Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) will be holding a tele-townhall meeting this Thursday about healthcare reform and it's imminent passage.
You may have heard that Congress is on the verge of passing historic reforms to fix our broken health care system. The House and Senate have both passed historic bills that will lower costs, protect people who have insurance, and provide coverage for the millions who don't. The next step is to get these basic reforms signed into law and build on that progress. As your Representative, I want to hear from you before Congress votes on health care reform legislation in the coming days.
I want to invite you to join me for a conversation about the health care reform legislation. I will hold a Telephone Town Hall on Thursday, March 18th from 7 to 8 PM. I will share a summary of what's in the legislation and answer whatever questions you may have. I am here to listen to you, so make your voice heard and join the call.
(Thanks to Holly for capturing some great audio and detail in this report! - promoted by Grace Kelly)
At his last town hall meeting John Kline might have thrown out his back bending over backwards to appease traditional conservatives, Conservative Constitutionalist Party members, and Tea Party members. The new right is calling for an end to social security, an isolationistic foreign policy, and an end to big government which somehow may be too connected with big corporations. No audience member left the February 19th, 2010, town hall feeling at ease.
Ladies and Gentlemen, yours truly - the ol' TwoPutter - is hosting both - BOTH! - the Tuesday Editions of "Quick On The UpTake" AND "Minnesota Matters" on AM-950 KTNF, The Voice of Minnesota! These shows run from 5:00 to 7pm. So, tune in your radio today to AM-950, or listen live on your computer, here. Joining in-studio will be ace field reporter/political analyst Dusty Trice!
I'm Guest Hosting the first hour - "Quick On The UpTake" - because Host Mike McIntee is in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. We'll be talking with John Van Hecke of Mn2020.org about the local problems created by Gov. T-Bag's Unallotment; CD-03 DFL Candidate Jim Meffert, and we're very glad we'll be talking with Rep. Tim Walz! Last night Rep. Walz hosted a Town Hall about Afghanistan in Mankato; there's a story in the Mankato Free Press.
I'll also be Guest Hosting the second hour, "Minnesota Matters, Tuesday Edition." We're going to talk about breaking news, fisk Katherine Kersten's latest column, and discuss a lawsuit accusing Wells Fargo of misleading some Minnesota non-profit foundations that appeared in last Sunday's print edition of the Strib. Apparently, those local non-profits aren't the only ones offended by Wells Fargo's "stewardship". And, just which foundations in that Strib story, allegedly took a hit because of that "stewardship"? The story stated that one is the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Foundation. Yes, THAT "Ciresi". Seems to me, that Wells Fargo is in a big world of legal hurt. Unfortunately, Mike Ciresi won't be able to call in about that....today. Maybe later; if I were a betting man, I'd bet a bunch that this story isn't going away.
Also expect some snark about how a newspaper can publish some great journalism, like that Wells Fargo story, but also allow Kersten space...
We just might play "False Or False Witness!" where one lucky caller will have to correctly identify if a quote I read was actually uttered by Michele Bachmann (answer "False Witness!") or if yours truly, the ol' TwoPutter, simply made it up (answer "false"). The fabulous prize awarded, courtesy of show sponsor Common Good Books, is one copy of Bill Prendergast's exceptional comic book: False Witness! The Michele Bachmann Story (Volume 1). Bill's comic books make great stocking stuffers; they're practically guaranteed to delight progressive gift getters and P.O. the RightWingNut bootlickers on your gift giving list!!!
So, again, tune in the radio today to AM-950, or listen live on your computer, here.
And personally, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy HannaRamaKwanzMas! Or not, if that's what you'd prefer....
Yea ... this is the problem when we bloggers go to your events, Michele. We catch you when you lie about it later. BTW, thanks for catching that Dusty.
Here's Michele claiming 600 people attended her forum on Saturday. Why is she so incapable of telling the truth?
Rep. John Kline (R-MN) goes to great lengths to make sure that he never interacts with constituents who disagree with him. First of all, he never holds public meetings (only 1 since he took office in 2003) and generally hides from his constituents. Secondly, when he does meet unhappy constituents, staffers and sometimes even the police make them go away. Finally, if that doesn't work, he or his staffers get rude.
What could be worse than being yelled down at a town hall meeting? Getting yelled down for not holding a town hall meeting, of course!
Rep. John Kline was confronted at the Minnesota State Fair by two of his constituents. The two men appeared to be angry about the Congressman's flat refusal to hold town hall meetings in his district. Kline was in the middle of a live interview on the Twin Cities Christian radio station KKMS.
Breaking news! I just got off the phone with Rep. Michele Bachmann's Woodbury office; the Town Hall is scheduled for August 27th!
I was told while the location and place were not confirmed, the date is, and to keep checking Bachmann's website for details, or call the office - which is 651-731-5400.
The Avista Partners-owned Star Tribune sent reporter Bill McAuliffe to St. Cloud to cover Rep. Michele Bachmann's town hall meeting on her opposition to any cap-n-trade legislation. As usual with the Star Tribune, there was no analysis of the truth of what Bachmann or her guest speakers said. McAuliffe was there to cover "a breaking story."
About 500 people, perhaps fewer than half of them students, turned out at St. Cloud State University to hear Bachmann and author and global-warming skeptic Chris Horner elaborate on what has become a hot topic for her in recent months -- a plan to establish a market for the right to emit carbon dioxide.
But after Bachmann was greeted warmly by many in the ballroom of the Atwood Memorial Center who cheered and rose to their feet, Horner was repeatedly pestered during a PowerPoint presentation by students insisting that he "answer the question" and holding up signs reading "Lies" and "Fact Check!"
(Star Tribune)
The Star Tribune continues to give Republicans a free ride when it comes to the lies they tell. Can anyone point to a time since Avista Partners took over the Strib that they have questioned the veracity of what a Republican says. They outnumber Democrats on the op-ed page,
I contacted McAuliffe about his article.
"This was a breaking story," he told me. "This was not the place of analysis of the scholarship of what they said or lack thereof. We don't have the space to do that kind of analysis."
"Analysis of the truth of what they are saying would make a tedious article," he continued. When I complained about their one-sided coverage he replied: "The other side [Republicans] would have the same complaint that you have."
I would say his comments would be fair if the Strib ever analyzed the content of Bachmann's many statements. But they don't. And that's the problem.
In an age where debate questions, answers, formats, and other features are parsed down to the letter, resulting in a discernable element of kabuki theater, CNN's focus group made for an interesting viewing experience. Along the bottom of the screen during the debate, CNN displayed the warmth meter -- an average of the dials held by a group of undecided Ohio voters, with warm on one side and cold on the other.
By that measure, Barack Obama had several moments last night that bested his opponent in terms of strength and duration, especially when he was able to get moving with his rhetoric comparing the federal government to a family trying to live on a budget. The gender differences were interesting as well -- women responded warmly to John McCain's rhetoric on national security, but also to Obama's talk on fixing the economy, while both men and women seemed to respond favorably to Obama on energy issues.
Really interesting stuff. Among that focus group, 10 members said immediately following the debate they thought McCain won, while 12 said Obama won, and 3 didn't know. That means a win for Obama -- McCain spent more time -- a LOT more time -- last night talking about Barack Obama and his proposals rather than what John McCain would do; his efforts to produce a game-changing performance were unsuccessful.
