From a Friend

One of our loyal readers sent us the following e-mail from the Carolina Coast.

Just wanted to drop you a line from tropical storm Ernesto. As I watched the storm roll in tonight, I started thinking about Dave Obey. Here's why:

Just like this tropical storm will hurt the local economy, Dave Obey has done his best to make the Wisconsin economy worse.

Just like Ernesto will flood low lying areas, Dave Obey floods small businesses in more regulations and taxes.

Just like Ernesto blows a lot of unecessary wind, well have you ever seen Dave Obey speak on the floor of the House, talk about a windbag.

Obey probably thinks Ernesto was caused by global warming, because it is the greatest threat we face, but experts will tell you some of our most active hurricane seasons ever were when it was colder, oh and that it will likely be colder in 50 years than it is now too.

I'm sure there's an immigration reference in here somewhere, but I don't want to assume Ernesto is an illegal.

Bottom line, if you like swirling windbags that can ruin your economy, not to mention my vacation, than Dave Obey's your man.

No Credibility

Thanks to the reader who included a link to this letter to the editor. We have to take it on.

To The Telegram: In the campaign news release entitled “Reid: Drivers pay for Obey’s Mistake,” it was implied U.S. Rep. Dave Obey in some way is responsible for high gas prices. Congressman Obey is a Democrat. Both houses and the presidential seat are filled by Republicans. Six years ago, the Clinton administration left the nation with a balanced budget. We are now closing in on a $9 trillion deficit and growing to a projected deficit of $12 trillion when President Bush leaves office. In any event, every man, woman and newborn child in the U.S. now owes $30,000 each to buy our country back. The Republican candidate Nick Reid offered no redeeming value for our recovery, and I don’t believe finger pointing and name calling will ever advance a person to a congressional seat. — Dan Watland, Superior

1. Bill Clinton vetoed exploring for oil in ANWR which would have produced at least 1 million barrels of oil a day. Bill Clinton was a Democrat. And let's remember, our energy problems stem from complete inaction while either Democrats controlled Congress or the White House for the 45 years before 2000 because bringing new sources online take 10+ years, not 6.

2. Does the deficit have anything to do with gas prices? But since you brought it up, you have your facts wrong. The one year budget was balanced because Republicans in Congress forced Clinton to do so. He never proposed a balanced budget. Also, we still had a $5.5 trillion debt when he left. It's now $8 trillion, not 9. Every man woman and child owed about $25,000 then. Yes, it has gotten worse, but there was a recession and a little War on Terror, and a $100 billion hurricane to pay for.

Not being educated on how the world works Mr. Watland or being a non-thinking left wing partisan hack gives you no credibility.

Rumor Has It

Rumor has it that Tyberg issued a non-apology press release, calling his false claim that Reid wouldn't debate him a "misunderstanding." That's the way someone who can't ever admit when they are wrong says, "I was wrong." Weak, but what can we expect.

Rumor also has it that Obey is done working for August. We can only find record of him working for 5 days out of 5 weeks of the break where Members of Congress are supposed to come home and meet with their constituents.

We also heard from a tipster that Dave Obey is already planning his transition to appropriations chairman. If we work together, we can change his plans to how to spend his retirement.

Marriage

Check out this post from Boots and Sabers regarding the marriage amendment.

If you agree with them, then Dave Obey called you "ridiculous." He voted against it twice and has said he does not support the Wisconsin amendment.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Dave Obey has been Democrats Waste, Fraud and Abuse "Truth Squad."

hahahahahahahahahaha . . .

Can you say beaver destruction?

hahahahahahahahahahaha . . .

This is what the liberal minority leader said,

"The alarming amount of waste, fraud and abuse by the Bush administration and the rubber-stamp Republican Congress is egregious," Mrs. Pelosi said. "Democrats are committed to a new direction in the way our government does business so taxpayers' money is handled responsibly."

The group immediately released a report on what it called wasteful procurement spending in response to Hurricane Katrina. Other members of the Truth Squad are David R. Obey of Wisconsin, John Tanner of Tennessee, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, and John F. Tierney of Massachusetts.

