Today in Part 7 of the continuing Cooked Books Series we’re going to take a look at how the MN GOP categorized pay for a guy that they very well may have been paying to run for state senate – Lakeville’s Dave Thompson in SD-36.

Long story, short: for over 7 years, Thompson was a RWNJ Shock-Jock on AM radio in the Twin Cities. Looking for a better gig, he decided to run in 2009 against FEC Tony (pictured above) for state GOP Party Chair. Thompson lost; as best as I remember it, it really came down to this: Thompson wanted the $100k (+/-) that came with the job; ol’ FEC Tony would do the gig for free. Why would FEC Tony do the gig for free? That, gentle readers, is a story for a later day! At any rate, FEC Tony beats Thmpson for party Chair. Here’s where it gets interesting….

According to media reports, shortly after winning, FEC Tony & Dave Thompson agreed to a contract wherein Thompson would do consulting for GOP candidates. All told, the number being reported is Thompson has taken home a cool $70k.

Here’s the kicker: that $70k being reported, is being reported as coming from FEC reports. Because, the MN GOP hasn’t reported any dough being sent Thompson’s way on their State Campaign Finance Reports.

Which means for the MN GOP to NOT have any more FEC problems than they already have, ALL of the dough better have been spent for Thompson “consulting” for Federal Candidates only.

Stay tuned!

(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject.com; comments welcome there)

PETERBOROUGH, N.H.—John McCain hugged Mitt Romney today as he endorsed his campaign. Four years ago, he wanted to hug Romney long enough to stop his breathing. (Slate.com)

So, what was McCain saying about Romney, four years ago? Let’s look!!!

So, how does McCain justify that epic flipflop, from ripping Romney 4 years ago, to stepping up for him now? Back to Slate:

Bygones.

But if the enemy of my enemy is my friend, it does not mean he’s my boon companion.

“…if the enemy of my enemy is my friend…”

Hey, THERE’S a real “Christian” philosophy, yes?

I guess what that really means any flipflop is ok, as long as it’s in the interest of making sure Obama is a one term president. Grinding the country to a stop – like the GOPers do in the GOP controlled US House, and the filibustered tyranny of the minority in the US Senate, is ok — as long as it’s in the interest of making sure Obama is a one term president. Taking care of their Boardroom Base is ok — as long as it’s in the interest of making sure Obama is a one term president.

McCain didn’t have to come out for a guy he ripped four years ago – correctly – as a serial flipflopper; he could have just stayed on the sidelines and let the process play out before stepping in for his team’s endorsed candidate. But he didn’t; he jumped in now for a guy he ripped mercilessly — and, again, correctly.

The Big E used to track The Court-Certified “4th Most Most Corrupt Senator In Congress” – GOPer Norm Coleman – in a repository called “The Norm Coleman Weasel Meter”. Ol’ Smokescreen (Norm Coleman) has got nothin’ on Mittens, in the way of flipflops! Comparatively, Norm’s an amatuer. McCain ripped Romney for that flipflopping back then; now he’s got Mitten’s back.

Today’s GOP is morally bankrupt, intellectually dishonest, and institutionally corrupt.

And has been pointed out before, one person pointing that out was then-RNC Chair Michael Steele: “You have absolutely no reason – none – to trust our words or our actions at this point.”.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: You Couldn’t Trust The GOP Then, You Still Can’t Now, And Tomorrow Won’t Be Any Different

(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject; comments welcome there)

“I think what makes us different and what makes us in some ways when we have good leadership, much more ruthless and much tougher than any other country in the world, is we don’t send soldiers and sailors and Marines and airmen to war.

We send our children. We send our fathers. We send our brothers and sisters. We send our mothers, and therefore there’s a preciousness to this decision, unlike any other country I know of. I think our position has been historic.”

So Newt “Is My Wife Well Enough To Divorce Yet?” Ginchrich – a former college history professor – thinks it’s only Americans on the battlefield that have children, fathers, brothers, sisters & mothers??!?

It should be noted that Gingrich himself, was never on a battlefield, let alone in uniform.

But this one, this one, is so typical of today’s GOPer: they just don’t care what others think:

“…and we frankly couldn’t care less what the rest of the world thinks.”

