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Sometimes a column just nails it, Gerard Baker’s column “He ventured forth to bring light to the world” on Barack Obama’s recent international jaunt, is just such a column. Gerard exposes Obama’s trip for what it is through biblical/politcal satire so well, I just had to share it:

“The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.
…
In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.
…
In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.
…
And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.” ”

Read the whole piece!

Picture Credit: A student art project featured on Slate.

HT:Daniel

Most people don’t need more proof that Sheldon Wasserman will say anything to get elected and will blatantly lie in his press releases but here he goes again.

Recently both campaigns put out press releases about their financial situation. Darling’s went out first saying that she had our raised Alberta Darling by $18,000 and for the third straight fundraising period in a row. From January 1 until June 30, Darling pulled in $106,457, bringing her war chest to $270,247. In the same time period Wasserman raised $88,420.

In 2007, Darling raised $251,559 to Wasserman’s 2007 total of $85,883. Since January 2007, Darling has raised $358,016. Wasserman entered 2007 with $215,887 in his war chest, which he augmented with public financing dollars even though he often had only token opposition.

Well Sheldon has gone and done it again and probably come up with the most ridiculous statements to date:

“Solid financial planning, prudent campaign spending and the support of over 1000 donors give me a strong overall advantage,” said Rep. Wasserman. “As the long time incumbent and member of the committee that writes the state budget, it is no surprise that Senator Darling out raised me in big money and special interest donations. She talks about being a fiscal conservative but has squandered her campaign resources. The only thing I can be accused of overspending on is shoe leather. I’ve worn through eight pairs since I first began going door to door and meeting with people in the 8th Senate District over a year ago.”

First off, I want Sheldon to come up with some proof that Alberta has in any way squandered any of her money. I haven’t seen any proof of that so far, and I highly doubt anyone else has. Second of all, if you’ve gone through eight pairs of shoes, then you’re taking the idea of fiscal conservatives the wrong way, because cheeping out on shoes isn’t the way to go son. I’ve had the same pair all summer and they haven’t failed me. I’m surprised he didn’t say he’s gone throw 168 pens because of all the times he’s wrote “Nice Door,” “Love your House,” or “Great Landscaping” on his lit. I think he sent out his press release with “love your door” written on it.

Wasserman, who knocked on 735 doors last week, has visited over 18,500 homes. “My opponent likes to tell people she is ‘out knocking on doors.’ But the voters know the difference between riding in a car watching staff drop off taxpayer-funded road maps that people did not even ask for and actually knocking on doors and talking to people,” added Wasserman. “I run my campaign like I run my Assembly office, with a strong focus on personal service and fiscal responsibility.”

Again just blatant lies from Sheldon. Alberta is knocking on doors. She isn’t watching her staff members while she rides in the car. I’ve been an avid Darling volunteer out doing doors with Alberta three to four days a week and I’ll admit, she’s got more energy and is willing to walk farther and visit more people than I do. All Sheldon is doing here is making a backhanded attack about her health again. The doctor won’t give that up, will he? As for the tax-payer funded road maps, well Sheldon knows that is a lie too. Wasserman might be confusing the taxpayer funded maps, that he’s accusing the Darling campaign of handing out, with his OWN literature since he’s using around $25k of taxpayers’ dollars from the state on his campaign. Now Alberta is going door-to-door handing out lit which she describes the quality work she’s been doing for the senate district. And in her lit she doesn’t lie about her record or need to lie about how conservative she is. And for a matter of fact she doesn’t write on her lit and lie about a constituents door, landscaping or yard.

Darling issued a statement of her own:

“I take great offense to Sheldon Wasserman’s false accusation that I am not actually knocking on voters’ doors, and his continued insinuation that I am too sick to run for office and restricted to campaigning from a car.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m physically fit and in very good health despite what Sheldon Wasserman would lead people to believe. I knock on hundreds of doors every week. My campaign helpers can all attest to this fact, the thousands of voters’ whose doors I’ve knocked on can attest to this fact, and even numerous Assembly candidates whom I’ve run into while doing doors can attest to this fact.”