Democrats love to spend other people's money. What this group of people should be called is "the best 5 liars we could find" or "best at keeping a straight face squad."

I can see it now, if the Republicans had got $225,000 for beaver destruction, it would make the "Truth Squad" list. But, when the Democrats get it, they trot out a guy to say, "beavers were building dams on roads (so it was critically important that Obey got us gas money to run over the beaver dams with our pick-up trucks)."

If I didn't know better, I'd say the "truth squad" was a joke. This is no joke. These jokers want to be in charge of spending your money.

Where Have You Gone Jeff Tyberg?

No, we don't mean physically, we mean the guy who said he was going to campaign based on his ideas and not mention his Republican opponent in a negative light.

Yet according to a tipster this morning, the Burnett County Sentinel is running a story where Tyberg calls out Reid on his contract with the district. Tyberg calls on Reid to return any money received from outside the 7th district.

If this is true, and we believe this is a reliable source, then first we want to address the facts, then we'll address the intelligence.

From our tipster, the story says, "Tyberg is "very pleased" that Reid said he "agrees with the points highlighted by Tyberg" in response to Tyberg's interview on WAOW TV as posted on it's website."

Actually the WAOW story Tyberg refers to does not quote Reid. It makes a statement by the reporter about his interpretation of what Reid says. We called the Reid campaign. Reid said he told the reporter he agrees with Tyberg on some of the points (taking money was not the only point in the contract) and was glad that Tyberg was highlighting that Obey was not a fiscal conservative. Moreover, if you read the rest of the sentence the "agrees" part was in it says, "but adds, the personal contract released by Tyberg doesn't worry him at all." Does that sound like Reid had any intention of signing the contract to anyone other than Jeff Tyberg?

But Tyberg goes on to say, "I welcome Mr Reid's agreement with the points I made about not taking campaign donations from anyone who is not a resident or property owner in the 7th district or contributions from any political action commitee or lobbying group.
"I invite him to sign the contract along with me and begin immediately returning all funds recieved from individuals outside of the 7th district and from pacs and lobbying groups."

Now as to the intelligence of this whole strategy. This is what's wrong with Tyberg's campaign. People who know how politics actually works know you have to raise money to win. Why would anyone unilaterally disarm from having campaign funds to spend when Dave Obey is raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars from special interests in Washington? It's nice that Tyberg is trying to be a "man of the people," but it's like the tree falling in the forest, if no one hears it who cares what kind of sound it makes when it falls or what type of tree it was. With no money, Tyberg would be that tree.

Now for the non-sense.

Also from the tipster, the story concludes with, "Tyberg also noted that both he and Pat Synder, host of WSAU-AM's 55 Feedback talk show, have invited Reid to participate in a debate but that Reid has not returned phone calls relative to the matter."

This makes absolutely no sense as Nick Reid was in studio with 55 Feedback this morning - one of several appearances Reid has made on the show. Either Tyberg's making this up, or he's got his facts mixed up.

A few posts ago, a commenter encouraged us to quit calling fouls and focus on offense against Dave Obey. We agree with the sentiment, but here's the thing. Tyberg agreed to an endorsement process and then backed out. He made an impassioned plea that he was being picked on by Reid supporters back in July (posted here, called every county chairman and complained, sent out an e-mail to his supporters, etc) and this was about Dave Obey, but he has now gone on the radio and in the newspaper taking on Reid, not Obey. This speaks directly to his integrity. It also speaks to his character that as the pressure of the upcoming primary approaches, he's turning into another politician who will say one thing to one group of people and turn around and do another. This isn't the common man's way of doing things, it's Dave Obey's way.

In Case You Missed It

Both Republicans, Reid and Tyberg, were supposed to be on the air (Wisconsin Public Radio) to discuss why they are the right candidate to take on Dave Obey.

You can listen by clicking here
Tuesday 8/22/2006 7:00 AM

Tyberg was a no show. Oops.

Oh, and lest we let him off the hook. Dave Obey declined a 30 minute segment to tell why he was the best man for the job. And to the last caller, name ONE thing Dave Obey has done on a national level that makes him a "statesman."

