Politics
Category archives for Politics
A very complicated political process
Posted by Greg Laden on June 16, 2013 
Yesterday, Minneapolis had a convention pursuant to the process of electing a new Mayor. Also, sausages were made. I dare you to look: An Outsider’s View of the DFL Minneapolis Mayoral Convention ————- Photo Credit: Sri Dhanush via Compfight cc
Congratulations Thomasin Franken and Family!
Posted by Greg Laden on June 1, 2013 
Al Franken’s daughter just had a baby, so congratulations to them! Joseph Bryson Greenwald, 6 lbs 11 oz. We are awaiting word on the baby’s length.
What Will Michele Bachmann Do Next?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 30, 2013 
As you know, Michele Bachmann, Congressperson for Minnesota’s Sixth District, has announced that she will not seek re-election to her seat in Washington DC. Bachmann almost lost her re-election to challenger Jim Graves last year. I’m convinced that had the election been held a few weeks later, Graves would have won. Recently, internal polling data…
Michele Bachmann Will Not Run For Re-Election (Updated)
Posted by Greg Laden on May 29, 2013 
Michele Bachmann is currently serving her last term and will not seek re-election. She claims to have suddenly grown the opinion that there should be term limits on Representatives in the House, but that is not very likely the reason. It could be that she is behind in the polls, and it could have something…
Boston Marathon Discussion on VONVO.com
Posted by Greg Laden on April 27, 2013 I was chatting live on Vonvo.com, speaking about the Boston Marathon Bombing with a few others. Vonvo is a new social media talkie thingie, a little like if Blogging Heads and Google Hangouts had a baby which then married Twitter. A bit later I’ll have links to the discussion.
Is Michele Bachmann About To Go Down In Legal Flames?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 18, 2013 
Michele Bachmann may be in some serious trouble. For starters, it seems she may have used presidential campaign staff to support her book tour during her unsuccessful bid for the presidency last year. The Star Tribune reported on April 17th that Congressional ethics investigators are examining whether top staffers in Rep. Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign…
The horror of this event …
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2013 
We watch these events unfold through a veil of tears. And over time, it only gets worse as we learn the identities of some of the victims, and learn of the horrors of this particular kind of bomb attack. We wonder if the bomber knew that few would die but many would lose their legs,…
Taking Bachmann Out of Congress
Posted by Greg Laden on April 11, 2013 Minnesota’s 6th congressional district is represented by Michele Bachmann, who moved from the Minnesota Senate where she was one of the first legislators in the US to introduce academic freedom legislation to silence professors at the University of Minnesota who were lecturing on climate change and evolution, to the United States Congress a few terms…
Michele Bachmann: Waiting for the other shoe to drop?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 1, 2012 Or, maybe just waiting for a pin to drop, to break the silence? Bill Prendergast at Minnesota Progressive Project has floated an interesting, if somewhat complicated, hypothesis. He notes that Michel Bachmann has been very silent, out of the news, since the election which is now (though it seems like yesterday) nearly a month in…
Live Blogging Election 2012
Posted by Greg Laden on November 6, 2012 I’ll be jotting notes here. Feel free to jot notes in the comments. Bernie Sanders re-elected 6:22 PM Central: Virginia reporting good numbers for Obama. Larger turnouts than 2008 in VA. 6:54 PM Central: Senate: 30 DEM seats called, 37 GOP seats. Leaving the polling place today, there was a couple behind me. She said,…
Romney did “win” the debate
Posted by Greg Laden on October 5, 2012 Romney did three things at the debate: 1) He totally randomized his policies, thus putting into effect an excellent version of the Chewbaca Defense; 2) He made up his own rules, forcing Obama to follow them and embarrassing PBS and Jim Lehrer; and 3) He made a bunch of independents giddy, so when the post-debate…
A message for you from Samuel L. Jackson
Posted by Greg Laden on October 1, 2012 Don’t worry, it’s totally work safe. Turn up the volume. Trust me.
