bunch of new homeowners move in and invest “sweat equity” in…
  15. …but the Saint Paul City Council has taken the nannystatist position that “since some remodelers are flippers, and others don’t know what they’re doing, we’ll make it impossible for all of them”.
  16. (Or at least that’s their stated reason).
  17. Anyway – what’s that doing to your property values?  Especially if you live on the North End, on Dayton’s Bluff, or in endlessly-besieged Frogtown?
  18. Because Ng’s a businesswoman…
  19. …and Saint Paul is in dire need of more business people and fewer party animals running the city.
  20. And Chris Coleman, whatever else you can say about him, is mayor because he’s a DFLer who’s put in his time.  (I’ll give credit where it’s due; Coleman is a perfectly fine human being, and an excellent bagpiper.  See?  I’m a uniter, not a divider).
  21. Indeed, electing Eva Ng would derail one of the most noxious aspects of Saint Paul’s one-party rule; the notion that being Mayor of Saint Paul is a perk that’s awarded to the DFLer that’s been plugging away for the party the longest.
  22. Which is pretty much how the Saint Paul DFL sees things.  And we do deserve better.
  23. But we’ll never get it if we keep enabling the practice.
  24. And make no mistake about it; Saint Paul’s DFLers see it exactly that way.  One of the first things I saw a St. Paul DFLer write when Ng announced her campaign was “Oh, yeah?  What’s she done for Saint Paul so far?”  As if the only worthy background for governing is to be part of the machine that caused the problems to begin with.
  25. Because Ng is not part of the machine.  Indeed, she’s pretty much the opposite; if there’s a political organization anywhere in the world that is not a “machine”, it’s the Saint Paul GOP.
  26. Indeed, if you’re a Republican, having Eva Ng win – or even make a strong showing – would send a message to a big chunk of the CD4 GOP; “pay attention to what’s going on south of Larpenteur; it matters!”
  27. And it’s important that it does – because Minnesota will never be more than a dingy, moldy blue shade of purple until the GOP makes a contest of it in the Cities.
  28. Because she’s a political newcomer.  She’s no professional politician; indeed, you can tell, because…
  29. …she doesn’t talk like a politician.  She talks like a human.
  30. Ng is a turnaround specialist.  Her entire career involves taking companies that are floundering, and turning them into successes.
  31. And if Saint Paul under Chris Coleman isn’t floundering, then the term truly has no meaning.
  32. Because Ng’s business background has taught her how to succeed with limited resources…
  33. …while the Saint Paul DFL and the Coleman Administration only know one thing; take whatever their agenda demands them to take, and screw the consequences.
  34. Ng is a Republican.
  35. Much more important than that, she’s a fiscal conservative.
  36. And Saint Paul has suffered terribly over the years from the depredations of the tax-‘n-spend crowd.
  37. Because when the mayor can say, with a straight face, that we need to lay off cops and firemen while we’re building indoor ice rinks, something is drastically wrong.
  38. And when we’re paying for cops and firemen with LGA – money the city does not control – while paying for non-essentials with property taxes (the party they do legitimately control), that’s just irresponsible.
  39. Because the mayor of a city of 275,000 does not need an executive staff with two dozen offices (and many  more employees than that).
  40. Because the Saint Paul City Council’s hostility to business, especially small business, is killing this city.
  41. No, seriously – when I say “hostility to business”, it’s not Republican hyperbole!
  42. Because the City Council’s hostility to small landlords (that aren’t controlled by the city) in the name of “affordable housing” is making affordable housing (not controlled by the city) unavailable.
  43. And because demonizing landlords – which is what the SPCC is doing – has worked so well for making housing affordable in New York, San Francisco and Portland.
  44. Because Chris Coleman spoke seriously about closing the tiny little long-paid-for library two blocks from my house, the one my kids grew up going to…
  45. …while he found the money to build indoor ice rinks.
  46. Because an Ng win would show Saint Paul’s newest immigrants  – the H’mong, Somalis and others – that not only do you not have to be white and anglo to be Mayor, but you don’t have to be a DFLer if you’re not Caucasian.
  47. And then we can have an “honest discussion” about what a disaster DFL rule is, has been for the past 45 years, and will forever more be for the city’s “minorities” (who are in fact, a decided majority in the school system).
  48. And if we make inroads into the school board (go John, Pat and Chris!), we can talk about why the Saint Paul Public Schools are such a disastrous place – moreso than even the Philadelphia and Detroit systems – for minority kids.
  49. And we can talk honestly about why the DFL wants so desperately to close the charter schools that have popped up all over Saint Paul…
  50. …and which are the only real refuge for the thousands of those “Saint Paulites of Color” who’ve found that the SPPS was a waste of time and effort for their kids, and responded by voting with their feet.
