Politics/Government

Who are you supporting in the Senate race, and why?

Molly BloomMolly Bloom Nov 2, 2012
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MPR News is sponsoring a series of debates in St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater this week. The final debate is taking place this Sunday between Sen. Amy Klobuchar and opponent State Rep. Kurt Bills. Today’s Question: Who are you supporting in the Senate race, and why?

  • reggie

    Is someone running against Sen. Klobuchar? Why?

  • georges

    Kurt Bills would be a far better Senator than Amy Bessler has been.

    He is extremely intelligent, his positions are well thought out, he knows what he is doing and he would represent the people of Minnesota in a competent and honest manner.

    Amy Bessler got elected because her father was a well-loved figure in Minnesota. Her strategy has been to be invisible in the Senate and keep getting re-elected by the residual popularity of her father’s name.

    Chalk one up for fooling the people.

    Vote for Kurt Bills if you want the best candidate to go to Washington as Minnesota’s Senator.

  • Jason

    This is an easy choice. Indefinite war/drone strikes. NDAA. SOPA/PIPA. Increased national debt.

    Sen. Klobuchar voted in favor of these things.

    Rep. Bills does not support them.

  • Duane

    My vote will be for Kurt Bills. My reason is that we need to get rid of Harry Reid as Senate Leader. The House has passed a budget bill each of the last three years and Leader Reid has refused to allow them to the floor. Senate rules provide that budget bills CAN NOT be subject to a filibuster, only a 51% vote will pass a budget bill. Harry Reid is afraid to bring a budget bill to the senate floor, since it will open the spending crisis to full debate. Those who say the Republicans are responsible for this DO NOTHING congress is just pure folly.

  • Michael

    Senator Klobuchar

    I don’t believe many Republicans appreciate how historically devastating Bills’ defeat will be. The GOP are endorsing candidates for statewide office that can’t win.

    The tea party insurgency doubles down on the “run on my principles alone, and if I lose, so be it” attitude that further fractures and weakens the GOP.

    It’s fine to have a philosophy , but when it crosses over to ideology, you have a problem.

  • linda

    My husband and I are supporting Amy Klobauchar for US Senate. We approve of the job she has done. We listened to Mr. Bills on Almanac a week or two ago. I didn’t hear him say anything that would change our minds. He just kept sneering she’ a nice woman. We think she is a hard working woman for Minnesota. He just sounded really angry.

  • georges

    And, have you seen Amy Bessler’s TV ads recently?

    Horrible deaths of children in swimming pools, etc.

    There is no human suffering or tragedy that she will not use to pander for votes.

    Shameful. Disgusting. Childish.

    Unforgivable.

  • Jim G

    I’m voting for Amy Klobuchar. She’s accessible to the average voter. She’s the only federal representative that I have talked to on a regular basis at the Minnesota State Fair. She’s the type of person we need to elect more of to represent this state in Washington D.C.. She works hard behind the scenes building relationships with others across the aisle and has authored common sense legislation. In my book, she has earned another term.

  • GregX

    Senator Klobuchar.

    She is admirably doiing the work of the position. There is no reason to replace her.

  • Steve the Cynic

    There’s no good reason not to vote for Senator Klobuchar.

    The GOP basically conceded that Klobuchar is unbeatable. None of their top tier candidates (Tim Pawlenty, Norm Coleman, etc.) wanted to go up against her. The best candidate they could recruit to be their sacrificial slot-filler is a relative unknown whose only experience in elective office is one term on a suburban city council and one term in the state house. Kurt Bills went into this expecting to lose and then go back to teaching full time (which by all accounts he’s good at, and we need good teachers, too). The GOP big guns are waiting for 2014, when they can challenge the much more vulnerable Al Franken.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    Most of us women and men in the suburbs are supporting Bills.

