Monday, February 15, 2010

Where's Ben?


The Republican members of our congressional delegation have announced various public meetings and town halls they intend to hold in the coming days.


Senator Ben Nelson--where's your schedule?

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Random Musings on a Sunday Night


Waning Credibility


If Nebraska Democrats wonder why the political media is taking a pass at their press releases, they have only themselves to blame. In recent weeks Democrat Tom White and the Nebraska Democrat Party has misled reporters. First, Tom White arrogantly announced that his congressional campaign had raised $175,000 in the final quarter of 2009, but intentionally failed to reveal to reporters that $50,000 of that was money he personally loaned to his campaign. Then the Nebraska Democrat Party issued a press release attacking Republican State Senator Scott Lautenbaugh for comments he allegedly made regarding legislation to thin Nebraska's burgeoning deer population; the only problem is the quotes they attributed to Sen. Lautenbaugh are actually from the Lincoln Journal-Star columnist Joe Duggan, not Sen. Lautenbaugh. Requests for a retraction have gone ignored.
Nebraska Democrats: Don't let the truth get in the way of your liberal agenda.


Another sign of our rotting culture


After church, a nice family brunch, an afternoon at Barnes & Noble and a round of family basketball at the YMCA, we decided to cozy up in our living room with a fire ablazing to watch the Olympics. A perfect family activity, right? Except WOWT decided to run repeated promos for its upcoming story on a "cheaters" website for adultery. Clearly the station understood that many children would be watching tonight's Olympic events. Was it so important to run promos for this so-called "news story" tonight? Really?


February 16 is Upon Us--Where are the Democrats?


Tuesday, February 16 is the deadline for incumbent officeholders to file for public office. Still no sign of any credible Democrat to take on Governor Dave Heineman. If Tuesday comes and goes with no filing by the Democrats, it's clear they agree with us that Governor Heineman has done an excellent job and deserves reelection. We would welcome such a show of bipartisanship.



Thursday, February 4, 2010

2010: Not Tom White's Year


State Senator Tom White is a grown man. He's made a really nice living as a plaintiff's attorney, socked away a lot of cash in domestic and international investments, raised a nice family, and was elected to the Nebraska Legislature in a heavily-Democrat district. But one has to question his judgment or, perhaps, arrogance, when he decided to listen to his young political sycophants and announce that he would challenge Congressman Lee Terry in 2010, of all years.
Historically, the party in the White House, and especially where they control the executive and legislative branches, loses seats. I should know. In 1994 my wife and I spent every spare moment we had campaigning to elect a Republican to replace the late Rep. Peter Hoagland. Then, like now, the Democrats controlled the White House, the Senate and the House, and arrogantly decided their job was to rule rather than govern. The voters spoke, the Republicans gained 54 seats in the House and the Democrats lost control of the House for the first time in 50 years.
The recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts are evidence of the storm that is approaching for Democrats. The national political press continues to downgrade Tom White's chances against Congressman Lee Terry, a guy who has served as a check-and-balance on the Pelosi Congress. That is especially true now that we are learning that White deceptively inflated his fundraising and failed to acknowledge that he's at a point now that he has to loan his campaign money (story can be found here).
It is important to note that, according to the Nebraska Secretary of State records, Congressman Lee Terry remains unopposed and Tom White has not filed to run against him.
Hmmm.
Could it be that the reason why uber-liberal Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)--Speaker Nancy Pelosi's right-hand man--came to Omaha recently was to convince White to stay in the race?
Regardless of whether White officially files or not, the reality is clear: any contribution to Tom White's campaign is wasted money. He will not and cannot win in 2010, and every day he has to regret letting his hubris get the better of him rather than following the logic he learned in law school.