Democrat Fowler - a low class act

It has always been pathetic the way the Hurrican Katrina situation was handled, before, during and after the tragedy. It was sad before that years of Democratic corruption siphoned millions of maintenance dollars from the levies. It was sad that a large numbers of citizens were living in near poverty in utter reliance on the government with noone caring whether or not they ever established a self-sustaining life. It was sad that when the storms came, the local, state and federal government all failed these people. It was also sad that the media only had one script-George Bush.

And following in their pathetic footsteps is this gem from a real classy Democrat Don Fowler.



The only saving grace is that outside of bitter and mean spirited Democrat party circles, regular people don't care for this kind of politics.

NJ Government Gone Wild - "The Soprano State"

I couldn't help but borrow the Trentonian's front page headline today as it is too good to pass up. The headline refers to a story about a book written by Bob Ingle and Sandy McClure entitled

The Soprano State-New Jersey's Culture of Corruption

If the book is half as good as the article about it, I can't wait to read the details. One of the references from the book discusses why it has become such a problem to get spending under control.

“In New Jersey, government is not about taking care of what people can’t do for themselves. It’s about jobs,’’ reads the introduction. That’s government jobs, of course, and not just in the huge state bureaucracy.

It’s jobs in Jersey’s 566 towns, 616 school districts, 21 counties, 486 sewage and other authorities, 187 fire districts and 92 special agencies with the power to tax.

Of course, this is just the beginning.

The book says there are 444,000 local government workers, 154,500 on the state payroll and 19,119 elected officials, not counting the governor, and 120 state lawmakers. It works out to 81 government workers per square mile, compared with the national average of 6.

So when the Governor says that it would be horrible to cut state employees and just the other day was so proud that the state employee roll was cut by 1,500 since he came to office.....that's just one percent of the state headcount, we should be a bit skeptical.

Get out and read the book. I intend to and will post on what I find personally.

Corzine Toll Plan Affecting Senate Races

Gotta love this...

"Maybe if we had a more effective U.S. senator, the governor wouldn't have to borrow $40 billion," Pennachio said.

I didn't live in New Jersey under Christie Whitman's administration, but apparently she beat up Democrat Bill Bradley during the Senate race in 1990 because he didn't repudiate Gov. Florio's tax hikes -- and came within 2 points of him.

This is particularly choice:

Lautenberg spokesman Brendan Gill said the Republican candidates "will say anything to avoid talking about how we are going to bring our troops home, stimulate our economy, improve health care and boost education. Sen. Lautenberg is working for New Jersey to tackle those problems now."

In other words, Senator Lautenberg is working for New Jersey by trying to federalize everything -- making New Jersey's statehood less relevant -- and would really rather avoid talking about what's happening in his own back yard. Fortunately, he has said that "now is not the time to be raising tolls." Even Corzine's friends aren't his friends on this topic.

Can Obama pitch an upset in NJ?

The last two days, the Obama folks were out in force at the train stations. Not sure what that means but one would normally expect the "machine" candidate to get their people out whipping up their voters. They were still working at 6:45 tonight in Trenton reminding people there was only one hour to go. The Obama people were out and they were ALONE!

Sounds Lovely, But Exactly What Are You Talking About?

I'm still on John Kerry's mailing list, and today the Obama campaign used it to send the following email. When you read it, consider that this man is a Senator running for President, and that this is his outreach to the Democratic base.

Hello Jake,

When Michelle and I talked about my running for president, one of the goals we both shared for this campaign was to leave the political process better off than we found it.

We wanted to create a campaign that would energize and empower activists, and hopefully create new ones who would stay involved for years to come. We believed that at this moment in our history, we had an opportunity to move beyond cynicism and remind our fellow citizens of the potential of politics to transform our country.

This campaign has come from a long way back to be competitive in the Democratic primary. Many said we couldn't do it, but we are here because people are ready for change and ready to work together to bring it about.

Today, you can help.

If you live in one of the 22 states that are holding primaries and caucuses today, make sure you vote. But also make sure to bring someone with you.

You can find your polling location on our website:

http://action.barackobama.com/feb5statepages

No matter where you live, you can also get involved right now -- by volunteering to help get out the vote or by making calls from your own home using our online calling tool:

http://action.barackobama.com/call

We have an opportunity to give our country a new direction. We can replace the politics of division and destruction with a new politics of engagement and hope.

Thank you for your support, and thank you to the JohnKerry.com community for all you’ve done for the Democratic Party.

Thank you,
Barack Obama

I'll say this for him: he gives the impression of being positive, poised, and professional. I can't help but respect him as an orator. But what is he actually saying? I find no substance in his words.

He claims he won't be divisive or cynical, but his beliefs are far to the left of mine. If he wants to "make progress" or "give our country a new direction" then he will have to do it by fighting me and people who think like I do.

He talks about "engagement and hope"; since this email reaches his base, it must be things that he thinks they agree on: universal health care, citizenship for illegal aliens, and a pullout from Iraq. But I don't hope for those things. I don't want him to engage in those things.

If he wants to talk to me about them then I'm happy to discuss non-governmental and non-federal solutions to health care and the immigration problem, but what little he has said indicate that his solutions and mine won't coincide.

