Bluestem Prairie

"Our own army": Emmer and Davis play doctored Hoffa tape when kvetching about political tone

Over at City Pages, Mike Mullen sends up conservative carping about glitzkrieg in in a glorious post, Tom Emmer wants criminal prosecutions for glitter-bombing.

But the whinging about poor Nick Espinosa as an obscure subject of desire doesn't come until late in the podcast. When Bluestem was asked by friends to listen to the podcast, we noticed something even more striking about Emmer and Davis's lamentations about the tonal horrors of contemporary political discourse.

To prove their points--and then to bash unions while calling for right-to-work-legislation to be passed in Minnesota--Emmer and Davis played a doctored tape of a speech by International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Jim Hoffa. By leaving out references to voting, what was Hoffa's call to the ballot box in November 2012 becomes instead a call to violence.

Some tone, dudes.

The Real Hoffa Speech

Here's what Hoffa said (full transcript taken from the Detroit Free Press):

Here is a transcript of Hoffa’s entire speech on Monday:

“Are there any Teamsters in the house? This is Motown, but today, this is union town. We are union, we are workers. That is the message that we send today, and that is the message that we send to America.

There is a war on workers. You see it everywhere: It is in the unemployment, it is in the Tea Party, it is in the people that fight what we believe in. And we see the war in Wisconsin where they try to take collective bargaining from our public employees. We took two senate seats back, we are taking Wisconsin back.

That’s number one. Number two, in Ohio, we are fighting a battle there with regard to taking away collective bargaining. We will beat SB5. We’ve got a million signatures. We are going to win in Ohio — that is our number two. And in Michigan, they are thinking about right to work. It ain’t going to happen in Michigan. No way.

We have to keep an eye on the battle we face — a war on workers. And you see it everywhere there is the Tea Party. And you know there is only one way to beat and win that war.

The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what, they’ve got a war, they’ve got a war with us and there is only going to be one winner. It is going to be the workers of Michigan and America – we are going to win that war. All the way.

But it starts with your involvement, it starts with next November. We’ve got a bunch of people there that don’t’ want the president to succeed, and they are called the Tea Party – the people who don’t want him to do anything right and he is working hard for us.

President Obama is frustrated by what’s going on. Well, guess what, we’ve got the vote. And the answer to what we say is, we remember in November. We will beat the Tea Party and give this country back to workers and America. We can do it together.”

We’ve also got to talk about jobs. I get so tired about people who …(inaudible) these big corporations that send our jobs to Mexico, they send our jobs to China, and they’ve got the audacity to say ‘where are the jobs?’

Well I’ve got news for you. It’s time to bring those jobs back to America and bring America back to work. That’s what we’ve got to do.

We are going to hear from President Obama in a few minutes, and I am so glad that he has come to Michigan because this is where he sees the real America. He looks out on this army of people and you know what I say? President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. President Obama, we want one thing: Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs…(The crowd joins the chant.)

That’s what we are going to tell America…..When he sees what we are doing here, he will be inspired, but he needs help. And you know what? Everybody here has got a vote. If we go back, we keep the eye on the prize, lets take these sons-of-bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.”

Some excerpts from the speech are found at ABCNews.com [link here] in which it's obvious that he's talking about working people will "take these sons-of-bitches out" of office via petition and the ballot box.  [Update] Moreover, it's not unusual for campaigns to be compared to war; indeed conservative bagman Charles Koch recently compared the 2012 election to the Iraq War. [end update]

The Origin of the Smear

But the tape Emmer and Davis play doesn't contain any reference to voting. Instead, they're playing the audio of a Fox News segment described in Media Matter's Timeline Of A Right-Wing Media Smear: Hoffa's Call To Vote Became "A Call For Violence":

Fox Then Aired Clearly Edited Video Of Hoffa's Comments. Approximately 20 minutes after Henry's initial report on Hoffa's comments, Fox News' Megyn Kelly reported that Hoffa had issued "a pretty harsh attack on the tea party and Republicans. Here's some of that now." Fox News then aired a clearly edited version of Hoffa's speech:

HOFFA: We gotta keep an eye on the battle that we face: a war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there's only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what, they got a war, they got a war with us, and there's only gonna be one winner. It's gonna be the workers of Michigan and America. We're gonna win that war.

[...]

HOFFA: President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march.

[...]

HOFFA: Let's take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong! Thank you very much! [Fox News, America Live, 9/5/11]

Blakeman: "I Think It's Thuggery At Its Best." After she aired the clearly edited version of Hoffa's remarks, Kelly asked Republican consultant Brad Blakeman to respond. He said, "I think it's thuggery at its best" and "these are the kind of remarks you'd expect out of Tony Soprano, not a union president." Blakeman further said: "When a union president says, 'let's take these son of a bitches out,' it usually means somebody's legs are going to get broken, somebody's going to disappear." [Fox News, America Live, 9/5/11] . . .

It's that sort of discourse Emmer and Davis decry; sadly, they don't seem to know what Hoffa really said. There's no evidence of due dilgence, just two guys repeating a something they heard because it supports a talking point the political agenda they support: passing right-to-work laws.

Bluestem thinks that the right-to-work champion American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its corporate sponsors scored some real value last month when it gave Tom Emmer a press pass and let him in to its annual convention for free. Who says you can't buy earned media like this for your agenda?

Mosh now

Willful misinterpretation of Hoffa or just convenient laziness in failing to do the due diligence of checking a tape for accuracy? Does it matter?

The blather about the doctored audio Emmer and Davis bloviate over brought to mind words about voting by  another famous Detroit native, pop star Eminem. In 2004, he urged Americans to good to their polling places, knowing that his call for a fight would be taken the wrong way. He wrote in Mosh:

I scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel and re-energize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel it's time
It's just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight, you take it as I'mma whip someone's ass
If you don't understand, don't even bother to ask

Just in case people were confused about what it means to speak and be heard in this country, the artist had a video made. It's dated and it's a different election, but by the end, it's clear what process Eminem is talking about. It's what Hoffa was talking about. Voting, dudes, but perhaps Emmer and Davis didn't hear that part.

Birkey's super powers, or, toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean thinks locally, sues nationally

Think a journalist has a super power? Like, say, the ability to see into the future?

If you're toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean Smith, and you also think Andy Birkey is a naughty gay man and atheist, it's time to act, and take the publication he works for, MSNBC, and Rachel Maddow along in your $50 million lawsuit.

Dean is accusing the defendents of saying naughty things about him to take down Michele Bachmann's presidential bid, even before Bachmann decided to run. In short, an appeal to motive.

Seriously, there's nothing as deadly as an atheist on God's speed dial, getting word even before Minnesota's Best Christian that she'll be running for President.

And for your lawyer for this hot mess? Freedom Watch's Larry Klayman, a professed close friend of Michele Bachmann. (Hat tip to Karl Bremer).

The Klayman connection

In a January column for World Net Daily, Klayman praised the Sixth District Republican in The left's maniacal fear of a President Bachmann:

Michele is not a "Republican In Name Only" (derisively known as "RINOs'); she is someone who puts conviction to action, and I have come to know her very well in the last year. . . .

. . .I became reacquainted with Michele last fall when I visited her in her office in the Rayburn Building. As I waited in the lobby, I remember her "bouncing" out of her office like an energetic, enthusiastic staffer, quickly walking over to me and with a warm smile holding out her hand. Looking into her eyes, I told her how nice it was to meet her. In a quick response she quipped, smiling, "Larry, I met you many years ago at CNP!" The Council for National Policy is a group of conservatives that gathers in private quarterly to discuss policy. I obviously did not remember this (Michele had not yet run for office), but it said a lot to me that she remembered. Michele obviously was a fan of Judicial Watch, the public-interest group I had founded and built into an anti-corruption fighting force – the real "People's Justice Department." Now I was visiting her as chairman of Freedom Watch, which is the next generation of freedom fighters I founded later on, my having left Judicial Watch in 2004 to run for the U.S. Senate in Florida.

The cornerstone of Bill Prendergast's Michele Bachmann's America is that Bachmann was groomed for office by the Council for National Policy, so Klaymann's cameo appearance as Bradlee Dean Smith's lawyer will seem like a godsend (or something).

In his column, Klayman scorned Maddow and others in the press in observations close to the claims in the lawsuit:

Because of her popularity among tea partiers in particular, Michele has been vilified by the left for quite a while. But now that Michele in recent days has made it known that she is considering a run for the presidency, the left has emerged from "its venomous closet" in an attempt to abort her presidential bid prior to birth – pun clearly intended!

Not that she was treated well by the likes of Chris Matthews, Keith Obermann, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell – the vicious male and feminist lesbian ultra lefties of MSNBC – before her tacit announcement, but now that she is taking on the leftist establishment on the ultimate scale, and has arisen like Lazarus (ironically my name in Hebrew) as the replacement for their previous heterosexual female victim, the already politically assassinated Sarah Palin, Mathews, Obermann, Maddow and O'Donnell – along with the pliant lackey commentator minions who suck up to them to qualify as "regulars" on their programs – are foaming at the mouth like rabid dogs.

Oh, the victimization.

Attacking Bachmann by attacking Dean

And it does seem like Dean yokes his claims close to attacks on Bachmann, his lawyer's close friend.

In Heavy metal minister Bradlee Dean sues Rachel Maddow, Minnesota Independent, Todd Heywood reports:

Controversial pastor and rock musician Bradlee Dean filed suit Wednesday in federal court alleging he was defamed by reporting from the Minnesota Independent as well as MSNBC star Rachel Maddow and her show.

