DFL Waves The Bloody Shirt
By Mitch Berg
Being a DFLer means never wasting a crisis – or a tragedy.
The Minnesota DFL is seizing on and exploiting the Tuscon Massacre in the special election campaign in House District 5B (Tony Sertich’s old seat):
A campaign brochure for Republican state legislative candidate Paul Jacobson depicting a hunter looking down a shotgun and urging voters to “take your best shot’’ while criticizing opponent Carly Melin has sparked outrage from some supporters of the DFL candidate.
Here’s the brochure:
Scary stuff, huh? A hunter, in his Elmer Fudd hat, holding a hunting shotgun. Just like most Iron Rangers do during hunting season.
Not sure if anyone is implying Carly Melin is, perhaps, rising out of a swamp and getting ready to fly south – most DFL memes really don’t make much sense.
The brochure, mailed this week to residents of Minnesota House District 5B, shows a person looking down the barrel and urges people to vote in the Feb. 15 special election to fill the open seat.
While the gun is not pointed at anything or anyone in particular, Melin’s photo is on the next page. The ad also calls Melin “a fake’’ and states that her campaign is “full of holes.’’
I’m starting to get the message; “criticizing the DFL in any way is a threat”.
Gary Cerkvenik, a longtime Iron Range DFL political activist and now a volunteer for Melin’s campaign, said the ad is eerily similar to attack ads last year that depicted several Democratic members of Congress in crosshairs. The ads were harshly panned after the attempted assassination of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords last month in Tucson.
And Gary Cerkvenik is “eerily similar” to a smart person, but he doesn’t quite pull it off.
February 9th, 2011 at 8:39 am
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mitchpberg, Bill Poulos. Bill Poulos said: RT @mitchpberg: DFL: Waving The Bloody Shirt in HD5B: http://bit.ly/hEOtzy #stribpol Never waste a crisis; tragedies are for exploiting! […]
February 9th, 2011 at 8:46 am
Shouldn’t he be wearing some orange? Tells you how much DFLers know about guns and hunting!
February 9th, 2011 at 9:00 am
We need to market a new line of disposable underwear for Democrats. It is obviously a niche that needs filling (as it were).
February 9th, 2011 at 11:05 am
“We need to market a new line of disposable underwear for Democrats.”
They already have one Kermit. Depends. As in it Depends on who used the gun in their ad weather a Dem will fill their pants or not.
February 9th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
As long as they are “green” and biodegradable, jpmn. And the user has been eating a Michelle Obama approved diet.
February 10th, 2011 at 7:45 am
I knew Gary when he was a government major at St. John’s 30 years ago. He was a socialist then, and apparently still is now. No surprise he works for a DFL Ranger.