Since this portion promises to be quick-hitting, I’ll fire up the CoverItLive….
No Runny Eggs
The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.
Archive for the 'Politics' Category
May 17, 2008
Off to lunch
Because I burned much of the last hour catching up on the speakers to the convention-goers, I have but a half-hour before things start back up. Good thing there’s an Arby’s on the same property.
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Jim Sensenbrenner speaks to the floor
Of note, Rep. Sensenbrenner hit Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch rather hard on the budget repair bill.
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Paul Ryan speaks to the floor
This is actually the second speech from the convention chair; I missed the first. Greg Bump didn’t.
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J.B. Van Hollen speaks to the floor
Time to burn the lunch hour catching up; once we got toward the end, I could not offload the audio fast enough…
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New name for Doyle
Because of all the potholes in Wisconsin and his continued raids on the transportation fund meant to fix those potholes, National Committeewoman Mary Buestrin is now calling the governor Pothole Doyle.
I like it.
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Reince Priebus speaks to the floor
Revisions/extensions (8:52 pm 5/20/2008) – I apologize to those expecting video here. I did not know how long speeches would last, or whether I’d be able to offload the speeches from my camera in time in between speeches, so I simply took a couple pictures while my digital voice recorder caught the audio.
Gard speaks to the county chairs
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Back in town
I’m a bit late because I had to head back to the bunker overnight, but I’m back in town. Owen had me covered though. Troy Fullerton is also in the room.
I missed out on the row with the power strip, so I’ll have to be brief with my updates. A brief word on the suites last night, Scott Walker’s Milwaukee-themed suite was the best-decorated, while Paul Ryan’s/John Gard’s suite won for best food (stuffed mushrooms and tasty meatballs).
The promised Gard speech will be up shortly.
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May 16, 2008
Wrapping up day 1
I’ll have the John Gard speech audio up tomorrow; it takes too long to pull the audio off the recorder, and the hospitality suites (followed by a long drive home; I have a couple things to take care of back at the bunker) are calling.
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Reince Priebus speaks to the county chairs
RPW chair Reince Priebus speaks to the county chairs 5/16/2008
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Pics are up at my Flickr account
Click the pic of the van to head to the collection. I’ll be updating it between today and tomorrow, so do keep on checking back.
Bloggers in the house (sort of)
The only bloggers actually blogging (besides me) are the WisPolitics team of Andy Szal, Greg Bump and JR Ross. Still, the blogosphere is pretty well represented in the delegates:
– Jo Egelhoff of Fox Politics, who’s running for the 57th Assembly seat.
– Kathy Carpenter of Stepping Right Up.
– Brandon Henak of GOP3.
I’m terrible with names and faces, and I doubt I’ve seen everybody.
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Reps. Vos and Kramer on the budget repair bill
I know Gov. Doyle signed it already with some veto messages, but I figured I may as well grab both sides of the Republican divide on the budget repair bill. Rep. Robin Vos voted for it, while Rep. Bill Kramer voted against.
Any pros care to give me pointers? :-)
Various early errata
– WisPolitics is here, and they saw fit to link to me. Robin Vos thought he saw Owen pull up while we had lunch.
– The tables for all the side groups are starting to fill up. Of course, Americans for Prosperity is here. The College Republicans are right next to them. There’s a table selling “Thank President Bush” items.
– The first interviews were with Reps. Robin Vos and Bill Kramer on the budget repair bill. Audio should be up once I finish uploading and converting it to mp3.
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Is Barack Obama More Afraid of U.S. Than Its Enemies?
Just read the article here.
The only thing I would add is, “the castrated White House cat has more balls than you.”
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Hello from Stevens Point and the RPW convention
The good and bad so far…
Good – Despite a significant deputy/trooper presence, I made it in just over 2 hours.
Bad – I didn’t get in until after 1.
Good – The media credentials were ready, and the wireless is working.
Bad – The media room isn’t ready yet.
Good – We’ll have official availability of both Tim Pawlenty and Mike Duncan.
Since I’m drawing off the battery right now, that’s about it. Time to wander the halls and see who’s around.
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May 14, 2008
Republican conventions – BUMPED
Revisions/extensions/bump from the original post date/time of 5/12/2008 at 8:51 pm (10:37 pm 5/14/2008) – I’m still looking for a few more good questions for the RPW convention.
A couple of housekeeping items:
– Since I will have my credentials waiting for me in Stevens Point, I’m now taking suggestions of what to ask various political types at the RPW convention.
