Showing posts with label Dana Loesch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dana Loesch. Show all posts

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Satire: Emmis Communications and Enterprise Rent a Car Exchange Gifts

Ann Wagner (left) presents John (right) and wife Lori Beck (center) with the flag from the Enterprise Corporate Headquarters
St. Louis -- In a symbolic gesture to mark the winter holidays, Ann Wagner, a Republican candidate in Missouri's 2nd Congressional District, presented John and Lori Beck with the flag that used to fly over Enterprise Rent a Car's corporate headquarters. John Beck, Senior Vice President of Emmis Communications, and his wife Lori returned the favor by holding a fundraiser at their home for undecided supporters of Wagner's Congressional campaign. John Beck emphasized that they held the fundraiser to show their impartiality in the hotly contested 2nd Congressional District. Beck also noted that his on-air staff at 97.1FM Talk would continue to emphasize that they are undecided in the race between Ann Wagner and Tea Party conservative Ed Martin. Radio personalities Jamie Allman and Dana Loesch reaffirmed their indifference to Ann Wagner while also demonstrating their commitment to neutrality in Missouri's 2nd Congressional District.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Re-examining a Laugh at Ann Wagner's Expense

Early last December I had a little fun with an Ann Wagner expense for "FEC Compliance". I wrote that post in response to a post by Jim Hoft that I saw in BigJournalism. Hoft's original post went up at Gateway Pundit; however, when it was picked up by BigJournalism, a photo of Ed Martin and Roy Blunt was added.
Photographic Deception
That picture was not in Jim Hoft’s original piece. Clearly, the photo is meant to tie Ed Martin to the Establishment. Who made and approved the decision to add the picture to the Big Journalism story, when it wasn’t included at Gateway Pundit?

Here's another picture. This one is from StlToday.com. It's a pretty clear refutation of the Big Journalism picture.
Roy Blunt, US Senate, Political Team: Andy Blunt, Ann Wagner, and Roy Blunt
Roy Blunt, US Senate, Political Team: Andy Blunt, Ann Wagner, and Roy Blunt
Look closely at those black jackets. They're emblazoned with: "Roy Blunt, US Senate, political team." During Roy Blunt's 2010 US Senate campaign, Ann Wagner was Roy Blunt’s campaign chair. (Full disclosure: I supported Chuck Purgason). I've already pointed out how ridiculous the Ed and Roy photo was, but there’s more.

Dana Loesch, the Editor and Chief of BigJournalism, has a habit sending “inside baseball” tweets. It’s a pattern that allows her to take a swipe at someone, while giving her deniability when pressed as to who she was talking about. Here's an example:
Tired of hearing that Candidate B “is at war with Missouri Establishment.”  give me a break.  They ARE MISSOURI ESTABLISHMENT
Dana is talking about Ed Martin. She’s asserting that Ed is part of the establishment, and thus can’t be the Tea Party candidate. That tweet was sent shortly after Bill Hennessy wrote a piece praising Ed Martin. That was the first of many tweets and comments she’s made since Ann Wagner entered the race in a clear pattern of attacking Ed where he is strongest – at the grassroots.

So let’s compare the records of Ed Martin and Ann Wagner.

Ed Martin was tapped to be Chief of Staff for Matt Blunt in 2006. He had been effective at the St Louis Board of Elections, and was considered an outsider pick at the time. Also, he knows Missouri politicians.  And he ran for Congress against Russ Carnahan and almost won. That’s about as far as you get in calling him establishment.

Ann Wagner has been in Missouri Republican politics for 15 years. Her husband was on the board fo the RCGA, the Hawthorn Group, the Missouri Tax Commission, and he’s been a registered lobbyist for years. The Wagners hang out with Democrat St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley at his birthday party. They host fundraisers for Dick Lugar. Ray helped lead the 911 tax increase for St Louis County. They bundle contributions, doing so well that Ann got picked as the Ambassador to Luxembourg, one of the wealthiest countries in Europe per capita, with opulent parties and a lot of good times. Ann Wagner is so establishment, she ran for RNC chair.

Now she claims she’s never been a candidate before, but as former head of Missouri's Republican Party and with a failed bid for RNC chair, the truth is a little more complicated. Ann Wagner has never been a candidate for public office before. It’s telling that her first attempt was RNC Chair, an attempt to run the national GOP for Washington D.C. Republicans. Failing that, her second choice was Missouri Senate. She clearly felt her Establishment backing was enough to be beat Sarah Steelman and Ed Martin in a statewide race. But, when Todd Akin entered that race, Ann decided to run for his open Congressional seat instead. Does anyone else get the sense she’s just casting around for something to do?

