The Crap Has Been Cut
By Mitch Berg
The shorter Strib endorsement of Tom Horner: “He’s wonky enough, he’s almost liberal enough, and he’s not bat-spittle crazy”.
It h runs a little longer than that, naturally:
Historic challenges confront Minnesota in the next four years. They will be met only if the state has a governor able to inspire citizens to shoulder shared sacrifice for the sake of our common future. The Independence Party’s Tom Horner can deliver that kind of transforming leadership. We urge his election.
Further proof, if any were needed, that the Strib’s editorial board lives on Planet Portland Avenue.
Tom Horner, “inspiring citizens”? The guy – like most “Independence” Party politicians, except for the one that will ever actually hold office, Jesse Ventura – is the political equivalent of a Star Trek fanatic; he loves the idea of fiddling with all those nifty levers and buttons.
As to “transforming government”? If he takes office – and this endorsement is as close as he will get – he will stand at the head of exactly zero Independence Party legislators. He will have to build a coalition of legislators who come as close as possible to agreeing with him.
And that’s the great fraud of the “Independence Party”, today as it was under Jesse Ventura. Ventura, with no legislators (technically one RINO Republican did switch to the IP for her last term), had to run into the welcoming arms and pocket-picking hands of the only legislative caucus that had any synchronicity with his own agenda.
The DFL.
And Horner will have to do the same. Because that’s the great secret that the DFL is trying to cover up with all of their “Horner Is Republican” ad blitz; Horner’s policies are indistinsuishable from a vaguely moderate DFLer.
Horner presents voters with an opportunity they cannot afford to pass up. He possesses not only the understanding and communication skills that governing requires, but, unlike either DFLer Mark Dayton or Republican Tom Emmer, he also has the temperament to bridge the partisan divide that has long stymied the search for lasting solutions to chronic problems, both in Minnesota and the nation. For us, this choice is not a close call.
No, I’m sure it’s not.
But again with the Planet Portland. Horner “communicates” like a hectoring school teacher. And the “partisan divide” exists for a reason; there are two vastly different visions for this state. Horner has his toe on one side and his foot on the other – the left side – and like all “moderate” solutions will give us the worst of both worlds.
Tom Horner: the Real DFLer.
October 18th, 2010 at 7:30 am
The chance of the Red Star actually surviving Chapter 11, appears slim at best. Perhaps people closer to the source can provide a better view, but from what I am hearing from the street buzz, they are not making any progress and in fact, may have gone backward.
October 18th, 2010 at 7:37 am
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mitchpberg, Saturdays . Saturdays said: RT @mitchpberg: The Strib finally cuts the crap, endorses the "Moderate" DFLer: http://bit.ly/diZdy2 #stribpol #mn2010 […]
October 18th, 2010 at 9:43 am
When the DFL sees its party endorsed candidate lose the Strib, is that a portent of impending doom or merely editorial hijinks to create false image of moderateness?
October 18th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Nate, first off does it matter? I am somewhat of a conspiracy theorist so here’s what I think, that they are endorsing Horner in the hope that he will take more votes away from Emmer giving Dayton the win. Why they think this I have no idea, or if they even do, its just a theory. I wonder what all the DFLers think now, are they running panicked? And bosshoss where do you get this info from? And how much longer before they are sold for $1 like newsweek was?
October 18th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Ben;
Nothing concrete, just basic business talk with networking groups. Always a discussion effective advertising, etc. Seems to be the general consensus whenever the Strib is mentioned. Again, more speculation than fact, me thinks, but, if one looks logically at their stupidity; how long does the local or national business community continue to support a vehicle that is so anti-business?
Quite frankly, I’m surprised to see any Target ads after the support they showed for the boycott last summer.
The signs of desperation are evident, though. Last weekend, the Strib had people at the Richfield Menards store, soliciting subscribers. (Menards must have received a break on their advertising rates or something). I haven’t seen this for a long time. I made a point of telling the rep that I wouldn’t even use that biased piece of crap to wrap fish in, because I don’t want to humiliate the fish.
October 18th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Boss et al.,
As always, follow the money. Horner has been the most up-front of the candidates in advocating a new stadium for the Vikings. If the project goes forward, the land that the Strib owns in the vicinity could be part of the project and selling that land would be a nice infusion of cash for their fading enterprise. That factors into their support. Although Dayton being bat-spittle crazy has something to do with it, too.
October 18th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I have to admit I come back to the strib for if nothing else its sports page. I grew up reading it (literally, since I was like 6 or 7) and still enjoy their sports coverage. And the odd editoral cartoon is actually funny. For instance, a couple weeks ago they had an Emmer sign saying: “Endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce” (this before the attacks came from the big O) and they Dayton sign said: “Endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce*” (of South Dakota). I thought it summed up the race perfectly.
October 18th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Ben,
I agree on the sports page. They usually have some good pieces in the Variety section and I liked Dick Youngblood’s columns.
I haven’t subscribed for a couple of years now. I can read what I want to at work, so I don’t miss it. My wife misses the Thanksgiving edition, but she swears that the copies at Holiday, SA, etc; do not include all of the ads that the home delivered version has.
October 18th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Ben Says: “I am somewhat of a conspiracy theorist so here’s what I think, that they are endorsing Horner in the hope that he will take more votes away from Emmer giving Dayton the win.”
Exactly my thoughts. I also believe that in fairly short order the Strib endorsement will be meaninful only to the last few diehard subscribers.
October 18th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Re the conspiracy theory: it’d be a dumb idea for them; even if they read their own risible poll, they see Tommy Creepy-Eyes takes more votes from Fauntelroy than Emmer.
Of course, maybe even they ignore theMNPoll…
October 18th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
And speaking of the Srib, if Paul Douglas one more of his global warming rants on the weather page I’m going to cancel my suscription.