We’ve established this for quite some time – DFL Minnesotans speak a very, very different language from Real Minnesotans.<\/p>\n
Case in point – Dave Mindeman at mnpACT, doing his fifth annual “Ten Worst Political Persons In Minnesota of 2010<\/a>” award (an awarad that lacks the cool, polished cachet <\/em>of the Shooties<\/a>, and which Mindeman admits is a riff on Olberman, which is sort of like admitting you’re copying diarrhea).\u00a0 As a public service, I will use my patience, knowledge, and access to the DFL Dictionary <\/a>to translate Mindeman’s piece from DFL into regular English.<\/p>\n You’re welcome:<\/p>\n There are some who don’t like the negative connotation…that’s why for the past couple of years I have also done a 10 Best list as well. But it does give me a chance to reflect on what I see in Minnesota politics…and believe me, a lot of it reflects the dark side.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “Dissent from my world view is evil.\u00a0 But don’t call me McCarthyist!”.<\/p>\n Looking over the past lists, the range goes from that Lizard people guy to Katherine Kersten to the Star Tribune. Some people are consistently on the list so you will see some familiar names. Some are one shot wonders, but each year a crop of people always appear that affect political discourse in Minnesota.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “Unlike calling people I disagree with “the worst person”, which is just lovely for “discourse in Minnesota”.<\/p>\n Here is the “Worst” List for 2010:<\/p>\n 10. Brad Brandon of the Berean Bible Baptist Church. (Note: he also wins the alliteration award). Brandon is a Hastings pastor who decided to defy the IRS and endorse an entire slate of candidates (mostly Republican with a sprinkling of Constitution) directly from his pulpit. He challenge anyone to file a complaint (and one has been), and proceeded to preach his sermon on the need to elect those God-fearing Republicans. You have to wonder what Erik Paulsen did to get on God’s bad side — he wasn’t endorsed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “Dissent and civil disobedience were <\/em>the supreme civic virtues – until January 20, 2009″.<\/p>\n 9. Randy Brown (SD 56 GOP Webmaster). To the tune of “Who Let the Dogs Out”, Mr. Brown thought it would be funny to profile a video on his BPOU’s website that portrayed Democratic women in a less than flattering light…..while putting Republican women on display as the sex objects Mr. Brown seemed to be fantasizing about.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “Because goodness <\/a>knows liberals <\/a>would never<\/a>, ever<\/a>, ever <\/a>act like a bunch <\/a>of <\/a>giggly <\/a>schoolboys and catty cheerleaders<\/a>. Darn obscure Republican webmasters , acting out that purely-GOP trait!”.<\/p>\n 8. Zygi Wilf (Vikings Owner). Zygi was #6 on last year’s list and he is back again…for the same reason. The State of Minnesota is dealing with a monster deficit,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “If you damn teabaggers don’t cover every damn nickel of the Autopilot Budget, I will call you names!”<\/p>\n 7. Minnesota Majority. This GOP sympathizer group seems to have made a mission out of discrediting a very good state election system.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “Do not question the Mighty Ritchie. Do not question the Mighty Ritchie. Do not question the Mighty Ritchie. Do not question the Mighty Ritchie. Do not question the Mighty Ritchie…”<\/p>\n 6. Target Corp. In the “what were they thinking” department, Target Corp’s donations to the Tom Emmer campaign became a very public affair. And what’s worse, a carefully honed public image of a gay friendly corporation was nearly destroyed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “And Target’s market cap went…er, wait, it kept pace and\/or slightlty exceeded the retail sector since July, when the whole astroturf flap got started.\u00a0 Never mind.”<\/p>\n Are corporate tax breaks really that important?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “And where did <\/em>all those manufacturing and warehouse jobs with Target, 3M, Best Buy, Ecolab, Medtronic, Boston Sci, Minnesota Public Radio <\/em>and every single other signficant manufacturere in Minnesota go, anyway?\u00a0 Maybe we need a law <\/em>to keep them from leaving!\u00a0 Damn <\/em>that Tim Pawlenty!”<\/p>\n Frankly, the idea that corporations could come close to making a “political” list like this is a little disturbing, but the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has changed all of that forever.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “Because Goddess forbid that the Teachers Union and the SEIU have any competition in the marketplace of paid-for-ideas!”<\/p>\n 5. John Kline. Congressman Kline will soon take over the chairmanship of the Education and Labor Committee in the House. And along with that will be his total disregard for union rights and his big buck contributions from the for-profit education corporations. Along with the energy companies and the banking industry, etc, etc. He has nothing but disdain for health care reform as well as disdain for his own district.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “HEY!\u00a0 ALL YOU TEABAGGING MORONS IN THE SECOND DISTRICT!\u00a0 Don’t you know what’s GOOD for you?”<\/p>\n Roads and bridges in the 2nd get nothing from John Kline because he’s against earmarks. He’s saving us money… oh, wait, no he isn’t. Our money gets spent in other districts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “The system is more important than its consequences.\u00a0 Long live the system!”<\/p>\n 4. Tony Sutton (Chair of the MN GOP). The provocative chairman of the MN GOP managed to open his mouth at every inopportune moment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “My life would be so much nicer if Teabaggers just shut up and let me run everything”.<\/p>\n If his cohorts had worked as hard at real facts and figures as they did at distortions, they might have pulled out at least one of those statewide races.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “As opposed to the fact-chocked campaign that Alliance For A Better Minnesota ran!\u00a0 I just get tingly thinking about it!”.<\/p>\n 3. MN Chamber of Commerce. Outside of a few token Democratic endorsements, the MN Chamber was hell bent on reversing legislative power in Minnesota.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “Don’t those idiot wingnut teabaggers know what’s good for them?\u00a0 Taxing business more makes it easier to do busienss!\u00a0 Er – doesn’t it?”<\/p>\n 2. Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty is on this list because he has flat out ruined Minnesota.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “Never mind the near-lowest in the nation unemployment – he RUINED us!\u00a0 RUINED, I say!”<\/p>\n He has left us with an incredible deficit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “And that fiscally-responsible DFL tried SO hard to control spending!\u00a0 Really!<\/p>\n He presided over the biggest transfer of tax burden (state to local governement) in history.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “And then he forced <\/em>all those cities to spend, spend, spend!\u00a0 He’s a WITCH, I tell you!”<\/p>\n He watched a bridge fall down and then he vetoed transportation funding at every opportunity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “Why, if we had finished the Central Corridor and built a network of ethanol stations, that bridge would still be standing!”<\/p>\n 1. Michele Bachmann. Michele has topped this list for 3 years in a row<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Translation: “I ran out of ideas”.<\/p>\n Glad to help.<\/p>\n Happy New Year, Dave!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We’ve established this for quite some time – DFL Minnesotans speak a very, very different language from Real Minnesotans. Case in point – Dave Mindeman at mnpACT, doing his fifth annual “Ten Worst Political Persons In Minnesota of 2010” award (an awarad that lacks the cool, polished cachet of the Shooties, and which Mindeman admits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,155],"tags":[115,161,162],"class_list":["post-16977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lefty-alt-media","category-mn-congressional","tag-abm","tag-mn-cd2","tag-mn-cd3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16977"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47809,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16977\/revisions\/47809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}