The last thing I want to read about is how smart Doug Gross is. We know, he tells us all the time. I really don’t need Doug telling me little insights about his relationship with Branstad either. To be honest when Doug said, “If one of us grunts, we know what the other means,” all sorts of strange images popped up in my head.

I’m just thankful they didn’t talk about Roederer’s love affair with Project Destiny, the failed property tax scam that would have been a taxpayer bailout of companies like Principle Financial. Its people like Gross and Roederer who make people like me queasy about Branstad’s return to politics.

In addition to Branstad’s campaign manager and running mate, the only other new names that were mentioned in the article were Bruce Rastetter, Roger Underwood, and Teresa Wahlert. These are not new names. Rastetter and Underwood is a long time GOP donors, and Whalert is basically Gross’ political sister as both had strong connections to Marvin Pomerantz.

We all know that these people are involved in the campaign, so this article doesn’t tell us a damn thing. What I want to know is why didn’t the Branstad campaign want to promote any new faces that are involved in his 2010 campaign?

If it were up to me, I would have talked about people like, Carmine Boal, who help shape policy for the campaign. What about the business leaders who participated in his Vision 2020 Policy Conference? Who advises him on social issues, immigration policy, and other issues? I would be truly interested in stuff like that.

I think the Branstad campaign has actually done a good job of reaching out to get new people involved, but you wouldn’t know it by reading this article. Instead, we learned that Doug Gross and Terry Branstad know what each other means when they grunt. Awesome. Where is my absentee ballot.

TMI

After reading this article, this is the image I have of the Branstad troika.

I’ll just let you know who it is, it’s Ed Rendell – Now Give Me My Tickets!

Please join me in entering this contest.

This year’s JJ speaker was born in New York City in the mid 20th century

Answer: Born January 5, 1944

This year’s speaker has never attended or spoken at our Jefferson Jackson Dinner

Answer: Yep

This person made a cameo appearance on-screen in a blockbuster hit of the 90s.

Answer: Well of course it’s a film about homosexuals. Rendell was in the movie Philadelphia.

This person has never worked for Saturday Night Live and is not Rudy Giuliani (Al Franken, though born in NYC, had already been eliminated as a past JJ speaker.)

Answer: OK, it’s not Alec Baldwin, who was and born in New York, damn.

This person is an avid sports fan.

Answer: Rendell is a big Philly’s fan.

This person served six years in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Answer: 1968-1974

This person is married with one son.

Wife: Marjorie Rendell

Son: Jesse

This person has held local, statewide and national office in their public career.

Local – District Attorney and Mayor
Statewide – Governor
National – DNC Chair, kinda weak don’t you think?

This person endorsed Hillary Clinton in her bid for President in 2008.

Answer: Rendell Endorsed Hillary

This person is married to a federal judge.

Answer: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. – Nominated by Bill Clinton.

I just can’t take it anymore.

I’m a diehard conservative, socially and fiscally. I’ve been to a Tea Party Rally. I want Obamacare repealed, the bailouts to stop, and taxes to be cut.

But I just want to puke every time I see Glenn Beck’s face.

I can’t help it. I think the guy’s a fraud.

First, he was just annoying. It amazed me how he’d go from trying to be Mr. Funny-guy comedian to teary waterworks worthy of a Kleenex spokesman in under 10 seconds. The too-frequent waterworks just struck me as insincere. Nobody cries that much. Interestingly, I’m pretty sure I’m right about that because the waterworks have drastically decreased now that Beck is the superhero of the Tea-Party movement. Apparently, superheroes don’t cry, or at least they don’t cry on a daily basis.

But, now I think he’s gone from annoying to hypocritical.

This became ever so evident a few weeks ago when Beck decided to publicly state that gay marriage was no threat to America. Here’s what he said in an interview with Bill O’Reilly.

O’Reilly: Do you believe that gay marriage is a threat to country in any way?
Beck: A threat to the country?

O’Reilly: Yeah, is it going to harm it in anyway?

Beck: No I don’t. Will the gays come and get us?

O’Reilly: No, okay. Is it going to harm the country?