    Sen. Klobuchar voted in favor of almost every bill Obama has signed. She approved the Obama care so called “un-affordable Health care act”, and admits she NEVER read the 2,000 long bill before voting for it. She refused to discuss the additional 200 some hidden taxes within that bill and the ongoing new regulations that are still being added every week.

    She has been silent on the BENGHAZI , LIBYA attacks and the cover ups just as NPR has also avoided this tstory. If this was Watergate instead of Benghazigate_ with her head in the sand, Nixon would still have stayed in office.

    Sen. Klobuchar voted in favor of the stimulus bill that Obama used to abolish the normal bankruptcy laws where bond and share holders were stripped of the law while the unions were paid off and government owns a private company.. Socialism is when the government takes some ownership and control over private companies just as Obama did with GM and Chrysler. America is still in the hole for $25 billion unpaid from GM. She also approved Obama’s out of control excessive new regulations of the EPA fiascos. e.g., shutting down all oil wells in the gulf for a year, killing 11,000 jobs, ignoring the real recommendations from other scientific agencies.

    She was in favor of the Defense authorization legislation hat grants the U.S. military the power to put AMERICANS within the borders of the United States into prison without any criminal charge, without any time limit. All that the federal government will need to do to imprison Americans will be to merely accuse them of terrorism, without substantiating those charges with any evidence.

    Plain and simple_ Radical Klobchar does NOT represent Minnesota or all Americans..just another career politician lining her purse.

  • Jonathan

    I’ll be voting for Tim Davis, of the Grassroots Party. Because the criminalization of cannabis (or hemp) was one of the greatest crimes committed upon the American public. Most of our poverty and pollution has come for this unconstitutional act 75 years ago. The Grassroots party is similar to the Green Party, Justice Party and Libertarian Party, all of which are focused on the real issues at hand in our world.

    I’ve voted for Amy one too many times and she is not intending to stop the drug war or end prohibition of cannabis.

  • Bob

    Amy Klobuchar will win by a 2 – 1 margin. She defeated Mark Kennedy by twelve percentage points in 2006 and she will easily be reelected with a higher percentage this time. The Minnesota GOP caucuses in the spring were attended in great numbers by Ron Paul supporters and Bills won the GOP senate endorsement after Ron Paul endorsed him. If Minnesota republicans do not like having their senate candidate defeated by a 2 – 1 margin, they should start attending their precinct caucuses and help select a more electable candidate as their party’s endorsed candidate.

  • Steve the Cynic

    Not only does the GOP regard the outcome as a forgone conclusion, but so do their big money donors and super PACs. If they thought Bills was a credible candidate, he’d be flush with money.

  • Mari Griffin

    Amy Klobuchar – because she levelheaded, dedicated and working hard for Minnesota. One exception to the ‘levelheaded’ part: Pizza as a vegetable!?

  • Jefferson

    I’ll be voting for Bills, I don’t think he’ll win but I like that there is a libertarian candidate actually running in a statewide race. I also think it’s great that he’s an economics teacher…we have so many lawyers in Washington DC already, it’d be nice to have a much wider variety of professions representing us in Washington DC. Think about how much more would get done at the federal level if we simply had more teachers, economists, scientists, doctors, engineers and police officers debating in Washington instead of 90%+ lawyers.

  • Carrie

    I’ll be voting for Klobuchar along with the majority of people in this State who recognize a hard working, smart person when they see one. No contest.

  • Mary

    I’ll be voting for Amy Klobuchar. She is one of the few senators that actually does her job and works for her constituents. She hasn’t given me a single reason to vote against her.

  • Mark in Freeborn

    Kurt Bills wouldn’t bring a thing to the US Senate except dissent, obstructionism, and inexperience. He’d also be an easy shill for the Tea Party. He’s way out of his league in this regard.