Dean, of the ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCR), claims that reporting on his May 15, 2010, radio show “maliciously set out to and did harm not only the Plaintiffs but by extension also the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.”

The Minnesota Independent story: May 25, 2011

The Minnesota Independent published GOP-linked punk rock ministry says executing gays is ‘moral,’the article about the broadcast, on May 25, 2010. The article makes no mention of a presidential bid by Bachmann.

A Nexis search reveals that while Birkey has written extensively about Bachmann, very few articles posted prior to the Dean piece focused on a Bachmann presidential bid. Those few that did were mere blog posts about questions Bachmann fielded from other publications about a possible run.

It's not as if Birkey possesses a gift of prophecy.

In August 2009, Birkey blogged about a WDN interview with Bachmann in which the question was raised and answer: President Michele Bachmann? Only if God says so. In October, 2009, Birkey noted a Sioux City Journal blog interview in which Bachmann says no to White House run, wants controversial Rep. King instead.

In February 2010, Birkey reported in Bachmann: Nancy Pelosi hates me that radio talk show host Michael Savage asked if Bachmann sought higher office, mentioning a Bachmann-Romney ticket. Bachmann stressed that she was focused on being re-elected to the house, according to Birkey.

Nor did the pace pick up following the Bradlee Dean story. On September 7, 2010, Birkey reported Bachmann, Pawlenty listed on religious right’s presidential straw poll. On September 17, Birkey wrote that Bachmann pulled out of a 2012 presidential straw poll at the Value Voters Summit in Washington DC, following an email sent out by her opponent in the 2010 congressional race:

Clark’s campaign asked, “What’s she running for?” in a fundraising pitch Friday:

Today, Michele Bachmann will appear on the presidential preference ballot at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC before jetting off to Miami to speak to the ultra right-wing fringe Taking America Back Conference.

Bachmann is campaigning for candidates throughout the nation. She’s got a national PAC. She’s visited Iowa multiple times. She’s even got a fancy tour bus. It’s like my grandma used to tell me: If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, Michele Bachmann is considering running for President.

As news surfaced in the press about the emerging Bachmann bid, Birkey's coverage increased.

In covering the preacher, the Minnesota Independent did not single out Dean's relationship with Bachmann, but covered his connections with other Republican politicians as well, including gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer. Dean's beliefs played a part in the criticism Target received for a corporate contribution to a business PAC that supported Emmer.

Given the paucity of material published by the Minnesota Independent about a hypothetical presidential run by Bachmann before May 2010, Dean must imagine that Birkey has super powers, setting up the May 2010 article as a marker for the destruction of both preacher and a yet-to-be announced presidential bid. That will stand up in court. Ya betcha.

Maddow and more at City Pages

Over at City Pages, Andy Mannix takes a long look at the Maddox side of Dean's accusations in Bradlee Dean sues Rachel Maddow, following up with Bradlee Dean suing Andy Birkey of Minnesota Independent as well as Rachel Maddow. The accusations against Maddow appear to be equally thin gruel.

Former City Pages reporter Nick Pinto, now at sister paper Village Voice, attended the press conference and snagged video of the press conference. Dean dwells at length on his connections with Bachmann during the prepared statement to the press. Read the Pinto report in Homophobic Preacher Sues Rachel Maddow for $50 Million, Claims She Overstated His Homophobia.

Also in the Mannix package: Minnesota Independent, MSNBC respond to Bradlee Dean lawsuit:

"The allegations by Bradlee Dean and You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (YCR) are completely without merit," the statement says.

 The statement continues:

The American Independent News Network stands firmly behind our news site, The Minnesota Independent; our reporter, Andy Birkey; as well as their reporting on Dean and his ministry. The complaint describes Birkey as taking "a 'special interest' in Plaintiffs Dean and YCR because he is a secularist and/or atheist and gay activist with a politically left ideology who despises people of faith."

However, in giving Birkey and The Minnesota Independent first prize for Best Continuing Coverage of their reporting on YCR, the 2010 judges for the Minnesota Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalist's Page One Awards stated, "the reporter [Birkey] takes a deep-dive with an even-handed approach into a weighty subject sure to provoke controversy from various standpoints. Leads readers to think about serious public policy and constitutional issues."

 We are confident that the courts will agree that this lawsuit is completely frivolous and is a blatant attempt to chill freedom of the press.

MSNBC released a slightly less detailed statement:

This suit is baseless and we stand by our reporting.

Final thought: how these people find each other?

And so it goes. Bluestem is curious: did Dean find Klayman, did Klayman find Dean, or is the Bachmann campaign the go-between? Is Bachman, the attorney of record's close friend, comfortable in being mentioned so prominently in the case?

Photos: Dean at today's presser, photo by Nick Pinto, used with permission of the Minneapolis City Pages (above); Andy Birkey (below)

Related post: From Bluestem's own Onion County, Minnesota: Bradlee Dean to sue Rachel Maddow (and others) 

Disclosure: I have freelanced for the Minnesota Independent, but didn't write about Bradlee Dean for the venue.

More anger, no glitter: Bachmann disciplines local Iowa station for question about ex-gay clinic

Those progressives who chide Minnesota's glitter-bombing gay barbarian horde as "not helpful" in focusing media attention on the harmful, tax-funded "pray away the gay" therapy offered at Bachmann & Associates clinic might need to think that through a bit.

Or at least not take their cues from the Right.

When the Right--like GOProud or Glenn Beck--weighs in with advice that a strategy isn't "helpful," that unsolicited advice from the other side of the aisle is a sign that the action is effective.

Any time the Right--like Glenn Beck or True North-- trots out an absurd argument that claims if those in an action did something else, other than what actually happened, they'd be dangerous, that tactic is working. 

It's clear from latest news that the Bachmann campaign doesn't want to answer to barbarians or to the traditional media, but to shove this issue back into the closet.  TPM reports that the Bachmann campaign is aggressively acting to stifle any scrutiny of the clinic, in which the presidential candidate is a co-owner, by the traditional media.

The Minnesota Independent reported that the Christian counseling clinic has taken in $137,000 in Medicaid payments over the last several years.

Bachmann campaign snubs questions in Iowa

At TPM, Igor Volsky reports in Bachmann Campaign Takes Retribution Against Local Iowa Station That Asked About Ex-Gay Clinics:

Earlier this month, after an undercover investigation confirmed that Marcus Bachmann’s Christian counseling clinics performed ex-gay therapy, Michele Bachmann was asked about the practice by Iowa’s WQAD, a local ABC affiliate. The Congresswoman refused to comment on the matter, saying only that she is “very proud of our business” and “proud of all job creators in the United States.”

During the interview, Bachmann’s advisers reportedly “threatened WQAD producers that they would cut off the feed if Rae Chelle [the anchor] repeated the question.”

The TPM report cites WQAD's most recent and more troubling report, Bachmann walks away from WQAD:

Michele Bachmann made a visit to the Quad Cities last night to speak with supporters and give interviews to the local television media, that is, with one exception. Despite promises to WQAD for a one-on-one interview the Congresswoman's managers openly, and aggressively denied News 8 access to the Iowa Republican front-runner.

At the end of last night's event the Bachmann campaign said the snubbing was based on interview questions News 8's Rae Chelle Davis asked the Congresswoman during a satellite interview two weeks ago. . . .

. . .Voters wanted to know if the story [about gay reparation therapy at the Bachmann & Associates clinic] was true and to hear what Michele Bachmann had to say about it.

But the Bachmann campaign isn't just snubbing one station. It's actively and aggressively stifling all questions  from the  media about the clinic's controversial practice. The WQAD report continues:

Then the same man came over and said I could have my interview outside," said Chuck McClurg a veteran News 8 photojournalist.

McClurg continued to shoot the event. Afterwards, he walked with the Congresswoman and her team down the stairs and out the door.

"I followed them outside hoping to get the interview I was promised," said McClurg

McClurg began rolling his camera as another local Quad Cities news station started asking their questions.

"I started to tape something off of that interview and a staffer pushed me aside and stood in front of my camera and said that this was for the other station only."

The reporter asked a question about Bachmann's clinic and her husband. At that point, McClurg says the staffer took the microphone off of Bachmann, tossed it to the reporter and said their interview was over.

That's the treatment a second reporter, from another station, received at the hands of the Bachmann campaign.

And this isn't the first issue over which Bachmann's campaign mishandled the press corps. Earlier, the Washington Post reported Michele Bachmann’s handlers get rough with reporter over a question about the candidate's migraines. Those questions emerged following a hit piece in the conservative Daily Caller, Stress-related condition ‘incapacitates’ Bachmann; heavy pill use alleged.

Why the clinic questions matter

Why do these questions matter? After the first WQAD interview, in Michele Bachmann Clinic: Where You Can Pray Away the Gay?, ABC News  asked the American Psychological Association about "reparative" therapy:

The controversial practice of trying to change someone's sexual orientation was roundly discredited by the American Psychological Association in 2009 as ineffective and potentially harmful. The first-hand accounts and video evidence surfacing Monday have rekindled questions about the Bachmann family business.

Clinton Anderson, who heads the association's Office on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns, told ABC News that his organization did an exhaustive review and found no evidence that efforts to convert someone from gay to straight could succeed.

"The harm is that when people are already in distress, and feeling conflict about their religion and their sexuality, to tell them they can change if they work hard enough, when in fact they can't do that … just makes their distress and their shame -- their depression -- even worse," Anderson said.

Enter the barbarians

So what is to be done when a candidate's campaign literally disconnects from reporters' questions? The question about the clinic's offerings are a matter of public concern on several levels. First, taxpayer dollars are going toward the operation of the clinic, and the public has a right to know whether its money is being spent wisely.