And I find that cynical. He claims not to be divisive so that he can get elected by a populace that is sick of division, but he's far enough to the left that he will surely divide the reds and blues as much as GWB did. He is not, as my friend Dennis says, offering something new. It's still "pap", in Dennis's words, just not John Edwards-style pap.

As a side note, Dennis and I were talking today, and he reiterated something he's noted before: if the left hadn't become so overrun with hatred for GWB, they could have compromised with him much more and advanced their agendas better. His positions on education, health care, immigration, and other things clearly put him to the left of this year's Republican candidates -- why couldn't they work with him? GWB should have been more divisive for Republicans (think No Child Left Behind, Harriet Myers, etc.) than he was for Democrats. At least when someone's in the other party you expect them to be against your programs. :)

A Historical Perspective on "Super Duper Tuesday"

One of my favorite podcasts ever -- or broadcasts, for that matter -- is called "My History Can Beat Up Your Politics". Over at myhistorycanbeatupyourpolitics.com, Bruce Carlson gives a historical perspective on everything from the role of Vice President Cheney to the importance of the Iowa Caucus to the rumblings of war against Iran. He's balanced -- I don't know whether he's a Democrat or Republican (or other) just from listening to him -- and his insights are really...well, insightful.

His podcast on Super-Duper Tuesday is a keeper. One point he makes that few others have discussed is this: the Super Tuesday primaries only matter if they decide the Democratic nominees. The states who moved their primary earlier in the year did so to increase their relative importance, but if there's no clear winner today, then they will in fact be less important than the states with later primaries. As Bruce says, changing the primaries often has unintended consequences.

That's just one little bit -- the whole podcast is well worth listening to.

NJ Polling Places

If you live in New Jersey and need to find your polling place, the NJ Division of Elections has a page to help you find it. It also has information on accessibility and other issues.

Who Should You Vote For?

votechooser.com has a simple, 10-question quiz that may help you to decide for whom you should cast your vote today. In order, I got Romney, Huckabee, McCain, Paul, Clinton, and Obama.

It's worth noting that some of the key issues can be boiled down to the role of the federal government in taking and spending our money.

Primary Elections - Both sides

It looks like both sides are going to go reasonably long. As I have stated before, I am less for a candidate on either side and more for a protracted and substantive debate. Both the Democrats and the Republicans have started to have to address the difficult issues and leave their sound byte cocoons. Some things to hope for:

Democrats

With the word out that Edwards is gone, it is a two person race. So far, the debate between Hillary and Obama has been loaded with sniping and indirect shots back and forth about race and gender. Given the longstanding development of political correctness and race and gender baiting directed at those outside the Democratic party, it has been fun to see those issues talked about openly. It is long overdue but the fun is over. Now it's time to speak about real issues and real governance and real leadership. Hillary needs to answer hard questions without cackling and Obama needs to prove that his message of hope isn't a fairytale.

Republicans

With Rudy now out of the Republican mix (maybe he was never in it) and throwing his support behind McCain, it is time for Mike Huckabee to exit gracefully. So far, McCain has had the benefit of competing for the Republican nomination by carrying only RINO's and Independents. The rest of the Republican voters have been split between everyone else. For John McCain's good, he needs to win clean among Republicans. Huckabee doesn't have a real chance any longer as 80% of the country will never vote for him. Let's see a real debate between McCain and Romney and let the best man win. McCain can't win the general without real Republicans supporting him. And if it is perceived he only won because Huckabee stayed and split the vote, he will never get that support. And Romney needs to prove he can stand in the ring and go toe to toe without sounding lame.

Here's hoping that both parties go the distance. The voter will be the real winner.

McCain - Vote Early Vote Often

Please tell me the clip I just saw did not have John McCain quoting Chicago's senior Daley saying to vote early and vote often...please tell me that didn't happen...

Taxes and the Republican Debate

The interesting thing in tonight's debate is the mention and well considered responses related to taxes. Whether or not you like a Huckabee (and his "Fair Tax" that doesn't add up even with new math), Rudy (and his mother of all tax cuts planned) or nuanced responses by McCain or Thompson, or even Ron Paul's ideas, you have to like the fact that they are discussing taxes and spending at all.

When I watch both sides, I am shocked over the fact that there is never a question in a Democratic primary debate over spending or taxes. Well, that's not fair. Every question related to how much spending you intend to increase for health care, education, childcare and illegal immigration health and welfare coverage is discussed. In time, these questions will come.

That is why this Presidential process needs to go all the way. My main goal is to see both parties go down to the last primary. I am sick of the conventional media declaring a winner after a few caucuses and small state primaries. Let's go the distance.

Republican Primary Roundup

It is often said that one can get a good view of a person in both victory and defeat. I watched two concession speeches and one victory speech tonight. In victory, McCain has one good moment when he referred to his life serving this country. In defeat, Romney showed class and dignity and fight. I don't want to comment on what Huckabee reminded me of but it didn't include either dignity or service.

Top points to McCain and honorable mention to Romney. More to come from a tax perspective on this crew later.

Iowa and Reality

While listening to the rhetoric on Iowa I was reminded of many local NJ races last year. I would like for the record to remind everyone of a few real facts:

1. Facts about your record are not mudslinging
2. Your voting record is your record-be proud of it or something is wrong
3. We all make mistakes. If you made one, let us know.

Simple rules.