Why does serial adulterer and Chicken Hawk Newt get away with spewing that cr@p, before an alledgedly “conservative Christian” group, at an event titled “Thanksgiving Family Forum” – and get applause?

Because, as I always say: “Those that forget the lessons of history tend to vote GOP.”

Of course, another explanation is what Ronald Reagan told the adoring masses at the 1988 Republican National Convention: “Facts are stupid things.” Reagan said it, today’s GOP lives it.

And this sordid story is just anther example of You Couldn’t Trust The GOP Then, You Still Can’t Now, And Tomorrow Won’t Be Any Different.

(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject; comments welcome there)

Well, yesterday – over at MinnPost – Eric Black took a look at Lewis’ rant, too – in a post entitled “Jason Lewis’ wrong and exaggerated arguments about freedom”. And it’s well worth the read — so go read it! Here’s a teaser:

Everything the right likes can be phrased as a form of “freedom,” as in freedom of the rich from paying higher taxes, freedom of corporations from government regulation, freedom to pollute, freedom of those with almost unlimited resources to use those resources to influence elections, freedom of the wealthiest 1 percent to accumulate any damn portion of the society’s wealth and income without shame, freedom to overthrow foreign governments (but only in order to bring freedom to the oppressed of those nations) and a few other important freedoms that you can think of on your own.
(more, here)

One area Eric Black pokes a big hole in Lewis’ rant is the wingnut right’s fixation on “the Founders” and their alleged anti-tax views. Again, Reagan said “Facts are stupid things” and wingnuts like Lewis prove it on a regular basis. That’s why I stuck that picture of ol’ Ben Franklin and that quote up there – ripping “money manipulators”. OK, that quote was probably misattributed to ol’ Ben. Be that as it may, Ben was a wise man indeed and – IMNSHO – would be standing with today’s Occupy Wall Street protestors; protesting today’s dishonest monetary system.

Eric blows a hole in Lewis’ misuse of Federalist #21. I like the following quote from the second paragraph of Federalist #2:

“Nothing is more certain than the indispensable necessity of government, and it is equally undeniable, that whenever and however it is instituted, the people must cede to it some of their natural rights in order to vest it with requisite powers.” — Publius (John Jay), October 31st, 1787

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Only a fool would believe what GOPers say – and what their apologists, like Jason Lewis and Katherine Kersten, write.

Noted GOPer apologist Jason Lewis is simply an example of: “You Couldn’t Trust The GOP Then, You Still Can’t Now, And Tomorrow Won’t Be Any Different.”

(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject.com; comments welcome there)

In today’s Star Tribune, noted GOPer apologist Jason Lewis demonstrates this continues to be true. I’d fact-check Jason, but what’s the point? It’s not like pointing out (one again) that Reagan said “facts are stupid things” and GOPers live it will really change their deceitful ways. No, today Jason whipped out something that needs to simply be mocked, ridiculed and scorned: Jason calling the pot black. Here’s what he wrote:

“The glorified mob, from Athens to New York, is threatening social instability if it doesn’t get what it wants (as Chris Christie once pointed out, this trait is also quite prevalent among 9-year-olds), but it will bring about only the economic chaos it pretends to oppose.” (emphasis added)

Earth to Jason; earth to Jason! Republicans gave Wall Street Banksters everything – EVERYTHING – they wanted, and the results is not only the economic chaos we are still in, but driving the world’s economic system to the brink of meltdown.

When reading Lewis, and Kersten too, it’s pretty easy to tell who are the whiny 9 year olds demanding everything they want – it’s the less-regulation/no regulation, “my way or the highway” GOP.

Gentle Readers may recall GOPers – like the whiny, (mentally) 9 year old Lewis – ranting about their belief in “free markets” and “competition” and what wonderful things that “competition” will do for the economy. Well, remember those words while we take a look at the results of their deeds:

Only a fool would believe what GOPers say – and what their apologists, like Jason Lewis and Katherine Kersten, write.

Jason Lewis is simply today’s example of: “You Couldn’t Trust The GOP Then, You Still Can’t Now, And Tomorrow Won’t Be Any Different.”

(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject.com; comments welcome there)

If you were following my tweets yesterday (follow me on Twitter here), I posted a bunch of quotes concerning Iraq from Boy Blunder And The Plunderers.

