Tarryl Clark's Cheap Opportunism, Part XXXLVVIII

To term Tarryl Clark as an opportunistic, lying (fill in your expletive here), would be, well, shall we say, generous.

Having absolutely nothing to contribute, being intellectually vapid in both substance and form, feckless, desperate Tarryl Clark instead stoops to cheap opportunism and taking quotes out of context. The latest is a prime example:

Tarryl Clark believes that BP should pay for the mess they made. Like all of us - with the apparent exception of a certain Congresswoman - she doesn't want to see a single dime of taxpayer money go to bail out BP.

And we're taking Michele Bachmann head-on over this issue. It's been called a defining moment of the midterm election, a clear example of whose side Michele Bachmann is really on.

Of course, Clark's stock in trade, like her hero, Barack Hussein Obama, is intellectual dishonesty.

Clark gets her ammunition for her latest intellectually vapid rant from Congresswoman Bachmann's quote:

"If I were the head of BP I would let the signal get out there -- we're not going to be chumps and we're not going to be fleeced."

Yes, a pretty damning quote, until you consider it in context, which was Obama's "Or else" meeting with BP officials in which he virtually seized $20 billion dollars without due process of law.

Of course, Bachmann was not saying that BP should not take financial and/or other responsibility-what Bachmann (and for that matter, Senator Joe Barton) decried was the flagrant Hugo-Chavez-styled seizure of property that took place void of any Constitutional due process of law.

The issue is not that BP should not bear responsibility for the situation in the Gulf; the issue here is that the Obama administration completely skirted due process and flagrantly overreached its authority in its not-so-veiled shakedown of BP.

President Obama may have been a community organizer in a previous lifetime, but a Jesse Jackson he is not. He is the highest Constitutional officer in the land--subject to the limits placed upon him and the Executive Branch by the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment of said Constitution does not allow for the seizure of property without due process of law. Obama completely usurped his Constitutional authority.

If Tarryl Clark was as smart as she claims to be, she should have known that.

But then again, when has the Constitution ever gotten in the way of a Statist democrat and her thirst for power?

So, to answer Tarryl's question, who's side is Michele Bachmann really on? The side of the rule of law.

By the way, which side are you on, Tarryl?

Steve Gottwalt on Minnesota's $5.4 Billion Shortfall

In an email to his constituents, SD 15-A representative Steve Gottwalt had this to say:

We received the latest budget forecast information today and it indicates Minnesota faces a projected $1.2 billion shortfall for the current two-year state budget, and a $5.4 billion deficit for the next biennium.

This is tough news, and underscores the need for even greater state fiscal restraint. Minnesotans want state government to live within its means instead of raising taxes on families and businesses. Small businesses create the vast majority of new jobs, and they have told us loud and clear they cannot afford more government. We must rein-in state government spending and focus on sustainable reforms that boost our economy. That is the "goose" that lays Minnesota's "golden eggs."

In the 2010 Legislative Session, we need to confront reality and adopt meaningful structural reforms to solidify our economic future. State spending must be brought in line with revenue received, as families and businesses must do. Hard-working taxpayers cannot continue to pay for backward thinking where the state spends money before it knows what’s in the checkbook. Minnesotans expect state government to live within its means.

We cannot tax our way out of this deficit! Tax increases will kill the jobs we need to turn around our economy and state revenues. We have a spending problem; not a revenue problem: Government spending in Minnesota has grown by 140 percent since 1992, and we have seen numerous proposals in the last few years for billions of dollars in new tax increases. We must set good priorities, and live within our means
instead of raising taxes on struggling families and businesses.

Liberals propose “tax increases only on the wealthy.” However, most of the so-called “wealthy” are small businesses filing through individual tax returns - the same small businesses we need to help grow more jobs for a sustainable economic recovery. The top 10 percent wage earners in Minnesota already pay 57 percent of all personal income taxes, and 38 percent of all taxes in our state. Even if we raised their
tax rate a full 10 percent, it would generate only $381 million toward our persistent deficit.

We cannot tax our way to prosperity while families and businesses are battling to make ends meet with less in these tough economic times. Increasing the tax burden would drive out the jobs and revenue we need to turnaround Minnesota’s economy.

The Legislature’s top priority in 2010 must be creating sustainable jobs in the private sector by reducing tax and regulatory burdens. I will continue working to kick-start Minnesota's job market by promoting an environment that supports business growth!

Of course, Mr. Gottwalt speaks nothing but sense here. To tax the bejesus out of the job creators will not create any more taxpayers than depriving a garden of its water will grow more produce.

The crappy part about it is that Margaret Kelliher, Tarryl Clark, Larry Haws, Larry Hosch, and the rest of the tax-n-spend DFL'ers will wail, moan and gnash their teeth, saying the "evil rich" aren't paying their fair share;, when it is the "evil rich" (as Gottwalt stated, the Mom & Pop concerns) that create the very jobs that render a vibrant economy that sustains both economic prosperity and, of course, tax revenue for governmental functions.

And look for Tim Pawlenty, in one of his last acts in office, along with the Minnesota House Republicans to once again play the adult.

Look for yet another infantile show down by the DFL this coming budgetary cycle.

Tarryl Clark's Magical Thinking

Two days ago, the new Granite City Crossing was christened in St. Cloud. Many luminaries were there, including Mayor (and former Minnesota state Senator) Dave Kleis, Michele Bachmann, Steve Gottwalt, and others. Some there gave speeches. For example, Congresswoman Bachmann,

...kept the focus on the "heart of Minnesota," our community, and particularly our business community. She noted the benefits of getting this bridge completed ahead of time and $15 million under budget. Jobs creation by our small businesses (you know -- the ones that make $200,000 or more and are the favorite targets of Democrats' tax increases) is essential if we want the resources to build bridges, repair roads, or anything else, including the family budget.

Democrat U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar reportedly focused on the fear factor related to the Granite City Crossing and the I-35 bridge collapse. Al Franken, Minnesota's U.S. Senator via California, was a no-show. But perhaps the most telling speaker of all was none other than St. Cloud's own state Senator Tarryl Clark, who, according to Gottwalt,

...continued her tax-and-spend theme by focusing on the massive transportation tax increases of 2008 which she claimed were essential for the bridge to be done before 2015.

Is that so, Tarryl?

That may be the source of revenue for this bridge, but the state had already planned funding to replace the bridge. Furthermore, by reprioritizing projects, MnDOT could have replaced the bridge with existing revenues. But Sen. Clark has to defend her incessant votes to raise taxes, and here was a juicy opportunity.

As is usually the case with most democrats, folks here in St. Cloud elected Tarryl Clark on her word that she was a moderate, fiscally responsible candidate. And as is invariably the case nationwide with the unfortunate aftermath of electing neo-socialist democrats, the electorate in St. Cloud no doubt have had a significant case of buyer's remorse.

Tarryl Clark, much like her fellow-travelers Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Amy Klobuchar, and Al Franken has overplayed her hand. She, like her neo-socialist counterparts at the local, state and national levels, went "all-in" on a fool's bet that Americans were ready for all-out socialism.

But in the end, and in the voter's booth, the American people hold the cards, and there is no doubt in my mind that they have lost their taste to gamble on failed socialist policies of expanding government and imploding freedoms.