Who will win the US House of Representatives?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2012 There are a number of US HOuse of Representative races that are too close to call at this point. Although the house is currently predicted to go Republican, which would be a shame, there are not a lot of current data to predict this. Given the potential strength of Mitt Romney’s coattails going in one…
Is Bachmann Sticking With Her Muslim Brotherhood Story?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 23, 2012 A GOP PAC has produced a ridiculous ad supporting Michele Bachmann for re-election to Congress representing Minnesota’s 6th District. You’ll remember that Bachmann made national news when she declared that a senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Minnesota 5th District Congressman Keith Ellison were plants inserted into high places in the United…
Does Secular Humanism Have A Political Agenda?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2012 In March, 2012, I attended a conference called Moving Secularism Forward run by the Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry. I spoke as part of a panel called Does Secular Humanism Have A Political Agenda? along with Ronald Bailey of Reason.com, Razib Khan of Secular Right, and former Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder. This…
A Political Sea Change
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2012 Yeah, I’m bringing back the term “Sea Change” which was briefly popular a few years ago, in reference to the perception of party difference, the difference between Democrats and Republicans, in handling foreign policy. Let me say first that it has never been true that the Republicans were better at handling foreign policy than the…
Michele Bachmann’s Latest Crazy Talk
Posted by Greg Laden on September 14, 2012 She explicitly says, without any window dressing, that there are Americans, and there is Islam, and the Muslims are the enemy. No punches pulled here. And, she explicitly says that President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are aiding and assisting the enemy. This was at the so called “Values Summit” which, I think, they…
Michele Bachmann Could Be Replaced
Posted by Greg Laden on September 10, 2012 For various reasons, it has been difficult for the Democrats in Minnesota (called “DFLers”) to unseat Republican Congressional Representative Michele Bachmann. This has been partly because the candidates put up were not properly selected (probably) and partly because the people in her district simply liked her. Personally, I think her district started to like her…
The Worst Political Decision of the Year
Posted by Greg Laden on August 11, 2012 Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan to be his running mate does little more than changing one aspect of the election dynamic for the Presidency. But it an important change.
Many Duluth Zoo Animals Dead In Floods
Posted by Greg Laden on June 20, 2012 
Duluth, a second tier Minnesota city on Lake Superior, has been flooding. This is a little unusual; heavy rains following a period of saturation have caused a local river that is usually not even heard of to grow very large and cause flooding that a lot of people haven’t seen before. The polar bear and…
I personally put Al Franken in the Senate
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2012 
Today is Minnesota Senator Al Franken’s Birthday. In honor of that, I’m reposting this historically accurate and important essay, which first appeared on this blog on April 23, 2009 at 3:56PM: I personally put Al Franken in the Senate Al Franken is about to be seated as the Junior Senator from Minnesota after a long…
Jefferson Fietek for the House!
Posted by Greg Laden on April 20, 2012 I am supporting Jefferson Fietek for the Minnesota House of Representatives in district 36A. The details are complicated, and I would like to explain.
You need to give Sharon some money, right now
Posted by Greg Laden on March 29, 2012 As many of you know, because you’ve not seen me around as much as usual, I’ve been devoting a considerable amount of my time to volunteering for a political campaign in my district. I’m trying to help Sharon Sund replace Erik Paulsen in the Third Congressional District of Minnesota. Erik is the Republican who took…
Running a Well Organized Political Campaign in Minnesota
Posted by Greg Laden on March 26, 2012 I have participated in Minnesota Democratic Party (officially known as the DFL1) activities in the past, but never as intimately as this year. In doing so, I’ve observed a number of very interesting things about how a political campaign works, and I’d like to share those observations with you. In particular, I’ll contrast the campaign…
Controlling the Message in the Upcoming Campaigns
Posted by Greg Laden on March 18, 2012 By “Controlling the Message” I mean setting the agenda, usually by putting something out there that causes other people to shift their own message to be more like yours. I can think of a few spectacular yet small scale examples that are safe to talk about. I’ll give you one, although if certain people hear…
Sharon Sund and International Women’s DAy
Posted by Greg Laden on March 8, 2012 Tonight, in Minneapolis; bring your ideas and some money and we’ll make things happen! I’ve already put my One Good Shirt in the laundry and hope to have it dry in time. See you there? Key women leaders celebrate Sharon Sund on International Women’s Day To celebrate International Women’s Day, a large group of prominent…
We Need Sharon Sund in Minnesota’s Third District
Posted by Greg Laden on February 5, 2012 I support and endorse Sharon Sund for US Congress. Sharon will represent the Third District in Minnesota. For years, the Third District, in which I live, was represented by a moderate Republican, Jim Ramstad. Though I never voted for him, it was not all that annoying that he was in Congress because, as I say,…
Climate Change and the State of the Union Address
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2012 I liked Obama’s State of the Union Address, and I liked the fact that a lot of other people seemed to like it. He made strong and positive statements about energy. Imagine what we could accomplish … A future where we’re in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren’t so tied…
I am the Angry Left. But if I was in Congress I’d still be polite.
Posted by Greg Laden on November 22, 2011 We know that the right wing revels in stupidity; Willful stupidity and well practiced stupidity are thought to be the way elitist anti-populous tax-the-middle-class Republicans capture support from the masses. Seems to work rather well. But increasingly this trope of (ig)noble ignorance is being supplemented by large doses of mean spirited in your face angry…
Why do Republicans hate America and the Earth?
Posted by Greg Laden on November 19, 2011 This is a bit long but you will benefit from watching all of it. It gets extra hot at 31:30. I love the look on that woman’s face at 31:38 and again at 31:47. LOL. This particular member of congress, Don Young from Alaska, needs to get unelected. Frank J. Vondersaar seems to be the…
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