To me, the lesson of 9-11 is what I always say:

Republicans run on the platform “Government doesn’t work!” – once in power, they prove it.

And the amazing thing is, GOPers co-opted the Teabaggers – and TeaBaggers aren’t smart enough to figure that out.

I went to a Teabagger Candidate Training last February; it was produced for Teabagger Wanna-Bees by AmericanMajority.org. None are as blind as those that refuse to see. As I look back at that terrible terrorist attack ten years ago, I see a Republican Party that turned a tragic event into something worse.

Below is what I wrote on September 11th, 2008 – and reposted on 9-11 last year. I said it before, I said it again, and I still stand by it.

****

From The Archives: “T-130 – It’s Hard”
by: TwoPuttTommy Sat Sep 11, 2010 at 08:58:48 AM CDT

(I said it before, and I stand by it now. This one is a post I made on September 11th, 2008 – and the T-130 was the countdown to The End Of An Error; the misAdministration of George orWell Bush. And BTW – where the (cheney) IS “Osama Been Forgotten”??!?)

“One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.” — George orWell Bush, CBS News interview, September 6th, 2006

Looking back, I remember where I was 7 years ago, today, when I first saw the replay of the first plane hitting the tower.

And I watched the news about that attack, closely. For a long time. As in, “still.” But I didn’t hear about what Condoleeza Rice was scheduled to do, on this date 7 years ago, until April of 2004.

She was going to give a speech. Not about Osama Bin Laden; not about al Qaeda; not about Extremist Islamic Fundamentalism. No, Condoleeza Rice was going to talk about what this misAdministration felt was the most dangerous threat to America, long-range missiles, furthering the goals set out in 1997 by the neo-conservative goup, Project for the New American Century.

Fast forward to George orWell’s comment, on September 6th, 2006, above – “One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, this misAdministration has never been focused on the real threat to America; this misAdministration used the ol’ “bait ‘n switch” ruse to do what the Neo-Con Right Wing always wanted: topple Saddam and radically transform America’s military. From Project for the New American Century’s 76 page “Rebuilding America’s Defenses:

Further, the process of transformation,
even if it brings revolutionary change, is
likely to be a long one, absent some
catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a
new Pearl Harbor.(page 51)

So, just who are the people that formed PNAC; the PNAC that thought that a “new Pearl Harbor” might speed up the transformation of the American Military in a way they thought beneficial? Let’s look:

Elliott Abrams, Gary Bauer, William J. Bennett, Jeb Bush,

Donald Rumsfeld, Vin Weber, George Weigel, Paul Wolfowitz

So, today, as we mourn those that fell as the towers fell; those that fell in the heroic struggle on United Airlines Flight 93 in Pennsylvania; those that fell on American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon; those brave men and women that have fallen in Iraq, remember this:

“One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.” — George orWell Bush, September 6th, 2006

Of course it’s hard; Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11 but everything to do with furthering neo-conservative goals.

In 130 days it will be January 20th, 2009 – The End Of An Error

Faux News asked Scott “Baseball Bat” Walker:

Steve Doocy asked the governor if he thought the recall vote was a referendum on him and his policies.

Walker responded saying,

“Well, there is no doubt voters last November wanted us to focus on jobs, and fixing our budget, and we’ve done that.”

He went on to say,

“I think they [voters] affirmed that on Tuesday, and they said along the way, they want us to figure out ways to work together to do even more for jobs because it’s not happening Washington.”

Here’s just one example of Walker’s idea of “focusing on jobs”…

“Senator’s girlfriend had help getting job”
Daniel Bice, Milwaulkee Jorunal-Sentinel, 20 March 2011

Even though the state is supposedly broke, top officials in Gov. Scott Walker’s team were able to scrape together enough money to give a state job to the woman identified as Sen. Randy Hopper’s girlfriend.

Anything for a political ally.

Valerie Cass, a former Republican legislative staffer, was hired Feb. 7 as a communications specialist with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing. She is being paid $20.35 per hour. The job is considered a temporary post.

Cass previously had worked in the state Senate and for the GOP campaign consulting firm Persuasion Partners in Madison. She also was paid for campaign work for the state Republican Party and U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner before that.

(more, here)

The amazing thing, about that girl’s boytoy, GOPer State Senator, Randy Hopper?