Second, the therapy is harmful. It hurts real people who come to the clinic seeking help.

But when a campaign dodges questions and seeks to shove questions back into a closet, it becomes fair game for publicity stunts. These stunts are common enough, regardless of the motivation:  from the College Republican who dresses like an ear of corn to support ethanol after a candidate flubs an answer about E85 to an alt-journo crank yanker's style "Koch Brother" phone call to Governor Walker.

And in LGBT politics, there's a long history of civil disobedience and street theater that paralleled the activism of the more respectful and respectable organizations like the HRC. Witness ACT-UP's strategies during the AIDS crisis.

Now, Get Equal is helping the glitterati,  LGBT activists and allies who recently took Marcus Bachmann's barbarian remarks quite literally and decided to dress the part while visiting Bachmann & Associates to demand the discipline that Marcus Bachmann prescribed for them. Failing to receive the discipline they craved, they acted like joyous barbarians, dancing and throwing glitter over their heads.

The Youtube went viral, from organizer Nick Espinosa's "Robert Erickson" facebook page to the Washington Post. A story that might have been a blip in the news cycle--easily swept into the closet by the Bachmann campaign--enjoyed a glittery second act.

Not Helpful: GOProud,Glenn Beck and Bill Prendergast react

The reaction to that second act from the right was predictable, the cable equivalent of the neighbor stomping out the fire on the go-bang-go bag on his doorstep. The Daily Caller posted a video, GOProud: Glitter bombing the “stupidest thing I’ve seen in politics”. 

The now out-foxed Glenn Beck threw a rhetoric bomb in Glenn Beck on 'Gay Barbarian Horde' Glitters Bachmann Clinic, breathing pretty hard when he imagined a frightened clinic receptionist, but not before noting the "violent" protest "wasn't helpful."  Locally, and more hilariously, a conceptual-challenged right-wing blogger sounded the alarm about glitter bombers ramping up.  The glitterati throw glitter; indeed, in the latest action, they throw it above themselves. Only in the blogger's fecund imagination is anything other than glitter flying. She should stick to critiquing office design.

Let me repeat two universally acknowledged facts about strategy and tactics:

Anytime the Right weighs in with advice that a strategy isn't "helpful," that unsolicited advice from the other side of the aisle is a sign that the action is effective (as the hit count on the Youtube also suggests).

Anytime the Right trots out an argument that claims if those in an action did something else, they'd be dangerous, that tactic is working. For the truth is, the gay barbarian horde threw glitter. Nor has anything other than glitter been thrown with each additional action. But, Beck's own rhetoric and suggestions for countering glitterbombing is, on other hand, getting more charged, with thinly veiled threats that security officers might cap a gay barbarian.

Bluestem agrees with the need for calling the fashion police that's implied in Wonkette's headline, Mismatched Youths Attempt to Glitter Bomb Marcus Bachmann. BSP fears these barbarians will wear white to their after-Labor Day actions, so perhaps a past wardrobe designer for Xena could stage an intervention.

But Wonkette Burke's hipster summary of the strategy/tactic is dead on:

But it is 2011 now, and young activists require tactics that not only prove a point, but provide really hilarious videos to post to the YouTube. This is why we now have “glitter bombing!” The young people love to do the glitter bombing, because they get to throw stuff on hate-mongering anti-gay wack jobs and gain Internet celebrity while also participating in the democratic process.

And singing, dancing and laughing while they do it. The right provides its own chuckles as they pass out over the WMD potential of glitter, while simultaneously sniffing at the ineffectiveness of the protests. (Of course they want it both ways). Both the action and the reaction kept the story in the news cycle that Bachmann owns a clinic that practices a discredited and harmful therapy.

But since the Right criticized the tactic as not "helpful" for recognition of equality, as well as scary, the knee-jerk section of the progressive movement instantly surrendered, as is so often the case in American politics. Witness Bill Prendergast at the Minnesota Progressive Project, yelling at those kids to get off his turf because they couldn't possibly know what they're doing.

And now, back to the news

What did the glittery gay barbarians accomplish? Several more days of the story in the news cycle, and hundreds of thousands of more people knowing that there's a story here at all.

And so, with  as new reports  surface about the Bachmann campaign's attempt to suppress news inquiry about the clinic's practices, those folks have a glimmer of what this story is about. 

Screenshots: Chuck McClurg, WQAD photojournalist (above); Mismatched gay barbarian horde (below). Video (below) via WQAD.

When a newspaper loves a Republican, he can do no wrong (and the FDN can't factcheck Parry)

Repeating her pattern of Parry puffery, Faribault Daily News' managing editor Jaci Smith pretends to cover the Waseca senator's continuing projectile twitterhea in Sen. Mike Parry's love/hate affair with Twitter:

Sen. Mike Parry's Tweets have been in the social media quite a bit lately. The Daily News compiled some of the commentary about his controversial, plain speak posts, using storify.com

Smith's story includes  tweets Parry posted about a laid-off state employee on Saturday, July 9 that generated another controversy. Unfortunately, the article fails to include any information about why the two tweets (two of the three Parry tweets included in the piece) drew criticism.

Nor is any of the responses she cites about the July 9 tweets. Without fact checking or including social media critics who directly address the information in Parry tweets Smith selects for her article, the editor may leave her readers thinking that Parry's false statements about the laid-off employee are correct. This is sloppy work at best.

Let's looks at the piece. Smith cites four tweets, three of which are by Parry; the fourth a Minnpost article:

More recently, Sen. Parry has been posting his thoughts on the state government shutdown and drawing media attention -- again.

• Reply Retweet

  Accding to #mDayton, the only way to end this shutdown is to stop serving my constituents and start serving him. I'm sorry, Gov. I will not.

  

  mikeparry July 12, 2011 at 10:35
• Reply Retweet

  Excited to have a few mins to share thoughts with fellow tweeters. By the way, my lawn looks a hell of a lot better than the Mansion.

  

  mikeparry July 9, 2011 at 16:14
• Reply Retweet

  Just got done weeding the garden. Wish I had a gardener like Dayton that was an essential service!

  

  mikeparry July 9, 2011 at 15:59
• Reply Retweet

  GOP hardliner Sen. Mike Parry not afraid to tweet what he believes http://t.co/GQaBXJ0

  

But by repeating his tweets without fact checking--and labeling them as "plain speak" while omitting tweets that do point out that Parry is bullshitting in his July 9 tweets--Smith grossly misleads her readers.

By not conducting any due diligence, Smith merely repeats the false information in the tweets she cites. She fails to tell her readers that Parry's tweets about the gardener are not true.

And the Minnpost piece isn't about those tweets.

It gets worse. While the article includes both of Parry's tweets from July 9 about the laid-off staffer--whom Parry's tweets suggest is still working--none of the critical tweets included in the FDN piece are from Saturday or are about Parry's Saturday tweets. Check out the dates of the tweets included:

Predictably, the senator has his share of supporters and detractors on the Internet.

• Reply Retweet

  Hey Sen. Mike Parry: Shut up and do the people's business. #mnleg #stribpol #endthegridlock #fercriminyssake

  

  Snowman406 July 11, 2011 at 10:24
• Reply Retweet

  @mikeparry maybe we got off on the wrong foot here. Oh well I've never seen a politician be such a jerk on twitter before. You're so funny!

  

  coconicco July 12, 2011 at 11:19
• Reply Retweet

  RT @CGoHome: Boy, I wish I could get paid by taxpayers to tweet all day about how people waste taxpayer $. @mbrodkorb @mikeparry #smh #mnshutdown #mnleg

  

  nickespinosa July 11, 2011 at 20:06
• Reply Retweet

  @mikeparry Right now, you're not serving anyone. And still getting paid.

  

  JamesAnder1 July 12, 2011 at 10:38
• Reply Retweet

  GOP hardliner Sen. Mike Parry not afraid to tweet what he believes http://t.co/HH2vVP0

  

  batty3d July 12, 2011 at 17:34

Instead, all of these critical tweets are in response to that July 12 Minnpost puff piece about Parry by Doug Grow. Not that the FDN reader would know this--since this is another vital piece of information Smith leaves out in the list of "responses," even though the Minnpost article had the only "media attention" Smith brings up.

Instead, she represents a retweet of the Grow headline as a that of a supporter. However, the accompanying URL doesn't go to Minnpost--so once again, FDN readers who don't already know this won't learn otherwise.

But perhaps she's riht to put the Grow piece in the "supporter" category.

Grow's piece isn't about any of the Parry tweets included in the FDN article.  It's about Doug Grow's own passion for Parry after interviewing him following  an agist tweet about Mondale and Carlson and tweets about Dayton resigning.  The latter were made only after the Waseca senator first brought up the notion of Dayton's resignation to the traditional press.

And after that media veteran bonding experience, Grow too lost out on providing any context for Parry, as Bluestem noted in Emo senator Mike Parry pats self on back for compassion, reveals another income source. Grow portrayed Parry as a beleagued small business owner, but missed that fact that Parry had whined to MPR just a month before about needing a higher state salary because he only had one source of income: that senator check.

If this were a larger media market, Smith's fake objectivity (and Grow's laziness)  would be worthy of comment by media critic Jay Rosen.

What's the problem with the gardener tweets? Bluestem first posted about Parry's tweets on Saturday in Emo tweeting senator Mike Parry can see Governor's mansion lawn from Waseca:

Bluestem wonders what's more remarkable: for Mike to be able to see the governor's lawn from Waseca, on Highway 14, deep in the heart of Minnesota's First Congressional District (not unlike Sarah Palin's ability to see Russia from her house in Alaska).

