Mary Backs The Radical Democrat In South Dakota

Whether this is a big deal or not, and whether it would actually make a difference in next year’s election or not, we don’t have much of an opinion on.

But Mary Landrieu’s support of Rick Weiland in South Dakota, by co-hosting a fundraiser for him, doesn’t particularly square with her presentation to Louisiana voters as a centrist and a swing vote.

Weiland is running for the Senate seat which is coming open in that state due to Democrat Tim Johnson’s retirement. He’s a former staffer for Tom Daschle, the noxious former Democrat Senate leader, and Johnson has endorsed him.

Nobody really thinks Weiland can win. South Dakota has become a deeply red state, and the likely Republican nominee, Mike Rounds, is a two-term former governor.

The NRSC is putting out a sheet on Weiland which doesn’t exactly present him as electable in a red state…

Weiland Supports Liberal Health Care Proposals Like The Single Payer Or Public Option

Weiland Supports A Single-Payer Health Care Plan, Or Medicare For All. “We have to deal with health care reality, not what might have been, and the reality today is that ‘universal medicare for all’ is just not in the cards. What I propose is not universal Medicare for all, it is simply that any citizen who so chooses be entitled to buy into Medicare at a fair market price (a price that absolutely guarantees no current Medicare recipient can be adversely affected). This is the so called ‘single payer option’ that could have helped keep the insurance industry honest, but that was driven out of the Affordable Care Act to the great detriment of, and at great cost to, the American public.” (David Montgomery, “Weiland Endorses Universal ‘Medicare For All,’” Argus Leader, 8/2/13)

Weiland Does Not Support Repealing ObamaCare, And Actually Wants To Add A Public Option To ObamaCare. “Weiland is the only Democrat in the race and thinks there is no turning back on the Affordable Care Act. While he thinks some changes still need to be made, he says the program is here to stay. ‘The Affordable Care Act is law. If there are problems, and I’m sure there will be, I would like to see a public option and allow people to buy into Medicare, we should work that through the legislative process and negotiation and compromise and then let the majority rule,’ Weiland said.” (Ben Dunsmoor, “The Evolving Issue Of Obamacare,” KELO, 10/8/13)

Weiland Supports Higher Taxes

Weiland Supports Eliminating The Cap On The Social Security Payroll Tax – A $100 Billion Annual Tax Increase. “Social Security: Weiland said the U.S. should remove the cap on what people pay into the program as a way to put the program on a better financial basis.” (Lance Nixon, “Weiland: Big Money Is Hurting Public Policy,” Capital Journal, [Pierre, SD], 10/11/13; Dylan Matthews, “Research Desk Responds: Could Raising The Income Cap Save Social Security?” The Washington Post, 6/28/10)

Weiland Supports Higher Taxes On Energy Producers. “Like Tim Johnson, I recognize that it’s wrong to continue to give tax breaks to Big Oil and, at the same time, cutting programs like Head Start for our most vulnerable children.” (Rick Weiland Website, www.peopleforweiland.tumblr.com, Accessed 11/23/13)

Weiland Supports Higher Taxes For “The Wealthiest Americans.” “Like Tim Johnson, I recognize that it’s wrong to support tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and, at the same time, supporting doubling the interest rates on student loans, as is currently scheduled to happen on July 1st.” (Rick Weiland Website, www.peopleforweiland.tumblr.com, Accessed 11/23/13)

South Dakota Democrats Say Weiland Is Too Liberal

The South Dakota State Senate Democratic Leader Said “I Don’t See Rick Coming Across As Being A Moderate.” “But Jason Frerichs, a state senator who leads the Democrats’ seven-member minority caucus, said, ‘We are a state that comes to the center.’ ‘I don’t see Rick coming across as being a moderate,” Mr. Frerichs continued, later adding, ‘There isn’t currently that type of clear dialogue happening on progressive versus moderate for a Democratic Party candidate. I think that dialogue needs to happen based on what we want to see the direction of this party be in our state because we certainly need to be more relevant.’” (John Eligon, “Finding Democrats To Run Where Republicans Win,” The New York Times, 5/28/13)

