Mark Neumann needs to take a chill pill

Last week, I criticized Christian Slater Schneider (I promise I was sober when I wrote this post. Thanks Badger Blogger) for being too harsh on Mark Neumann, now I’ll agree with him.

Most of my readers have heard of the unfortunate accident of a section of the O’Donnell parking garage falling and killing a teen and injuring two others. Playground Politics posted about it and noted,

After giving family and friends time to mourn, it’ll be interesting to see how and when Mark Neumann and Tom Barrett approach this, and more importantly, how the Walker campaign addresses what could become a very thorny issue.

Well, it seems Mark Neumann couldn’t even wait till Monday. Today Christian tweeted, “Boy, I’m totally fooled by Mark Neumann’s attempt to make look like he isn’t blaming @ScottKWalker for killing people. He referenced this press release, which said,

“First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.

“Government’s legitimate functions include providing safe infrastructure for its citizens. This concern must be paramount.

“It is clear that along with this latest tragedy, the county courthouse, the Zoo Interchange, and the Hoan Bridge, a number of structures in Milwaukee County are in various stages of disrepair. A full investigation and safety review is absolutely warranted, particularly for structures and facilities that have already been flagged for critical problems.

“This is heartbreaking. Sue and I are deeply sorry to hear of this terrible loss and the families are in our prayers.”

This press release could have been done just as effectively without paragraphs 2 and 3 and should have been. There is plenty of time for recriminations after the investigation. It’s extremely callous and in poor taste to use this so early for political gain.

Interestingly, Mayor Tom Barrett has not released anything yet, perhaps proving once again that Democrats are more compassionate than Republicans (No, I don’t believe that so no nasty comments please).

I’m pretty much neutral at the moment, but, Mr. Neumann, your desperation is showing. Yes, it has to be frustrating that you lost the endorsement by such a wide margin, but chill. Really. You’re not gaining yourself any friends by such displays of overeagerness.

Mitch Daniels’ truce

This is what I really wanted to talk about when I wrote this post.

At first, I thought about being snarky. I could have taken this quote from Neil Pickett, a Daniels booster who said,

“If Republicans want a social conservative agenda to dominate their choice for president, then Mitch Daniels is not their candidate.”

and replied, “Hey, social conservatives don’t want to dominate the agenda; just throw us the meaningless platform platitudes you usually do.”

But I won’t. Cuz this is serious stuff.

As I’ve noted, unlike some of my fellow conservatives, I’m not one to throw someone under the bus because I disagree with them on a few things. I’d rather see something accomplished than nothing.

But there was no surprise when Mitch Daniels spoke of a truce on social issues and folks started taking sides.

It all started with a profile on Mitch Daniels, governor of Indiana, in The Weekly Standard. Tucked way toward the end of that feature was this:

And then, he says, the next president, whoever he is, “would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues. We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while,” until the economic issues are resolved. Daniels is pro-life himself, and he gets high marks from conservative religious groups in his state.

And the phrase “truce on the so-called social issue” caused a small stir and showed how fragile the coalition is between social and fiscal conservatives. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council wrote (via Reid Wilson at Hotline OnCall),

“Not only is he noncommittal about his role as a pro-life leader, but the Governor wouldn’t even agree to a modest step like banning taxpayer-funded promotion of abortion overseas. I support the Governor 100% on the call for fiscal responsibility, but nothing is more fiscally responsible than ending the taxpayer funding of abortion and abortion promotion.”

Mike Huckabee posted a couple of time about it. First in a post called The Heartbreaking Truce,

Let me be clear though, the issue of life and traditional marriage are not bargaining chips nor are they political issues. They are moral issues. I didn’t get involved in politics just to lower taxes and cut spending though I believe in both and have done it as a Governor. But I want to stay true to the basic premises of our civilization.

Then a couple of days later, he made this excellent point,

Poverty and crime are the direct results of broken families and broken values of responsibility, work, marriage, and respect of others. Prisons are overflowing and government “relief” programs get traction often because of the breakdown of our social structure. If we don’t respect the value of each individual life whether in the womb or the classroom or the living room, we devalue property and intangible qualities of life. It gets expensive. [Emphasis his]

Mr. Huckabee would probably be bolstered by this recent research found on Heritage.org,

A wedding ring, it turns out, is the ultimate anti-poverty weapon. That conclusion from The Heritage Foundation is both encouragement and warning this Father’s Day.

Research shows that a child raised in a home where Dad is married to Mom is much less likely to live in poverty, get arrested as a juvenile. be suspended or expelled from school, be treated for emotional or behavioral problems or drop out before completing high school.

Interesting.