  • Jefferson

    Just in case you didn’t realize this Amy Klobauchar is your standard, follow the leader Democrat politician. She’s smart enough to realize that if she keeps her head down and doesn’t get passionate about controversial issues then she will always win elections due to the word incumbent next to her name on the ballot. She will always champion issues like lead in toys, dangerous pool drains and helping disabled soldiers (which every politician would do) but remember that she has and will always vote for every issue in the way that the Democrat party tells her to. If you’re okay with this standard politician who will never put her neck out to risk an election loss then keep voting for her…just don’t come crying to me when Social Security and Medicare go bankrupt and suddenly our debt skyrockets since that’s the only way to pay for those social program due to the large number of Klobauchar clones representing us our federal government.

  • Mark

    I be voting for the person that will work to reduce the highly corrosive, societal economic disparity in this country, that continues to grow. Not a person that will stand with bafoons like Grover Nordquist….Senator Klobuchar is my choice.

  • Regnar James

    Kurt,

    He is well balanced and shares my beliefs.

    ∑

    DTOM

  • David Poretti

    Hmmm, let me think…

    An articulate, thoughtful and objective situation/policy analyst with a solid knowledge of the Constitution and how government works, with proven leadership skills and a track record of working across the aisle and “getting things done”.

    Or an angry, uninformed (unless getting the majority of your “facts” from Fox News and USA Today counts as informed), politically naive economics teacher (who has no more formal training in economics than a high school student), that doesn’t have a clue about how to build a bi-partisan coalition or work with those he may not agree with at least 98% of the time. On the other hand, he has promised to get rid of the Department of Education, HUD, the EPA and “Obama-Care”. (Wow – who knew that a 1st year junior Senator from Minnesota had that kind of clout?)

    Tough call. I guess I’m undecided.

  • JasonB

    Steve T.C.,

    My interpretation of your 8:23 am post was that your reasoning behind your “no good reason” was that a vote for Bills would be a ‘wasted vote’ because you believe he can’t win.

    No vote is a waste. If anything it sends a message and expresses an individual’s right and voice. After listening to Bills’ positions and being disappointed in some of Klobuchar’s voting I may have found some good reasons to express my voice on election day.

    Also, the tone of many supporting Klobuchar seems to reflect that lockstep support for the popular candidate. They use simple, unspecific language saying that she is a “good person” and is doing a “fine job” – typical for an unchallenged, party line voter.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    According to my neighbor who runs union meetings for teachers, most are now favoring Bills. Some reasons:

    Teachers are for kids, they work hard to help children and they don’t see pro abortion as something that helps children. Killing instead of adoption is not a moral choice.

    Klobuchar has been so silent on the Benghazi murders and White House cover up. Teachers do not support a President that sits on his hands and lets our own people be murdered because it would sully his campaign and past talk about how good his work was in Libya and with routing Al Queda.

    Klobuchar has supported radical EPA policies that killed millions of jobs across the country. She supports Obama’s socialist ideals of “Wealth Redistribution ” but teachers know that when we have seen little job growth, 23 million out of work, food prices almost 40% higher, gasoline more than doubled, higher energy costs as Obama promised he would make happen_ then they know their jobs are at stake When property taxes tank from foreclosures, there is less money to fund schools. If elected, Obama will see the wealth become less well off but it will also make the poor even poorer. Just as the TV ad showing the Hungarian immigrant talking about coming from a socialist country and we need to wake up before it is too late and USA is bankrupt. If bankrupt who will pay for teachers and social security and other welfare?

    If BIG government with too much regulations and restriction is so good, then why is Stanton island 5 days later in chaos ? And the relief from FEMA so bad. No water, no food, no electricty but liberal progressive Mayor Bloomberg goes ahead with stupid marathon race while NYC citizens are dying. Progressivim is truly the stepping stone to communism. And Kloubuchar foolishly supports a radical president..so no, we will not vote for her!

  • Linda in Plymouth

    Klobuchar is a fake. The union members asked NOT to have her endorsed because of her deceit, taking credit for actions she had nothing to do with and hostile work place. Do you think millions of workers should be forced by federal law to pay tribute to union officials just to get or keep their jobs? She does.

