Senator Moron
Here's a transcript from today's Senate testimony, with Mark Dayton grilling Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs' chairman General Myers:
DAYTON: "General Mayer...er...Myers, er...when did you stop beating your wife?"
MYERS: "Er, I have never beaten my wife. Ever."
DAYTON: "Right, but with that in mind...er...I'd...um...like you to tell the nation when you stopped beating your wife?"
MYERS: "Er...Senator Dayton? Nobody, least of all my wife, has ever suggested that I did any such..."
DAYTON: "Right. Beating your wife is antithetical to democracy. When did you stop?"
RUMSFELD: "Senator Dayton, we're talking about the situation at Abu Ghraib prison, not General Myers..."
DAYTON (scowling): "Mr. Renfield, I'm asking the...er...um...er..."
RUMSFELD: "Questions?"
DAYTON: "...the questions here. Beating ones wife is anti...antithetic al to democracy..."
OK, I'm exaggerating.
Barely.
Minnesota has contributed its share of embarassing politicians to the national stage; John O'Connor, Gus Hall, Floyd Olson, Rudy Perpich, Jesse Ventura.
None of them were as gapingly ill-equipped for their office as is our current state embarassment "senior senator", Mark Dayton.
The Fraters Saint Paul and Elder have been ringing up Dayton's incoherence and wide-eyed befuddlement for years. Saint Paul put it well:
To Hugh Hewitt and America, we’re sorry about Sen. Mark Dayton. His performance today in accusing Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Dick Meyers of attempting to “withhold the truth from the American people” by surpressing information was political grandstanding at its worst. Although none of us voted for him, he's our Senator. He’s ours, we got him, and we apologize.
Through gritted teeth.
Here was part of the exchange:
Senator Mark Dayton said the request [to CBS news, to hold off on running the "Girls Gone Wild/Abu Ghraib" photos] went against the principles of the United States.
"Attempts to suppress news reports, to withhold the truth from Congress and the American people is antithetical to democracy," charged Senator Dayton, a Democrat from Minnesota.
"The President who wants to expand democracy around the world, by actions of his own administration, is undermining that democracy in the United States."
Repeatedly, and patiently, Myers and Rumsfeld explained to
vapid silver-spooned pinhead senator that that was exactly
not what had happened - and again and again, Dayton repeated the allegation. Three or four times that I could count.
Getting rid of Dayton needs to be a top priority.
Posted by Mitch at
May 7, 2004 07:18 PM
Apology accepted, but don't send him back for another term :)
Posted by: the markman at May 7, 2004 11:02 PMNow, if we can work on those morons in Massachussetts.....
I sat in awe at the utter lack of anything approaching rationality in the fraction of a human I was watching. After if was done, all I could do was to offer my own public apology to reasonable citizens. Your "beating your wife" analogy fit this idiot's argumentum style perfectly. I was half expecting Rumsfeld and Myers to leap from their seats and strangle Dayton.
Posted by: StarBanker at May 7, 2004 11:39 PMThinking about the prison coverage became even more fascinating to me as I considered today that, had the networks and major newspapers had the slightest inclination, they could easily have made a huge difference in the lives of ordinary Iraqis by giving Spirit of America and Capt. Wiggles even 1/20th of the coverage they've now given the Pinhead Penis Pointer.
Agenda? What agenda?
Posted by: Brian Jones at May 7, 2004 11:51 PMDon't blame me--I voted for Dancin' Jim Gibson (IP-MN).
I'm just hoping that the GOP nominates a tolerable candidate in 2006. I really, really, really don't want to have to vote for Dayton on the "Evil of Two Lessers" theory.
What? It's Pat Anderson?
Dayton it is.
Posted by: Jeff Fecke at May 10, 2004 04:10 PMJeff,
Gibson was a decent candidate. Had it not been a close race (and had I known Grams would win), I *might* have voted for him. He is, in fact, the *only* Indyparty candidate I've ever even thought of voting for; the rest have been universally awful.
But Jeff! Your post refutes the very notion that you're anything like a moderate! Given a choice between an *exceptionally* capable candidate and genuinely sharp, intelligent person like Pat Anderson, and a gawping silverspooned half-wit like the crushingly inept and wretchedly unqualified Mark Dayton, that you'd vote party line is in itself telling.
Dayton was a comical state Auditor. As a Senator, it's just. not. funny anymore.
Ousting Dayton is a personal goal for the next two years.
(And then, it's Alice "the Phantom" Hausman!)
Posted by: mitch at May 10, 2004 05:25 PMI live in California, and Dayton's not my senator, but I was seriously embarassed by his performance at the May 11, 2004, Senate hearings. His comments and questions were inane and mean spirited. What his performance lacked in substance was compounded by his painfully slow, finger-on-the-text reading of his obviously staff-prepared remarks. Am I missing something, or is he mentally retarded?
Posted by: Frank at May 12, 2004 02:36 PM