Beck: I believe that Thomas Jefferson said: “If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket what difference is it to me?

That is not something any true social or fiscal conservative would ever say. A true conservative recognizes that the promotion of a behavior that contributes to the breakdown of the traditional family and is a prime factor in the spread of deadly disease is not a good thing. A true conservative realizes that, as Jan Mickelson says, the question “how has gay marriage affected your marriage” is just a ploy.

The moral costs of gay marriage are obvious. But even if you are not a “values voter” kind of person, a true fiscal conservative realizes that the breakdown of traditional families costs us in terms of welfare, the spread of deadly (and easily preventable) diseases costs us in terms of healthcare, and, while gay marriage might not directly affect your own marriage, the governmental sanctioning of gay marriage is really just an effort for gay partners to gain access to the monetary benefits afforded to married couples, i.e. social security benefits, access to family health plans, etc. Can we really afford to strain the social security system any more than it already is? What do you think will happen to the cost of your healthcare when an extremely high-risk group of people are added in to your insurance pool?

And the reason I have a problem with Beck personally over these remarks is because they are at odds with everything he has claimed to be in the past.

This is the guy who has proclaimed that his conservative Mormon faith brought him out of addiction to alcohol. This is the guy who cried like a baby because he was so upset when Mike Huckabee allegedly mischaracterized a Mormon belief about the relationship between Jesus and satan.

Now, Beck himself blasphemes his faith by openly contradicting a major belief held by the LDS church (that homosexuality is a sin and gay marriage should be opposed), and we’re supposed to ignore the fact that he’s just made himself a gargantuan hypocrite?

That was bad enough, but then, this past weekend, at his “Restoring America” rally in Washington, D.C., did another 180 degree turnaround, making remarks such as:

“Something beyond imagination is happening. America today begins to turn back to God.”

Beck exhorted the crowd to “recognize your place to the creator. Realize that he is our king. He is the one who guides and directs our life and protects us.” He asked his audience to pray more. “I ask, not only if you would pray on your knees, but pray on your knees but with your door open for your children to see,” he said.

Gee Glenn, how do you think it goes over when everybody else’s kids see you take an amoral stand on marriage? Is that really a sign that America beginning to turn back to God?

And before the comments start, this is not at all an attack on the Mormon faith. While I don’t agree with Mormons theologically, I greatly admire their political stances on social issues. What bothers me is when people are inconsistent. And when someone claims to be a faithful Mormon, and then later comes out and stabs the traditional marriage movement in the back, a movement that the LDS church has spearheaded across this country, that’s inconsistent.

Beck should take a lesson from his Christian brothers and sisters. Hypocrisy is what has been a major stumbling block for a lot of Christian leaders over the years, and it seems the same is true for Mr. Beck.

The scary thing is that, like the hypocritical Christian leaders that have gone before him, this hypocrisy can, and likely will cause more damage to Beck’s cause than any good he’s done.

This is all normal, but Rep. Thomas used the gathering to help Governor Culver campaign against Terry Branstad. That is a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars and I would like Rep. Thomas to reimburse the state for the cost of this fiasco.

Rep. Thomas, you’re an idiot.

Lynda Waddington: Lynda is an unabashed liberal who writes for Tim Gill’s Iowa Independent website. Waddington and her liberal friends are desperate to find a way to lay the blame for enormous egg recall on the feet of Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey. She calls Northey a “lapdog” because he is proud of the number of eggs we produce in Iowa.

Lynda is an idiot because she should focus her energy on Attorney General Tom Miller. Under the Branstad Administration, DeCoster was classified as a “habitual violator” of our environmental laws. Once Branstad was out of office, and Decoster cut Miller a $10,000 contribution to his campaign, DeCoster was back in business. I guess Miller is tough on big business except if you cut him a five-digit check.

Lynda you’re an idiot.

The Des Moines Register: Last Monday, The Iowa Independent wrote a story on Kim Lehman’s Tweet. The Tweet occurred Thursday, if you’ll remember. Then, that SAME Monday, The Des Moines Register’s Jenifer Jacobs writes about it. Seems to me if they cared about it, why didn’t they write it on Friday? Instead, The Iowa Independent picks up on it, and all of a sudden they are compelled to write a story? THREE days after it occurred?