    President Obama and Senator Amy Klobuchar have demonstrated by their words and deeds that they do.

    Based upon their records and silence, it’s clear that Obama and Klobuchar have a secret deal with Big Labor to force workers to pay union dues any chance they get. Go see how much AFLCIO and MN Ed union has spent for her. Union leaders making $340,000 while workers see no raise for years in the schools since 2008.

  • Linus

    How in the world can anyone vote for Amy if they are aware of the news? Amy supports most of Obama’s directions. Amy refuses to speak up about the White House cover up in Libya. She says nothing about her past votes, many which have caused more economic ruin across the country. She ignores the biggest scandal since Vietnam days by quietly going along with Obama’s cover up of the attack in Bengazi, Libya.

    A real Senator would be asking the President : “When did you know about the other attacks months before? Why didn’t you pull our people out when even the Red Cross left Bengazi? Why did you give an order to stand down and not give aid to our Ambassador and SEALs? Who ordered Rice, the US Ambassador to the UN, to give a false story about a You Tube clip as the cause? Why did you have Attorney General Holder arrest the film maker if not to show a fals front of going after the cause of the Benghzai attack_ it was all a ruse, the records show facts that support it and only Fox news has done the investigation on the ground over there, CNN did a little but side steps most of the new facts. Klobuchar is pretty useless and she is a radical in many ways.

    _

  • Steven

    Klobuchar recieived more money from all the unions than Bills, in fact the union officials want him gone.

    650 electrical workers went to help in New York after the storm but were denied ..because THEY were not_ Union workers! Really– now the union stops disaster relief? Four days we hear from Obama how great FEMA is doing but they are failing!! They can’t get generators running to get gasoline pumped in NY.

    Where are our MN Senators support along with the President now after Obama said, ” we have to cut through red tape to get things done after the storm.”

    Amy also supports this person, so here’s the bio from his post election writings.

    ” Who am I?”

    I was born in one country, raised in another. My father was born in another country. I was not his only child. He fathered several children with numerous women. I became very close to my mother, as my father showed no interest in me. My mother died at an early age from cancer. Later in life, questions arose over my real name. My birth records were sketchy and no one was able to produce a legitimate,reliable birth certificate. I grew up practicing one faith but converted to Christianity, as it was widely accepted in my country, but I practiced non-traditional beliefs & didn’t follow Christianity, except in the public eye under scrutiny. I worked and lived among lower-class people as a young adult, disguising myself as someone who really cared about them. That was before I decided it was time to get serious about my life and I embarked on a new career. I wrote a book about my struggles growing up. It was clear to those who read my memoirs that I had difficulties accepting that my father abandoned me as a child. I became active in local politics in my 30’s then with secret help, I literally burst onto the scene as a candidate for national office in my 40s. They said I had a golden tongue and could talk anyone into anything. That reinforced my conceit. I had a virtually non-existent resume, little work history, and no experience in leading a single organization. Yet I was a powerful speaker and citizens were drawn to me as though I were a magnet and they were small roofing tacks. I drew incredibly large crowds during my public appearances. This bolstered my ego. At first, my political campaign focused on my country’s foreign policy. I was very critical of my country in the last war and seized ever opportunity to bash it. But what launched my rise to national prominence were my views on the country’s economy. I pretended to have a really good plan on how we could do better and every poor person would be fed & housed for free. I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this mess. It was the free market, banks & corporations. I decided to start making citizens hate them and if they were envious of others who did well, the plan was clinched tight. I called mine “A People’s Campaign” and that sounded good to all. I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from outside the traditional path of politics & was able to gain widespread popular support. I knew that if I merely offered the people ‘hope’, together we could change our country and the world. So, I started to make my speeches sound like they were on behalf of the downtrodden, poor, ignorant to include “persecuted minorities” like the Jews & Blacks. My true views were not widely known & I needed to keep them unknown, until after I became my nation’s leader. I had to carefully guard reality, as anybody could have easily found out what I truly believed, if they had simply read my writings and examined those people I associated with. I’m glad they didn’t. Then I became the most powerful man in the world. And the world learned the truth. WHO AM I ? ……….