The Obey Love Fest Continues - Beaver Style

If you didn't catch the evening news tonight, check out WSAW's story here. As if Obey's press secretary wrote the copy for the newscast, beaver destruction funding was elevated to one of Wisconsin's highest priorities tonight. If you're not laughing yet, we're not kidding. Watch the video. They found some trees that beavers allegedly killed and they found a guy who said a beaver actually built a dam on a road. Now that's one fast beaver if he can get a dam built on a road without it getting run over by a local pickup truck. Seriously, you have to watch the video.

To prove this was one of the worst pieces of journalism ever, guess how much air time they gave to Nick Reid, the featured speaker at the event, NONE. They showed him, but if you didn't already know who he was, he was not specifically identified by name with his picture. Maybe, he was the guy in the beaver suit for all the viewers knew.

Please, someone, remove the collective lips of the press from Obey's you know where.

Curious Place for Comparison

It's good to see someone covering the 7th District Race, but this is from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Last time we checked, no one in Milwaukee is going to be voting in the race for Congress here.

The primary is just 3 weeks away. Hopefully someone in our local media will cover this race once we have a single nominee (another reason, by the way that having a single nominee months ago would have helped).

As a side note, Nick Reid is expected to headline this press conference in Wausau for Americans for Prosperity.

Obey's Drive for $4 Gas

Nick Reid hits Obey for his support of higher gas prices in this release.

“High energy prices have a direct impact on families and business here in the Seventh District. For 37 years we have had a congressman who has voted against energy independence and in favor of high energy costs at every turn,” Reid said. “The message here is unmistakable, Dave Obey places the interests of liberal environmental groups ahead of the interests in this district, and that is just extreme.”

At Least We Know, Obey Got an A in Recess

Last week, Nick Reid put out this press release. It calls on Dave Obey to make his schedule public. The Wisconsin Democrats made a big to do about Mark Green not making his schedule public. We think if it's good for the goose . . .

Anyway, and we're only guessing here, we're guessing that Obey doesn't make his schedule public because he has virtually no public schedule. He showed up in Park Falls to take credit for something someone else did. Some Democrats up in Ashland gave him an award for being a Democrat - a milestone acheivement that Obey right now probably has his media guys in DC scrambling to put into a fluffy TV ad.

Other than that, we've read he campaigned in Iowa and Green Bay, neither of which is in the 7th District in case we have readers from Pluto (or Washington, DC).

Maybe we're just mad because at least when Dave's in DC he takes a couple dumb votes a day we can choose from or says something completely beneath a Congressman on the House floor to poke fun at. When it's recess time, Obey takes that literally. He recesses. So Dave, at least for giving us something to post about, come out, come out wherever you are.

Obey and Pay to Play

This is the story of Dave Obey, ProLogic and its lobbyist PMA.

ProLogic is a defense contractor who announced it would open an office in Stevens Point in December of 2004.

Prior to that time, ProLogic had given $5,000 to Dave Obey's campaign. In the 18 months since that time, ProLogic is Dave Obey's number one contributor, giving $31,000 to his campaign and PAC according to opensecrets.

ProLogic has seen its business increase six-fold in the last four years, winning over$57 million in federal contracts during that period. Is it a coincidence they opened an office in Obey's district in exchange for some help from the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee? Not according to their prior history.

ProLogic has "helped" its friends before. Check out this Bloomberg story linking ProLogic to ethically challenged Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) who was forced to step aside as the ranking Democrat member of the House ethics committee - interesting enough after stalling the organization of that committee which prevented it from investigating any ethics complaints for about 15 months. ProLogic gave Mollohan $34,500. Mollohan still serves as a Ranking Subcommitee Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.

It also linked ProLogic and its lobbyist, the PMA Group, to Rep. Visclosky (D-IN). The PMA Group alone gave over $100,000 to Visclosky.

The PMA Group has given Obey $7,000 this cycle alone (added to $4,000 during 2004).

Before we go on, let's remind you that Obey said this about Congressional earmarks that ProLogic is receiving, “It turns the appropriations process into an ATM.” We say, "you should know Dave."

