{"id":45296,"date":"2014-06-24T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-06-24T17:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=45296"},"modified":"2014-06-24T12:02:51","modified_gmt":"2014-06-24T17:02:51","slug":"flexible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=45296","title":{"rendered":"Flexible"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCENE: \u00a0The newsroom at the\u00a0Star\/Tribune. <\/em><\/p>\n

Laird TORKELSON, political reporter, is sitting at his desk. \u00a0An ash tray overflows on his desk as TORKELSON, wearing a porkpie hat with a “Press” pass stuck into the hat band and a rumpled dress shirt pecks away at an IBM Selectric.<\/em><\/p>\n

A push-button desk phone rings. \u00a0Then rings again. \u00a0Finally, TORKELSON picks up the phone.<\/em><\/p>\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0Newsroom. \u00a0Torkelson.<\/p>\n

(Carrie LUCKING from the Alliance for a Better Minnesota is on the line. \u00a0We hear her through the earpiece)<\/em><\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0Hey, Laird. \u00a0We’ve got some work to do here…<\/p>\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0Hey, Ms. Lucking – I’m kinda busy covering…<\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0Bla bla bla. \u00a0Did I ask for your biography? \u00a0Now listen up.<\/p>\n

(TORKELSON goes silent)<\/em><\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0Four years ago, the Strib did a good job of preventing outstate DFLers from flaking away from the Governor on Second Amendment issues by spinning Mark Dayton as a gun owner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0That wasn’t me, but OK…<\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0This time, we want to try to get libertarians inside the GOP to flake away from the Republicans.<\/p>\n

\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0Right – we did that earlier this month, with the “Governor Dayton is a Libertarian<\/a>” meme.<\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0Right. \u00a0But now the polling is showing the governor in trouble. \u00a0So we need you to do a little more for us.<\/p>\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0(pulling a notebook from his desk drawer, grabbing a pen). \u00a0OK, shoot.<\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0Governor Dayton is a black single mother.<\/p>\n

\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0(starts writing) A black… (stops writing) single mother?<\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0 Yep.<\/p>\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0 But that’s completely implausible.<\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0 (Bursts out in a dry, mirthless\u00a0chuckle<\/em>). \u00a0And “Dayton is a Libertarian” was plausible? \u00a0Look, I can get you a quote. \u00a0(LUCKING shouts, presumably across office) Larry! \u00a0Laird needs a quote!<\/p>\n

(TORKELSON, puzzled, waits patiently<\/em>)<\/p>\n

VOICE: \u00a0Hello, Laird? \u00a0This is Larry JACOBS<\/p>\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0 Oh, hi, Larry. \u00a0You were visiting Carrie’s office?<\/p>\n

JACOBS: \u00a0No.<\/p>\n

\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0 Oh – um, OK. \u00a0So about this “Dayton is a black single mother” thing, what can you say on the record?<\/p>\n

JACOBS (sounding like he’s reading off a cue card): \u00a0 We can’t prove he’s not a black single mother. \u00a0It’s plausible.<\/p>\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0Er…OK. \u00a0Thanks, Doctor Jacobs…<\/p>\n

(LUCKING takes the phone<\/em>)<\/p>\n

\n

LUCKING: \u00a0So we can run with that?<\/p>\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0Well, assuming my editor clears space for it…<\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0Already talked to him! \u00a0Front page, baby!<\/p>\n

\n

TORKELSON: \u00a0 Huh. \u00a0OK. \u00a0I should have it done by five.<\/p>\n

LUCKING: \u00a0Make it three. \u00a0Thanks. \u00a0(Phone clicks dead)<\/p>\n

(TORKELSON leans back in his chair, as camera pulls back to a wide shot, showing him in an endless, orderly procession of desks, as the sound of electric typewriters becomes more and more intense.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCENE: \u00a0The newsroom at the\u00a0Star\/Tribune. Laird TORKELSON, political reporter, is sitting at his desk. \u00a0An ash tray overflows on his desk as TORKELSON, wearing a porkpie hat with a “Press” pass stuck into the hat band and a rumpled dress shirt pecks away at an IBM Selectric. A push-button desk phone rings. \u00a0Then rings again. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[236],"class_list":["post-45296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","tag-dramatization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45296","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=45296"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45299,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45296\/revisions\/45299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}