    The answer: ADOLF HITLER…Of whom were you thinking?

    I vote for anyone EXCEPT Klobuchar.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    Amy took so much money from the unions because she not think we should get job without paying $ to union bosses. She voted to insure union control. and union growth. Reminds me of the style seen in pre 1987 Romania.

  • Sgt Major M

    I have to vote against Klobuchar after doing a bit of research on her support to the far left agendas. She refuses to speak out on the Libya cover up..that cinched the deal for us. Here is the order of events:

    BARACK OBAMA KNEW THE BENGHAZI EMBASSY WAS IN DANGER.

    BARACK OBAMA CANCELLED THE ORDER FOR ADDITIONAL SECURITY.

    THEN BARACK OBAMA LIED TO COVER HIS MISTAKE.

    The Obama Administration is lying to protect their image before the election.

    They have videos of the entire terrorist attack that they have not released.

    Enough said? Birds of a feather flock together.

  • David P

    My girlfriend and I just debated the merits of each, candidate. Senators as well as Presidents have their first duty to protect the country and uphold our Constitution. We are voting for who ever has the guts to stand up to their party and show the honesty to demand we get the truth about the Benghazi cover up. Enough is enough. Tell the truth and take responsibility. That is what our elected officials were voted in to do. Looks like Klobuchar is being voted out of office.

  • Steve the Cynic

    JasonB.

    Well, if that’s your interpretation of what I wrote, I guess that’s what I meant. I get confused some times and apparently need others to tell me what I mean. But here’s what I thought I meant: Amy Klobuchar is such a strong candidate, that the GOP couldn’t recruit a credible challenger to run against her. Bills is clearly unqualified, as evidenced by the tepid support from his own party and affiliated super PACs. This is not in itself reason to vote for Klobuchar, but a recognition that even the GOP can’t come up with a persuasive case against her, which I take as evidence that there’s no good reason to vote against her.

  • linda

    Senator Klobuchar denied there was any voter fraud when Senator SNL comic Frankin was elected in 2008.

    But facts are different than what she say to us.

    In 2010, it was discovered that staff from a Minnesota group home serving mentally challenged people drove their residents to the Courthouse to vote in-person absentee ballot. Eyewitnesses reported observing staff completing ballots for the people in their care. A later review of court records revealed that residents were under guardianship orders that specifically stated the individuals were incapable of exercising the right to vote. And to, how many registered were found from deceased records In MN? too many.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    To all Minnesotans, if you really care about the country you were born in and pledge allegiance to, then write here in a post demanding MPR ask NPR to do real truths on the cover up and Obama’s lack of actions that caused deaths of our own ambassador and SEALs, some 8 weeks a go.

    ” WHAT ABOUT BENGHAZI? AMERICA WANTS ANSWERS.”

    if media won’t cover fully and ask White House to come clean, then you all know that free journalism is dead. This is the first thing all dictators do when they feel they control the media. They kill freedom of the press.

  • jockamo

    The Goosesteppers are going to vote for Amy?

    Now, there’s a surprise………

    Kind of like NPR this morning, going on and on and on and on about Democrat 1%er Michael Bloomberg saying he was “endorsing” Obama…..

    Really, NPR? You were expecting the billionaire 1%er Democrat to support Romney?

    HaHaHa……now THAT would have been “news”……

    HarHarHar

  • Linus

    Has Amy seen the way her boss is viewed over seas? Polls show this week that most of the socialist countries want to see Obama re-elected. Even Russian Puttin wnats him in office with his DFL senators. THAT is a bad sign!!!!!! youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fwPIav-NwTM

  • Rick A.