– That poll on the left side asking whether I should try for the national convention will be closing closed at 6:30 pm Tuesday night. The window to apply for the national convention credentials will close on Thursday. I decided to put in.
May 13, 2008
One less difference between the two halves of the P-I-G
That would be the bipartisan Party-In-Government for those new to this place. I just got an e-mail from Team McCain touting the green section of the John McCain store.
If I didn’t have a Drinking Right to go to, I’d explore why the cap-and-trade scheme is just as odious as the ‘Rat command-and-conquer scheme. That’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
Definition of insanity – Germantown edition
Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity – “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Germantown school board – Let’s try that $16.5 Taj Mahal elementary school referendum that failed by 10 points again with absolutely, positively no changes again in November
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$69 million in spending cuts? Bravo Sierra
So, the bipartisan Party-In-Government is about to “fix” a $652.3 million deficit in the current budget with, at least in part, what is claimed to be $69 million in reduced spending. Let’s take a look at what the state spent out of the general fund last fiscal year (numbers courtesy the Department of Administration) and what they’re going to spend out of it this fiscal year and next fiscal year, both with the present budget and with the semi-negotiated “fix” (numbers courtesy the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, with a $125 million upward adjustment to the “fix” for school payments pushed into the next budget, a net $121 million upward adjustment related to the tobacco re-refinancing, and a $69 million downward adjustment for the unspecified cuts the LFB considers “revenue”):
General spending in FY2007 doubled – $26.662 billion
General spending in FY2008-FY2009 current budget (as of now) – $27.952 billion
Net increase of spending in the current budget over FY2007 doubled – $1.290 billion (or if you prefer an averaged annual increase, $645 million per year)
General spending in FY2008-FY2009 “fix” (includes a net $177 million in upward adjustments outlined above) – $27.969 billion
Net increase of spending in the “fix” over FY2007 doubled – $1.307 billion (or if you prefer the averaged annual increase, $653.5 million per year)
Net increase in spending in the “fix” over the current budget – $17 million
That’s right, sports fans. The bipartisan Party-In-Government is planning on using a self-created budget crisis to increase spending even more. It’s time to send this barrel of pork back to the drawing board.
Yet another new player in the VP sweeps – Condoleezza Rice
(H/T – Allahpundit/Hot Air Headlines)
At least that’s what the Palestinians think according to WorldNetDaily. Let’s take a quick, way-too-late-at-night (or is it morning already?) look at the tale of the tape:
Positives:
- She covers both ends of a potential diversity pander.
- Does have some Reagan credentials.
Negatives:
- Utterly unimpressive as Secretary of State.
- Very tied to the Bush administration, as she was the National Security Advisor during his first term.
- What little I remember of her non-foreign-policy stands isn’t exactly comforting for conservatives.
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May 10, 2008
Why it’s all or nothing for Clinton
I previously noted that in the modern era of Presidential politics, the Republicans have always gone for the person deemed to be “next in line”. One of the criteria used to determine the person who is next in line is the person who finished 2nd in the previous contested primary season.
There is no similar “next in line” in the Democratic Party. Indeed, 5 of the last 6 Democratic candidates, prior to their first nomination, had never sought the office of President, with the sixth (Al Gore) attempting to get a promotion from Vice President. Yes, Walter Mondale also had served as Vice President, but 1984 was his first and last attempt to become President.
The last person who won the nomination after failing to secure it in a previous attempt and without taking up residence at the Naval Observatory was George McGovern. He finished 3rd in 1968, and used the reforms he came up with to take away the nomination process from the party bosses to become the nominee in 1972. Before that, one has to go back to 1924 and John W. Davis and his nomination on the 103rd ballot after failing to get the nod in 1920. Needless to say, neither recycled candidate won the White House.
Revisions/extensions (1:58 pm 5/10/2008) – The news just gets worse for Clinton if she fails this time around. The Democrats have gone for a previous failure (either in the nomination process or in the general election) five times in the previous century (William Jennings Bryan for a third nomination in 1908, Davis in 1924, Adlai Stevenson for a second nomination in 1956, McGovern in 1972 and Gore in 2000), and lost all five times. Past performance is an indicator of future performance.
R&E part 2 (2:10 pm 5/10/2008) – I forgot to mention Lyndon Baines Johnson and his last-second attempt to get the nomination in 1960. In any case, he did serve as VP and President prior to 1964.
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