Then last Thursday, The Iowa Independent writes a story about Clear Channel sending a statement distancing themselves from Jan Mickelson’s AIDS comments. Like clockwork, Jason Clayworth writes it in the Des Moines Register.

If the Register has begun getting their news ideas from a Gill-Soros-funded site and churning them into their own, this should send shivers up and down our spines and alarm all of us.

The Register isn’t just a bunch of idiots. This shows just how bad their political team really is over there.

I really don’t care about Mehlman’s sexual preference. I don’t agree with it, and I think it’s not natural. The reason I’m writing about Mehlman is because I fear the end is near for traditional marriage as we used to know it.

In recent weeks, a number of prominent Republicans or conservative news personalities have either endorsed gay marriage or said they are not bothered by it. Next month Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Pete Sessions are scheduled to speak at the Log Cabin Republican dinner in DC. Sessions and Cornyn are leading the efforts in the House and Senate this cycle.

What worries me is that as more and more Republicans either come out of the closet like Mehlman or embrace the behavior like Glenn Beck, Joe Scarborough, and Republican leaders like Sessions and Cornyn, it becomes more and more difficult to defend traditional marriage.

This is why Iowans should be focused on reinstating traditional marriage as soon as possible instead of chasing rabbit trails. Time is running out, and I can see a scenario where we boot some judges, but do nothing to reinstate traditional marriage in Iowa. That’s winning a battle, but losing the war.

Christmas Caroling with Former Iowa Congressman Fred Grandy

I expect that the November elections will bring plenty of good will and cheer to Republicans this year. So what better way to spread our joy than to organize a statewide Christmas Caroling tour around the state? Congressman Gopher has already written our jingle, and I’m sure our National Committee woman will gladly join us as we sing Gopher’s new song, “Obama is a Muslim.”

OK, I think I’ve caused enough trouble today.

In case you live under a rock and don’t know what I’m talking about, Kim Lehman, Iowa’s Republican National Committeewoman, recently tweeted that President Obama is a Muslim.  Actually what she said was, “@politico you’re funny. They must pay you a lot to protect Obama. BTW he personally told the muslims that he IS a muslim. Read his lips.”

The problem with Lehman’s tweet is that the President clearly stated that he is a Christian, in the speech that she was referring to.  Now look, I know a lot of people who think Obama is either a Muslim, socialist, communist, smart, hardworking, or even the anti-Christ.  The difference between my friends and Kim Lehman is that they are not member of the Republican National Committee.

I think Lehman’s tweet is being blown out of proportion, but she does need to realize that the media is just waiting for comments like this.  She needs to be more careful.  One would have thought she would have learned this lesson after the fiasco she created with Miller-Meeks in the 2nd Congressional District.

Just like he comments about Miller-Meeks, her comments are an unnecessary distraction seven weeks before the election.  At a time when Republicans should be laser focused on winning over independents and conservative Democrats by talking about debt, bloated government, and jobs, we now find ourselves talking about Kim Lehman calling Obama a Muslim.

Folks, Obama isn’t on the ballot this fall.  Instead of talking about him, lets talk about the issues that really matter.  Lets talk about the differences between our Republican candidates and the Democrats they are running again.  If you want to talk about Obama being a Muslim, being the National Committeewoman might not be the best position for you.

Now before you go off on me for piling on, it’s not Zaun who’s the idiot, it’s the six people who he beat in the 3rd District Congressional primary. I know that everyone hates negative campaigning, but the reason Zaun has to deal with these attacks from Boswell now is because none of his opponents brought them up in the primary.

One of the necessary functions of a primary is to properly vet the candidates. That obviously didn’t happen, and now Zaun has to deal with Boswell and the Democrats airing his dirty laundry now instead of months ago. Getting attacked on these issues now hurts worse that had this things been brought up when nobody was paying attention during a primary

I know everyone felt great about how all the 3rd CD candidates treated each other, but they are idiots and did the nominee a disservice. If they had raised these issues before the primary Zaun would either not me the nominee or he wouldn’t have to talk about this crap now, because he would have had to explain these things before the primary. The story would have been dead as soon as he won his primary.