  51. Because the “light rail” may be a done deal and unavoidable, but it is going to gut the Midway.  Gut it.  And Ng is the only politician in Saint Paul who is being honest about that fact.
  52. Because the City Council and the Mayor don’t want the Midway to know the world of hurt – traffic, economic dislocation, tearing down and rebuilding, and finally artificial gentrification – that await the neighborhood.
  53. Because after a generation of patient, market-based rebuilding, Frogtown and its largely Asian people, especially it’s almost-entirely Asian business community up and down University, deserve better than what this light rail boondoggle is going to give them…
  54. …which is “shred them like a lawnmower in a cabbage patch” in the short term, and try to gentrify the hell out of the parts of the street that aren’t turned into arid drive-through lands by the train.
  55. Because the free market has helped turn the West End from a reeking, crime-ridden toilet into a decent, occasionally thriving neighborhood.
  56. Because this city has been run by, for, and about the wishes and ideology of Merriam Park’s ofay DFL elitists – the people who were turning out to raise funds for Kathleen Soliah’s defense fund – for far too long.
  57. Because the mayor and the city council have nothing but contempt for the beliefs of all those Latinos who live in Saint Paul’s most dynamic, fascinating neighborhood, the West Side.
  58. And the Latino community still votes DFL. 
  59. Because the North End has enough strikes against it, even without the City Council’s misguided vacant building ordinance.  The ordinance puts a boot on the throat of any chance the neighborhood has of recovering any time soon, making “sweat equity” virtually illegal…
  60. …except for the City Council’s and the mayor’s friends in the non-profit community.
  61. The same goes for Frogtown…
  62. …and even more for Dayton’s Bluff, where the mortgage crisis has virtually emptied block after block…
  63. …that will, by law, pretty much have to stay empty until the city gets around to doing something about it…
  64. …which will be long, long after the market would do something about it. 
  65. Because Battle Creek and the far East Side are watching to see if city and state tax policy drive the rest of 3M out of town, turning those neighborhoods into ghost-towns like so much of the Bluff and the North End…
  66. …and the Administration – the Mayor and City Hall – can’t be bothered, since they’re busy making you happier and happier to pay for a “better” Saint Paul…
  67. …where “better” equals more and more city jobs, programs and spending, as opposed to real jobs, real quality of life, real potential…
  68. …and real reasons for anyone to move here, whether people or businesses.
  69. Because I’ve lived in Saint Paul for most of the past 22 years, now.  And I love the place…
  70. …but I hate what it’s turning into.  If I were a parent with a young family, I wouldn’t move to Saint Paul today.  I don’t know why anyone who didn’t have a vested interest in the current one-party system would.
  71. Because single-party government is always bad.  Even if it’s your party.
  72. Because “debate” over things like taxes and budgets in Saint Paul these days, with our one-party system, tends to devolve into acrimonious recriminations over who isn’t taxing or spending enough.
  73. Because a city – really, any unit of government at any level – needs to have more than one viable party to keep those in power accountable.
  74. And Saint Paul’s government, at this point in history, is accountable to nobody. 
  75. Which means the future of this city is being planned pretty much by the un-tested, un-accountable whims of people who were elected to office out of force of habit…
  76. …and those plans will become law…
  77. …and affect the way this city will be for generations to come.  Think about it; Saint Paul is still paying for stupid decisions (“Urban Renewal”) made fifty years ago.  With the stakes as high as they are today, you think it’s going to get better?
  78. Because Kathy Lantry needs someone to hold her accountable.
  79. As does Dave Thune…
  80. …and Lee Helgen…
  81. …as well as Matt Stark…
  82. …and Dan Bostrom.
  83. Pat Harris too…
  84. …not to mention Melvin Carter.  And while we can’t put any competitors on the City Council for another couple of years, you gotta start somewhere.
  85. Because there are DFLers who respond to any dissent by chanting “we own this town!”
  86. And that would irritate the piss out of me even if a Republican said it.  There’s a word for that – hubris.
  87. And that kind of hubris needs to be brought back into line.
  88. And keeping the status quo fat ‘n happy changes nothing.
  89. Because when you put it all together – the hubris…
  90. …the warped priorities (hockey rinks over firemen?)…
  91. …the irresponsible policies…
  92. …the scandalous peformormance and epic failure of our school system…
  93. …and the sclerotic, bureaucratized, just-plain-dull agenda, and…
  94. …boundless potential for corruption that attends any single-party government and bureaucracy, not to mention…
  95. …a vision for the future that makes Cold-War era Berlin look positively scintillating…
  96. …then the imperative to put John Krenik…
  97. …Chris Conner…
  98. …and Pat Igo on the school board…
  99. and vote Eva Ng for mayor…
  100. …is not just the only answer – but in fact it’s gotta be just the beginning.

