Category: DFL Gov 2010

by Dave Mindeman

It is always interesting how political people that have strayed from the family value path tell us that their only concern is to protect their family, and then they go on television and drag them right back into it.

Which brings me to Michael Brodkorb.

The only realistic reason for Brodkorb to use a major interview to explain his "sins" is for one purely selfish reason....to begin the rehabilitation process for being a major political player once more.

It is not about his family. It is not about remorse. It is about what it always is...Michael Brodkorb.

If his family was his major concern, then he would go quietly into that good night and disappear.,,,keeping his family out of the public eye and beyond more politics in the future.

If it was about remorse, then why shed a few tears while you attack you're new found political enemies. And try to excuse yourself from a full mea culpa.

Brodkorb insinuated that the plan of the "rogue" Senators was to force out Amy Koch....although I think the evidence might lead more to Koch being collateral damage in an effort to get rid of Brodkorb himself.

Brodkorb has always believed in power politics....keep your allies in your camp with fear and a no holds barred approach to dealing with your enemies. Power politics makes for powerful enemies and Brodkorb reaped what he sowed.

It was hard to take the tears seriously...very hard. I don't doubt that his family has suffered terribly, but Brodkorb's insistence on staying in the arena is a guarantee for that to continue.

Brodkorb is a talented political operative. He lives for the power and being a player. He sought out this interview because he wants back in. He won't mind seeing a lot of Republican Senators on the way out.....because that would mean Brodkorb would be on the way back in.

Category: DFL Gov 2010

by Dave Mindeman

Sen. Ted Daley of Eagan seemed to be trying to sell something at a recent debate....

?We?re moving the right direction, no doubt, our funding for schools is getting better, not worse,? said Senator Ted Daley.

The right direction? No doubt? Better, not worse?

If Sen. Daley is sure about that then I guess the millions of dollars that our school districts borrowed and paid interest on to make up for the delayed payments on school IOUs, is something we should learn to accept on a regular basis.

If Sen. Daley thinks that borrowing on the tobacco bonds (which are future revenues) is a proper method of balancing the budget, then one has to ask how we are going to fix the budget when those funds are drained.

It is clear that Daley is a talking point candidate, not an idea candidate. To assume that the budgetary direction we are currently on is the right direction shows a serious lack of imagination or innovation....or just math.

Former State Senator Jim Carlson is a proven commodity. He has bucked his party when he felt it was needed. Jim supports his district first not his party's talking points.

Carlson is ready to move in a new direction....a direction that fixes the structural budget deficit. Not a direction that uses phantom IOU's and future dollars to balance the needs of today.

Jim Carlson is the choice -- Do the Math!

Category: DFL Gov 2010

by Dave Mindeman

I don't understand why the Democrats have such a difficult time answering the question, "Are you better off then you were four years ago?" It's easy, the answer is yes.

On Sunday, 60 minutes did a feature on the CEO of Fiat/Chrysler and that story indicated that if Chrysler had gone under, the auto industry and its supply chain would have lost 300,000 jobs.

300,000!

How can you look at the auto industry today and say they are not better off now than four years ago?

And then there is banking. Have we forgotten so quickly how 4 years ago, the Bush Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O'Neill was on his knees begging Nancy Pelosi to pass the banking bail out bill and "save the world".

Banking is back to making profits as usual and the US banks are stable. They still endanger the system because they managed to water down Dodd-Frank, but they are better off now than 4 years ago.

What about Housing? Sales are up. Construction is up. There are still pockets of deep recession like Nevada, but overall home prices are increasing and Minneapolis-St. Paul is near the top for increases. Mortgages still has issues because the banks refuse to help, but still, we are better off than 4 years ago.

Jobs are slow in coming back...but during the Bush years we lost jobs every month. Now, we have 29 consecutive months of job growth. Not robust, but its there. It would be much better if the GOP would have allowed Obama's attempts to move block grants to states to save teaching jobs, policemen and firemen, but the GOP House has stopped it every time.

Under each GOP President involved in a recession, they increased public sector jobs to move out of the recession. Obama is the only President (the ONLY one) who has lost public sector jobs during a recession. Without GOP obstruction, Obama could have increased those jobs (like all of his GOP predecessors) and, as a recent study indicates, unemployment would be at 7.3 instead of 8.3.

But jobs are still growing and that makes us far better off than we were 4 years ago.

The United States is currently an economic oasis in a world wide slowdown. Europe copes with a recession and China looks for stimulus. We ARE recovering.

As Republicans continue their doom and gloom descriptions while describing themselves as the party of Ronald Reagan optimism, the Democrats need to simply tell the truth.

Certainly, we are not where we want to be, but the question of "Are we better off" is not a trick question. The answer is a resounding Yes and can be declared without hesitancy.

Obama chose "Forward" as the campaign slogan. It is a good choice because the GOP wants us to only look backward. And not only to look back, but to go back and take up those same policies that brought us to the brink of collapse four years ago.

We are most certainly better off now than 4 years ago and if the President is re-elected, that question will not even be asked 4 years down the road, because America will have moved forward in every sense of the word.