    Klobuchar has encouraged the United Nations to send election “monitors” to states like Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, and several others. She believes the U.N has power over America.

    The U.N. said that state and local election officials have an “obligation” to let them “monitor” polling locations and watch people as they vote.

    Two state attorneys general have said that these U.N. election “monitors” are not above local election laws and must keep their distance.

    The United Nations is not above our election laws but Klobuchar , just as Obama, wants America to be ruled by the U.N. That is why she endorses Obama’s UN polices to lead from behind and impose UN land use laws on us! These are just ways the U.N. can gain control over us and spread a One World Order as they have spoke of for the past ten years. Their expressed spoken goal is to spread the wealth from North America and Europe to poorer southern continent contries.

    So who started this One World Order stuff using a phrase of we are all “Global citizens” crap and designing the Doctrine to Protect crap to be passed in the UN? Yes, it was the billionair George Soros, the same one who purposely collapsed the British pound and currency in indonesia , the same one who funded Obama’s senate race and in 2008. Do the math kids. Sopros also gave millions last year to NPR to develop a new_ investigative dept to attack conservatives. Is NPR biased now ??

  • John

    I just wish that our representative would do just that, represent US. Instead each one is asked to give their allegiance to Israel prior to giving their oath to office of the US government.

    What is with the Israeli lobby? Why do we GIVE Israel so much money and weapons when they are an aggressor, killing nation?

    Over the period between the election in 2008 and now Israel has killed more than 2000 people and it does even show up on MPR. Why?

  • kevins

    My wife and I will be voting for Amy K. because she is genuine, level-headed, caring and honest. She is able to keep focused on reality in terms of issues relevant to us, unlike the trolls that have oozed out of the laths in response to today’s question.

  • John

    If a candidate expresses their allegiance to Israel they should be scrutinized, questioned, interrogated as to who they really represent. The money or the people?

  • Josh

    Voting yes. ID theft is real and is more than just a financial or security concern. Large banks and corporations go to extensive length to protect sensitive ID information. If you need an ID to open a bank account, drive a car, purchase a piece of real estate, apply for a loan, even apply for most public assistance, why the outrage of it being unreasonable to ensure legal citizens are the only people voting?

    You can’t travel outside the US without a photo ID. If your a citizen living here you can get a photo ID without a problem if your a US citizen. This also will prevent much more voter fraud and duplicate voting. Why people think that deceased people voting, felons voting, and people voting multiple times in different precincts is “part of democracy” or a “more pure representation” of the will of the people is beyond me.

    Having a more pure vote through voter ID strengthens democracy and keeps fraud more to a minimum. People that don’t want to play by the rules….hate any rules that limits the free for all unchecked voting policy we currently have. No state or local government is denying photo ID’s to people that are legitimately allowed to vote. Period. Anything to the contrary just isn’t true across the board when it comes to their availability.

    An unresponsible citizen doesn’t care about the legitimacy of the vote. Responsible adults know this is a policy not aimed at oppressing the vote but making sure those voting are qualified to do so.

  • Lars

    Out of respect for Paul Wellstone I am voting for Kurt Bills. Bills most closely represents the independent and genuine values of Wellstone. I recall Wellstone’s awesome speach on why he was voting NO on the Iraq War resolution. He stood up to entrenched political interests who only desired to extract wealth and power from the citizens.

    The choice is easy–I choose Kurt Bills because he shares many of the values of Minnesota’s Paul Wellstone.

  • Dennis Schminke

    I support Amy because she has tackled the tough issues. She pushed Federal legilation to MANDATE replacement/redesign of swimming pool drain covers (so that three-year-old toddlers do not have their intestines sucked out). Never mind the fact that her (Harry Reid’s, actually) senate has not passed a budget in 3-1/2 years and we are running deficits in the neighborhood of $1.2 T annually.