This is in fact, very true. I am fairy certain that the campaign has run into two if not all three of the democrat candidates for Wasserman’s old seat as well as the candidates for Jeskewitz’s assembly seat. And like I’ve said before Alberta has wanted to continue to do doors even after the other volunteers are too tired to do so.

“Furthermore, Sheldon Wasserman levies a serious charge that I am handing out ‘taxpayer-funded road maps’ after the May 31, 2008 deadline for legislators to discontinue distribution of state materials in quantities of 50 or more. Wasserman’s charge that I have done something illegal is absolutely false and frivolous. On behalf of voters everywhere who denounce this sort of negative campaigning, lies, and smear-tactics, I call on Sheldon Wasserman to come clean by retracting his statement and follow my lead by pledging to run a positive campaign based on the issues.”

Will of the rumors circulating about McCain announcing his VP this week, we have to ask: Who will be McCain’s choice for Vice President?

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Great video, love the Reagan quotes at the beginning and you can’t beat Fmr Sen. Fred Thompson as the narrator.

(h/t: Charlie Sykes for bringing this up on his radio show)

This coming weekend is the US Bank Golf Championship at Brown Deer Golf Course –link-. As a promotional feature, the Championship held a long drive challenge for area celebrities on Tuesday. Two of the celebrities involved in the event were State Senator Alberta Darling and her opponent in the upcoming race, Democrat Sheldon Wasserman.

Here is an overview of Charlie’s and his listener’s comments:

Alberta, who is over 60 years old, out-drove Sheldon 153 yards to 135 yards. She kicked his butt. Normally this won’t be a big deal except for one thing…

A while back, The State Senate Democratic Committee in Wisconsin spread rumors that Alberta was too sick, too feeble, and not fit enough to run against Sheldon and shouldn’t continue in political office. They lied that she was so weak that she wouldn’t be able to knock on any doors during this campaign season. When confronted, Wasserman claimed that, as a doctor, he would never say anything so vile about a cancer survivor. But the fact is that Democrats did spread false rumors about the health of a breast cancer survivor, and it was a sleazy, nasty thing that their finger prints were all over. And then, of course, they lied about spreading the lie. “Citing health reasons,” Democrats lied, “Darling recently admitted that she wouldn’t be able to knock on any doors this cycle.”

When you spread rumors that your opponent is too frail and feeble to campaign, make sure she doesn’t have the strength to out-drive you.

From everything I understand, Alberta was upset that she didn’t get her best shot either. She didn’t think a 150 yard drive was that good for her.

Also to be noted, I logged on to the DSCC WI web page to see if they were still stupid enough to leave the release they wrote about her health. Instead I found a rather lame poll bashing Alberta…

–UPDATE–
Mark Belling brought up this issue on his Late Afternoon Show. Dowload part five of the podcast, it’s in the very begining. Belling explained slimy acts the Democrats did to spread lies about Alberta’s health, enouraging lobbiests to stay away from her. Belling called Darling one of the most phyiscally fit people he knew and that she did pilates more often that Wasserman scratches his back. Listen to the first 5 minutes of the podcast to hear everything Belling had to say on the circulating story.
I just wish he would have mentioned gop3 outright

(h/t: Wasserman Watch). –This blog also posted all the finance reports from 2002 on.

Sheldon Wasserman has been going around telling voters a lot of tall tales when campaigning against State Senator Alberta Darling. He claims that he’s a libertarian (which is just a lie), he’s a fiscal conservative (which he isn’t), he’s signed a pledge to the tax payers (which he’s broken), he claims to be saving the taxpayers money by riding a bus to Madison but what he’s really doing is using taxpayer money to build part of his quarter-million dollar war chest.