See you at the polls tomorrow.  Bring a friend.  Have your friend bring a friend, too.

100 Reasons I’m Voting For Mac, And Not Obama

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One of this blog’s most popular posts ever was one I put out on election day four years ago.  Entitled “100 Reasons I’m Voting For Bush, Not Kerry“, it spelled out my thought process for my vote in 100 easy steps.

I figured this election deserves at least as much.

  1. Because Mac, whatever you wanna say about him, is the genuine article -warts and all.  Does he have a foul temper at times?  So what?  So do I. 
  2. So do you. 
  3. So will Barack Obama, a couple of days into this job, if he’s elected. 
  4. Because in a culture that overuses the word “hero” (among many others) pretty gratuitously, Mac is the real thing.
  5. Mac can keep things in perspective.  Age’ll give you perspective. 
  6. So will five and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton.
  7. Because the various tyrants of the world see Barack Obama, and they think “How Sweet.  Fresh Meat”.
  8. Because France, Canada and Germany have both elected more-conservative leaders since 2004; for once, they have a point. 
  9. I’m not going to say “Bin Laden Endorses Obama” – but when Bin Laden goes to sleep at night, who do you think he dreams will have his head stuffed and mounted above the fireplace in the East Wing? 
  10. Even if Bin Laden doesn’t think Mac’ll do it, he’s gotta have visions of Sarah, Todd and Track Palin snowshoeing across the Hindu Kush, finding, shooting and stuffing him.
  11. Because while abortion has never been the sine qua non of politics for me, it matters.
  12. And at the end of the day, Obama is pro-choice.
  13. And Biden is worse – a pro-choice Catholic.
  14. Because partial-birth abortion is inexcusable, and still Obama excuses it (and I’ve heard Biden say not a thing about it).
  15. Because as bad as Bush was on spending, Obama will be much, much worse…
  16. …and “balancing the budget” with tax hikes is economic suicide.
  17. For the good of the party, the GOP needs to return to fiscal conservatism.  Whatever Mac’s other sins, he’s got a much better claim to that than does Obama. 
  18. Or Bush, for that matter.
  19. What I said in 17 about “the good of the party”?  The same goes tenfold for the nation.
  20. Because the words “Chicago Democrat” mean something.
  21. Because that something is worse than “Minnesota Liberal”, which itself is a horror to behold.
  22. Because I work hard for my money.
  23. Raising taxes kills jobs. Including mine.
  24. Because Hollywood is getting the vapors for Obama.
  25. Because a lot of bigots and racists want to think I’m a bigot and racist for not voting for Obama.
  26. Because the 3AM Phone Call is a real thing – moreso in our world today than fifteen years ago, even. 
  27. And Obama has shown us no evidence that he’s ready to take that call…
  28. …or do much of anything else.
  29. Because Obama has voted “Present” in the Senate over 100 times.
  30. Because Obama has spent less time in the Senate…
  31. …than Mac spent in the Hanoi Hilton.  Yes, Mr. Messiah, sir, experience counts.
  32. Because while I believe Obama isn’t a bad person, his presidency will grant sweeping power to the Pelosi/Reid Congress, perhaps the most depraved pack of hacks ever to wield political power in the history of this country.
  33. No, I mean the most depraved pack of hacks, just like I wrote it.  The post-Watergate Democrats were at least largely people with their nation’s best interests at heart; many were WWII and Korea veterans, people for whom the flag meant something.  If you’re to the right of Jane Fonda, the Reid-Pelosi Axis of Weasels should make your skin crawl. 
  34. Because Sarah Palin, as relatively new to politics as she may be, is vastly more qualified to lead the most powerful nation on earth than Barack Obama is.
  35. Because having Joe Biden a heartbeat away from the presidency scares me a lot more than having Sarah Palin there. 
  36. Because having Joe Biden a heartbeat away from the presidency scares me more than having Courtney Love, Lindsay Lohan or Crispin Glover there.
  37. Because Mac will extend the Bush Tax Cuts.  Because…
  38. …tax cuts are always good. Always. There are no exceptions.  Especially if they force you to cut spending.
  39. Mac may not cut spending – but he will be not nearly the spendthrift Bush was…
  40. …and a year into an Obama administration, Bush will seem like a miser.
  41. Because hundreds of union goons can’t be right.
  42. Because, unlike millions of “people” registered by ACORN and the like, I exist, and someone needs to stand up for all of us actual humans.
  43. Because all of the fictional “people” that sent anonymous (and illegal) contributions to Obama’s donations will be rendered moot by everyone who repudiates their fraud. 
  44. Because every vote against The One is a finger in the eye of MoveOn, George Soros (and his paid minions), Democrats.com, Media Matters, and on, and on, and on.
  45. Because Mac has a lifetime A from the NRA…
  46. …and Obama was for gun control, before he was against it…
  47. …before, given the company he keeps (and the chits he owes), he will no doubt be for it again
  48. Because too many of Obama’s supporters have been just too insufferably triumphalistic.
  49. Because just enough of Obama’s supporters have pledged to do crappy, unamerican things if Obama loses…
  50. …and an Obama loss will be a wonderful way to flush out what truly must be called “Unamerican” – the rejection of the votes of ones’ fellow citizens.  Let us get them out into the open – indeed, let them “McCarthy-ize” themselves – so we can do something about them.
