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Governor “Pink Slime Lead Shot” Should be Primaried

By Steve Deace

It’s about credibility now, ours not his.

The “ours” in this case are we conservatives. The “his” is Terry Branstad, who is no conservative. In fact, I’m not sure what he is.

Soul-less technocrat immediately comes to mind. As does liar, because Branstad is already letting us know he’s going to break his campaign promise not to raise taxes and raise the regressive gas tax – which will hit Iowans who actually do most of the work around this state the most – if given the chance next year.

For those of us in this state who actually became Republicans because we believe in the principles in the party platform, we cannot allow this to stand. We’re at the point now that just blaming Branstad as the culprit is no longer sufficient. If we allow this to go unchallenged then our own credibility as his tacit collaborators will be shot with the people of Iowa. The next time a Democrat gets into Terrace Hill, which will be sooner rather than later if Branstad raises the gas tax, and grows government there will be no reason for Iowans to listen to conservative complaining, because at this point if you wanted smaller government you should’ve voted for Chet Culver.

Remember when Branstad labeled his predecessor “Big Bad Debt” during the campaign? Even Culver opposed the gas tax, and now Branstad’s budgets are even more bloated than Culver’s. Maybe if Branstad kept his word to cut government by 15%, he might have enough money to fix the roads without raising taxes. Just like all liberals and Republicrats, Branstad has grown government for his cronies as opposed to first taking care of the priorities government is supposed to. You know, like safe roads.

After they fail to live up to these priorities, and the people see the need for these priorities to be met, liberals and Republicrats call for more government and higher taxes to meet them. Never let a good (contrived) crisis go to waste.

And don’t let Branstad and the Republicrat hacks on his payroll get away with making excuses like the Democrat-controlled Senate made them do it, and until the Republicans are back in the majority their hands are tied. There’s a word for that we’re quite familiar with Iowa, because we use it for fertilizer around these parts.

The truth is there are 60 Republicans in the Iowa House, and that overwhelming majority didn’t hold the line on anything. Every time the Democrats in the Senate said “boo” the Republicans in that chamber gave up the ghost. The only reason this column isn’t about the cowardly Kraig Paulsen is because he’s a weak but decent man who’s not nearly the liar Branstad is—so first things first.

Another inconvenient truth is Branstad has the power of the line-item veto, which Iowa law permits him to use on spending and appropriations. Branstad can just pull out the pen he uses to sign all this big government into law and line-item-veto it instead, beginning with the taxpayer funding for child-killing via abortion he promised to end on the campaign trail.

I will begin holding my breath now in anticipation he will soon do so. Never mind, I prefer to live.

If Branstad is not primaried in 2014 then conservatives have sent Iowans a clear message that despite all the sanctimony about smaller government, all we really care about is beating Democrats like the Hawkeyes care about beating the Cyclones and vice versa. We’ve told Iowans we really don’t have any principles, except the warm fuzzy of winning for winning’s sake.

Scientists say you are what you eat, but in politics you are what you do. The only courage of conviction Branstad has demonstrated has been on pink slime and lead shot. Therefore, henceforth Terry Branstad in this column will be known as Governor Pink Slime Lead Shot, and he must be primaried in 2014. Governor Pink Slime Lead Shot hasn’t done anything conservatives care about, but he has done plenty conservatives are (claiming to be) opposed to.

For the sake of our own credibility we conservatives need to back those claims up with a little less talk and a lot more action. And the only action career political hacks like Governor Pink Slime Lead Shot are threatened by are the ones that threaten their political survival.

(You can friend “Steve Deace” on Facebook or follow him on Twitter @SteveDeaceShow)