Pity The Musk Ox

The other day, Nancy LaRoche – of Freedom Dogs, True North and many a great Protest Warrior send-up – reported on a conversation she’d had with a state senator about Mark Daytons’ office, which the Governor has had moved into a closet:

One of the most remarkable comments the Senator made was how Governor Mark Dayton has transformed his office. He installed cubicles into his office space for staff, and moved his office into… a closet.

“Sally Jo Sorenson” of the leftyblog Bluestem Prairie responded with the usual tools of the leftyblogger’s trade: name-calling…:

Pity poor Nancy LaRoche, the latest victim of slow loris syndrome, both thinking it clever to engage in a pathetic fallacy,

…the ofay ad-hominem…:

while breathlessly reporting idle chatter from a senator in Michael Brodkorb’s caucus as breaking news.

…and, as a noxious little “bonus”, a gratuitous reference to Nancy’s employer.

Oh, and a smidgen of factoid – that Rachel Stassen-Berger had “reported” the story a month earlier in the Strib:

The new governor has taken the reins of state, but he’s letting go of the some of the trappings. When visitors come into the ornate, spacious corner office traditionally reserved for Minnesota’s head of state, they will find three staffers.

Now, Sally Jo Sorenson not by a long shot the most noxious leftyblogger out there – that would be worth a poll, but I’m not going to be the one to throw it.  Still, her post has the three things on which most – too much – Minnesota DFL-blogging relies:

  • Snark
  • Insult
  • A muted threat (to Nancy’s livelihood, in this case.  Seriously – what is the purpose of dragging someone’s day job into a stupid political discussion?  Is her goal to get her readers to call Nancy’s boss to try to get her fired, or what?  That’s so classy!

…and not a whole lot else.

Sheila Kihne, being a conservative blogger, goes the extra step – cutting to the real story:

With Mark Dayton and the Minnesota media establishment, where there’s smoke….there’s a fire extinguisher.

Now, let’s combine Nancy’s closet story with another conservative blogger’s find from the Strib. – Crystal Kelly asked “Is Mark Dayton Really Sober?” just a few days before the 2010 election. She wrote:

I ran across an article from the StarTribune, published July 4 2010, which lead me down a path that questions Mark Dayton’s sobriety. The article was titled, “Mark Dayton: a topsy-turvey ride.” In the second paragraph, something caught my eye. It said, “Sipping from a bottle of kombucha, a fermented tea that has become a campaign trail staple, this former U.S. senator is trying to revive an up-and-down political career at age 63.”

Crystal’s post provided research that recovering Alcoholics like Dayton SHOULD NOT be drinking Kombucha tea and the FDA is investigating the product labeling because of the alcohol content.. The Strib reported that the drink is a “campaign trail staple,” but never managed the same intellectual curiosity about the habits of a man who wanted to be our Governor. “Ha, ha! Can I try a sip?”

The media’s fabled curiosity shut down, of course – as it did with all things related to Dayton’s history – his “alternative teaching license” (a story Sheila led), his very dubious employment record with the New York Public Schools (ditto), his infamous bolt-and-run from DC while a Senator, the treatment history for his alcoholism, his mental health state and medications…

…as opposed to…:

What’s that you say? Tom Emmer’s son posted what on Facebook?

If I were a reporter and some liberal politician told me they worked in a closet, or I got a packet of information that seemed to indicate a past political payoff, or I noticed a recovered alcoholic drinking Kombucha tea all day long, or I found out that Dayton had lied about his resume……well, I might have some follow-up questions.

But of course, I’m not a reporter. I’m a partisan blogger…..and Mark Dayton’s a liberal. Herein lies the problem.

So there’s the relentless search for fact, and the exercise of the kind of courtesy to which the likes of our Capitol Press Corps practice (in re Republicans)…

…and then there’s snark, insult and threats.  Or as Bill Clinton’s staff called it, “Delay, Deny, Destroy”.

My point?  Oh, I dunno – Sheila Kihne is a better writer and blogger than Ms. Sorenson?   I can run with that.

