The Stall

Republicans tend to forget the power of the media as they push through an election year. Nearly all of them have a lot of life work to do with work, family, church, friends, etc, and one of the big reasons that they are Republicans is that they believe in less Government anyway, so if not a lot gets done they are often less than concerned.

Democrats and the media of course have a different view. The election in 2004 was a horrible disaster for them, so they needed to do all they could to make sure that what the voters voted for never came to pass, thus “The Stall”. As I watch them hold up yet another vote on an Ambassador to some irrelevant organization in based in NYC because he might have been “intimidating”, or he “hung up on a couple of people”, while the media reports along as if such things were “normal” the level of bias in reporting is breathtaking. It would be great to go back to ’93-’94 and do some Lexus-Nexus searches on “obstruction”. It is a word that has fallen off the map.

Here in MN we have a Democrat Senate that locked things up enough last year so no bonding bill or other legislative action happened at all. Faced with a Republican Governor and House, they just did nothing. For the wackos (like me) that listen to MPR, we got to hear Dean Johnson, Speaker in the Senate, declare “We aren’t running for anything this year”. As one might expect, the media was silent on the idea of “obstruction” as they were on some financial shenanigans that allowed the Dems to spend a hunk of money on local races. Joy of joys, they were rewarded with a bump of 13 seats in the House, only 1 from a majority.

Having tasted the success of obstruction, they waited until the end of the regular session this year to propose a 3% tax on the highest earners in the state which would make MN the undisputed champ of the highest income taxes for those people. Apparently, they are not aware that this is a free country and high income people can actually MOVE, but I digress. The Governor ran on a “no new taxes pledge”, which is of course something that the Democrats and the media see no reason should be kept. The idea that politicians would follow through on campaign promises would pretty much be the end of any Democrats being elected, so must be stopped. A special session resulted.

The Governor actually went out on a limb and broke his promise with a .75 new tax proposal on cigarettes. Unfortunately he didn’t just call it a “tax” but rather obfuscated about it being a “fee”, proof that even Republicans are politicians. The Dems however have spurned his offer and are heading full speed to a state shutdown. Interestingly, even the local liberal rag paper is getting a bit of cold feet wondering if playing politics might have a limit, and enough people would see what is being done as a blatant attempt to angle for gains in the next election. NPR and the Star Trib might need to come down here and pound them back into the party line.

If the past is a guide, the Democrat strategies at both the Federal and State levels will be successful, but fortunately the past isn’t ALWAYS a guide. We have the Internet, Fox, and Talk Radio as outlets today. Beyond this, things looked pretty grim for Bush in ’03 with a ton of media beating him up, and for the “general public”, (the public not getting a decent percentage of news from alternate sources), there wasn’t much to listen to but the media echo chamber.

Next year though, there will be an election. Parties will start to spend money to put Ads on TV, start walking door to door, and the “silent majority” of Republicans that are busy at work, home, school, and church will turn at least a bit more of their attention to the political. The Democrats have made it obvious that “little majorities” aren’t going to be enough given the Senate rules, so there needs to be a run at 60 Senators on the Federal level. At the state level, MN should have a “defense of marriage” amendment on the ballot by then, something which 70% of the state will want to get out and vote for, and of that 70% a large majority will lean Republican.

Most Republicans aren’t very much oriented to “anger” at politics, but the Democrats and media are certainly doing their best to “energize the base”. Will it be enough to allow a shot at a 60 vote Senate? It is a high bar, but it is clear that the Democrats have no interest in allowing majority rule.