[Speed Gibson,
Sunday March 5, 2006 at 8:12pm]
Simply Unbelievable
State Senator Becky Lourey, DFL candidate for Governor, appeared in hour two of this week’s Patriot Insider, heard 9-11 AM Saturdays on WWTC 1280 AM. I knew she was a liberal, but I was nonetheless surprised to hear her make one unbelievable statement after another, on one subject after another. The podcast is must listening.
After co-host Mark Yost noted that Governor Pawlenty made a trip to work for more H-1B temporary work visas, Lourey said:
Host Patrick Campion asked her point blank to defend that statement. She couldn’t do it, backsliding into “immigrants built this State” rhetoric, refusing to distinguish between legal and illegal immigration. Campion then asked this: “Do you think the State of Minnesota be safer or less safe if there were no illegal immigrants in the State of Minnesota?” She said less safe if police officers had to do immigration work, because immigrants wouldn’t cooperate with police. And besides,
An illegal immigrant is by definition a lawbreaker, of course, but if you listen to the podcast you’ll understand that there’s no such thing in her world. Immigrants are either legal or trying to be. She claimed that the immigration process is very, very complex, and I suppose it is if you’re looking an illegal alien trying to find a loophole. She wants the police to just police, and by the way, thanks to Governor Pawlenty’s cuts to LGA,
Lourey believes that health care is a right, to the point where she advocates a State Constitutional Amendment to that effect. Imagine, we can demand the services of doctors and nurses, against their will if necessary! It’s our right!
She proposes something called “Universal Health Care” for all of Minnesota, though her web site is vague about this. I suspect she’s talking about the Maryland Wal-Mart plan – spend 8% on health care or give us the 8% and we’ll do it for you. If so, this is a tax increase, which she claims that her plan does not require. She needs to be more explicit here.
When she described some hard times she experienced with a pile of 21 medical bills she couldn’t pay. Campion asked, “Who would you have liked to pay those 21 bills for you?”
Education?
Transportation?
Visiting guest host Paul, The Nihilist in Golf Pants, noting that she was 0 for 11 on the Taxpayer’s League scorecard, posed this: “If 8 of 38 Senators got a zero rating from The Taxpayer’s League, that puts you in the far left, does it not?”
Like I said, listen to the podcast. Then imagine four years of this.
After co-host Mark Yost noted that Governor Pawlenty made a trip to work for more H-1B temporary work visas, Lourey said:
- “We need more high-tech worker visas, but we also need more essential employee visas. If you care about the meat packing industry, and the canning industry, and the roofing industry, we need more of those visas as well. But, we have to be careful, because if Governor Pawlenty is putting this State into a state of bigotry, those folks with the H-1B’s won’t want to come here.”
Host Patrick Campion asked her point blank to defend that statement. She couldn’t do it, backsliding into “immigrants built this State” rhetoric, refusing to distinguish between legal and illegal immigration. Campion then asked this: “Do you think the State of Minnesota be safer or less safe if there were no illegal immigrants in the State of Minnesota?” She said less safe if police officers had to do immigration work, because immigrants wouldn’t cooperate with police. And besides,
- “Illegal immigrants don’t commit crimes.”
An illegal immigrant is by definition a lawbreaker, of course, but if you listen to the podcast you’ll understand that there’s no such thing in her world. Immigrants are either legal or trying to be. She claimed that the immigration process is very, very complex, and I suppose it is if you’re looking an illegal alien trying to find a loophole. She wants the police to just police, and by the way, thanks to Governor Pawlenty’s cuts to LGA,
- “… all of our Police departments, all of our Sheriff’s offices are understaffed now.”
Lourey believes that health care is a right, to the point where she advocates a State Constitutional Amendment to that effect. Imagine, we can demand the services of doctors and nurses, against their will if necessary! It’s our right!
She proposes something called “Universal Health Care” for all of Minnesota, though her web site is vague about this. I suspect she’s talking about the Maryland Wal-Mart plan – spend 8% on health care or give us the 8% and we’ll do it for you. If so, this is a tax increase, which she claims that her plan does not require. She needs to be more explicit here.
When she described some hard times she experienced with a pile of 21 medical bills she couldn’t pay. Campion asked, “Who would you have liked to pay those 21 bills for you?”
- “This is all a partnership, for goodness sake. Wal-Mart is sending their employees to subsidized state health coverage.”
Education?
- “We are are pouring less and less money into education as a percentage of what we used to put into it.” [I don’t understand what this means, either. -–SG]
Transportation?
- “There’s no way that you can build your way out of congestion by building highways.”
Visiting guest host Paul, The Nihilist in Golf Pants, noting that she was 0 for 11 on the Taxpayer’s League scorecard, posed this: “If 8 of 38 Senators got a zero rating from The Taxpayer’s League, that puts you in the far left, does it not?”
- “I think it puts me right in the mainstream. I think it puts me in the column of fiscal responsibility.”
Like I said, listen to the podcast. Then imagine four years of this.
- During a break, the Senator suggested that she meant to say that "Illegal immigrants do not disproportionately commit crimes," but in the heat of her argument forgot the word disproportionately. We probably should have clarified on air.
- When I said only 8 of 38 senators recieved a zero rating from the taxpayers league, that was 8 of 38 DFL senators. None of the 29 Republicans received a zero rating. I suggested that even within her own party, that rating puts her on the far left.
The larger point is that Senator Lourey, at least on this occasion, was too easily flustered, revealing more of her true beliefs and intent than I'm sure her campaign advisors wanted. That's what made this a good interview, and you were a part of that success.