How has Ann approached her race? She’s gone out to her friends and fundraising network and asked for endorsements. She’s hung out at fancy fundraisers. She’s had Enterprise buy her access to parties. She’s hired Jeff Roe and John Hancock two of Missouri's top shelf GOP hacks consultants. She’s called out of state Republicans and asked them to endorse her. And she’s getting them (if you count paying for chartered planes and giving to candidate committees endorsements).

If Ann Wagner isn’t the Missouri Establishment, then why did her donors give 63% of the money for Amendment 2, the 2006 pro-cloning ballot initiative? If she isn’t establishment, why is the Missouri Republican Party letting her hijack a Chris Christie visit? If she’s not establishment, why has her strategy been to tell people Ed Martin would run for Lieutenant Governor, instead of campaigning in the 2nd District?  The Establishment tells candidates when and where to run. The Tea Party welcomes all candidates to fight it out with ideas and campaigns.

Ann Wagner is the essence of Establishment, and has been at least since her 1996 work on Bob Dole's presidential campaign when she haughtily derided fellow Republicans by calling them "stamp-licking peons". My question is: what is Dana Loesch doing inserting herself into Missouri primaries? For someone who swears up and down she isn’t involved, Dana sure spends a lot of time throwing stones at Ed Martin. If Dana wants to be neutral, she needs to be neutral.  If she wants to play the game of supporting Ann by attacking Ed, then she needs to answer some tough questions and not hide behind anonymous accusations.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Dana Loesch Interviews Mark Steyn

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Andrew Breitbart Explains to Dana Loesch How He Hijacked Anthony Weiner's Press Conference

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Sarah Palin Documentary, The Undefeated, Coming to St. Louis

97.1 FM Talk: Dana Loesch interviews Steve Bannon about "The Undefeated":

Film maker, Steve Bannon talks with Dana about Steve's latest film/documentary about Sarah Palin

During the interview, Steve and Dana talk about a screening here in St. Louis within the "next week or two." I hope to be there.

According to the RCP report, the film, entitled "The Undefeated," is divided into three acts and focuses largely on Palin's successes as Alaska governor - particularly in regard to energy and fiscal matters - while avoiding controversial ideological issues like abortion. The film paints Palin as an inspirational maverick, as well as "the only conservative leader who can both build on the legacy of the Reagan Revolution and bring the ideals of the tea party movement to the Oval Office," as RCP's Scott Conroy writes.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Andre Harper Launches His New Book: The Citizen's Guide


Andre Harper met with St. Louis area Tea Partiers at the Friday night launch of his new book: The Citizen's Guide to Defeating the Mainstream Media. In the last video in the playlist above, Harper talks about his book and the importance of fighting the MSM. He gives an outline of the book and then takes questions from the attendees. Chris Arps of Move-on-up.org; Dana Loesch of www.971talk.com, bigjournalism.com, and www.cnn.com; Bill Hennessy of StLouisTeaParty.com, Stacy Washington, and Martin Baker comment on Andre's work and influence in the conservative movement.

Update: Thanks to Gateway Pundit for the link!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Dana Loesch Smacks Down Paul Begala



The video clip above is from Breitbart.tv (h/t Instapundit). Dana Loesch smacks down former Clinton apparatchik Paul Begala by pointing out that Clinton's foreign policy involved bombing a medicine factory.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Dana Loesch at CPAC

From 2011 CPAC People
Dana Loesch, talk show host, contributor to CNN, and co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party, spoke at the 2011 CPAC meeting in Washington, DC about the state of journalism. She emphasized new media and the role of the new minuteman in gathering, reporting, and distributing emerging news stories. While she credits by name Patch at P/OedPatriot, Rob Brenner, and myself, the three of us are only examples. Her highest praise is for the countless contributors laboring behind the scenes. I've met many these new minutemen through As a Mom as well as Tea Party events: Gretchen, Molly, and Angie over at MissouriEducationWatchdog, Jacque who discovered a neighbor in need and a breaking story, Arlene who emails me news tips... These and many, many others are the new minutemen.