GOPers voted for him in droves during last Tuesday’s recall election, and he dam near won.

Which just goes to show, once again: GOPers believe in the sanctity of marriage – by OTHERS.

Here are the previous Strongman Reports…

(Strongman Report – 14 April 2011)

(Strongman Report – 14 April 2011)

(Strongman Report – 30 March 2011)

(Strongman Report – 20 March 2011)

(Strongman Report – 08 March 2011)

(Strongman Report – 05 March 2011)

(Strongman Report – 01 March 2011)

( cross posted at MnProgressiveProject.com; comments welcome there)

And apparently, his theological pedigree trumps the local Catholic Archbishop’s:

Now, let’s take a look at an opinion on Hann’s opinion in the National Catholic Reporter:

A “socialist” Archbishop?
by Michael Sean Winters

In Minnesota, like many states, the Catholic Church has asked state governments not to balance their budgets on the backs of the poor. The scriptural source for this stance is, well the whole message of the Gospels speaks of compassion for the poor, but most specifically, the 25th Chapter of teh Gospel of St. Matthew: Whatever you do for these the least of your brethren, you do for me.”

But, David Hann, a Republican State Senator who is the assistant majority leader of the Minnesota State Senate has discerned a socialist agenda at work in the Church’s position. In a letter to Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul, Hann accused the archbishop of endorsing a “socialist fiction.”

I am guessing that Archbishop Nienstedt does not, in fact, have a well-thumbed copy of Das Kapital on his bookshelves.

Just when you think you’ve seen crazy, you discover something even crazier.

I don’t know how “crazy” calling a Catholic Archbishop a “socialist” is, but I do know that it’s typical for an elected Republican to call people that disagree with them socialists and communists and worse.

For instance, GOP CD-04 Deputy Chair Nathan Hansen called Army LTC Joe Repya a commie – and was rewarded by GOP Party Leadership.

No surprise there; GOP Party Chair Tony Sutton called 13 distinguished and long-time republicans “quislings” – and said there’s “a special place in hell” for them.

And just last Thursday, GOP State Senator Hackbarth compared unions with communists, Hitler and Castro.

There’s more – plenty of it – and here’s the point: there’s a pattern here, and GOP Senate Assistant Majority Leader Hann is playing along. “Disagree with us – party leaders – and you’re obviously liberal/leftist/socialist/pinko/commie/(fill in the blank).”

Hey, that’s what the local GOP leadership did last election, to Eden Prairie Nancy Lukens – label her as a “big spending liberal” when nothing could be farther from the truth.

Just to be clear, Senator Hann isn’t big on government spending on social issues; just this spring, he introduced legislation to state spending for Meals On Wheels. Senator Hann only withdrew that legislation because he HAD to; NOT because he wanted to.

So I’m going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that if – IF – Senator Hann apologizes to the Archbishop, that to will be because he HAS to; NOT because he wants to.

Because Senator Hann’s record clearly indicates his theology trumps everyone else’s. Even the Archbishop’s.

(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject; comments welcome there)

Here’s what Minnesota Public Radio reported on Wednesday, 5-25:

Throughout the five months of the legislative session, Dayton aimed most of his criticism at GOP legislative leaders. But in recent days, he’s been critical of the roughly 50 new members of the Legislature.

He blamed what he called “an extremist right-wing group” of Republican legislators for refusing to move off their position that the state should spend $34 billion over the next two years and not a penny more.

“First it’s $34 billion, then they prefer $32 billion, and then $31 billion,” Dayton said. “They don’t even know what those numbers mean. They never developed a budget for 32 or 31. All they know is the number 31 is less than 32. And that makes it a good idea because they’re just anti-government.”

Again, IMNSHO, Gov Dayton is correct; those GOPers don’t seem to have a clue about the history of that $31/$32/$34 Billion they keep talking about. And many of those thin-skinned – when the barbs are pointed THEIR direction – Freshman went ballistic about being called “extremist.” Some of ‘em held a presser and everything! At it, GOPer Sen Ted Lillie claimed “We’re not being extreme. We’re being mainstream.” “Mainstream”? Yeah, “right.” Others, such as Sean Nienow, took to twitter:

So, I responded:

So far, GOPer Rep. Nienow has declined to say what he considers himself.

So I figured we should have a poll!