Or for Parry to brag that his lawn looks better than the lawn he imagines he sees on St. Paul's Summit Avenue. Three facts underscore how remarkable his lack of couth really is.

First, there's that little matter of the gardener. Bluestem checked, and there's no gardener deemed an "essential service" in the list of "essential" staff published by Politics in Minnesota.

Contacted via email about the gardener's employment status during the shutdown, a source in the Governor's Office wrote that "Gardener is laid off, not working and not getting paid." Perhaps that might explain why the lawn looks the way it does.

Bluestem's tweet of the post was circulated  on July 9 by tweeps  calling Parry on his bullshit.

By omitting any component of the controversy and fact checking generated by the Parry tweets she herself includes in the story, Smith paints Parry as a controversial, "plain spoke" leader beseiged by critics on social media. It's a classic Republican Victim narrative, aided and abetted under the guise of news.

In the interest of a better informed readership for the Daily's News audience, Bluestem is fixing the paper's headline: "The Faribault Daily News managing editor's love affair with Mike Parry."

The larger question remains: why is this piece in the Faribault Daily News? Pro-Republican bias? Sheer incompetence on the part of Jaci Smith? Both? You be the judge.

Related posts: The Emo Senator cont'd: rocking chairs, resignations, and a retreat to retweets

Emo senator, part 3: Mike Parry collecting paycheck and per diem during shutdown

The Emo Senator, part 2: Mike Parry cries crocodile tears over laid-off state workers

The Emo Senator: Mike Parry calls for Governor Dayton's resignation, cites feelings, trust fund

Suddenly socialist Mike Parry demands pay according to his needs

Mike Parry tells public employees they'll get bigger pensions, suggests new tax on services

It's a ploy! MNGOP chair Tony Sutton joins in Scott Hennen's public rest stop rant

After listening to a podcast where conservative talk radio personality Scott Hennen and failed burrito baron and MNGOP chair Tony Sutton agree about the politics of cleaning bathrooms, I had to hope Sutton had never been allowed to determine janitorial standards when he was CEO at the Baja Sol restaurants.

On July 5, Fargo-area conservative talk radio personality Scott Hennen ranted about the closing of Minnesota's rest stops as part of a ploy on the part of Leftists to grow government--and MNGOP Chair Tony Sutton agreed with him at the beginning of the interview. Full podcast here.

Bluestem had to laugh, since the Pawlenty Administration closed the rest stops when the government shutdown in 2005 under TPaw's watch as well. And frankly, we don't think bathrooms clean themselves or public health issues created by an absence of janitors are anything to take lightly. Both governors' administrations were using sound judgement in closing the rest stops.

The bigger question though: What's Sutton doing hanging around with this ranter at a time when citizens are asking for some real common sense, not just a club brand?

 

Public bureau of false equivalence?: MPR on Sutton's fundraising email and Martin's petition

Yesterday's post, Now earning $100,000 party salary, Sutton exploits shutdown in MNGOP fundraising email, has been picked up by the Politics in Minnesota Morning Report, Minnpost's morning edition of the Daily Glean, and an article in the Minnesota Independent, GOP fundraises off shutdown as chairman Sutton begins $100,000 salary.

Andy Birkey does his usual thorough work with the piece, noting:

GOP leaders said it’s completely appropriate because the DFL does it too.

The DFL sent an email asking supporters to sign a petition in support of Dayton’s position, and like many emails sent by the party, it contained a contribute button in the sidebar.

As Birkey points out, there's a contribute button in the sidebar; this is part of the mailer template that the party uses for many mass emails.

The template also includes "Follow Us" buttons for YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. It's surprising that Sutton or Brodkorb hasn't suggested that Ken Martin and the DFL are in league with Facebook's Evil Zuckerberg.

Perhaps that's being left to Mike Parry, Twitgenius and Yarn Teller Gretchen Hoffman, and Dave Thompson, a trio that's one horseman short of a communications apocalypse.

Bluestem has a nominee to round out the team. Apparently willing to accept the Sutton and Brodkorb harness? MPR's Catharine Richert comes close, in GOP, DFL use shutdown to solicit support when she concludes:

But while the DFL doesn't ask for contributions outright, it's hard to miss the big "Contribute" button in the margins of the July 5th email. Click on it, and it takes you to the DFL's "Make a Contribution" page.

Because in the service of the sort of journalism that Jay Rosen and others have criticized, of course a standard feature on an email template (a contribute button) is so completely totally the same as an email like that Sutton sent, where the entire body of the email begs for money.

Image: Tild's Sutton Peso, a piece of Photoshopping genius that has circulated so much that it proves the mulitiplier effect all by itself.

MPR's awesome blossom; or, who represents Blooming Prairie in the Minnesota Senate?

Reports about the reception Minnesota legislators met in Independence Day parades are coming in from across the state. The Mankato Free Press reports that Shutdown talk muted along parade routes in St. Peter and lovely Vernon Center.  Patrick Condon at the Associated Press checked out the parade in Eagan, and tells a different story in GOP lawmaker gets earful on Minnesota shutdown.

And then there's Mark Steil's report from Blooming Prairie, Lawmaker gets earful along parade route, which notes the response State Senator Dave Senjem received in the small Southern Minnesota town. The remarkable article begins:

Blooming Prairie, Minn. — As the state government shutdown continues, Minnesota voters are weighing in on the stalemate. Many are not happy. A wide range of state services shut down last Friday when the governor and the Legislature failed to reach a budget agreement.

At the Fourth of July parade in Blooming Prairie, some in the crowd vented their frustrations.

Among the bands, classic cars, horses and floats in the parade, there was also one member of the state Legislature -- State Sen. Dave Senjem, R-Rochester. He's in his third term representing the Republican-leaning district 70 miles south of the Twin Cities. . . .

Why is this a remarkable article?

The Wikipedia entry for Blooming Prairie, Minnesota provides a clue as to why the story is awe-inspiring:

Blooming Prairie is a city in Dodge and Steele counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 1,996 at the 2010 census.^[1] Most of the city lies in Steele County; only a small part of the city extends into Dodge County.

And in political terms, that means that Dave Senjem doesn't represent much of Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, since Senate District 29 doesn't include Steele County. Rather, the honor of representing the home of the Awesome Blossoms falls to none other than the Emo Senator and personal socialist Mike Parry.

A friend who lives in Senate District 26 who attended the parade noted on Facebook that Congressman Tim Walz and Senjem were the only state and federal politicians in the event. She wrote that she cheered Walz and encouraged Senjem, but no Parry.

Now, while this isn't a major fail on MPR's part, those who read the article might come away with the notion that Senjem was getting a lot of grief in his district. Bluestem suspects that the veteran lawmaker was on the receiving end of some of the grief that Mike Parry might have gotten, had he actually been on hand.

Mere happenstance or a generous act of political sin-eating for the genial Senjem? Bluestem can't judge motive. 

Photo: Senator Mike Parry, who represents the lion's share of Blooming Prairie, not that you'd guess that if you'd caught this MPR story.

Related posts (new): Emo senator, part 3: Mike Parry collecting paycheck and per diem during shutdown

The Emo Senator, part 2: Mike Parry cries crocodile tears over laid-off state workers

The Emo Senator: Mike Parry calls for Governor Dayton's resignation, cites feelings, trust fund

105 sex-crazed Republicans close down Minnesota

Modest proposal: let's embrace Representative Kiffmeyer's sociological insights in MN's budget

Minnesota's liberal-to-progressive blogosphere was aghast today at reading a comment made by Representative Mary Kiffmeyer (R- Smallpond) in the St. Cloud Times:

But Kiffmeyer is skeptical about Dayton’s push for revenue; she believes it’s motivated chiefly by Dayton’s desire to hike taxes on the wealthy.

“It’s not about revenue,” Kiffmeyer said. “It’s about a tax increase, because they want to go after those who’ve actually worked hard.”

Typical of the reaction is my friend Jacop Grippen's earnest and articulate statement  On Behalf of the Non-Millionaires Who Work Hard:

So, apparently if you make less than a million dollars you don't work hard, and haven't worked hard.

Mrs. Kiffmeyer, how many millionaire teachers do you know? Police officers? Fire fighters?  Cashiers? Servers, well, they do get upwards of $100,000, I suppose. Assembly line workers? Nurses?  Executive Assistants? Day Care Providers? Temporarily laid off State Employees?  State Representatives and State Senators? (did you mean to inadvertently insult your colleagues?) You get the point.

Eric Austin at Outstate Politics also feels slighted in Dear Middle Class Minnesota, Here Is What Republicans Think Of You…:

Did you catch that? Kiffmeyer let slip just what Republicans think about poor and working class Minnesotans. They haven’t “actually worked hard” or else they too would be wealthy, right? So as we debate blame and budgets remember that the reason Republicans stand on the side of millionaires is they believe they are better than poor and working class Minnesotans. It isn’t something they usually let slip but if you listen and watch long enough they will let you know just what they think of you.

Rather than umbrage and hurt feelings, Bluestem offers a modest solution for working and middle class people. 

In light of the higher burden expected of them by Republicans like Kiffmeyer--under that presumption of sloth--let the North Star's tillers of the soil, hewers of wood, drawers of water, teachers of youth and all others--live up to Representative Kiffmeyer's expectations.

Keep her happy, if that's possible, and stop working so hard. No fair challenging that worldview, and you're picking up the tab already. Relax. Meanwhile, in light of Kiffmeyer's high opinion of the work ethic of the wealthy, Bluestem anticipates all of those in the upper tax brackets to pitch in and lift a little slack in exchange for not paying their fair share.