Thursday, February 10, 2011

Dana Loesch Speaks about New Media at #CPAC

Co-founder of the St. Louis Tea Party Dana Loesch speaks at CPAC
Dana Loesch joined a panel at the 2011 CPAC conference to expound on the role of new media in journalism. Earlier in the day, CNN announced that Loesch would be joining them as a political contributor.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

US Senate Race and Unity Candidates

The 2012 US Senate race in Missouri is already heating up. Senator Claire McCaskill's comment over the weekend that it may really be time for Americans to take up pitchforks is an early indication that the battle lines are drawn. And it looks to be a closely fought race. Public Policy Polling has found the Missouri Senate Race to be within a point or two:
McCaskill leads Sarah Steelman by 1 point (45-44) in a hypothetical match up and trails Jim Talent and Peter Kinder each by 2 points in them (47-45 and 46-44 respectively,) all results well within the poll’s margin of error.
As of today, Steelman is the only candidate that's announced that she's running. She's trying to position herself as the Tea Party candidate; however, as I wrote last Friday, Sarah Steelman has not yet earned the title. I like the fact that she's not hand-picked by the party, but she hasn't earned my vote yet.

With the election behind us and the next one almost two years away, Steelman will be a popular guest on political radio shows across Missouri. She made two appearances on St. Louis stations today. Both Mark Reardon and Dana Loesch interviewed her (audio at the links). Reardon offered a post interview commentary that was pretty harsh. In my opinion, too harsh. Steelman's radio interview skills are weak. I think it's that the cadence of her responses are slower than a radio audience expects, so I think Reardon was being unkind in saying that she lacked substance. Yes, it was boilerplate conservative talking points, but do you really expect actionable policy recommendations two years out? That said, Reardon's point that "the quality of your candidate matters," is absolutely correct.

Jeremy Jacobs of the National Journal's Hotline on Call thinks that Steelman will need Tea Partiers in a primary battle with Talent:
Garnering Tea Party support will be crucial for Steelman, if she faces a primary against Talent. And it's clear she is courting them. Steelman spokesman Jeff Layman pointed to Steelman's history of opposing earmarks and said that Steelman "is one of the early heroes of the Tea Party movement."
While I appreciate the link and reference to my first article on Steelman, again, what has she done that's made her a hero of the Tea Party? What I see happening here is the Tea Party (ostensibly Steelman) being pitted against the establishment GOP (ostensibly Talent). Since Talent has taken a four year hiatus from running for office, he still has a reasonable shot to be the Tea Party candidate if he plays his cards right.

Returning to the poll above. PPP also polled a Peter Kinder vs. Claire McCaskill race. While everyone's assuming (rightly, I believe) that Kinder will run for governor, I think he'd be an interesting candidate for US Senate. Peter Kinder is a hero of the Missouri Tea Party movement because he brought a law suite against the federal government over the new healthcare law. In other words, Kinder draws his base of support from both the establishment GOP and the Tea Party movement. He's a sort of unity candidate. Again, I think he'll run for governor, but it's an interesting idea.

While the St. Louis Tea Party has the glamor of a major American city, the workhorses of the movement include the Tea Parties in neighboring counties. Two such Tea Parties are the Franklin County Patriots and the Jefferson County Tea Party. Jeremy Jacobs in that National Journal article mentioned above recognizes the importance of these other Tea Party groups:
James Harris, a Missouri Republican consultant who has worked for Steelman in the past, said the Tea Party movement could make the difference for Steelman both in the primary and the general election race with Sen. Claire McCaskill (D).

"We have a very strong and vibrant Tea Party movement in St. Louis and the collar counties," said Harris. "Jefferson County, for example, swung to the Republican side this year because of that movement."

Jefferson, the sixth largest county in the state, has been a traditional swing area where Republicans have to perform well to win statewide. Pres. Bush carried it by 600 votes in 2004 and Pres. Obama carried it by two percentage points in 2008.

What I think Jacobs (and Harris) are discounting is the contributions of GOP volunteers. Ed Martin got out 40 volunteers in Arnold (Jefferson County) on a rainy Saturday in early October. During the closing weeks of the campaign, Martin had a contingent of volunteers manning the phones from dawn til dusk.

The point being that the turn around in Jefferson County came about because of the work of both Tea Party and GOP volunteers. And that brings me to another unity candidate: Ed Martin. If he were to step into the US Senate race he would be the only candidate running that was endorsed by the St. Louis Tea Party. I think he'll run for Secretary of State, but we've got lots of time to speculate about the US Senate race against Claire McCaskill, so why not do just that?