Records from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board show that Wasserman applied for the Wisconsin Election Campaign Fund (WECF) grant every two years since 1994. The WECF is taxpayer money handed to candidates who agree to certain finance limits. Over all that time Wasserman received a total of $21,459.20 from taxpayers. This candidate welfare grant is a sort of program that was meant to provide funding to candidates who can’t fund a strong campaign otherwise, not for a liberal to abuse a government handout program while already sitting on a massive war chest.

Campaign finance records show that prior to the fall 2004 election, Wasserman had $138,416.68 on hand and still decided to fleece the taxpayers out of $2,726.20 by applying for the grant. What’s even more disgusting is during the campaign season Wasserman was able to grow his war chest to end with $169,821.38 after the election. Wasserman has been stealing money from the taxpayers and just storing it up year after year.

Here is the list of WECF Amounts that Rep. Wasserman Received from 1994 to Today

• In 1994 Wasserman received $6,519 in tax dollars
• In 1996 he received $3,888
• In 1998 he received $3,738
• In 2000 he received $4,588
• In 2002 Wasserman applied for the taxpayer handout, but he ran unopposed and did not qualify for public funds
• In 2004 he received $2,726.20
• In 2006 he again applied for the taxpayer grant but did not qualify because he ran unopposed
• Total: $21,459.20

Worse than the fact that he’s been using taxpayer money for elections is that he still applied for the funding during years when he was unopposed. All these “costly” elections, yet he entered 2007 with $220,518.53 in his war chest to make a run for State Senate against Alberta Darling, funded, in part, on the backs of taxpayers.

How much money did Wasserman save taxpayers by riding the bus?

So a debate going around the office lately has been “Who should serve on McCain’s presidential cabinet if he was elected?” Based off some research and consideration, this is the cabinet I would put together if I was McCain. Some of the positions have two people listed because I couldn’t decide between them. It is not so much a prediction of who McCain will chose for his cabinet, however if I get some of these right, I am going to brag about it. I think that McCain will put Russ Feingold somewhere on this cabinet of Feingold continues to clash with Obama, however I couldn’t think of a place. Here are my pick for the McCain presidential cabinet:

Secretary of State
Joe Lieberman- an Independent Democrat may be successful bridge between the McCain administration and the rest of the world, though I wouldn’t count Condi out of being offered the position.

Kay Bailey Hutchison- Longest Serving GOP female should have earned her a role by now. Has turned down spot as VP may indicate she doesn’t want to be here either.

Secretary of Treasury
Mitt Romney - Bain Capital, saved the Olympics and awesomeness lands him here. If there is one person that can get us out of the economic situation we are in, I trust him to do it. However I feel like he is the frontrunner for VP.

FedEx founder Fred Smith – Cochairman on McCain’s campaign committee. FedEx founder and CATO board member shows he has a strong grasp on economics.

Secretary of Defense
General David Petraus – The man that turned Iraq around should continue to do so.

Arnold Schwarzenegger— the man was Conan and the Terminator, nowhere near the above

Attorney General
Fred Thompson- The Law and Order Attorney General. I feel like if he was my Grandpa/Uncle he’d whack me with his cane if I was smarting off. That’s what I want in an AG.

Secretary of Interior
Olympia Snowe- she was the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard probably makes her qualified. Maine is a nice looking state too.

Secretary of Agriculture
Chuck Hagel – he’s from Nebraska, and a cornhusker. I feel like that could make his as qualified as anyone.

Secretary of Commerce
Carly Fiorina – Former CEO of HP and point person for McCain on business and economics. Huge fan of work visas. Experience with McCain lands her here or Labor.

Secretary of Labor
George Allen – Would have been running for President if he didn’t use a racial slur for monkey. Though YAF is cool, I’m sure he wants to do something a bit more. His work in the senate lands him here, commerce or just about anywhere else. He would also be able to play quarterback in the annual Pre-Thanksgiving cabinet football game.