Chet Culver: Culver’s campaign thinks that they are going to score points against Terry Branstad by demanding him to tell people what I-Jobs projects he would cut. It’s not a bad idea on Culver’s part, the only problem is that Branstad campaign is smarter than that. They are very wisely showing people who much debt they will have to pay back in exchange for the thousands of dollars Chet is in the area passing out.

Culver is an idiot for wanting to talk about I-Jobs. Dude should look at his press clippings from the past two months.

El Pollo Hombre: Once again Mark Chelgren, who is running for Keith Kreiman, makes the list, but isn’t an idiot. The Des Moines Register ran a story exposing Chelgren’s alter ego – RAGBRAI’s Chickenman.

For those of you who don’t know, Chickenman is known for his spontaneous beer bashes along the route. His bus is really just one huge beer truck. The Register claims that he once bought 70 kegs. Lets just pray to God it wasn’t all Keystone. The Register also noted that Chickenman is also known for riding nude for an hour or so everyday during his trip across Iowa.

Besides the fact that riding a bicycle nude is kinda dangerous, I guess you can say he’s offering the voters more transparency than they are getting with Kreiman.

I also think its hard not to like this guy. Just read what he told Jennifer Jacobs of the Register.

“Chickenman was a wonderful persona when I’d go on vacation and meet people. In my life now, even though I still go on RAGBRAI and I’m still Chickenman, I am first and foremost a father and a businessman, and I take that seriously.”

I’m sure Gronstal and Kreiman are getting a laugh out of this story, but I don’t know if Chelgren being outed as Chickenman is going to hurt him, in fact it might help him. People are sick and tired of politicians who are unresponsive or think too highly of themselves. This might be a time when the voters send a message this fall and send a guy like Chelgren to Des Moines. If that happens, I’m going to apply to be his clerk.

Thanks to Chelgren, I now know what to expect if I ever run for office. It is my hope that he breaks that glass ceiling for all those who suffer by having a cool alter ego/

If I hear one more person tout the awesome “nonpartisan” system Iowa has for selecting judges, I’m going to puke.

It happened yet again yesterday when I was reading a column in the Register (I know, what was I thinking?) by Marc Hansen.

He was talking to some middle school civics teachers and listing a whole bunch of hot-button political issues that could be great classroom fodder once school starts this month.

One of these issues was the judicial selection process in Iowa. Hansen wrote:

Terry Branstad, running for governor again, wants to change the way we choose judges. In Iowa, the governor picks from a list provided by a nonpartisan nominating commission.

The problem is, these nominating commissions are anything but nonpartisan.

TIR’s legal eagle, Nathan Tucker, did a little research on this issue a few weeks back, and he deserves an award for his findings. What he wrote was truly an exposé. In case you missed it, here are some of the highlights, or lowlights as the case may be.

Supreme Court Justices:

-5 out of 7 were appointed by Democrat Governors, none of the 7 are or ever have been registered Republicans

-2 are registered Democrats (Michael Streit and Daryl Hecht)

-4 more were registered Democrats before their appointment to the Court (Marsha Ternus, Mark Cady, David Wiggins, and Brent Appel).

-The final justice claims to be Independent, but he has donated large sums of money to Democrats. David Baker gave $250 to Iowans for Vilsack Pederson, Inc. in 2003, and $2,500 to the Iowa Democratic Party.

-Wiggins has donated $9,000 to democratic candidates or the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) in the last 12 years.

-Appel, whose wife is a very liberal Democrat state senator, has donated over $38,000 to Democratic candidates or the IDP in the last several years.