Universal Background Checks For Guns

Weiland Supports Universal Background Checks For Guns. “Gun rights: The U.S. should enforce the laws it has on the books already and have a universal background check that will help keep guns out of the hands of criminals and mentally ill people.” (Lance Nixon, “Weiland: Big Money Is Hurting Public Policy,” Capital Journal, [Pierre, SD], 10/11/13)

  • WEILAND: “And like Tim Johnson, I recognize that expanding background checks in order to keep lethal weapons out of the hands of individuals with either a criminal record or a record of mental illness is absolutely necessary.” (Rick Weiland Website, www.peopleforweiland.tumblr.com, Accessed 11/23/13)

POLITICO has Harry Reid saying of Weiland, “not my choice.”

But here’s what the NRSC didn’t catch on Weiland in their opposition research, and here’s why Mary Landrieu’s support for him might actually be an issue in the race.

Here’s Rick Weiland on ethanol, the EPA and the oil and gas industry Mary Landrieu prides herself as defending on Capitol Hill…

“If you ever thought big money special interests control only the Republican Party, this is the proof that you are wrong.  Big oil has been trying to gut the renewable fuels industry for years.  They have poured millions of the dollars they steal from us at the pump into high priced lobbying and huge political contributions.  Now, it appears the EPA will soon cave into pressure from oil companies and propose a cut in ethanol use next year of around 1.4 billion gallons.  They will pretend it’s needed to give oil companies more time to adjust to higher ethanol blends like E15, but that’s hogwash.  This is Big Oil’s payoff.”

“At $3.50 a gallon for the 1.4 billion gallons of polluting oil they will be able to sell when that much renewable fuel is removed from the market, that will be a 4.9 billion dollar payoff handed to them on a platter by my Democratic Party.  It’s shameful.  Anyone, Democrat or Republican, who says it isn’t, isn’t telling the whole truth.”

There couldn’t be a more perfect example of how big money spends millions to buy your government, then gets back billions from the decisions its government makes.  They call that investment.  I call it ‘quid pro quo’ and I am running for the United States Senate to put an end to it!”

That was a month ago. It’s a current statement from a lunatic who thinks that selling gasoline at competitive market prices (which are nearly double what they were before his party took over the White House) is “stealing,” and who demands to continue a wasteful and stupid policy of mandating ethanol use when it has the effect of costing the consumer more not only at the pump but also at the grocery store, and who is moreover defending the environmental damage to the Gulf of Mexico caused by nitrates in fertilizers and the resulting dead zone they produce when washed down from the Mississippi.

This is who Mary Landrieu is hosting fundraisers for? Wasn’t she supposed to be a friend of the oil business? For that matter, wasn’t she supposed to be a friend of Louisiana’s environment?

Landrieu’s defense might be that right now Weiland is the only Democrat in the race, so she’s just “dancing with who brung her.” Except if Harry Reid could beg off, and there are 24 other Democrats who ran away from this guy (including Joe Manchin, Dianne Feinstein, Kay Hagans and Mark Udall), then Mary could.

It’s tough to claim on one hand that you’ve got the oil and gas industry’s back on one hand, and gleefully accept the American Petroleum Institute’s appreciation in TV ads and direct mail pieces for what a wonderful ally you are to the industry’s cause, and then on the other hand to assist in electing to the Senate moonbats who think Big Oil is at the root of the nation’s problems.

Edward Markey, the newest left-wing moonbat who hates the oil and gas industry, is co-hosting that fundraiser along with Mary Landrieu. Landrieu’s new media flack Andrew Zucker, whose exploits we’ve discussed a couple of times here (he actually works for the Louisiana Democrat Party, but what he’s doing is essentially acting as a communications shill for the Landrieu campaign), came from Markey’s campaign.

You can call that a weak connection. We call it a chummy atmosphere in which Landrieu styles herself as an Energy Democrat while doing lots of things to kick the energy industry right in the family jewels.

Maybe it’s time for the American Petroleum Institute and some of the other folks in the oil and gas business to re-evaluate their cross-party support for Mary Landrieu. She’s not the friend of theirs she pretends to be in order to get campaign checks from them.

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