But I think, social conservatives are too harsh on Mr. Daniels. As Dan Riehl pointed out at Riehl World View, truce is different than surrender. He thinks Daniels is saying to focus on one area not to neglect the other.

At The American Spectator blog, Joseph Lawler asked, “What exactly did Bush do on the social issues that President Daniels would have to forgo?”

I think the answer is evident. Erick Erickson at Red State had a different criticism for Daniels,

“Daniels, without prompting, chose to pick an unneeded fight with social conservatives. That is not leadership.”

But if you read The Weekly Standard article, Daniels is kinda like that.

And read it all, because I kinda like the guy. Wish more politicians were like him.

Todd Kolosso is running against Jim Sensenbrenner

Yeah, it took me awhile to quit giggling also. Democrats have been throwing themselves on their swords ever since I moved here (and probably before that) trying to unseat the long serving Republican congressman. You’d think they’d learn.

Mr. Kolosso put out a press release recently (h/t WisPolitics.com) which declared,

“When the people of the 5th Congressional District vote for me in November,” said Kolosso, “they can be confident that I will honor my pledge to conduct myself according to the highest ethical standards and that I will not put personal profits over the interests of my constituents or my fellow citizens.”

I don’t want to tell Democrats how to campaign, but the last few challengers have tried to nail Sensenbrenner because of his stock holdings and it hasn’t taken.

Come to think of it, pretty much any thing any challenger has thrown at him has managed to unseat him.

Oh, well.

Now Nick Schweitzer says he would vote for Kolosso over Sensenbrenner, and Nick’s a very smart guy, but I don’t see the majority in the 5th CD doing it.

Kolosso for Congress site.

Sensenbrenner for Congress site.

So whatever happened to that minor league team coming to Waukesha?

I thought about it last evening when I was at Frame Park watching the Badgerland Ski Team perform. There was also a high school baseball game going on and a Christian gathering at the same time.

Needless to say parking was at a premium. And there wasn’t anywhere near the 3,000 that was projected for the new team when they played. At least according to my poor estimating skills.

Not all parking areas were being used. I doubt that lot at the corner of White Rock and Niagara was being used. And there may have been some other places.

But every where else was pretty much full.

So anyway, back to the team. We know that initially the recession kept them from expanding. The team still has a web site, although there is no mention of Waukesha in the Northwoods League’s expansion plans.

And then I thought, “Hey, I bet James has some news,” and sure enough, I found this,

“The plans are on hold until at least 2011. Mayor Larry Nelson said he has conversed with Chad Bauer, who is to build the stadium for a Northwoods League baseball team. Bauer has not secured financing to build the stadium. Even if he does Nelson said the stadium would not be ready for baseball until 2011. The Common Council has to re-approve an agreement with Bauer in order for the stadium to be built.”

So there you have it. Bauer has to come up with financing and Common Council has to re-approve.

I don’t think that will be happening any time soon.

Mark Neumann’s not a conservative?

I like Christian Schneider. I’ve liked him ever since Dennis York hit the blogosphere. I like his humor. I like the fact that he can write “red meat” posts without their sounding red meat. So when he wrote the other day,

“Seems that Mark Neumann is claiming to be a ‘conservative,’ without really knowing what the word means.”

I thought, “Ah, here’s something good to know.”

Because, seemingly, I’m the only conservative blogger in Wisconsin who hasn’t made a clear statement of support for Scott Walker for governor. Or at least it seems that way. So I’m interested in this stuff. I like to vote my values.

So Schneider started off with Neumann’s crazy comment about Citizens United that if he (Neumann) had his way, all outside sources of information except from the candidates themselves would not be allowed.

He did temper his statements with “the Constitution does not allow that” which shows a.) it’s pesky (according to Schneider) or b.) he respects the Constitution.

Fair enough. I’m not too hot on limiting free speech.

So what else was there that proved Neumann was not conservative?

I read through the rest of the post.

Nothing.

That was it.

I’m sure Christian has other reasons for thinking Neumann is not a conservative, but in perusing Neumann’s site, I didn’t find any.

I guess I’ll have to wait a bit longer for Christian to post more proofs that Neumann is not a conservative.

Because this one doesn’t prove it to me.

I’m uncomfortable with litmus tests (liberals do it, too, but I don’t care about that) and labels of RINO if someone doesn’t fit into our grid of what should be conservative or Republican.

Quote of the Day 06-15-2010

The Gulf oil spill is not a political problem. You can’t negotiate a compromise with a broken well. Nor is the oil spill a legal problem. You can sue BP, but litigation isn’t going to cap that well. And all the “community organizing” in the world isn’t going to fix the problem, unless you’re planning to plug the well with SEIU members.

via The Other McCain.