Jeb Bush – If his last name wasn’t Bush he’d be running for president. I feel like his success as Florida Governor could earn him a role on the McCain team.

Secretary of Health and Human Services
Mike Huckabee – The man learned to put down the cheeseburger, maybe he can teach kids to do the same, would also give Huckabee something to do outside of complaining about him not being president.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Phil Gramm- From 1995 to 2000 he was the chair of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs which probably makes him over-qualified for the position.

Secretary of Transportation
Jim Talent- Every good republican cabinet needs a distinguished fellow from Heritage.

Secretary of Energy
Sarah Palin- She is governor of Alaska, and she wants to drill in the state. I don’t rule her out as a VP contender.

Newt Gingrich –As for Energy- Newt has said that the next president could be chosen based off their willingness to drill for American oil. Well if Newt wants to drill for oil, he should be allowed to anywhere he wants. Newt could serve well at just about any post, so perhaps we could clone him 8 times over to create an adequate cabinet.

Secretary of Education
Rick Santorum- his only job should be to nearly get rid of this department. I’m curious to see what he’d want to teach students as well.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs
John Warner – Former secretary of the Navy, WWII veteran, Chair of Armed Services Committee, and former husband of Elizabeth Taylor.

Secretary of Homeland Security
Rudy Guilani – way too obvious of a pick not to happen.

National Security Advisor
John Bolton- His moustache can bring Security to the Nation, like McCain favors bombing Iran.

H/T to Wigderson Library and Pub for the break.

I had a nice conversation with a retired veteran in the Menomonee Falls area, Joe Sturmberg, who called State Representative Sheldon Wasserman (Dem) after Wasserman left a note on his door saying he had been in the area. Wasserman is campaigning for state senate against the incumbent Senator Alberta Darling (Rep).

Sturmberg told me he asked Wasserman if he was a Democrat. Wasserman told him, “No, I’m more of a libertarian.” According to Sturmberg, Wasserman told him he wasn’t running as a Libertarian because that party isn’t registered to be on the ballot in Wisconsin.

This is not someone who doesn’t understand politics. Sturmberg is pretty sharp and has a good understanding of who the players are. He told me flat out that he thinks Wasserman just tells people what they want to hear.

I spoke with Wasserman this afternoon and he claimed to be confused by the voter’s claims. He remembered the person I referred to, and then suggested that maybe he told the Menomonee Falls voter that while he sympathizes with the Libertarians on social issues, there’s no chance a Libertarian could be elected to office in a two-party system. Wasserman then cited Libertarian support for stem cell (I presume he meant embryonic stem cell) research and on “end of life” issues.

Wasserman’s website still does not list his party identification, nor does his campaign literature. Wasserman claims he doesn’t want to be labeled. “I don’t want to belabor that I’m a Democrat. I guess I am.” That’ll be good news to his caucus.

We should probably break down the b.s. line of “I’m more of a Libertarian”. It’s indicative of the fact that Wasserman is willing to say just about anything to get elected, including taking pot shots at Alberta’s health.

First of all you can register as Libertarian in Wisconsin. They had 4 candidates in the spring election. Tim Peterson, State treasurer, Ed Thompson - Mayor of Tomah - Ken Van Doren - Mayor of Mauston, and Phillip Owens - Rock County Board election, incumbent. So if Sheldon wants to be a libertarian, he’s more than welcome to do so. There is even a webpage that shows what the LPWI is willing to do to help you being a libertarian candidate. So I challenge Wasserman to register as one. I’ll be waiting for him to endorse Bob Barr for President.

Second of all, lets look simply at the libertarian principal of taxes, and then look at Sheldon.

Libertarian Principle of Taxes: We advocate phasing out taxes on incomes, personal property, and real property, along with corresponding decreases in the size of government.

