Chanting Points Memo: Republicans For Horner

The Dems have turned up the “heat” on the idea that Tom Horner was a Republican this past week.  My theory is that the DFL has internal polling showing that Horner is taking more – a lot more – Democrat votes than Republicans.

First, it was the big endorsement from Obama-voting, tax hiking, free-spending “Republicans” Arne Carlson and Dave Durenberger, who are as “Republican” as Randy Kelly ended up “DFLer”.

And yesterday, it was the endorsement by thirteen “Republican” former legislators.

Now, I thought it was fair to guess that these “Republicans” weren’t necessarily the post-Pawlenty, or even post-1980, type – the type that actually try to be an alternative to the DFL, the type that scare the DFL.

But I had no idea how far out of the past the Horner campaign had to dig to find these “Republicans”.  Here’s the list, with their respective ages:

Searle (90)

Pillsbury (89)

Belanger (82)

Bishop (81)

Oliver (80)

Scherer (75)

Seaberg (74)

Schrieber (69)

Peterson (68)

Leppik (67)

Ozment (65)

Jennings (62)

Not only were most of these people “Republicans” when “Minnesota Republican” meant “Democxrat with a nice suit”, some of them even date back to when Democrats actually put America first.

Up next – Whigs, Grangers and Know-Nothings for Horner!

25 thoughts on “Chanting Points Memo: Republicans For Horner

  1. Sincere questions:

    1) What’s the formula for an Emmer Victory if moderate Republicans are peeling off?

    2) By bashing these moderate Republicans, what is the long term plan for party viability if you alienate the very folks that give you your best chance for viability?

    The left struggles because the large tent splintered followers have a hard time looking past petty difference and we get plurality leadership. Things have gottem bad enough that they now are willing to look past those differences.

    Now it seems, specifically with the Tea Party movement, that the Right is the most splintered. Isn’t there some irony here that you far Right Tea Party Style conservatives are pushing away the very folks you need to win. Mitch used to say ‘an imperfect Republican is better than any Democratic candidate’. Now it seems imperfect Republicans are “Democxrat with a nice suit”

    When considering the tug of war analogy, this type of squabbling would have been fine during an endorsement fight, but now the chatter seems like you all have just given up and resorted to name calling everyone who doesn’t support your ideology 100%, even if those folks are one of your own. I simply don’t see a path for victory for you here, even when the electorate was at it’s most vulnerable

    Interesting.

    Flash

  2. Turns out there was a similar news conference out in La Brea, California, in which a bunch of dinosaurs emerged from the tar pits to endorse the candidacy of a wooly mammoth.

  3. “Republicans” for (fill in the blank candidate who can damage the real Republican) is a standard tactic designed to shift the political spectrum leftward although I question how influential it is. “See, Mabel. Even Arne Carlson thinks Emmer is too extreme!” There aren’t that many Mabels out there and the aging “Democrats with good suits” (great line) are passing on.

    Still, one wonders why the same tactic can’t be employed by the Right. Why not have a list of “Communists for Emmer”? After all, with the secret ballot, how many of us can really tell that the true-blue Republican on the list who claims “I voted for Henry Wallace” isn’t really a communist? “See April, Mark Dayton is too extreme even for the communists!”

  4. Now it seems imperfect Republicans are “Democxrat with a nice suit”
    No, Flash. That was the “Independent Republican” party of old. There is only one thing that really matters in this election. The voters and the taxpayers are mad as hell, and the “hope and change” is proving to be horror and carnage.

    Obama is a socialist, and he has dragged the Democrat party so far left even the dullest observer has noticed. You’re welcome, Tim.

  5. So the liberal race-quota DFL says we should obey a bunch of elderly white males? That doesn’t sound like celebrating diversity.

  6. Tony, actually the communists have teamed up with the Democrats this year. The little rally in DC last week…the one that Ed Schultz co-hosted….one of the sponsors was the Communist Party USA.

  7. flash said:

    “What’s the formula for an Emmer Victory if moderate Republicans are peeling off?”

    What’s this “peeling off” thing? Were “moderate”, free spending, big government “Republicans” really on board with an Emmer Victory in the first place. No, and you know it, so this question was just “cute”.

    “By bashing these moderate Republicans, what is the long term plan for party viability if you alienate the very folks that give you your best chance for viability?”

    These guys probably aren’t being “bashed” because they are “moderate Republicans”. They deserve some criticism, and they are getting it, for backing a former Republican running on a DFL platform.

  8. “”Were “moderate”, free spending, big government “Republicans” really on board with an Emmer Victory in the first place.””

    No they weren’t, but Mitch insists he believes that Emmer wins by 3, I am trying to figure out how he thinks that is going to happen when identified GOP voters are peeling off. Many of whom WERE on board earlier. The Republicans have won when the Indy was a DINO by peeling off Blue votes, now it really looks like with the indy being a RINO there simply isn’t a path to victory.

    I’m beginning to think Rep. Emmer may be luck if he finishes 2nd.

    Flash

  9. The list more properly should have been referred to as “Dementia suffering geriatrics for Horner”.

  10. Flash, seriously Norm Coleman lost because GOP voters refused to support him. You have vastly underestimated the strength of the conservative base.
    Please continue to do so, and encourage your DFL buddies to do the same.

  11. Hopefully people will realize:

    1) the state has been in financial trouble for a while now
    2) overspending is the cause of this problem
    3) blowing through the people’s cash isn’t a viable solution
    4) the only candidate recognizing, addressing, and providing a solution the problem is Emmer

    If they don’t we’ll probably get Senator Fail as Governor.