Back to the PMA group, according to Harper PMA gave over $51,000 to Rep. Mollohan. Mollohan is still under investigation for directing over $200 million in earmarks to charities directly or indirectly controlled by him.

PMA has received according to open secrets $520,000 from ProLogic between 2002 and 2005 to lobby members of Congress like Obey and to ensure that federal money got steered their way.

If it can be said you are like the company you keep, then it's pretty clear that Obey, Mollohan, Visclosky, ProLogic and the PMA Group have a great "pay to play" system down. Not many companies have seen their business grow by 600% the last four years, but Pro-Logic's has.

We are going to start looking more closely at the lobbyists and other special interest groups who have given to Obey to see if the appropriations connections go deeper. The question is, why aren't the members of the Wisconsin press corp doing the same thing?

The Left Wing Leader

At least on the blogs anyway, the Blue Team Leader of the Liberals is DailyKos. Red State takes him to task here. Basically, Kos, Obey and the Liberal Left have a wrong-headed view of the world.

Kos said-

CT-Sen: Lieberman is seriously unhinged by kosFri Aug 11, 2006 at 12:11:58 PM PDT
Seriously, I really do want to get my vacation started. But how can you ignore things like this?

"I'm worried that too many people, both in politics and out, don't appreciate the seriousness of the threat to American security and the evil of the enemy that faces us -- more evil, or as evil, as Nazism and probably more dangerous than the Soviet Communists we fought during the long Cold War," Mr. Lieberman said.

More evil than the guys who gassed 6 million Jews?

More dangerous than the guys who had thousands of nuclear warheads pointed at us and could've snuffed out all life on the planet at the press of a button?

Lieberman has lost it. Completely and utterly. He is insane.

Red state responds -

Leave it to our friends on the left to fail to understand that the guys we are fighting certainly would gas six million Jews, if they could get their hands on them, to fail to understand that if the guys we are fighting had thousands of nuclear warheads pointed at us, would actually use them.

More -

But when we see an Islamist culture that can produce suicide bombers, men willing, happily apparently, to kill themselves as long as they can take some Westerners with them, a reasonable person would have to ask whether the specter of nuclear retaliation by American ICBMs and SLBMs would deter Osama bin Laden -- or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Think about Hezbollah. Hamas had captured an Israeli soldier less than two weeks prior to Hezbollah doing the same thing. The Israelis reacted very decisively against Hamas on the Gaza border; they didn't respond like milquetoast liberals, wringing their hands and saying how terrible it was. Hezbollah's leaders knew that capturing Israeli soldiers along the Lebanese border would result in the same thing, although Hezbollah's leaders might not have guessed quite how strongly Israel would respond. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah knew that Israel would go after them militarily, and knew that, since they were hiding in areas populated by non-combatants, a lot of those non-combatants would get killed.

If Sheikh Nasrallah (and his Iranian puppeteers) were willing to sacrifice civilians in southern Lebanon to set off an engagement they cannot, and know they cannot, win militarily, why ought we to think that the same logic that kept Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev from sending nuclear weapons our way would deter the Islamist leaders, if they had those weapons?

Der Führer took power in 1933; he didn't start gassing and burning Jews and a few other chosen enemies for more than six years. He did, however, make quite clear how he felt about Jews, in writing, for everyone to see, well before he took power. President Ahmadinejad hasn't started killing Jews (or Christians) yet, but he has certainly told us how he feels about them. Senator Lieberman knows enough about history (more, apparently, than Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, who writes as Kos) to see what could be coming, from a man who says, openly, that Israel should not exist, and runs a country apparently attempting to build nuclear weapons, and realize that such a threat must be taken seriously before it becomes an unmanagable one.

Had the civilized world reacted to Adolf Hitler in 1935 or 1936, the way it should have reacted, had Neville Chamberlain not gone crawling to Munich to seek "peace in our time" in 1938, the horrors of World War II, at least in Europe, might have been avoided.

Our Jewish friends have had this lesson seared into their collective consciences; Senator Lieberman has the good sense to recognize the threat and want to address the threat, today, while the threat is still a bit away, rather than to wait until the devil is on our doorstep.