  • JasonB

    Steve T.C.,

    I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or a bit prickly in your first sentences. A simple ‘no’ would have sufficed. I suppose I could have posed my thoughts in the form of a question like ‘are you saying that…’

    If I was convinced that Bills could not win, then all the better to vote for him if my goal was just to send a message. There would be no worry that an “unqualified” person would get in office and my message of disappointment over the other candidate would get delivered.

    I don’t know of all the intricacies behind a candidate, why he/she is running or why/how they get support. I wouldn’t disagree that the GOP may be conceding this race and is diverting its resources elsewhere. It’s not affecting how I want to use my vote. If I felt as such I may not vote for either, or write in a candidate. Either way I still feel there are other good reasons for not picking the so-called ‘clear choice’ as those stock commercial pitches keep repeating.

  • Linda in Plymouth

    VOTE for Anyone BUT Klobuchar because she endorses Obama and voted too many times for his radical agenda of siding with union mob bosses over citizins that pay their way. Here’ is another example , something the MN local media won’t touch because they provide cover for Obama..don’t think so? then ask them where is the investigation on Benghzazi!

    Klobuchar sides with big unions. Barack Obama declared “We are not going to tolerate red tape. We are not going to tolerate bureaucracy.”

    Obama’s words do not apply to Big Labor.

    According to recent local NJ news reports, volunteer electrical workers from Alabama were turned away from New Jersey because they dared to exercise their rights under Alabama’s Right to Work law to remain free from forced unionism.

  • lawrence

    Senator Amy Klobuchar is a nice lady but Linda is correct when she writes, Amy supports the radical agendas that have not helped rebuild or increase job growth. Amy is also against protecting our voting rights. See this news link and make your decision well informed. protectmyvote.com/?p=902

  • wade

    I find it interesting that a lot of people are upset at the Benghazi incident and most people are giving the previous POTUS a pass on the Iraq war. Recall all of the failed reasons that came up early in the war about why we were there? Granted loss of lives is important but why do the loss of soldiers not get the notice they should.

    Sorry to go so far off topic

  • Chris

    Tim Davis, because he stands for our inherent right to grow Hemp and Cannabis.

  • Rich

    I will be voting on Tuesday to correct the four years of obstructionism and economic sabotage.

  • Steve the Cynic

    Is there a difference between prickly and sarcastic, JasonB? But yes, it is usually more prudent to ask than to presume.

    In any case, there are plenty of reasons not to vote for Bills. Two that stood out for me in tonight’s debate were….

    1. He’s anti-science, as evidenced by his “no” to the question of whether he believes climate change is happening.

    2. He dogmatically holds the superstitious belief that unfettered free enterprise will automatically make everything better, as evidenced by his assertion that it would be good for the environment. (And I shudder to think how many students he’s indoctrinated into that faith over his years teaching high school.)

  • Mark

    Aftyer attending the debate at the Fitgerald tonight my inclinations to support Sentator Klobuchar have been confirmed….Representive Bills was doing fairly well until he got into discussions what I would call simply “off topic”. We walked away with more confidence in our votes for Senator Klobuchar,.

  • Koko

    It was rather amazing to hear the audience’s shocked and horrified response to Bills when he said he didn’t believe in climate change.

    ¡Vote Green or Grassroots, anything but Dem/Rep!