We hear that trees toppled several state parks in Friday's storm need to be cleared from roads and campgrounds. Grab your chain saw and head to Marshall. After all, no less of a figure in state's "no tax" movement than Margaret Martin, writing for the Minnesota Free Market Institute, in her Snapshot of Private Flood Relief, suggested after the Southeast Minnesota floods of 2007 that private giving would be enough:

When disasters happen, government help is needed to strengthen and rebuild civil authority and but the recovery and rebuilding process is best accomplished when private individuals come to support the efforts of those in need, to help get their lives and their livelihoods back on track.

Bluestem agrees whole-heartedly: chop some wood, 'twill do you good, as the cherished old folk song goes.

But even back then, that sourpuss progressive Charlie Quimby had to disagree, in No Tooth Fairy: Private Giving is Good, But No Way to Run the State.  There's always one in a crowd, suggesting reasonableness, using actual studies rather than business folktales about high filer tax refugees, and bridging the great divide with civility. Dang it anyway.

Photo: A locked and loaded Mary Kiffmeyer should make those peasants work harder.

Related posts: 105 sex-crazed Republicans close down Minnesota

Suddenly socialist Mike Parry demands pay according to his needs

Shiny news object: Minnpost headline rewrites state's legislative social media ethics history

Note: Without acknowledging the original headline (captured in the screenshot to the right), MinnPost has changed the line to reflect the facts of the matter. Nice to see the thoughtful, well-funded editors correct the record, but leave no trace of it. [end note]

If I were a progressive movement blogger, I'd pile on with the framing of the Gretchen Hoffman social media ethics scandal delivered in the headline and content of a thoughtful analysis by James Nord at Minnpost.

As a writer, I'll have to break with the collective on this one, and consider what the facts of each incident can tell readers about policy debates, politics and reportage in Minnesota.

Framing: a new window for an old social media tool

He writes in Sen. Gretchen Hoffman ordered to apologize in first legislative ethics complaint involving social media:

Twitter seems to be getting to some Minnesota lawmakers, both seasoned veterans and freshmen newcomers.

While some legislators have used social media effectively to air their views in cyberspace, others, like freshman GOP Sen. Gretchen Hoffman, have faced backlash for inflammatory tweets sent to their followers.

Others seem perplexed by the whole social media phenomenon, and it showed during the nearly six-hour Monday meeting that ended with a legislative ethics subcommittee ordering an apology. . . .

. . .First ethics complaint over social media
The kicker? Hoffman must also remove the offending tweet and link to the subcommittee's resolution on the matter. Thomas Bottern, Senate counsel, said to his knowledge this is the first ethics complaint regarding social media in the body's history.

That last paragraph is true; the headline is inaccurate.

For while Bottern's observation is most likely true about ethics complaints in the Minnesota Senate, the first ethics complaint involving social media in fact took place two years ago, in late May 2009. And the first person summoned for a social media-related ethics violation was a DFLer, former State Representative Paul Gardner.

Old news, old tool: the case against Paul Gardner

Minnesota Public Radio reported in Ethics complaint filed against Paul Gardner:

GOP Rep. Mark Buesgens and GOP Rep. Tom Emmer have filed an ethics complaint against DFL Rep. Paul Gardner for comments Gardner made on Twitter. Gardner has deleted his twitter account but in his tweets on May 8th he wrote "Emmer seems to belittle his female colleagues (rage, sarcasm) on the floor more than the men? Great face to the GOP?" and "Why is Buesgens wearing sunglasses? Black eye?"

In the complaint, Emmer and Buesgens wrote:

"Representative Gardner's communications were clearly designed to suggest that his colleagues are physically violent and prone to harassment of female members of the House of Representatives." Representative Gardner knew or, at the very least, should have known that his written comments were false and injurious to his ALL (sic) of his legislative colleagues...."

"...There can be NO dispute that Representative Gardner's actions violate his ethical obligation to treat his legislative colleagues with "respect" and "fairness." Nor can he be said to have exercised "sound judgment" by publishing false statements to the public from the House floor."

The complaint asks that Gardner be properly reprimanded and disciplined.

Gardner did write a formal apology to the entire House floor on May 11th. In an interview, he also said he apologized to the two personally and posted a link to his apology on twitter. He added that "I don't understand how many times that you can say you made a mistake and take ownership for actions and seek a remedy that seems to resolve their actions."

Minnpost's own Casey Selix mused about the upshot of the ethics complaint in Trouble in Twitter-land: tweeting without thinking:

The last time the Minnesota House Ethics Committee considered a complaint against a lawmaker, the year was 2003 and Twitter.com did not even exist. Last week, committee members and others found themselves tripping over the Twitter lexicon at a hearing on a Democrat's unflattering tweets about two Republicans during a budget debate.

The complaint filed against Rep. Paul Gardner, DFL-Shoreview, is one of several instances in recent months where pols, pundits, celebrities and job applicants have gotten into trouble by typing their thoughts and activities — in no more than 140 characters at a time — into what Twitter describes as a "real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices." . . .

A troubling introduction to Twitter  
A teed-off Emmer told the Ethics Committee that he and Buesgens weren't familiar with Twitter until they were shown Gardner's comments while they were on the House floor. Indeed, their complaint (PDF) twists Twitter's lexicon a bit by describing Gardner's tweeting as "twitting.

Therein ends the old lesson.

New story, old medium: Hoffman free-floats amid signifiers

The Hoffman story--two years later--is a much different tale, although the same breathless tone about the "new" toy, twitter, informed both yesterday's hearing and the coverage of it.

It's useful to step back first and take a look at the policy area being considered before the Senate when Hoffman and Senate Majority Leader Michael Brodkorb made their series of unfortunate tweets.

While Minnpost and others--including the Senate ethics committee--are a-flutter about the medium, let's reconsider the bill under debate on the Senate floor that prompted Hoffman's misleading tweet. Barbara Goodwin was reviewing the disregard for people-- disregard literally set in brick and stone by the very words chosen to name  the facilities --for those actual people the state once warehoused in state hospital buildings. She did this in a floor statement during which she fought against cuts to the Health and Human Services budget where the needs of real people and their families are met.

Hoffman's tweet boldly misrepresented Goodwin's words and, as Bluestem pointed out this morning, the attorney defending Hoffman's behavior tried to make the issue about those words wounded the poor dear's soul-felt sympathies toward the vulnerable.

That the words upset Hoffman, but cutting funding for the vulnerable did not, suggested that the ethos of Michael Brodkorb's majority caucus floats in a post-modern world of liberated signifiers that would impress Claude Levi-Strauss himself, if only he were not dead.

And poor Hoffman. Life must be a deeply painful experience, as she wades into the pool of language where free-floating signifiers nip at her ankles like hungry panfish.

Back to the future: debate free floating in the twitter

And so back to the earlier (and first for Minnesota, as far as I can tell) ethics complaint involving twitter. What was the substance of Gardner's tweets? Twitting Buesgens about wearing sunglasses on the floor of the House.

Rude, to a certain degree, but in light of the subsequent and very public emergence of the house member's substance abuse issues along a remote Wright County road last fall, nearly prophetic. And Emmer's aggressive sarcasm? Certainly subjective as to how people might respond. Ask Robert Erickson for details.

But unlike Hoffman's tweets, neither of Gardner's comments related to a policy debate that could lead to life-threatening conseqences for vulnerable Minnesotans. While Buesgens' drunk driving was a threat to other drivers, he's mostly taking responsibility and adhering to the conditions of his probation.

Perhaps the media with far greater reach than this blog could link the attendant policy discussion of the Goodwin-Hoffman ethics incident than repeatedly focusing, like magpies or jays with a pilfered shiny bauble,  on the new-ness of Twitter. It was new in 2009 with the Gardner complaint. It is not new now, and each caucus in both chamber might spend the requisite five or ten minutes reviewing principles on basic civility. Then, perhaps, the legislature might focus more on the job for which its members are elected.

Gardner, Hoffman contrasting apologies

Finally, there's a stark difference in the way in which Gardner and Hoffman responded to the initial complaints about their short messages. Even before the formal complain was filed, Gardner apologized. Prior to the hearing on the ethics complaint, MPR reported back in the day:

. . .Gardner did write a formal apology to the entire House floor on May 11th. In an interview, he also said he apologized to the two personally and posted a link to his apology on twitter. He added that "I don't understand how many times that you can say you made a mistake and take ownership for actions and seek a remedy that seems to resolve their actions."

And Hoffman? As Nord's article points out, she remained unapologetic about the truth of her tweet as yesterday's hearing approached, while her lawyer warned about the "thought police" snooping through tweets, looking for pearl-clutchable items.

Moreover, while Republicans demanded further action from Gardner, who had repeatedly apologized before the earlier House ethics hearing, Don Davis reports that:

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, led debate against forcing Hoffman to apologize multiple times, calling it “piling on.”

Perhaps Bluestem can go out on a limb and suggest there's a bit of a double standard at work on the part of the Republican Party.

However, Hoffman's approach to language, however, has been eclipsed by a new disturbance in the force of discourse, as evidence comes forward about an email exchange in which everybody's favorite pistol-packing Republican rep abuses both history and analogy. Check out Paul Demko's Union seeks explanation from Hackbarth about email complaining of ‘communist’ propaganda in which Minnesota's public professional employees union is compared to the rise of Hitler and Castro.

Screenshot: Minnpost's most likely unintentionally misleading headline.