By September of 1939, the British, who had thought that Winston Churchill was just out of it when he was warning about Adolf Hitler years earlier, realized that he had been right all along. Had action been taken on Mr Churchill's advice years earlier, millions who were killed would not have been killed -- but the world would have no way of knowing it. Instead, the peace at any price types held sway, and the world found out -- the hard way -- that Mr Churchill was right all along.

Since the Republicans didn't put up a credible candidate in Connecticut (what a mistake), we say, "Go Joe."

More on Obey's Out-of-State Money

According to this open secrets report, Wisconsin federal candidates got $2.2 million in itemized contributions from Wisconsin. Washington, DC and Virginia totaled $190,000 (so on the whole Wisconsin candidates got about 11 times more money from Wisconsin than from the DC area Obey calls home).

According to this open secrets report, Obey got over $70,000 from the DC metro area, more than 1/3rd of the total received by all the federal candidates from Wisconsin (that includes both Senators, and all incumbents and challengers in the 8 Congressional Districts).

According to this open secrets report, Dave Obey did not crack the top 10 for Wisconsin federal candidates in contributions received from people from Wisconsin. He did come in 1st for money received from contributors outside of Wisconsin with nearly $221,000. Nearly as much as 2nd and 3rd place COMBINED. And MORE than the TOP 4 Republicans combined.

If you add the $221,000 to the $454,000 he received from DC-based special interest political action committees, Obey received a whopping 79% from sources outside of Wisconsin.

Tyberg's Position Changes: Now running a "sort of" clean campaign

After the Tyberg camp threw quite a fit about this blog and others being too negative about him, he went on 55 Feedback this morning and took some digs at Nick Reid.

We're going to focus on one quote from the show, Tyberg said, "I don't know about my opponent but I will have home in the district, not in DC."

For the record, Nick Reid owns a home in Rice Lake. We're pretty sure Tyberg knows that, but we know he should know it if he's been paying attention at all.

It is our understanding, and we are open to a correction, that Tyberg lists his address as the same address of his parents. So, he does not own a home in the district, he lives with his parents. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

So, apparently Tyberg does not own a home in the district but will if he gets elected. Reid already owns a home in the district, but Tyberg's not sure if he will when he gets elected. Does this not make sense to anyone else?

While Tyberg did not mention Reid by name, we're pretty sure this is an example of the negative campaigning Jeff said he wouldn't do in a post on this very blog. His exact quote was, "It is my intent to run a clean campaign that will honor God and the people I wish to represent."

It will be hard for the Tyberg campaign to find a way around this promise because Tyberg himself posted it right here.

P.S. Here is more of Jeff's post in case you don't feel like clicking on it:

This is Jeff Tyberg, candidate for Congress in Wisconsin’s 7th District.

I want to state here publicly what I have made clear to my campaign volunteers and to Nick Reid personally, and that is that I and my campaign will not attack Nick Reid, and I will not condone anyone who does. My campaign volunteer coordinator is even now writing an email stating that his letter was unauthorized. It will not be repeated.

Tyberg Launches Salvo - Daily Herald's Bias

According to the Wausau Daily Herald, Jeff Tyberg has released a contract with the 7th district.

From the story:
Among his seven promises are to accept only contributions from property owners or residents in the district, to not accept contributions from lobbyists or political action committees, and to keep no more than $100,000 of annual salary.

"Every point in the contract shows how I will remain connected and a vital part of the district while serving in Washington," Tyberg said.

In addition, Tyberg promised to serve no more than 10 years in office, to not collect a pension, to provide a toll-free telephone number and to post an explanation on his Web site of his votes cast.

We give Tyberg credit for launching a creative press release. In our opinion, his first in over a year of being a candidate.

Here's our analysis of it. First, Reid raised more campaign contributions from inside Wisconsin than Obey did last quarter. Second, is Tyberg saying he wouldn't accept campaign contributions from NRA's PAC or the Fair Tax Committee's PAC or even NFIB (small businesses)? This proves Tyberg isn't serious about winning. You have to take contributions from your friends in order to win. Jeff, you are already going to get outspent by at least 5 to 1, why handicap yourself further?