  12. Geez, these guys are very close to the graveyard demographic that tends to vote 100% democrat.

  13. Troy Says: “Hopefully people will realize:……..If they don’t we’ll probably get Senator Fail as Governor.”

    Which will likely lead to treatment for depression and psych meds for all of us. Will Obamacare cover “Mad Mark Syndrome”?

  14. “”seriously Norm Coleman lost because GOP voters refused to support him. “”

    It appears that is how Emmer will lose, too. But again, Mitch claims Emmer by 3, I am only asking him (*crickets*) how he thinks that is going to happen.

  15. Sorry, Flash. The image of Governor Dayton will guarantee massive GOP turnout.

    But you just keep pretending. Until November 3rd.

  16. Coleman lost partly because it was a terrible year for Republicans, and partly because he wasn’t especially conservative. Remember- actual conservatives did much better than moderates in ’06 (Bachmann won, Gutknecht lost) and ’08 (Pawlenty and Bachmann won, Coleman lost).

    This is no 2006 or 2008.

    I’ll answer your comment above a little later, Flash. There are no “crickets”, merely priorities.

  17. 1) What’s the formula for an Emmer Victory if moderate Republicans are peeling off?

    The same as if jackalopes and unicorns peel off.

    That’s not a serious answer – but it’s not really a serious question, either. It’s predicated on the idea that there is a huge reservoir of “Carlson Republicans” hovering outside GOP caucus meetings, feeling all disenfranchised and neglected. There are a few – mostly former movers and shakers like Carlson and Durenberger and Horner, who got left at the station as the party moved to the right. They are no more a factor in the GOP than Randy Kelly is to the DFL – maybe less. Except for the DFL’s spin machine, for whom they are apparently still the biggest bloc there is.

    I mean, do you believe that there are a serious number of “Republicans” who don’t support Emmer, who did support the GOP’s previous “extremist”, Pawlenty, twice? I’d love to hear that theory. And anecdotes about friends and relatives who liked TPaw but hate Emmer, supposedly, don’t count; I mean statistics.

    I’m here to tell you; they don’t exist.

    And the point for Emmer has never been about winning “moderate Republican” hamsters. It’s about convincing independents to move right. Just like Reagan did.

    And they’ll be the last people we hear from in this cycle!

    2) By bashing these moderate Republicans, what is the long term plan for party viability if you alienate the very folks that give you your best chance for viability?

    They give us NO chance for viability. They are the road to suicide. They can either grow up and move to the right, or take their toys and leave.

    Victory is the long term plan.

    The left struggles because the large tent splintered followers have a hard time looking past petty difference and we get plurality leadership. Things have gottem bad enough that they now are willing to look past those differences.

    That’s one way of looking at it. Another is “all the moderate DFLers got pounded into place”.

    Now it seems, specifically with the Tea Party movement, that the Right is the most splintered.

    Perhaps, but that’s a rather lefty way to look at it.

    It’s more like this; the right has learned, for the moment, to accept differences in pursuit of a more important goal; to bend without “splintering”, in a way the left never figured out (and the right, honestly, does and will continue to struggle with, but it seems to be generally working now).

    Isn’t there some irony here that you far Right Tea Party Style conservatives are pushing away the very folks you need to win.

    Except that we’re not. More below.

    Mitch used to say ‘an imperfect Republican is better than any Democratic candidate’. Now it seems imperfect Republicans are “Democxrat with a nice suit”

    Flash, there’s a difference between a Republican who may be mushy on choice and energy, but is a fiscal hawk (Coleman), or a Republican who has had some accomodation with spending, but is strong on security (McCain), and people like Durenberger, Horner and Carlson. “Republicans” who condemn conservatism, vote for Obama, campaign against the GOP and against conservatives. They are quislings, and they deserve only political oblivion.

    They are not “imperfect” Republicans, they are liberals. Worse than DFLers; at least DFLers wear their wolves’ clothing proudly.

    When considering the tug of war analogy, this type of squabbling would have been fine during an endorsement fight,

    We are not “squabbling”. We are loudly rejecting the media/DFL (PTR) narrative that there is some big movement of “Moderate Republicans” pining for the second coming of Arne Carlson.

    You know how we know that there is no such movement, Flash? Because in the GOP endorsement process this year, not a single moderate made it to the convention. Not one. Of the nine GOPers that started the campaign (Emmer, Seifert, Hann, Haas, Kolls, Anderson, Herwig, Utz and Davis), only Anderson could be described as running to Emmer’s left, and only in the most hair-splitting way. Of the five at the convention, Emmer and Seifert were the middle!

    If there were any “moderate Republican” surge out there waiting to happen, would it not have posted even a half-assed excuse for a candidate at some point?

    Face it, Flash – the “Moderate Republican” is a creation of the DFL’s spin department.

    Hmmm. Post for tomorrow…

  18. It’s more like this; the right has learned, for the moment, to accept differences in pursuit of a more important goal; to bend without “splintering”, in a way the left never figured out (and the right, honestly, does and will continue to struggle with, but it seems to be generally working now).

    I’ve noticed this week what seems to be a concerted effort by the liberal media to portray the tea party movement as having hard-core social conservative goals. This political propaganda (it’s a false story) seems to be motivated by the dems losing the independent and undecided voters wholesale. Some political research must have shown that independents and undecided voters react negatively to socially conservative ideology.
    Is Journolist still in business?

  19. Also I saw in the Red Star I think on Tuesday the headline was “Emmer and Horner battle for GOP base”. It was a good laugh I needed before I headed out to the bus stop for school.

  20. Pingback: You Don’t Take Sides Against The Family | Shot in the Dark

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