Now for some background – from the May 13th Politics In Minnesota:

By last Monday, posters had begun popping up on Republican legislators’ office doors depicting an overflowing bag of cash with “$34 billion” stenciled on the front and the legend “Not a Penny More” inscribed above. Many of the members who have hung the signs are new to the Capitol, including freshman Assistant Majority Leader Kurt Daudt as well as Reps. Mary Franson and Doug Wardlow.

The Rochester PostBulletin’s Heather Carlson has a photo of that “Not A Penny More” sack, to the right, in a story about a visit to a Freshman GOPer Legislator. Carlson reports:

Recently stopped by Rochester Rep. Mike Benson’s office and couldn’t help but notice the big poster on his door declaring “Not a penny more.” So what’s the story behind the poster?

Benson said a group of 34 GOP House members have joined the Not a Penny More Caucus pledging that they will not approve any budget solution that would go beyond $34 billion. That’s the figure House and Senate Republicans’ budgets are based on, which relies on no new tax increases to balance the state’s projected $5 billion budget deficit.

Bottom line? There is no doubt that the 50 or so newbie, GOPer Freshmen Legislators have influence. There is no doubt those Freshmen Fifty are against a budget compromise – newbie GOPers didn’t get endorsed by the GOPer Faithful to go on the November 2010 ballot by running on a “work together and compromise” platform. There is no doubt they don’t like that “right wing extremist” label.

So what are they? Now is where you, Gentle Reader, step in – vote!

Final results in a couple of days…..

***

Cross posted at MnProgressiveProject.com; votes and/or comments welcome there.

Well, it could also be: …those that forget the lessons of history tend to vote GOP.

Actually, it’s “both” and it has to do with Pawlenty in 2009 doing something with the budget process that the State Supreme Court, in 2010, said he couldn’t, and recent claims by the Minnesota GOPers that – surprisingly – bring Pawlenty’s unallotment actions up at, coincidentally, the same time Pawlenty officially announces his presidential run.

Here’s the deal – in January of 2010, I wrote a post titled “The Minnesota Budget Crisis, By The Numbers”. The post was about how Minnesota got into Governor TBag’s Unallotment mess. Suffice it to say, GOPers were makin’ (stuff) up about THAT deal, too.

In a nutshell, here’s what happened during the 2009 Legislative Session: the February 2009 Forecast predicted revenues of $31.1 Billion (rounded). Knowing that number, Gov. TBag proceeded to sign Spending Bills of $33.8 Billion (rounded) anyway.

This created a deficit of $2.7 Billion (rounded) from Governor-approved spending — remember, when TBag signed those spending bills, they were now law). A bill to balance that deficit, HF-2323, was passed and presented to Gov. TBag to sign. Except, TBag didn’t sign that revenue bill to balance the budget; he vetoed it.

Upon creating an unbalanced budget, rather than call a Special Session, TBag immediately claimed unilateral power to fix the problem he created, and then hit the campaign trail. As to TBag’s actions creating an anticipated budget problem, then using powers to deal with unanticipated budget problems? The Court was not amused.

The only reason GOPers today can use that “$32 Billion” number, is because in 2009 Pawlenty did something the Supreme Court ruled he couldn’t.

The reality is that the “$34 Billion” compromise number the Kochzellerstan crowd is crowing about today, is really the same “$33.8 Billion” number that Pawlenty signed into law, before he went all Nixonian by utilizing excessive - and illegal – Unitary Executive Power (Nixon would be so proud!)

The bottom line is that in 2009, GOPer Governor Tim Pawlenty took state budgeting into unchartered waters; waters the Supreme Court eventually found illegal. In 2011, GOPer Majorities in both the State House and State Senate are again taking the state into unchartered waters – by refusing to negotiate and submit budget bills Governor Dayton would be willing to sign.

The fact that they are making (stuff) up by claiming to have “compromised” to a number Pawlenty already was at 2 years ago only goes to show, once again, that numbers don’t lie, but GOPers use numbers.

And, of course, anybody that falls for the BS GOPer line that they compromised to $34B also goes to show, once again, that those that forget the lessons of history tend to vote GOP.

***

That picture, above? I found it via a tweet by GOPer Freshman State Rep Kurt Daudt:

(crossposted at MnProgressiveProject; comments welcome there)