OK, the rest, no more than 10 years in office. We support the idea of term limits (probably at 12 years, but we won't quible over the time), however, we at Obey Out believe that in order for them to truly be effective, they should apply across the board. Otherwise, those who honorably uphold them would put their districts at a disadvantage over those who chose not to. Reid has taken the position that he would vote for term limits, so we're comfortable with that.

Then pension and the salary would be Tyberg's choice. We aren't a group who think Congressman are overpaid (at least not as a general rule). We think he would be required to pay into his pension even if he opted not to take it and we also think he should cut a check back to the US Treasury every month, not give it to his ministry or something.

Here's our biggest question about the plan: Why do you need a 1-800 number to stay connected? You'll only be in session in Washington about 30 weeks a year for 3-4 days at a time. Are you saying that the other 250 days a year aren't enough to get around the district to town hall meetings and talk to your constituents? Will you not have district offices with local phone numbers so people can call in and talk without paying long distance charges? To us the 1-800 number is a gimmick, particularly because Tyberg won't be able to talk to people who call in anyway. As a Congressman your schedule is jam packed, so you won't be fielding calls at the front desk (if you are, you're shirking your responsibilities of the job you were elected to do).

Finally, we ask this question of the Wausau paper: both candidates have issued press releases for quite some time. Reid's have been particularly astute at pointing out Obey's record and character. The Daily Herald hasn't touched them. We therefore know these reporters are in Obey's back pocket. We also called the Reid campaign and asked about the line of them not returning calls for comment. Apparently, the reporter left a message on an office phone at 7:30pm last evening asking for comment while the Reid team was campaigning in the district. Obviously, this reporter only wanted to be able to print a line saying they didn't return a call for comment or he would have started calling during normal business hours or would have called Nick's cell phone which the Daily Herald has. Clearly, this is a Friend of Obey Reporter getting a dig in at Reid while promoting Tyberg for the primary. Obey already push polled against Reid (not Tyberg). He knows he can trounce Tyberg because Tyberg will have no money to spend against him. It's in Obey's best interest for Tyberg to win the primary. We bet Obey will even get some of his editor friends to endorse Tyberg in the primary in order to give him some more free media (because lord knows he won't have the money to buy any). Ok, ok, we will get to our question, why does the mainstream media have their lips planted firmly on Obey's backside?

Obey and the Political Environment

Last night three incumbents lost in their primaries - two democrats and one Republican.

Let's rundown why.

Joe Lieberman lost in his Senate primary to Ned Lamont over his support for the War in Iraq, but that was only a small part of the equation. The liberal bloggers riled up the left wing base and sent a message to Lieberman that hard core left wingers expect their Democrats to oppose and obstruct Republicans on everything rather than trying to get anything done. Most pundits believe Lieberman will win as an independent in November because Republicans didn't put up a real nominee.

Joe Schwarz, a Republican in the U.S. House, lost his primary in Michigan because he was too liberal of a Republican for the Republicans in the district.

Cynthia McKinney lost her second primary of the last three in Georgia. Her little run in with a Capitol Police officer where she struck him in the chest with a cell phone after he tried to stop her at a security checkpoint was the last straw in a list of embarassing incidents for her.

Here's our overall analysis: voters are willing to make a change this year. It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican, if you're out of touch with your district, you are vulnerable this year. And no one is more out of touch with his district than Dave Obey. He takes votes far to the left of the overwhelming majority of his district. He neglects visits to the district, trading them for all expense-paid trips to exotic locations.

Help us throw Obey Out of office in November. Spread the word, write letters to the editor, call in to local talk radio, talk to friends and neighbors, contribute to Nick Reid (we endorsed Reid, but the Republican nominee will need money, lots of it) whatever you can do, do it.

Obey Takes Credit for Other's Work

Here's a story on Obey's Park Falls visit.

"The Park Falls Mill is an important part of the region's economy and I'm happy to be here today to celebrate its reopening with everyone," said Obey. "The entire community came together in the face of a devastating economic blow and did what needed to be done to overcome adversity and move forward. Everyone involved - from Governor Doyle and Butch Johnson to the workers themselves - deserve a hearty congratulations for a job well done."

