Published by chief May 1st, 2005
It’s official. Tom “Ozzie” Osborne is running for governor.
Omaha World-Herald, Lincoln Journal-Star, Kearney Hub
The announcement was made yesterday at a press conference in Hastings. Here are some highlights of the press conference…
Ozzie said he has no interest in running for a second term (assuming he is elected) but didn’t completely rule it out.
The word “coach” is mentioned for the first time about six minutes into the press conference. “Football” is uttered for the first time about a minute later.
10 minutes into the news conference things take a strange turn. Ozzie has brought a prop and he’s going to use it. To illustrate Nebraska’s “brain drain,” Ozzie has brought a color-coded map. The map is fine but I was a little frightened by Ozzie’s assistant who had a bleached blonde mullet.
13 minutes into the news conference Ozzie begins talking about encouraging the development of entrepreneurial skills in young people. He then mentions how these products can be marketed through the internet. Unfortunately, he didn’t talk about blogs.
At the 15 minute mark, Ozzie says that the people that survived the Great Depression and Dust Bowl made his football team better.
At the 19 minute mark, Ozzie begins talking about underage drinking. He says that in “2001 underage drinking cost the State of Nebraska $435 million dollars.” I wish I knew where he got that number because I think he’s way off base. I thought this was a very strange correlation.
At the 25 minute mark, Ozzie says he will not be taking any PAC or corporate money.
At the 28 minute mark, Ozzie starts taking questions from reporters. Most of these questions center around Sen. Chuck Hagel’s endorsement of Dave Heineman.
Surprisingly, “Husker” was not mentioned at all during the entire press conference. For those of you playing the Tom Osborne Press Conference Drinking Game, I’m sorry. I know everyone wanted to do the “Husker hard stuff.” Disclaimer: Do not play this game if you are underage. Underage drinking costs this state $435 million dollars per year (and we don’t want to make $436).
Only in Nebraska…. well… maybe Oklahoma, too… Gov. Stoops??
Maybe it’s time to form a “Dems for Heineken” club… Err… “Dems for Heineman.” Anything to keep Osborne, the scary super-social conservative out of office…though this is probably a foregone conclusion.
Might as well down another Heineman….err…Heineken.
Btw…how many “Andrews” post to this forum?
This is the grad-student Andrew…
***Jon Stewart/Bill Maher in 2008!***
If anything, underage drinking made the state $435 million dollars from all the MIPs the cops like to give out; fining adults for enjoying a nice, cold Bud Light. Small government, right conservatives? Doesn´t sound like it to me, unless Gov. Tom´s philosophy on erasing that $435 million dollar cost is by stopping the enforcement of such a ridiculous law.
The most amusing thing about Tom Osborne is that he probably believes that his situation is different from California’s and Minnesota’s celebrity-turned-politician govs. He seems to think we need him…. but I’m willing to bet that even Mr. Nabity would be a better gov than Osborne! HA! … Also, he is already pre-emptively turning down his re-election bid…. What a crazy and selfish bastard!
On Dr. Toms defense I was watching a bio on him the other day, and apparently he is against the death penalty. I’m not sure how strongly he feels this, or if he will try to do anything once in office, but at least he’s willing to admit that he is against it in the face of the Republicans party who, as a general rule, love to kill. Granted, I would love to see a Democrat in that office, but I also think that we could do much worse than Osborne. A critical difference between him and the other ‘celebrity governorns’ is the fact that he does have a doctorate degee, where Arnold and Jesse “the body” Ventura just had huge mussles. With that said, we really should find a way to beat him! I’m not sure how or who will do it. That option attack is just too damn hard to defend, especially in a state wide race.
Tom is way too rural minded, i dont think him being governor would be good for Omaha at all. His loyalties lie in the west, he probably wont pass the bills that are needed for omaha to continue its growth. Omaha should succeed from nebraska, b/c it is all the country bumpkins that are holding us back
I think its absurd to call T.O. a social conservative. He is anti-death penalty and pro gun-control, and most certainly to the left. You may disagree with him but to call him a “crazy social conservative” is uninformed and unfair.
The issues of gun control and the death penalty are not the only issues that define someone as a Democrat… Democrats are more diverse than that.
I never said he was a Democrat, I just stated that it is absurd to claim that he is to the right of Dave Heineman.
Omaha Voter: regarding women’s issues - T.O. is extreme right. Against fetal tissue studies, against choice, pro Gag issues regarding birth control. Not the kind of guy I feel comfortable with.
He’s right of Heinaman because he won’t give as much money to the U of Nebraska system, he will cut social spending, he will fight medicare increases, he will fight increasing money for headstart type programs. He is to the right of heinaman because he thinks nebraska should be able to give more money to relgious organizations. He is in favor of racial profiling. He thinks we should give harsher sentances to nonviolant offenders.
he is to the left of heinaman on gun control and death penatly.
f them both i guess. they’re both pretty conservative guys.
Oh come now “Omaha Voter,” he opposes stem-cell research, he’s anti-choice, anti-gay (0% by the Human Rights Campaign,) likes disclosure arrangments for birth control, doesn’t like spending much on post-secondary education institutions, doesn’t want to increase medicare spending, likes alcohol consumption controls (and probably supports an exceptionally early last call,) supports government funding of religious institutions, etc. etc….
And BTW, he has yet to comment on conceal-and-carry (where you conjured up the “gun control” arguement, I haven’t a clue.)
HA! The one thing I absolutely hate about the abortion issue is how you people twist the truth about what is actually at stake: There is a reason people are called either “Pro-life” or “Pro-choice.” You guys are absolutely ridiculous if you actually think that simply renaming what a person stands for changes the heart of the issue. Let’s be honest with ourselves; it is a life or death issue, just as much as the death penalty issue. Here’s something else for you to consider: Abraham Lincoln once said “If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog? Five? No, calling a tail a leg don’t make it a leg.” So let’s be honest and fair. Afterall, we’re all Democrats, not Republicans.
^^ to the post above ^^ …kinda like how “Healthy Forests” = clearing timber… or “Clear Skies” means relaxed air-quality standards…
believe it or not mr “anoymous,” various religions disgree about when life “begins.” Moreover, so do different philosphical schools, and scientific inquiries.
It can’t be a life or death issue until we figure out where life and death begin and end. If life begins at conception (as in when we first think of the child as a person) then life can begin before the sex even happens. There is no doubt that if I went out and raped a girl, and then she had a baby because she wasn’t on birth control, then that child 10 years from now would probablyu be glad for what I did. He could then have a bumper sticker that says “rape creates lives” or “pro rape, pro life.” He would have a real tangible life that I am not letting happen by not having promiscuous or dangerous sex.
But that’s not how we define life. You can start by defining life in the womb, but most people reject that because it would mean millions of children die because their mom’s got too stressed out during the early parts of the pregnancy. It would also make abortion, a pretty old part of society, murder. I respect thinking that this is the case, but it’s just not a good way to do it. In reality, the oldest, safest, and currently only legal definition for when life starts is when the a baby takes its first breath.
So wake up and realize that there are legitimate arguments on both sides.
The very best thing any Democrat in the State of Nebraska can do is change your voter registration to Republican so YOU can vote for Hineman in the primary. Then, change back AFTER the primary.
www.governordave.com