Podcast 456

Bad Omen. A special primary election in Minnesota’s 35th Senate District results in 60 percent of the vote for RINO Jim Abeler over the Tea Party and Republican Party endorsed candidate Andy Aplicowski and may be a bad omen for the general election in 2016. The Iowa Precinct Caucuses are on February 1st. Minnesota’s caucuses are on March 1st. With the national media reporting on the Republican Party ‘Civil War’, and the impact of the Tea Party in that ‘civil war’ it looks like the Tea Party is all show, and no go. Tea Party groups can’t seem to get out the vote for ‘principled’ conservatives. Is this a bad omen? Is it possible voters don’t agree with the Tea Party message? Are the Tea Party groups lazy? Or, maybe Tea Party groups are just ignorant of what real political organizing requires. If this happens nationwide in 2016 then the so called ‘grassroots surge’ of ‘principled’ conservatives in the Republican Party, supported by Tea Party chapters all over the country, may be one of the biggest busts, and thus one of the biggest stories of 2016 bad omen, or not. Offering excuses doesn’t cut it. Win, or go home. Sure, the story line of the Tea Party as kingmaker serves the mainstream media’s interests now, but if the Tea Party can’t produce results what the media gives will be taken away, mercilessly. What’s wrong? This might be considered a harsh analysis for some, but when the Tea Party candidate loses by sixty percent of the vote, it’s a criticism that should be heard and a story that’s not being told. Is there something these groups can do to improve their performance? What happens if they keep failing to win? Sponsored by Hydrus, Pride of Home and Luke Team Real Estate.

Podcast 455

Impeach the Con Con. All hands will be required on deck to win the 2016 election. Caucuses and Primary Elections produce low voter participation. What is the tea party doing? Sending out petitions to impeach President Obama and calling for a constitutional convention to pass a grab bag of wacky amendments. In 2012, only about 7 percent of Iowans participated in precinct caucuses. Sadly, in Minnesota, which depends on caucuses for political volunteers to turn out the vote, turn out in 2012 was in the single digit range. Tea Partiers may be ‘angry’ and ‘frustrated’ with Congressman Tom Emmer and Speaker Kurt Daudt, but are so busy with the Obama Impeachment, they don’t have candidates to oppose either. Meanwhile Democrats are already door knocking and asking for contributions for a surfeit of candidates. Barack Obama leaves office on January 20th, 2017. Then there is a pesky detail that if an impeachment, guilty verdict and removal from office could be accomplished during a presidential election year, Joe Biden would be president of the United States. The constitutional convention idea, pitched several times in the last 60 years, is currently championed by talk show hosts, who apparently think delegates to such a convention would only be Tea Party members from deep red states like Texas and Kansas. Think California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and Minnesota would send conservatives? If you wonder why the conservative movement in this country is dead, look no further than this kind of folly. It’s a sad waste of people earnestly concerned about their country’s future. Help turn out the vote? Build an organization with lasting political power? Forget it. Sponsored by X Government Trucks and Ryan Plumbing and Heating.