Notice in no way does Obey say he lifted one finger to make this re-opening a reality. Yet, his appearance at the event makes it look like he was responsible. His friends in the media made him the lead of the story.

The media won't print anything about Obey not being on the job and missing 34 votes, but they'll give him this puff piece.

Spread the word, it's time to throw Obey Out.

[UPDATE: This story is a lot closer to getting it right. It largely credits Butch Johnson for stepping in and saving the plant. By the way, we hear Johnson may be hosting a fundraiser for Nick Reid . . .]

King Dave-O

We've been asking for quite some time if anyone's actually seen Dave Obey. We saw that he was in Iowa campaigning for another Democrat. We know he's helping Jamie Wall in the 8th. Then today, we saw this Go Nick Go post and started asking around.

We have confirmed that Obey was in the Park Falls parade yesterday waving like royalty from a fire truck. So much for the idea that he represents the working man. He's more like a Washington, DC Union lobbyist than someone who works for a living. He couldn't even walk and waive, he took a ride.

We also heard he was trying to take credit, along with Doyle, for re-opening a plant there. From what we heard, the locals weren't buying what Obey was selling. However, we're not shocked that Obey would swoop in to take credit for something he didn't do since he really does so little that actually helps us here in Wisconsin.

25,000

We passed a little milestone last week. We were all really busy (as you saw by our slower than usual posting pace last week), so we didn't get to say anything about it.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who helped us reach 25,000 hits on our little blog since November of last year.

Drinkin the Kool-Aid

The Madison Capital Times rushes to the defense of Dave Obey.

In an apparent lapse of reality, Dave Zwiefel commends Obey for pushing the minimum wage. Problem is, Dave Obey voted against raising the minimum wage last week.

He blames it on conservative issues here:

"This Congress, though, would rather spend its time debating flag burning, gay marriage and other measures aimed to divide Americans than offer a helping hand to the less fortunate among us."

First of all, Republicans put a $2.10 raise in the minimum wage on the House floor for a vote last week, and Dave Obey voted no. I know we already said this, but it bears repeating.

Second, protecting the flag and protecting marriage have the support of at least 68% of Americans. How is that dividing Americans, exactly Mr. Zwiefel?

I know as a liberal Mr. Zweifel that you feel compelled to defend Obey's vote against the minimum wage. All you're doing is trying to muddy the waters. It's almost as if you're trying to say Obey didn't actually even vote on the minimum wage. That Republicans didn't bring it up for a vote. But, that's false. Republicans did and Obey voted no.

What this whole episode proves is that Mr. Obey, and his liberal friends in the media who won't print anything Obey's Republican opponents send out, that they don't want the issue of the minimum wage to be resolved. Instead they want it as a political issue to campaign on this fall. If you don't believe us, remember that Dave Obey didn't hold town hall meetings to help seniors sign up for the prescription drug plan till after the deadline for signing up passed.

It's all politics and power for Dave Obey. It's as simple as that.

Party Line

This week the Constitution Party was passing out Tyberg for Congress literature at its booth at the Wisconsin Valley Fair. We had heard Tyberg thought about bolting for the Constitution Party before the filing deadline. This seems to lend a lot of credibility to that rumor.

At this point, we have to credit to Tyberg for not switching to the Constitution Party line because that would have done more damage to Nick Reid's chances in November by siphoning off ultra-conservative votes (who would never vote for Obey) in a head to head match-up with Obey.

It does make us wonder which party Tyberg really wanted to represent though.

Where's Dave-O?

We've played where's Dave-O several times this year. And, with remarkable consistency, no one's ever reported seeing Dave in the district. He hasn't been spotted at any parades, fairs, or other community events that he didn't stage. That leads us to ask why? Is Dave so arrogant that he thinks we won't notice if he never shows up in his district at any situation he can't control? Is he taking this election for granted? Is he on another all-expenses paid vacation courtesy a special interest group? Is he at one of his homes NOT in Wisconsin? Does he have some health problem that makes him unable to travel the district? What is it?

Someone help us.