Bleg: Like what you're reading? Throw a few coins in Bluestem's tip jar for the blog's June reader support drive. Need more information? Read all about it here.

Are Draz's "backward" ideas "too goofy for the GOP"? WDN misses the mark on Tentherism

Writing about the newspaper niche industry that is Mazeppa's Representative Steve Drazkowski, Winona Daily News editor Darrell Ehrlick believes Drazkowski misses the mark about "Tenthism." Bluestem believes that Ehrlick in his turn misses the mark about how the Draz's ideas are central to the contemporary iteration of  the GOP.

Ehrlick writes:

Amazingly for all the backward ideas floating around in St. Paul during Round One of the legislative session, even some ideas appeared too goofy for the GOP.

Did I say “amazingly?”

Minnesota newspapers’ niche industry, state Rep. Steve Drazkowski, who represents a wide swath of the Winona area, had enough time on his hands to contemplate the limits of federalism.

Apparently Team Draz wants Minnesota to become a tenther state.

For those unfamiliar, this is a movement of conservatives, tea partiers and other assorted conspiracy theorists who believe the not often used Tenth Amendment holds the key to breaking free from the tyranny of the federal government.

The Tenth Amendment for those of you who may not remember (it’s only been invoked directly twice in Supreme Court cases in the last 60 years), says that powers not given to the federal government remain the province of the individual states or individuals.

Borrowing from the playbook of doomsday prophets and movies like the “Da Vinci Code,” tenthers, as they’ve been called, believe the amendment’s spartan language and straightforward approach is really a secret code for states to nullify any federal legislation they don’t like.

Walk It Back

Let's walk back the cat on Drazkowski's idea and see what else and who else is lurking there among those Ehrlick implies are extremists. When one does so, it doesn't really seem that Drazkowski's ideas are too goofy for the GOP; in fact, last year's party standard bearer, gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, co-sponsored a 2010 Tenth amendment bill.

In April 2010, the Minnesota Independent's Andy Birkey reported in Republicans push for Minnesota sovereignty:

Senate Republicans introduced a constitutional amendment Wednesday that would make Minnesota the first state to require a two-thirds majority vote in the legislature to approve federal laws affecting the state. “Minnesotans enjoy inherent, natural, God-given rights,” the bill states, and “Citizens of Minnesota are sovereign individuals, subject to Minnesota law and immune from any federal laws that exceed the federal government’s enumerated constitutional powers.”

The bill was introduced by state Sens. Mike Parry of Waseca, Bill Ingebrigtsen of Alexandria, and David Hann of Eden Prairie, and is a companion to a House bill introduced by Reps. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa, Bruce Anderson of Buffalo, and Tom Emmer of Delano last month.

Emmer has also authored a resolution that would lay claim to Minnesota’s sovereignty: “[T]he State of Minnesota hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.”

The bills are part of a larger conservative push, following the election of President Barack Obama, to give states power to reject federal policies. Seven red states passed Tenth Amendment resolutions following Obama’s inauguration: Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee. Five others have passed a resolution since health care reform passed: Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming.

And Emmer isn't the only GOP leader in the list above.  Mike Parry, for instance, is a communications point man for deputy MNGOP party chair and Senate Majority caucus leader Michael Brodkorb. Brodkorb has put Parry on the radio as host of "Inside the Senate."

ALEC's support

The "larger conservative push" Birkey mentions later drew support from two of the more powerful policy groups in Republicanland: the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Republican Study Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Drazkowski didn't drop his fancy toward Tentherism a year ago, but rather, he went national with other like-minded Republicans, lending his words to a media advisory issued by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on November 24, 2010:for the related federal "Repeal Amendment":

“The federal government continues to squash the sovereignty rights of the states as guaranteed by the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution unrelentingly and at an accelerating pace. From countless unaffordable federal mandates imposed upon Minnesota's healthcare system, education programs, and even families, the overreach of Congress has gone unchecked. It's time for the states to restore their Constitutionally-protected autonomy, and that's why I am going to sponsor the Article V application for the Repeal Amendment.”
Steve Drazkowski, member, Minnesota House of Representatives

Draz wasn't able to make the press conference ALEC staged for the announcement of the legislation, but plenty of Republicans were there, including Congressman and 10th Amendment Task Force Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT), Bill Howell, Speaker of the House of Delegates in Virginia, David Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives in Utah, and Mike Haridopolos, President of the Florida Senate.

It would be goofy not to see those folks as part of the GOP--and somewhat irresponsible of Ehrlick and others to continue to frame the Tenthers as simply a fringe. While the idea itself might indeed be goofy, it's not  so goofy that Congressman and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor refused to put his name on the media advisory along with that of the Draz. Indeed, Cantor's name heads the list of sponsors on ALEC's November 2010 media advisory. So far as I can tell, no Democrats there. And while ALEC claims a few Democratic members, it's by far a Republican dominated group.

And while ALEC is one of the great conservative satans for the left, Minnesota conservatives typically say that the group is no different than another membership group (though the legislative membership of ALEC is never disclosed to the public; a transparency law like that in Florida might change that).

If we take Republicans at their word about ALEC being just another group, then Tentherism is just another idea that's not too goofy for Minnesota Republicans.As we should see, it's not too goofy for Republicans in Congress to consider.

Tentherism goes to Congress: the role of the RSC

ALEC--composed of public elected officials and the private sector members drawn from industry lobbyists and corporations that provide most of the funding for the group-- isn't the only high profile member of the club of what Ehrlick calls "conservatives, tea partiers and other assorted conspiracy theorists" supporting Tentherism.

Bishop's "10th Amendment Task Force" is a project of the conservative Republican Study Committee, the U.S. House's conservative caucus. In Minnesota, Congressman John Kline and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann are members.

Wikipedia notes that there are over 170 current members of the RSC--a majority of the caucus. Moreover, like ALEC, it was founded by the profilic foundational conservative godfather, Paul Weyrich.

Is the GOP "too goofy"

As much fun as it is to laugh at ALEC member Steve Drazkowski--and Bluestem often delights in our own share of belly laughs at his expense--neither Ehrlick nor BSP should claim that many of his laughable ideas are "too goofy" for the Republican Party. Indeed, given their provenance and the investment corporations put into groups like ALEC, the Tentherism might be some of the best ideas at the core of the Republican Party, the best and most central ideas money can buy.

Photo: Zombie Draz Bunny. And yes, he caught those ideas from somewhere, from other Republicans and respectable conservatives. Bluestem can't remember him coming up with a single goofy notion on his onliness.

Parry in Faribault: "a lot of juking and sliding around some questions"

While the Faribault Daily News reporter covering last night's Town Hall intrudes to paint Parry as the Brodkorbian Hero of the Right Revolution, even this article shows glimmers of the event that actually happened.

In Parry blitzed with questions at town hall meeting, readers learn:

Not everyone was impressed.

“I saw a lot of juking and sliding around some questions,” said Mark Amman. “It wasn’t as genuine as it was supposed to be.”

Fear not, Republican overlords. The FDN's is there to protect your narrative of Mike Parry the Bold. Joseph Lindberg steps into the story (and a lot more) with some gems of reportorial brilliance.

Take the lede paragraphs:

Sen. Mike Parry (R - Waseca) hasn’t shied away from confrontation in his tenure in the state Senate. That didn’t change Tuesday night at a town hall meeting at St. Lucas Care Center.

Fielding questions on education, government spending, pensions and even marching straight into the murky waters of “class warfare,” he seemed to relish the opportunity to discuss the bills passing in and out of committees in St. Paul — even as the crowd grew tepid to his responses.

Ah, the tepid bath of public meetings in the murky waters of class warfare. Bold Sir Parry and his championing of the business acumen of the Senate caucus, dutifully transcribed by the paper:

“[Business people] took the risks, they went after it,” he said. He then recalled his own experience in the media business, overseeing the operations of 10 radio stations. “I puked when I didn’t make payroll, but I kept going, I didn’t stop. And if all those business people didn’t take those risks and go through that, you wouldn’t have a job.”

Many reeled at his frank answer. Others nodded. Some shook their heads. But everyone was invested in the discourse.

"Invested in the discourse" of Parry's puking. That's one way to put it. 

There's more:

Tuesday night, he kept stressing the business savvy of the Republican Legislature.

“It’s all about return on investment,” he said. “Are these programs working or not? The taxpayers deserve to get the most for their dollars.”

He said business principals can lead the state to a more sound financial future, and it starts with stopping automatic spending increases. While he did not identify any particular program, he was adamant government could be reformed to work more efficiently with the funds it already has.

Because saying nothing specific, but saying it with complete confidence, trumps a solid plan.

And as far as those "business principals" go, perhaps it's not a homonym error on the part of the earnest writer, but an admission that Parry is proud of letting Accenture, Deloitte and IBM write the Republican fiscal notes.

Photo: Senator Mike Parry. Be grateful, peasants, because he puked for you (above); Screenshot of "business principals" homonym error (or maybe not) in the FDN (below).

Post Bulletin hippity-hops down Drazombie bunny trail

Heather Carlson must have felt bereft after the Tea Party Steve Drazkowski was headlining was cancelled on Friday, orphaning her three articles about the Tea Party in Saturday's paper.

She was able to strike a blow for her beloved Tea Party empire on April 20, with a blog post recording The Draz's bloviating about the award, Drazkowski says Best Villain Award a "badge of honor":

So what does Drazkowski think about all this? He said some people sent him a link to the story and he considers his best villain title "a badge of honor."

He added, "If it makes me a villain to point out the fact that fiscal responsibility is not happening in areas of government and identify and suggest models of government that aren't working, I guess that's a good title."