So the remaining question is – what animal will Sally Jo Sorenson name Sheila Kihne?

I’m gonna bet it’ll be a real burn!

Not really.  It’ll be leaden and juvenile.  Like whatever it was she called Nancy.

(What, you think I’m calling Ms. Sorenson a “Musk Ox?”  Not, not at all.   I’m sure Ms. Sorenson is a perfectly fine human being, in her own way.  Maybe it was the glasses in the photo Sheila ran…)

15 thoughts on “Pity The Musk Ox

  1. Methinks the moonbat doth protest too much! I detect a creeping sense of shame circulating the MN Sorosphere, which they are trying to keep from bubbling up by bolstering their ignorance with inane commentary.

    Enabling is to allow dysfunctional individuals to continue their routines. Any psycologist will tell you it is harmful. Therefore, I step forward to help the helpless:

    Excuse me, moonbats; your leader, the poster boy for the DFL, is sitting in a fucking closet at an empty desk! He’s a kook; crazier than hell.

    Hope that helps; I’m a helper.

  2. I wonder if Governor Jim Beam has has a phone installed in his closet? He must think he’s safer in there. Kinda like a child hiding under the sheets.

  3. Like Swiftee, I also am a helper. In that helpful spirit, I offer this:

    In a previous thread, Doggone pooped out the following lie:

    “Wisconsin had a modest surplus until they recently went into this current fiscal crisis by giving money they didn’t have and couldn’t afford to corporations as inducements….which look a lot like payoffs for campaign contributions.”

    FACTCHECK!

    http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/feb/18/rachel-maddow/rachel-maddow-says-wisconsin-track-have-budget-sur/

  4. “I wonder if Governor Jim Beam has has a phone installed in his closet?”

    If he did, I want to know how much we had to pay to drop that phone line into the closet to indulge his paranoia!

    Three staffers? They must have been new additions, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. After all, libturd politicos require twice as many staffers as their GOP counterparts.

  5. LearnedFoot is the helpers helper. We help. But even we two skilled helpers are unable to help dog when she’s two bottles into a five bottle day.

  6. I’m betting Gov. JimBeam would love it if dog would come visit him in his closet…they could split a couple of bottles together and then curl up under his desk to hide & mate.

  7. Ain’t gonna happen Swiftee. Dog would scare the poor little trust fund baby. She can actually string multiple sentences together without a handler.

  8. I wonder if Governor Jim Beam has has a phone installed in his closet?

    Not just a phone, Kermit — a BAT PHONE!

  9. Learnedfoot, DG could learn a lot from the Powerline guys.
    Here – http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/02/028459.php – they investigate a “fishy” paraphrase from a Koch Bros. client that appeared in the NY Times. The Koch Bros. client denies that he says anything like the paraphrase. Meanwhile, the LA Times and liberal blog Thinkprogress have repeated the paraphrase, but put quotes around it so that it appears to be a verbatim statement.

  10. Thanks, Mitch. When you tie the choice of office location, the difficulty Dems have working with Dayton and that no one (yet?) has sponsored his budget bill – with Sheila’s other finds – it’s obvious Maker’s Mark Dayton is adorned with a nice insulated drape of media protection. Too bad it’s spun with “Emperor’s New Clothes” fiber.

    Sally Loo-Hoo Frigate Bird must be enjoying her puffed feathered chest after revealing my employer (who is very supportive of my off-duty blogging, btw). I’ve been called a lot worse by the left – and it makes my inner loris lumber on with renewed passion.

  11. I looked up Kombucha on Wikipedia–I know, I know, but it was the quickest thing. There was a picture of a glass of it. My reaction: YUCK! Then I saw the ethanol content, 0.5%. Hmm, kind of like near-beer. On the other hand, fortification would be easy to accomplish. I prefer Nyquil myself, but to each his own.

  12. “I prefer Nyquil myself, but to each his own.”

    Now, now, golfdoc, don’t go giving Mad Mark any ideas!

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