Appellate Court Justices:

-6 out of 9 are Democrats or were registered as Democrats before appointment to the Court

-7 out of 9 were appointed by Democrat governors, including all 6 Democrats

-2 of the 3 Republicans were appointed by Republican governors

Trial Courts:

-83 judges have been appointed during the Culver and Vilsack administrations

-50 of those judges (60%) are registered Democrats

-16 of those judges (19%) are registered Republicans

-10 of those judges (12%) are Independents (but 3 are former Democrats and 2 are former Republicans)

-Voter information could not be found on 7 judges.

So how does this happen? Why didn’t Branstad appoint two Republicans when he had the chance instead of Ternus and Cady? Well, the answer is simple. He only had 2-3 people to choose from, and the group that chooses those 2-3 people is also dominated by Democrats and has been for a long time.

The short list from which the governor can appoint is determined by what called the Judicial Nominating Commission. The Commission that picks people for the Appellate and Supreme Courts is made up of 14 people. Seven are attorneys elected by other attorneys. Seven are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate.

As Tucker pointed out, right now, all seven members appointed by the governor are Democrats. Four more of the elected members are Democrats. One is an Independent, one is a Republican, and one claims to be a Republican, but has donated over $10,000 to IDP, Bruce Braley, Roxanne Conlin, and Tom Harkin in recent years.

Some people are calling for a change to the rules regulating the Nominating Commissions requiring equal numbers Democrats and Republicans. However, this won’t stop the problem cited above where people essentially lie about their party affiliation while really supporting the other party. There are numerous examples of Democrats doing this on other state Boards and Commissions, and Peter Teahen, former Co-Chair of Bob Vander Plaats’ campaign, was famously called out for this same behavior during his congressional campaign when it came out he had been a registered Democrat for the purpose of getting appointed to a state board to fill a Democratic slot.

Perhaps you don’t like the open election of judges. Perhaps you think that process is partisan. Perhaps you even think that the Iowa system results in better judges (which, based on recent events, is highly debatable). That’s fine, but let’s not pretend that Iowa’s process for selecting judges is “nonpartisan.”

It is, in fact, highly partisan. And the thing that should scare everyone is that the partisanship in the current system is hidden from the public behind closed doors. It is the ultimate example of backroom deals in smoke-filled rooms (or at least it was until the smoking ban came about).

Seriously, if the process is going to be affected by partisanship, then let’s put it all out in the open so people know what they’re getting, either by judicial elections or gubernatorial appointment with open confirmation hearings. No more of this super-secret closed door stuff.

The one question I want answered by the advocates of the current system is, why do you trust a small group of elites to make these decisions, but not the people of Iowa or their elected representatives?

And on a side note, any changes to the judicial selection process require a change to the Iowa Constitution, which is just one more reason to support a constitutional convention.

“I also want you to know that we’ve worked very hard.  I’ve been to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, nearly 100 times fighting on flood-recovery efforts and I have continued to do everything in my power every day as governor to get the job done and to get this state moving forward, and so despite some of the mistakes, despite some of the challenges in historic proportions that we’re dealing with, we’re still moving Iowa forward.”

“I want to say that some of that criticism is justified and that we have made our fair share of mistakes, and I take full responsibility for those things that have happened in various state agencies, that happened on my watch and I take responsibility for those mistakes that have been made.”

It seems to me that Culver wants to be that pudgy kid who isn’t that smart or athletically gifted that people feel sorry for.  The problem Culver faces is that Iowans just want someone who can get the job done.  He of all people should realize that while people might feel sorry for that pudgy kid, they don’t let him play quarterback.

As Iowa’s governor, Culver has grown the size of government, carved out special rights for people based on behavior, raised taxes, forced local governments to raise property taxes, forced schools to spend their reserve funds, mismanaged the state budget, and indebted future generations of Iowans. If that wasn’t bad enough, his administration has been plagued by numerous scandals that have costs taxpayers money.

I’m glad the guy is admitting that he has made some mistakes, but that will do nothing to help him with his re-election campaign this fall.  Culver has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he is unfit and unable to lead the state of Iowa.

It seems like Culver and his campaign team are beginning to realize what regular Iowans figured out a year ago – that new leadership is needed Des Moines.  At this point Culver would be better off just traveling the state on a goodbye tour and start packing up some things in his office.