  51. Because Obama will make Jimmy Carter look like a wise, cool-headed, competent statesman. 
  52. Because it’ll give Keith Olberman a stroke.
  53. Because Chris Matthews’ leg will finally stop tingling. 
  54. Because I’m dying to see Katie Couric’s face the morning after.
  55. Because P. Diddy and Sam I Am will stroke out.
  56. Because Mac is old enough not to give a rat’s ass what people think about him…
  57. …and Obama seems to need approval.
  58. Because Mac blows up at people and the press…
  59. …but hasn’t ever kicked anyone off his plane.
  60. In spite of Because Palin is such a lightning rod for the paranoia and misogyny of the institutional left.
  61. Because Sarah Palin has teenagers who’ve made her life difficult…
  62. …and an infant whose very existence upholds the value of life…
  63. …a fact that makes the Orthodox Left purple with rage.
  64. Because while Obama might have a bracelet from a soldier whose name he can’t remember, Mac has two sons who are veterans…
  65. …and a son who’s an enlisted Marine serving overseas…
  66. …where Track Palin is right now.  Yes, I do  think having an investment in the issue will make for better, saner leadership – and certainly less palaver about, say, invading Pakistan.
  67. Because while I’ve been a conservative for over 20 years, I grew up a Democrat, around enough Democrats to care what happens to the party. John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman would puke if they saw what Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and Michaal Moore had done with their party. If you’re a responsible Democrat, so should you. Help your party re-discover its real legacy by sending Reid, Pelosi and Obama back to Palookaville.
  68. Because Jimmy Carter endorses Obama.
  69. Because the only evidence I’ve seen about Obama’s performance under pressure – his response to Georgia – makes Jimmy Carter look pretty good in comparison.
  70. Also Neville Chamberlain. 
  71. Because I love my country more than I love the UN.
  72. Because the GOP embodies confidence in this nation – something the Democrats do not.  Belief that the US could be a good nation if we adopted their platform in toto, perhaps, but not confidence.
  73. Also exceptionalism.  America is the shining city…
  74. …which is a notion that makes Obama’s most-vital supporters nauseous. 
  75. Because Obama, like Kerry and Algore and Carter, consistently mistakes “plans” and “summits” and “negotiation” for productive action.
  76. Because as we saw in the wake of the market meltdown, Mac will put “doing the right thing” ahead of political expediency.
  77. Obama wouldn’t know how.  Like with Kerry and Gore, “the right thing” changes depending on the audience he’s talking with.
  78. Because I’m a “bitter, gun-clinging Jesus Freak”, and damn proud of it.
  79. Because I am Joe The Plumber.  I don’t want to tie my destiny to one company, one employer, one line of work forever.  I’ve been in a union – but there’s an entrepreneur in there somewhere.  He’s like an opportunity one of these days.
  80. Because I value freedom of speech – everyone’s speech, including speech I disagree with – and an Obama Administration (and a Congress under the unfettered control of the Tics) will start with imposing the “Fairness Doctrine” to strangle conservative talk radio by fiat, and start working its way down.
  81. Because you know people by their friends.  And Obama’s friends include the Teachers’ Union…
  82. …and the AFL-CIO…
  83. …and AFSCME…
  84. …and his “Mentor” Jeremiah Wright…
  85. …and Bill Ayers.
  86. Because Mac has one genuine skeleton in his closet – being part of the Keating Five, albeit its least consequent member – and he’s owned up to and made amends for it.
  87. Becasue I survived the Carter years…
  88. …and I don’t want my kids to have to do the same.  Indeed, I’ve spent my entire adult life dedicated to trying to prevent that.
  89. Because this nation’s “soul” is in fine shape, and doesn’t need any politician to fix it. 
  90. Because, as I noted (presciently?) four years ago:  this country is a better place with Republicans in charge. Lower taxes, lower spending, smaller government…oops. Yeah, we conservatives have to take our party back. Guess what? It’s easier to do when you’re in office.
  91. Because the Media deserves a huge, stinging rebuke for having been in the tank for the left for the past 30 years. They deserve it more now than they did four and eight years ago.  Every year, I’m more convinced that this nation’s well-being, even survival, depends on bringing the mainstream media down to size.
  92. Because I supported Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson until there was nothing more to support.  Mac had to earn my support. 
  93. And he did. 
  94. Because Mac is not from the coast.
  95. Because Sarah Palin oozes “flyover land”.  America’s “flyover land” is not only this country’s heart and soul; it’s this world’s best hope.
  96. Because liberalism’s track record for setting economies on the right path is 0 wins, hundreds of losses, and (with the New Deal) one weak tie.  And we need better than that.
  97. Mac hasn’t forgotten the hard lessons of war.
  98. Obama would have no reason to have known them…
  99. …and most of his supporters actively repudiate them.
  100. Because we’re at war. And Barack Obama is not only not a serious leader for a nation at war – he is indeed a criminally trivial choice. And with two kids that will both be of military age by 2012, I don’t want to learn how to co-exist with this war – I want it over.