Update: It's early in this US Senate race. Best of luck to all the candidates mentioned above as well as Chuck Purgason and Kristi Nichols (if they decide to run again).

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Citizens United visits St. Louis


Citizens United held a screening of their new movie Battle for America (preview above). The movie was quite good, but I have to confess that I spent at least 30-minutes of it talking with the directors (David Bossie and Stephen Bannon), the Citizens United staff, and other Tea Partiers. It was much more of a networking event for me, so I'm sorry that I can't provide a better review.

That said, I did get several good pictures as did the other Tea Party photographers at the event. There were a number of familiar Tea Party faces. The picture to the right was taken by jd wilson. I tweeted a picture of Michelle Moore, one of Dana Loesch and Michelle, and one of David Bossie. I also saw Lt. Gov Peter Kinder and the Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Dana Loesch at the 912 St Louis Rally *UPDATED*


Dana Loesch of 97.1 and DanaRadio.com rallied the crowd at the St Louis Tea Party. She spoke about how the 9-11 attacks brought the country together... how we united as Americans. Dana also introduced several local patriots who have been instrumental growing grassroots conservative groups.

Thanks to the Tea Party Patriots for making this rally possible!

Update: Here are some pictures of Dana from the weekend


Previously:

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Congratulations Dana Loesch!!!


Dana Loesch is #1 again this year in Right Wing News's 20 Hottest Conservative Women in New Media. The photo set above is in chronological order starting with my very first picture of Dana at the February 27th, 2009, Tea Party under the Arch and continuing through the Jefferson County Tea Party this past April.

Previously:

Friday, May 28, 2010

Rush, They have a Proscription for That!

World Net Daily reports on Rush Limbaugh's worries:
In an e-mail sent to Zev Chafets, author of the new book "Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One," Limbaugh admitted, "I know I am a target and I know I will be destroyed eventually. I fear that all I have accomplished and all the wealth I have accumulated will be taken from me, to the cheers of the crowd. I know I am hated and despised by the American Left."
Proscription is the government sanctioned murder of political opponents—so called "enemies of the state." In ancient Rome, it functioned like a death tax. The property of the proscribed was auctioned off, those responsible for capturing or killing the person were awarded a bounty, and the rest of the estate went to Rome. That's pretty much what Rush fears.

Rush, we understand your concern, but don't worry. You're the Obi-Wan Kenobi of conservative talk radio: "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." As a mentor of mine frequently said: "the pioneers take the arrows and the settlers take the land." You've taken the arrows so that others—Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Hugh Hewitt, and Dana Loesch—could stake a claim to parts of this conservative land. You've raised the bar. You've set the standard by which all who follow will, not only be measured, but strive to surpass.

One of Rome's greatest orators, Cicero, was a defender of the republican form of government. He died under Mark Antony's proscription.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Profile of Dana Loesch

Dana Loesch

The River Front Times has a great profile of St Louis Tea Party leader Dana Loesch. My favorite bit in the RFT piece is her comment about C-SPAN:
Stylistically, Loesch says she sought to emulate entertainers like Howard Stern and Jon Stewart. Her daily prep consists of reading widely online, from NPR to biggovernment.com to the New York Times to coverage from ABC's Jake Tapper. C-SPAN? Rarely. "I could sound all academic and say I like watching it because it's good for our democracy," says Loesch. "But honestly I like it best when they diva out and start hollering. I like it the way I like to watch Cops."
Dana has several comments.

Monday, December 14, 2009

St Louis Holiday Tea Party: Full Video


St Louis "Letting Off Steam" Tea Party

On November 28th, conservative St. Louis activists held their "Letting Off Steam" Tea Party at Kiener Plaza. Saturday's rally featured numerous speakers who exhorted the crowd to continue the fight against big government, federally imposed healthcare, a raft of unaccountable czars, bailouts, and a Washington-created cap and tax scheme to benefit Wall St paper shufflers. The speakers praised states rights (10th amendment), liberty, and freedom encouraging attendees to take a more active role in their communities.