He said he is also happy to join previous Best Villain winners former GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty and GOP Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

So divisive laws like English-only, scrapping pay equity, and the like? Leave it to Draz the Impaler to point out moronic reforms, and Carlson to report his utterances with the same journalistic acumen that led the editorial page staff in 2010 to praise Bachmann for being opposed to medical malpractice reform.

Not that Bachmann actually opposed it or anything. The Post Bulletin discerned her opposition at the same forum where the rest of the nation noticed that Bachmann told a whopper about the Japanese health care system. (Perhaps, though, the statute of limitations has run out on recalling this episode, under PB managing editor Jay Furst's Law of Political Alzheimer's). The Post Bulletin posted the video, leaving others to fact check her claim. The City Pages (which knows a villain when it sees one) has a typical send-up of the claim: Michele Bachmann: gov't will create an enemies list and deny coverage to political opponents.

No word if the Post Bulletin plans to examine whether any of Draz's proposals are actually effective good government models or not (or just take his word for it), anymore than it fact-checked  Bachmann's 2010 fantasies.

For that, readers should probably move away from the Tea Party stenographers and look at the daily paper closer to Draz's home, the Winona Daily News, which never lacks Draz material.

Image: If Zombie Draz Bunny is looking for journo brainsto devour, he'll have to head to Winona or those elitists Kevin Hoffman hires at the CP.

Who played the Rochester LGA card? Post Bulletin scores again in revisionist reporting

Gotta love the Post Bulletin's Heather Carlson, who never met a story she couldn't infuse with he said-she said "objectivity."

Take Suburbs vs. Greater Minnesota?, her most recent blog post at the PB's Political Party.  In discussing Republican efforts to cut LGA she writes:

This push comes as lawmakers are considering steep cuts in Local Government Aid to cities. The Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities has been vocal in its opposition to these cuts with their own website, ThankLGA.org. A House Republican proposal initial called for deep cuts in aid to Twin Cities suburbs, but later backed off that proposal. The House Tax Bill would phase out LGA for Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth, all cities of the first class, by 2015. It's important to note that Rochester officially became a city of the first class in the wake of the recent 2010 census, but it would be excluded from those cuts. And both Republicans and Democrats do not seem eager to bring up any efforts to include the Med City, a swing district that both the GOP and DFLers are eagerly courting.

Yes, it's "lawmakers" considering deep cuts. However, only one side is proposing them: Republicans,

Second, by lumping Republicans and Democrats into one group that doesn't want to cut Rochester's LGA, Carlson creates a world in which Democrats would agree to cut other cities of the first class, or  bring us-versus-them politics of geography to the table, the equal of the Republicans in an attempt to spread influence in the Mayo City come next elections.

But nope, that one belongs entirely to the Republican Party in Minnesota's House of Representatives, as does sparing one's friends in the suburbs and Rochester.

Let's look at the coverage back in March, when news of the Republican plan to hold Rochester's LGA harmless, while hitting the other big cities hit. At MinnPost, Joe Kimball digested a Strib article in Rochester may dodge GOP plans for biggest LGA cut, noting:

There's some nifty wording in the property tax bill proposed by Republicans in the Minnesota House that would make cuts to Local Government Aid. Nifty, that is, if you're from Rochester.

Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Strib reports that the bill would cut LGA to first-class cities —- the biggest in the state — immediately and eliminate it entirely eventually. But there's a clause that says that part of the bill would affect only first class cities that were classified as such as of 2009.

That means that the cuts would hit St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth — which are all DFL strongholds. But Rochester, which traditionally falls into the GOP column, won't become a first-class city until 2010 census figures are finalized.

And from the Stassen-Berger piece, Rochester exempted from LGA elimination:

The Minnesota House property tax bill gives Republican-represented Rochester a pass.

The bill would severely cut state aid payments to "first class cities" immediately and eliminate the payments by 2015. But the wording of the bill means that only Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth, all DFL bastions, would feel that level of pain.

Rochester,a swing area that has GOP representation in the Minnesota House and Senate, would be spared. That's because the measure specifies that ""First class city" means a city of the first class as of 2009. "

And so it goes. But on Planet Carlson, both parties are equally involved in this plan, even though on Earth itself, the DFL has aligned itself with maintaining LGA across the state, as have greater Minnesota cities, while not playing one area off against the other. The Republicans, on the other hand, actively sought to punish other large cities, while maintaining Rochester.

Things got a bit out of hand with Rochester's sales tax, with Greg Davids and other Republicans spanking Rochester's Chamber of Commerce, in preference to the local Tea Party. I gather it's not just the PB that coddles teabaggers' tender sensibilities, but regional Republicans who also love the local Tea Party Republicans.

Rochester isn't special to the DFL; fairness to all is.

Related post: Will dividing Minnesotans add up for Republicans and their allies?

Boiling over in Rochester: Downey promises closed-door meeting; Tea Party Patriots steamed

Cold comfort tea party: someone needs a weatherman to tell him which way the wind blows

Earlier today, Politics in Minnesota's Morning Report "Best of the Blogs" recommended Apparently the GLBT movement is dead, too, a post at the site kept by Michael Brodkorb's pet blogger. The entertaining piece illustrates the writer's rhetorical virtues as clearly as anything he's written of late.

Indeed, the short entry pulls together most of the blogger's stylistic graces. Read this post at Shot in the Dark, and you probably never need read another word the radio and social media personality commits to the ether.

The post compares Saturday's tea party rally with the OutFront Minnesota rally on Thursday.

First, it describes Saturday's event. Both the blogger and the press center on the excuses for a poorly-attended rally. Fox News 9's St. Paul Tea Party Rally Draws Smaller Crowd, describes the crowd as a "vocal group of dozens." As the screenshot above shows, the station named the lack of a keynote speaker and the weather as dampening attendance.

About that weather? The sunshine patriot writes:

It was 33 degrees at noon, when I spoke, and there was snow on the ground, and a cold wet wind was howling from the north giving wind chills in the teens.  Not prime rallying weather.  More like Valley Forge. 

That's the writer in the screenshot to the right, bundled up against the snow on the ground behind him (larger, long shot of Saturday's rally itself in the top screenshot).

Given the blogger's heroic prose, it's surprising that the dozens gathered weren't building little huts and drilling with their own Baron von Steuben.

Weather Underground's historical records for Saturday show that the high temperature was 42 degrees, the low 31, and the mean 37. The wind averaged 13 mph. A total of .02 inches of precipitation fell.

The impetus for the blogger's hyperbole and self-pity is a Star Tribune article, Attendance down at Capitol Tax Day rally. He doesn't link to the article, which also touches on rallies elsewhere in the country. Reading the Strib piece, one wonders what purpose the umbrage at the reporter serves, save to set up the hit on another rally earlier in the week, for GLBT equality.

Weather Underground's records for Thursday, the day of the earlier rally, show that high temperature was 48, the low 35, and the mean 42. The wind averaged 12 mph. A trace of rain fell (it was mixed sleet and snow at times during the rally).  In short, Saturday was five-to-six degrees colder than Thursday, but both were well below the average high for this time in April, the mid-fifties.

But in the creative nonfiction at Shot in the Dark, Thursday was one of those average April days:

By the way, an observer at the Capitol told me that attendance at the annual LGBT rally with Governor Dayton was “way down” from previous years.

Is it because the gay rights movement is dead?

Or is it because it’s an off-year, and the weather was  in the fifties and “wind-swept?”

The blogger shares an unnamed observer's thought that attendance at the OutFront Rally was "way down."

How big was the  weekday crowd? Dozens, like that on the weekend? Fox News 9 doesn't have a clip up of Thursday's rally that I could find, but a short article on the station's website puts attendance at "about 1000."

In Soldier's father, Gov. Dayton rally for gay equality, KARE-11 reported on Friday:

Gov. Mark Dayton Thursday became the first sitting Minnesota governor to speak at Outfront Minnesota's annual gay equality rally.  The event, for gay persons and their straight supporters, drew nearly 1,000 persons to the Capitol on a cold and blustery day.

The Star Tribune's item, in the Hot Dish blog, reported the same crowd numbers: about 1000. No online article for Outfront!

I attended Thursday's rally, and the numbers seem about right, though I was taping speeches and didn't do my own count. I haven't been at earlier rallies, so I don't know if the turnout is "way down" from earlier efforts. Last year, the Minnesota Independent reported "several hundred" rallied.

The conservative blogger's crowd estimate, much like his assessment of the weather on both days, shows a certain poetic flourish. Indeed, had the Tea Party Tax Day rally attendance only been that "way down" (to 1000) on Saturday, I suspect that his description of the weather would have prompted comparisons with the winter of 1941 or 1942 during the Siege of Leningrad rather than the sojourn at Valley Forge during a moderate Pennyslvania winter.

But Berg may be right. Weather might explain it all. Our own long cruel winter may have thinned the Tea Party ranks in Minnesota, and though that faction may have turned down government aid to make it through, certainly they are as resourceful as those Russians were once the cats and dogs were gone.

Selfishness is, after all, a virtue.

On the other hand, perhaps if the St. Paul Tax Day Tea Party had cancelled their rally like the fair-weather patriots in Rochester, the Twin Cities media could have devoted feature after feature to the non-event, following the lead of the Post Bulletin, which published three articles about the group after it was a no-show because of a little rain. Perhaps the metro Tea Party can learn from their experience.