See you at the polls.

100 Reasons I’m Voting Republican Tomorrow

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I did this two years ago (and on the air two weeks ago); people seemed to like it. Time for a reprise.

This bit isn’t aimed so much at the undecideds, or at those of you who are planning to vote DFL/Democrat. No, this is aimed at those of you who are Republicans who are thinking about staying home because of one imagined slight or another. I’ve talked with all of you over the past year. I’ve heard your complaints, in person, in this blog, and on the NARN show. Most of them are valid; Bush did spend too much; If John McCain and his urge to drag the party back to the seventies is gaining traction, then this party does have problems; I think Coleman and Kennedy were wrong to oppose ANWAR drilling and support ethanol subsidies; Harriet Miers was an incomprehensible choice for the SCOTUS; there should be no compromise on securing the border, if nothing else (the complaint that Michele Bachmann played excessively hardball in winning the CD6 GOP nomination is not valid, but that’s OK – I’ll work with you anyway).

But whatever you’re angry about, it doesn’t rise to the level of the consequences of your action (whether it’s staying home on election night, or voting for some inconsequential third party, or just hoping the GOP “learns a lesson” by getting ushered from power.

The consequences to Minnesota, the nation, the world, and yes, even the GOP are too great to risk this. Since 48% of this nation’s population doesn’t have the common sense to run Bemidji much less the world’s only remaining superpower and the world’s great rampart of democracy, it’s up to each of us to think bigger than Miers, Anwar, Ethanol or whatever.

The party, state, nation and world depend on you doing better than that

So I present 100 reasons to change your mind, starting locally, moving globally.

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