Sheldon is one of two democrats to sign the American’s for Tax Reform pledge, and as of May 28, 2008 is still listed on Americans For Tax Reform website as one of 1,225 state legislators . Which is good, except it is absolutely untrue and complete rhetoric that Sheldon will attempt to use in a senate district that he knows holds “taxes” as its number one issue. Sheldon might go door-to-door and tell individuals he’s a Libertarian, and he might even use the words “fiscal conservative,” but the constituents of the 8th senate district shouldn’t let Sheldon hide behind his “fiscal conservative” and “libertarian” rhetoric. He has been supportive of raising taxes time and time again, and went so far as to introduce legislation to raise taxes, as well as flip flop on the Property Tax Freeze.

In 2003 Sheldon originally voted FOR the Property Tax Freeze (AB 466) before he voted against it, where he voted NO in 2005 on AB 58.

After signing the Americans for Tax Reform pledge, Sheldon went as far as to sponsor a bill that would increase the cigarette tax (AB 451). Sheldon also openly supported the tax increase on cigarettes claiming his “Hippocratic oath” trumped the “NO tax” pledge that he made to the taxpayers in his district.

Just prime examples of Sheldon yet again saying one thing and doing another…something tells me there’s more Sheldon Wasserman rhetoric out there …he’s probably at some nice old lady’s home right now defending that he’d never want to take her driving privileges away.

While reading through one of the many newsletters that get sent to our info@gop3.com email address, I came across this picture from a USA today article about an anti-death penalty professor. It seems the good professor sees the connection between Barack Obama’s and Che Guevara’s projected public persona and socialist/redistributionist policies.

Saturday night (before I made the mistake of going to RiverSplash) I was able to attended the Waukesha County Reagan/Lincoln Dinner at the Country Springs Hotel, thanks to a few generous donors. And I was really happy to be there, and inspired to be with so many other Republicans.

The reception was rather nice; I got to touch base with a few of the volunteers from the Walker Campaign, and I’ll hopefully be seeing more of them between now and November. The State Senators and assembly were really approachable and fairly nice as well. It was great just to be able to shake hands with all of them and meet all of the area representatives, and let them know that MUCRs are more than willing to help them out campaigning this fall.

Don Taylor is awesome by the way. I’d really like to sit down one day and pick his brain about campaigns of old, being a Young Republican and listen to his stories about campaigning for Republicans like Barry Goldwater was like.

The dinner itself was pretty good. James T. Harris was a great, energizing emcee and that really knew how to work the crowd. I’m plan to start listening to his radio show, if he is half as entertaining on the show as he was at the Dinner, the show should be amazing. I also got to sit at the kids table, which was actually pretty nice because I got to meet a few future MU conservatives and some from other schools as well.

Paul Ryan was one of the speakers, probably my favorite of the evening, though that is by no means a knock to Reince Priebus or Scott Walker who also spoke. It might be an overstatement to say that he’s my generation’s version of Ronald Reagan, but its pretty close. He’s an inspirational rock star Republican that makes us proud to be conservative.

Also I’d like to comment on the McCain Town Hall that I was able to attend with about 8 volunteers, mostly from MU and some from Madison, and we all got premo seats. If you caught any of the coverage on TV you probably saw me in the fifth row behind McCain. First of all it was great to see those volunteers there and I know that what they did was appreciated. Being able to get students to an event like this gives me some added confidence going into this fall.

Things were a bit hectic at first, but overall the organization of the event was pretty good. All the people on the McCain team or RPW that I talked to about were really great people. I was really impressed by McCain as well, I feel like he’ll be slapping Obama around in all of the debates this fall. I felt like his answer to the question about social security was pretty good. I also agree about alternative fuel sources, though I disagree abouth the belief of climate change, however he skirted the issue about drilling in Alaska. And I was most surprised by the fact that the one question that caught him off guard about Paul Ryan’s Roadmap for America since McCain wasn’t familiar with it and for a few moments it almost became a Paul Ryan Town Hall.