{"id":3623,"date":"2008-11-10T06:30:58","date_gmt":"2008-11-10T11:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3623"},"modified":"2011-09-01T08:01:52","modified_gmt":"2011-09-01T13:01:52","slug":"strib-editors-ignore-the-man-behind-the-curtain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=3623","title":{"rendered":"Strib Editors: “Ignore The Man Behind The Curtain!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Strib’s post-election editorial<\/a> holds no major suprises – those all came before the election, when the Strib surprisingly endorsed Norm Coleman over Al Franken.<\/p>\n

But when I say “no surprises”, I also mean there’s no change in their overall policy toward Republicans; “the only good republican is one that’s indistinguishable from a DFLer”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, on Governor Pawlenty:<\/p>\n

Despite losing out to Sarah Palin in the VP competition, Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s future within the Republican Party remains bright. He’s a legitimate candidate for the GOP nomination in 2012, when he might well face Palin again. What will Pawlenty’s national aspirations mean for Minnesota?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Actually, they’d make a great team:\u00a0 Palin,\u00a0given four years to polish her approach, has the potential to be a\u00a0Reagan-like spokeswoman for free-enterprise, limited government, and America as a “shining city” (as opposed to a sick, old giant that needs intensive care – the central message of Obama’s supporters, if not The One himself).\u00a0 Pawlenty could provide the George HW Bush role – the duo’s technocrat, the head-knocker, the detail guy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’s unclear, but what is certain is that Minnesota needs the governor to provide the state with skilled and pragmatic leadership as we negotiate a deep economic downturn and serious budget challenges. In January, he’ll be working with a new Legislature comprising more DFLers and fewer moderate Republicans. Pawlenty should read DFL legislative successes as a call from voters for him to take a less rigidly conservative posture as the state addresses what is expected to be a major budget deficit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good lord, why?<\/p>\n

Indeed, that’d be exactly <\/em>the wrong “lesson” to take from the election.<\/p>\n

“Moderate” Republicanism – the GOP of facile sloganeering and going\u00a0along to stay in power – was the biggest loser of the last two election cycles.\u00a0 If Pawlenty doesn’t see the real <\/em>message – that real conservatism, <\/em>in the guise of\u00a0Michele Bachmann, Erik Paulsen and John Kline was the big\u00a0winner (among GOP factions, obviously – we got beaten nationwide,\u00a0surely enough)\u00a0in this past election – then he needs to.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

More than ever, Minnesotans need and expect problem-solving compromises at the Capitol.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And to Strib editors, “compromise” unfortunately always seems to be “shut up and go along with the DFL”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We can not have that.<\/p>\n

The Strib moves on to the Ventura<\/strike> “Independence” Party.<\/p>\n

Even harder questions need to be asked by, and of, the Independence Party. After another round of weak showings and indistinct messages by its candidates, the IP’s reason for existence is no longer clear. What is clear is that IP candidates were spoilers this year, contributing to the election of candidates who lacked majority support in several key races. David Dillon, the party’s Third District congressional candidate who won 11 percent of the vote, hit the right note Wednesday. “It’s a legitimate, fair question. It bugs some people in the Independence Party that we have to wonder what our purpose is if all we’re doing is ruining the results for one side.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a question I keep asking my V<\/strike>“I”P friends:\u00a0 since your party really is nothing but Jesse Ventura’s ever-eroding legacy, and in non-presidential years you barely cling to major-party status in Minnesota, and the party’s essense is really just the most irritating possible combination of “DFL-Lite” policies and\u00a0third-party idealism (“We greens\/libertarians\/Constitution Party\/whatever are not in power, and never really will be (shaddap about Ventura), so of course<\/em> we can solve all the world’s problems – in our minds<\/em>!”), and they will never again win a single significant office in this state (and Minnesota’s\u00a0 V<\/strike>“I”P is nothing but the ghostly, solitary echo of what was once Ross Perot’s “Reform” party, nationwide – then why do you exist? <\/em>What is the goal?<\/p>\n

Don’t say “Winning elections” – the Libertarians say the same thing, with about as much credibilty.<\/p>\n

Does the\u00a0 V<\/strike>“I”P really want to just go on as spoilers forever?\u00a0 As they soak up votes for moderate\/pragmatic DFLers (and people who are suckers for idealistic sloganeering) I’m fine with that, of course, but for your (plural) own good, you might wanna think about it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Strib’s post-election editorial holds no major suprises – those all came before the election, when the Strib surprisingly endorsed Norm Coleman over Al Franken. But when I say “no surprises”, I also mean there’s no change in their overall policy toward Republicans; “the only good republican is one that’s indistinguishable from a DFLer”.\u00a0 First, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,60,144],"tags":[154],"class_list":["post-3623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campaign-08","category-campaign-10","category-governor","tag-pawlenty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623","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=3623"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22588,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623\/revisions\/22588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}