Today was the DFL Senate District 59 convention at Edison High School. Julia and I were elected as delegates at our precinct caucus a few weeks ago, so we got up early on a Saturday morning to attend. We were out of there by 2:30, which isn’t bad for a district convention. Sadly, we were… Continue reading SD59 convention report
Category: Politics
No room for empathy
The statements from many Republicans these days about health care are unnerving. Governor Pawlenty says that maybe hospitals should be able to turn away indigent people who need treatment. Earlier, he vetoes a reasonable GAMC extension, and Republicans in the House vow to uphold his veto despite overwhelmingly voting for the extension in the first… Continue reading No room for empathy
Precinct Caucus report
Tonight, the first Tuesday in February, was precinct caucus night in Minnesota. For those unfamiliar with this tradition, caucuses are when neighbors of like political persuasion get together, elect party leaders at the local level, debate resolutions, and send delegates forth to the next level of government where they do all of this again. After… Continue reading Precinct Caucus report
Delivering for voters
If Democrats aren’t providing voters with a great message, are they providing voters with something of substance? Good question. It usually helps your reelection chances if you can provide voters with accomplishments that make them want to vote for you again. What’s the Democratic majority’s track record when it comes to niceties that Congress has… Continue reading Delivering for voters
How not to message
Democrats have long had a messaging problem, especially at the national level. Sadly, in the past few days it’s become clear that Congressional Democrats have a brain function problem as well, one that is a lot more worrisome than mere issues with messaging, but in the off chance that they stop being afraid of their… Continue reading How not to message
Political Poker
I don’t think President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, or other Democratic leaders in Congress are poker players. I think they’d be much better politicians if they were. If they were regular poker players, they’d understand that Obama and Democrats are now “pot-committed”, and folding their hand is the worst mistake they can make. Sadly,… Continue reading Political Poker
Joementum
Tracking what is in and out of the health care bill at this point is a pretty hard task, with closed-door negotiations and compromises everywhere. But one thing is clearly evident: Joe Lieberman is a terrible, terrible human being.
The recovery
The economic recovery is going to be painfully, painfully slow. That’s all there is to it. You don’t need fancy equations, or smart economists, or even a crystal ball to know this. All you need is this one graph, courtesy of NPR:
The green economy – it’s not about climate change
People are becoming more skeptical about climate change. Much of the change has to do with the failing economy, although the recent embarrassing emails from several scientists hasn’t helped win the public over. Coupled with this increased skepticism (which is wholly disconnected from the reality of climate change) is a decrease in focus on the… Continue reading The green economy – it’s not about climate change
Net Neutrality
Of all the political debates out there, the one that confuses me the most is the notion that some people would be against net neutrality who did not work for ISPs like AT&T and Verizon. There are liberal/conservative splits on many issues that have merit, but when it comes to net neutrality, I can’t see… Continue reading Net Neutrality