  • Pragmatic Libertarian

    I could argue a great many things about what people are writing about but I think there’s a limit to these posts so I’ll just say this. The size of the federal government must be decreased. We can all agree that the old adage “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” is certainly true. It would only be false if we could vote for all knowing Angels that would know how to fix every problem and have no motive keeping them from implementing the perfect solution. But here in the real world we have only humans to choose from whom certainly make mistakes even if they do have the best intentions. The larger the central power the more capacity for harm these eventual mistakes will have on the citizens. We could foolishly keep voting to extend the power of government and thus increase corruption or we could vote for people who actually want to decrease corruption by limiting the size of government. Unless you actually believe that all knowing Angels can be elected into power, it’s obvious that the only way to reduce the harm that corrupt central powers can have on your life is to vote for an imperfect human (the only type of human in existence) that actually believes in reducing the corrupt central power. This is a very simple idea to grasp yet people seem to want to keep taking the wrong pill and remain in the idealized world in which they continue to forfeit their personal freedoms for promises of physical and economic security. The false choice is to decide how to increase the federal government’s powers in the next 4 years when so clearly it shouldn’t be growing at all. If you dare take the red pill that Neo took you should start by learning more about economics, start with the Mises Institute. Read (or Youtube) Milton Friedman. Learn about Hayak vs Keynes and why the stagflation of the 70s destroys the Keynesian myth that you can spend your way out of debt. Learn why the Soviet Union collapsed. Learn the difference between real market prices and government controlled prices and how those price signals affect efficiencies in business. It’s admittedly dry material but oh so important if you are to make any kind of educated decision on who our elected officials should be. I don’t agree with Kurt Bills on a lot of things but the single most important thing that matters, and matters in such a degree as to completely eclipse any other issue is that the federal government must be decreased in size, power and corruption.

  • Steve the Cynic

    But the corrupting influence of power works both ways, PL. If you think a jungle-rules economy (i.e., laissez faire capitalism) where there’s no check on the power of hoarded wealth is a panacea for all our social ills, you are much mistaken. Yes, soviet socialism was a disaster, but you need to go back in history a bit further and learn why it was tried in the first place. It was an overreaction to the oppressive excesses of unbridled capitalism. The opposite of the one mistake turned out to be another mistake. Now you’re saying we should go back to the first mistake. There is a good road between the ditches. Germany seems to have found it. Let’s learn from them.

  • JasonB

    Steve T.C.,

    The climate change denial response from Bills during the debate stood out for me as well. I thought he was more independent than to toe the line for that embarrassing position. That and his support of a flat tax quashed my support.

  • Phyllis Venkataya

    I was watching Lou DObbs and hear some bafforn threaten President Obama about some check and balances and I am the REPUBLICS are sore losers! You picked the wrong candidate, it is as simple as that and cannot even concede when you have LOST!! President Obama got sp much achieved in four years without the help of CONGRESS. We on the outside see what is also going on and those fat cats sitting in the Congress name calling, threatening, and challenging us over what OHIO? Never mind, we got all of the states we needed. Carl Rowe, can count all he wants, the race was whoever met 270 idiot, it was a race, and again, I repeat, YOU not President Obama LOST. A civil WAR? ARuE YOU Fricking serious??? You and Rush calling a woman a slut, I rest my case, YOU LOST!!!

  • Dehlia La Rosa

    YOU ALL LOST GET OVER IT!

  • Dehlia DeLaRosa

    Georges,

    Ander and frustration over your teams lose, and then you have the audacity to talk about Amy, what is wrong with you? Was that When the former President who normally shows up for a Republic candidate goes to a foreign county instead of hanging out with his candidate that told me something about Romney. All Carl Roves money and the Apprenctive idiot, and guess what, he never reached 270! 21 states and counting for a sitting President that you all swore you would get, we are now at 282 to you 203. Oops no other states coming in for Romney. Amy Bessler’s TV ads and Amy is no better than the rest of the Republic who slanders, badgered, bad mouthed, name called his wife and children, called him horrible names, showed pure racism over a position that people vote in not BUY for two very unqualified men to step in and change this country to a place that former President Bush’s 8 long years put us in. We won the referendum, thank you very much. Never bet against the power of a man thwarted from the beginning who was harassed by the Red in Congress. This is over, it is done, and our President is no longer going to allow these men to boss, demand or screw him over ever again. Disgusting! Mitt Romney was ugly, he never released his tax returns, he flipped companies and fired and left people out of jobs, he was a liar as was his wife and sons.

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