The playlist above includes the following seventeen videos:
  • Bill Hennessy led the pledge and offered the invocation at Saturday's rally
  • Laura Alter sang the National Anthem
  • Mike Carey of the American Council of Affordable and Reliable Energy spoke about the dangers of cap and trade and the importance of energy independence
  • Tina Ann read a poem that show wrote celebrating the Tea Party movement
  • Critical care nurse Stephanie Rubach (2nd video) spoke about the dangers the pending healthcare legislation
  • David McArthur of McArthur's Bakery spoke about our broken system of government in Washington
  • Bill Hennessy and Lyda Loudon talk about the Tea Party Youth
  • Jim Hoft, the Gateway Pundit, spoke about healthcare reform, cap and tax, various czar controversies, foreign relations, and the importance of continuing the fight for freedom and liberty
  • Jay Stewart (2nd video) wowed the crowd in his debut Tea Party speech hitting on all the issues: economics, capitalism, states rights, liberty, healthcare, cap & trade, and American exceptionalism
  • Marty Martinez warned us about creeping socialism with remarks about his time in communist Cuba
  • Dr. Gina Loudon (2nd video) talked about the accomplishments of the Tea Party and her own effort leading the Whole Foods buycott (more of my buycott reporting)
  • Dana Loesch (2nd video) addressed the importance of America and our unique role fighting for the advance of liberty (incorporates footage from KHorton. This is 4:3, not my usual 16:9. Color is way off between the two cameras and audio is out sync in my clips--sorry. )
  • James O'Keefe spoke to the Tea Party crowd about the importance of citizen journalism (incorporates footage from Rob Brenner)

Cross Coverage:

Previously:

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Video: St Louis Tea Party Dump Dede Presser (10/23)


Bill Hennessy and Dana Loesch Rally the Crowd to Dump Dede

Last Friday, 10/23/9, Bill Hennessy and Dana Loesch led a protest against GOP backroom politics in NY23. Bill praised Ed Martin for going against the GOP machine while Dana announced that the Tea Party will kick the GOP to the curb or take them over if they don't shape up.

Cross Coverage:
Previously:

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Dana Announces Tea Party Take Over of GOP


Dana Loesch announces Tea Party take over of GOP

On Friday, 10/23/9, Bill Hennessy and Dana Loesch led a protest against GOP backroom politics in NY23. Here, Dana Loesch announces that the Tea Party is taking over the GOP. Dana calls on the GOP to Dump Dede because Dede does not represent the conservative values of mainstream Republicans.

Cross Coverage:

Friday, October 23, 2009

St Louis Tea Party takes on the GOP

Dana LoeschDana Loesch

Dana Loesch and Bill Hennessy called for the GOP to dump Dede in NY-23. Loesch and Hennessy spoke outside of St. Louis City Hall where they called on Tea Partiers to support conservative Doug Hoffman over liberal, Acorn-backed, Dede Scozzafava. When asked about this confrontation with the GOP, Dana remarked that Tea Partiers were not going to be co-opt by the Republican Party, but were rather in the process of taking it over. Bill Hennessy praised Ed Martin (R), who is running to unseat Russ Carnahan (D-MO) in MO-03, for taking a stand in support of Doug Hoffman. Bill called on other Missouri Republicans to do the same. Paul Curtman, who is running for state rep in Missouri's 105th, was there to support conservatism and Doug Hoffman. Check out some of my pictures from the event.

Cross Coverage:
  • A Traditional Life Lived has video coverage
  • Dana Loesch puts the story in her own words
Instalanche!!! Woah! I was at Activist Training when all y'all came through the door. Make yourself at home and be sure to checkout my twitpic photo feed and YouTube channel. Thanks for stopping by!

Cool! Smitty over at The Other McCain noticed the great photo of Dana above. I've got more Rule 5 Dana Loesch. I'm thinking about setting up a Dana photo gallery.... maybe call it the "Daily Dana" or something.

My latest coverage of Dana Loesch.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Dana Loesch at the St Louis Science Center's Segway Scramble

Dana LoeschDana Loesch before the Race

St Louis area media personalities participated in the Science Center's Segway Scramble to help promote SciFest 09. Dana Loesch and her producer, Kevin, represented 97.1FM. KSDK channel 5 has video of reporter Heidi Glaus competing in the race. While I was disappointed to hear—well, not hear, in this case—that cutbacks at KSDK include the left audio channel, I was heartened at their decision to retain the right! (Perhaps they've fixed that?)

I tweeted two pictures from the event:
Dana went on to take fourth in the final race. More importantly, I was able to get some audio of her singing. You see, part of the race included singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.