Grassroots Tries Again-MNGOP Convention 2018-Duluth-Coverage-Perspective-Podcast 728

These days there’s lots of talk about the ‘Grassroots‘. Most of all, when republicans and democrats hold their conventions on the same weekend. Live coverage from the MNGOP confab in Duluth in Grassroots Tries Again-MNGOP Convention 2018-Duluth-Coverage-Perspective-Podcast 728.

Grassroots On The Line

Furthermore the grassroots are on the line in both parties. There was so much concern about making sure the MNGOP convention ended with an endorsement that leaders pulled strings to make sure Jeff Johnson got a full throated endorsement. Delegates were never told the results of the third ballot. In Rochester, Clinton Democrats battled Our Revolution activists to the bitter end. Both parties claim to be united.

Primary Challenge

Especially relevant is former Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty’s looming primary challenge. Four statewide races and a primary are tall organizational and monetary challenges. Probably have to cash and boots on the ground for that kind of challenge. I think the main question to emerge from this convention is whether the republican grassroots is ready to run and volunteer in these tough statewide races. Go inside the convention in Grassroots Tries Again-MNGOP Convention 2018-Duluth-Coverage-Perspective-Podcast 728.

Activists Just Wanted To Go Home

For all the spit and vinegar among activists, no one wanted ballot after ballot of voting to endorse a gubernatorial candidate. The solution was for two other candidates to drop out. Therefore Phillip Parrish and Mary Giuliani Stephens obliged. Republican ‘activists’ seemed thankful to nominate Jeff Johnson by acclamation. Two minutes later, as delegates headed for the doors, debate on resolutions was tabled. In Grassroots Tries Again-MNGOP Convention 2018-Duluth-Coverage-Perspective-Podcast 728.

Jesus and Trump

Most noteworthy at this convention were the speeches. Candidates and speakers pounded religious and pro Trump themes again and again. As a result there weren’t many details on the economy, budgeting or foreign policy. Hence lots of empty vows to ‘change things’. Not much meat on those bones. I guess that’s politics.

Grassroots Swan Song?

In conclusion leadership was most concerned about ending the convention without an endorsement for governor. Consequently leaders allowed the grassroots to save face. This is why challengers dropped out and the the endorsement vote was by acclamation. Once delegates had chosen a candidate for governor they didn’t feel like hanging around and debating resolutions. So much for the passion of the republican grassroots.

Both mainline parties want to do away with caucuses and move to a primary system. Activism requires action, not just passion.

In the end a vote for Jeff Johnson was the quickest way home.

So much for passion.

(Editor’s Note: I refer to Phillip Parrish as ‘Andy Parrish’ in this podcast. My sincere apologies to Phillip and his campaign.)

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Grassroots Tries Again-MNGOP Convention 2018-Duluth-Coverage-Perspective-Podcast 728

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Podcast 458

Not George Washington. With the Iowa Caucuses less than a week away, political prognosticators have finally gone off the rails. This week’s poster child for idiocy goes to the talk show host who claims Texas Senator Ted Cruz is ‘The New George Washington’. How is the ‘endorsement’ of candidates from personalities, talk show hosts and commentators different from endorsements that come from governors, senators and candidates who are exiting the race? How has the endorsing of candidates by talk show hosts hurt talk radio? Ted Cruz is Not George Washington, but that fact doesn’t stop charlatans from saying so. Why do they do it? It’s a desperate quest for something called ‘relevance’, which is yet another example of the talk radio cesspool. This podcast has been steadfast in not supporting any candidate for president in 2016. The penchant commentators have this year, to influence voters to support candidates based only on polling data, is shameful. Moreover, participation in primaries and caucuses is very low. The result of primaries and caucuses this spring and summer have more to do with the nominating conventions for both mainline parties than the general election. Despite this fact, talk radio and the media are already making predictions and issuing endorsements for the presidency? The victors in the first few primaries or caucuses, at least on the republican side, are usually not the nominee. The only reasonable conclusion is that commentators are manipulating their listeners and voters for their own gain; a sad feature of a presidential cycle already off the rails. You can imagine how the real election will be reported. This podcaster is not going to endorse anyone for president, since all of them are more like Nucky Thompson than anything approaching George Washington. Sponsored by Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate and Hydrus.

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Podcast 427 – Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann. The Bob Davis Podcasts caught up with former Congressman Michele Bachmann at the Citizens Council For Health Freedom annual dinner. Bachmann proves she is still a firehose and a firebrand when it comes to talk about politics. The CCHF is interested in repealing Obamacare, so this is where we start. Does the former congressman really think this congress, or the next, is going to actually repeal the ACA? How would that vote be taken? Sharing some of her experience from the presidential campaign trail in 2012, she talks about Jeb Bush and Donald Trump, and responds to a question about Trump’s seeming support of not repealing the ACA, saying Trump is willing to change his mind. She goes on to blast current republican leadership in the House of Representatives, and especially Minnesota Republican Leadership for not taking the fight to the left. She also takes on what she feels are the big issues in the 2016 race, starting with illegal immigration, and her analysis of what the republican base wants. Bachmann says Minnesota Republicans are risk averse, afraid to take on the democrats and the left, on the issues. In comments sure to ruffle some careful republican feathers, Bachmann says Minnesota’s Republicans at the state and federal level ‘don’t want editorial boards mad at them’. Bachmann says the Democrats are pushing hard left to their base, while the right is doing the opposite; pushing more to the center and ‘kicking its base in the shins’. Current Republican leadership in Minnesota really isn’t going to like her critique and explanation of why she thinks they are doing a bad job, but the base will celebrate what she says. Bachmann agrees with many of her former constituents who lament the loss of what she calls conservative leadership in Minnesota and reminds people on the sidelines in the Republican camp that one person can make a difference, providing a detailed history of how she got involved in politics in Minnesota in the first place, and then on to Congress and a presidential campaign. The former congressman and 2012 presidential candidate travels the country speaking, and proves in this interview she is as capable as ever of shaking things up. Is there another election in her future? Listen and find out. Sponsored by X Government Trucks and Eric and Erum Lucero of Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate.

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