All right. Yesterday we got through the nominees and the finishers from 21 through 37 in the rankings.
This morning, we’re up to the first half of the Top Twenty!
20. Ed Morrissey (2010 Ranking 10): The Hot Air proprietor, and my long-time radio co-host, slides ten spots since 2010. Liberals’ hate seems to be more closely focused on policymakers than pundits these days.
19. Bob Davis: On the other hand, Bob Davis’ return to Twin Cities radio also marks his debut on the list.
18. Sue Jeffers: Is it because she’s a conservative talk-radio playa? Or because she’s a GOP candidate (for Ramco Commission) and activist? Or because she’s an outspoken female conservative? Why choose! Libs hate her!
17. Chris Fields: If there’s anything a lib hates more than a “Minority” who’s not sitting obediently on the DFL bus, it’s one who, rhetorically, shreds his DFL opponent in every way but fundraising.
16. Mitch Berg (2010 Ranking 8 ): Even though I slide eight spots – what a wonderful country this is! Where a regular schlump working stiff with a blog can be the 16th-most-hated conservative in town!
15. Tea Party (2010 Ranking 24): The libs have spent the past three years flip-flopping between “The Tea Party is Dead!” and “The Tea Party Is Too Powerful!”. Time to flop, apparently.
14. Dan McGrath / MN Majority: The driving force behind the bipartisan Voter ID amendment, MN Majority and Dan McGrath, leapt into the top 20 this year. If Mark Ritchie were doing the counting, he’d have won by thousands, though.
13. Dave Thompson: The former talk host and leader of the Senate’s “I Don’t Give A Rat’s Ass If The Strib Editorial Board Doesn’t Approve” caucus would seem to be at the beginning of a long career as the object of liberal hate.
12. Mary Franson: Female? Check. Conservative? Check. Shred the Dems when they convicted her in rhetorical Kangaroo Court? Check. Representative Franson didn’t have the highest debut, but it was close.
11. Tim Pawlenty (2010 Ranking 2): Falling from 2 to 11, former Governor Pawlenty will no doubt leap to the top of the charts if he’s selected for VP.
Noon today: The Top Ten Titans Of Liberal Ire.
Number 11, Tim Pawlenty??!! I was under the impression this was a list of “conservatives” that liberals hate, not the other way around.
Sorry, I honestly don’t hate Tim Pawlenty, I don’t know him. But I could never, in good conscience, support or vote for a guy who in signing the smoking ban negated the concept of private property rights.
I do find it curious though, that liberals seemingly despise most some of the most liberal of “Republicans”…Bush (Jr, and Sr.), Nixon, Pawlenty, etc.
Tim is as conservative as you get in Minnesota. A state where a bowl of Jello like Arne Carlson can get elected as a Republican governor? In comparative terms, Pawlenty is Genghis Kahn.
A few of Pawlenty’s decisions pushed the boundaries of what I’m willing to accept in terms of incrementalism (“that was bad, but the alternative is worse” and “picking your battles”) in a state that is, at best, purpleish; the smoking ban was a big one.
And if he hadn’t held the line on taxes as effectively as he did (or tried to do against an overwhelming DFL majority) I wouldn’t be nearly as charitable to the Pawlenty legacy.
But on a scale of 1-10 in ascending order of importance, the smoking ban was a 8, and the taxes were a 9. And I’ll take a 9 over an 8 if that’s the only choice I’m given, which, at the time, was the case.
I don’t think Pawlenty goes to number 1 even if selected for VP. As long as Bachmann holds the 6th CD she will hold that spot.
Haha, yeah Mitch, I’ll concede to your point…but I fantasize about a MN Governor that would halve the Education and HHS budget and make Dems like it…please don’t take that away from me…haha
Adrien, yeah. Nixon is HATED by anyone on the left (even today yet, old lefties go off on rants about how much they hate him). Nixon was very liberal (geesh, the guy was a Quaker).
-EPA
-Amtrak
-Didn’t he support affirmative action?
-Price controls (Obamacare would be something he maybe would have supported)
-Dept of Education
I do not recall what else, but he did more to grow big gov’t then most Democrats.
And how does the left destroy someone/something that they don’t like? By changing the language and reframing the debate.
File this under how much better organized the left is than the center-right. Also helps to have MSM on your side. Both St Paul and Mpls papers today had almost identical stories on Best Buy dropping their membership in ALEC. Here are a couple of the inaccuracies and one-sidedness to both articles.
-The group pressuring Best Buy and other businesses to drop ALEC was called a “civil rights organization”. No, it’s a political organization, but I guess you get more people to bend over for you when you can bill yourself as a civil rights group.
-The stories say ALEC supports gun-ownership rights (which is fine, but I believe it is a small issue for them.). Then both newspapers tied ALEC to Florida’s Stand-Your-Ground law (maybe a stretch, but fine), and then tied them to the Zimmerman shooting. Huh?
And just in general, like most items in a newspaper that deal with political or social issues, the reader comes away ignorant of the whole story.
As a former Best Buy employee, I can tell you that Best Buy (and most other large Twin Cities corporations) makes cash transfers from the company to left wing groups. Especially gay groups. I would guess that most of these groups are open borders types. Yet you will never read this in a MSM outlet: “Best Buy and General Mills cut ties and financial support to (name your group) due to (said groups) support for open borders. This became especially controversial in light of last week’s killing of the high school student by an illegal alien in East St Paul. “
You left out Investment Bankers – unless it’s Al Franken, who must make an exception for his son who is becoming an Investment Banking Associate according to the wedding announcement in today’s Star and Sickel and Pioneers Repressed.
Chuck; Best Buy’s stance is basically Dick Schulze’s legacy of giving back. I know that he’s keeping a low profile on his involvement there these days, but I always knew him as very conservative, so find it perplexing at the least that BB would not contribute to ALEC when they are contributing to the lefties.
Just the same, I just cut up my BB credit card and sent it to Mike Mikan and told him that I would no longer purchase products from his company, as long as they supported anti business left wing groups that only seek to cause public chaos. Will that make any difference, maybe not, but I hand wrote the letter and envelope.