Update: Fibonacci Blue, who photographs nearly every protest action in the Cities, left an interesting comment contrast the Tea Party Tax Day event with a February union action on the same spot in February:

Here are some similar thoughts about crowd sizes and weather with some pictures.

http://fibonacciblue.tumblr.com/post/4672654524/the-ups-and-downs-of-crowds-in-public-activism

There was a pro-union rally in February where a larger crowd fought through unshoveled steps and snowbanks to see the speakers. If people are motivated, weather is less of a factor.

Related post: Out-foxed: Rochester Post Bulletin wins Stickster Award for ultimate pander to Tea Party

Out-foxed: Rochester Post Bulletin wins Stickster Award for ultimate pander to Tea Party

This is the "journalism" that tries reader's souls. The summer stenographer and the sunshine researcher will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of newsworthiness and plain truth; but she that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Lazy journalistic narratives, like hell, are not easily conquered, and the Rochester Post Bulletin has out-foxed Fox News Network in pandering to teagbaggers.

The paper published three stories Satursday about the local tea party:

Rainy days or sunshine ahead for Rochester Tea Party Patriots?

Debate continues: Do Rochester Tea Party Patriots help, hinder local GOP?

Rochester Tea Party Patriots: Five questions

 What's the problem? Check out the lede for the first story of the three handed in by Tea party toadie and PB political reporter Heather Carlson:

It appears that only a blustery, rainy forecast has been able to keep Rochester Tea Party Patriots from speaking out.

The group canceled what would have been its third annual tax day rally Friday in Rochester. But while they weren't out at Soldiers Field waving signs calling for budget cuts and an end to the "nanny state," Tea Party activists say it won't curtail the efforts that have made them a growing force in local politics this year. . . .

Yeah, you read that right. The Tea Party Patriots of Rochester cancelled their rally because of a weather forecast (probably assisted by that nanny-statish National Weather Service), but still got three stories in the Post Bulletin.

Seriously,

My union friends in Rochester say the paper routinely ignores their action. Guess there's some merit to that complaint if a group can wuss out because of a little forecast--after all, it's not like the blizzard of the century hit Rochester on Friday night--and still get the hero treatment from the PB. It's the very definition of pandering.

But, reading PB's coverage of the Sunshine Patriots cancelled event--after I shot video in St. Paul of the Outfront Minnesota rally in intermittent spitting sleet and snow on Thursday afternoon-- I do think we've found a new definition of sissies in this state. Sheesh.

Note: Bluestem Prairie will be handing out Hickster and Stickster Awards through June 1.

New Madrid Fault moves north; or,Tony Sutton shakes it up in the Rochester Post Bulletin

Yesterday morning, Bluestem posted Mower County to Tony Sutton: Send us the $2,242 MNGOP owes for recount, based on a story in the Austin Herald. I wasn't the only one looking at the story.

The Rochester Post Bulletin took a closer look, and  editor Jay Furst shares his reporter's close encounter of the Sutton kind in Pay the bill, pal! Don't blame the media or the county!:

Tony Sutton, the volatile Minnesota Republican Party chairman, blows a gasket in a story today by Post-Bulletin reporter Kay Fate. . . .

. . ."I don't appreciate him blackmailing us and saying if we don't pay him right away, he's going to the press. I think it's unconscionable for a public official to threaten somebody and blackmail them. … I think that's unconscionable, and it's no way for a public official to behave.

"It's hard to raise money. It's a recession; it's the winter-time, and we're doing the best we can. They're going to get paid, that's going to happen."

This month?

"Absolutely," Sutton said, "but I don't appreciate a public official, who's working at taxpayer expense, threatening to blackmail us. He works for us.

"I know he's probably a big man down there in Mower County, but that is just unconscionable for him to blackmail us in such a brazen way."

Is this appropriate conduct for the man who leads the Republican Party of Minnesota? He can blame Dayton, blame Groh, blame us for assisting in "blackmail," blame the recession, but nowhere does he seem to apologize for being late.

Pay the bill, pal! It's March.

The print version of the PB also reports that the MNGOP owes another county in addition to Mower.

Frankly, this story simply strikes me as weird. The outstanding bills that the Emmer campaign ran up in its futile recount record sweep across the state were widely reported, as was the fact that the bills were being rolled over to the Republican Part of Minnesota. It's pretty hard to blackmail someone with public knowledge.

Perhaps the stress is getting to Chairman Sutton, and once he's raised the money, perhaps he could spend more time with his family.

 

Not yet past tense: Senate author says he'll pull mandate bill that repeals pay equity

NOTE: The bill Carlson authored was intended to repeal a number of mandates required of local government. There's still a stand-alone bill to repeal PEA in the Senate, authored by Michael Jungbauer. Steve Drazkowski is the House author of both companion bills.

Via MinnPost, the Bemidji Pioneer reports in Carlson pulls pay equity bill:

A bill which would abolish pay equity for local governments has been pulled by its author, Sen. John Carlson, R-Bemidji.

“That bill’s been pulled and it won’t see the light of day,” Carlson said Saturday morning to an Education Minnesota eggs and issues breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express. It brought about 50 teachers from five school districts.

He apologized to the teachers for authoring the bill, and said his intent wasn’t to denigrate women’s effort to seek equal pay.

Although the article was published on Sunday, February 27, SF 0159 still remains listed by the state legislature as a bill submitted to the Senate, with Carlson as the bill's author, and there has not yet been a motion to return the bill to its author (aka "pull") according to the Journal of the Senate.

The Pioneer reports :

“So I author the bill, put it in the hopper, and the next thing I know, all hell breaks loose,” he added. “And I deserve it for being naïve. Quite honestly, I deserve that. I did it with good intentions.”

He did not say if he would reintroduce the bill without the pay equity provision.

“Hopefully I learned my lesson,” Carlson said. “To all of you, I apologize about that pay equity thing.”

Thus, while Carlson is feeling bad, he isn't feeling particularly speedy about the removal of the bill.

Presumably, a motion will be offered when the Senate meets tomorrow (March 3) to return the bill to its author (the term in parliamentary procedure lingo for the popular understanding of 'pulling" a bill).

Carlson claimed a newcomer's victim status:

Saturday he called the bill and its ramifications “really stupid” and alleged that he may have been naïve about authoring it.

“We hit this head on, and (the Pioneer) called me out and I called (the Pioneer) out, and then we had it out in the paper and that’s fine,” Carlson, a freshman, said.

“”When you’re new in the Legislature, the learning curve is unbelievably steep and we honestly don’t know what we don’t know,” he told the teachers.

Will Steve Drazkowski, author of the companion bill in the House, relent?

Somehow, that seems unlikely, despite the public criticism of the measure. After all, not only has Draz put the repeal in the larger bill addressing state mandates on local government, he's introduced it as a stand-alone measure.

If the House bill isn't returned to Draz, its author, and Carlson (or someone else) reintroduces the senate version without the divisive repeal of pay equity in it--and that hypothetical bill passes, as well as the House version,  watch for what emerges from conference committee. Just saying.

 Photos: Real Republicans of genius in the Minnesota State Legislature. Senator John Crlson (above); Rep. Steve Drazkowaki (below).

Another Wisconsin guest post: Palm trees, police horses, and the value of Fox News

 After I joked about Fox News' now-infamous footage of union rough-housing in the network's  own privvate Wisconsin (the state in which the streets of Madison are lined with palm trees) a friend sent a Facebook note written by one of his old Army buddies now living in the Eau Claire area .

It's an interesting account by a state resident who's not involved in the protests, but who is looking to learn the truth about what's happening in Madison.(I've broken up the spacing to make it easier to read online, and embedded links and video).

And yes, Rusty Lear knows horses.

Fox News Coverage of the Protests in Madison
by Rusty Lear

If there is any one factor uniting the opposing sides of the current budget proposal in Wisconsin, it is perhaps, and hopefully, the desire of honest reporting.

The vast majority of us are not there, and because we are not there, we must rely on the hope of journalistic credibility to bring us these issues. For this reason, I was startled, yet not surprised, when I viewed the footage from Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin regarding the situation in Madison. As we all know, Fox News has aired file footage from other events when attempting to report on current events. They have, so far, chalked this up to editing errors, I believe. Tsk, tsk.

The current budget proposal and the resulting demonstrations in Wisconsin have become a national issue, and as such, aren't we to expect a level of professionalism that equates with that importance?

Apparently not.

If you get your information from Fox News, then there is a pretty healthy chance that you are being misled. Cry all you want, but the facts speak for themselves.

Here is a recent video from Mike Tobin, Fox News correspondent, in a piece where Bill O'Reilly suggests that the current upheavels are due in part to liberal forces being "bused in" while Mr. Tobin is fortunate to have been spared in this sea of anarchy:

In this video, you'll note quite a bit of hostility, and mounted officers in the fray. That's interesting, because the Madison police force has precious few mounts. There are four of them, in case you were curious. They're all here.

To many of you, a horse is a horse. Not to me. I was fortunate enough to grow up on a farm with horses in a community where horses were not uncommon, and because of that I realize that individual horses can be quite unique. For instance, it is easy to recognize horses by their facial markings. An easy summary of that principle can be found here.

For the sake of argument, please go back to the video with Mr. Tobin and observe the white markings of the police horse in the video, taking careful notice of how they widen out near the eyes and forehead. Compare that to the only horse in the Madison mounted force that has a vertical white stripe.

Does it seem odd that there is a large difference between the two? Do you find it odd that a national news organization has made this mistake, yet again? How have they not yet found the terrible video intern who has so misaligned their intentions of honest journalism?

If they are so inept as a news organization that their editing team cannot differentiate fact from fiction, then you must ask yourself of what factual worth are they, or, if their editing team is spot-on, then I suppose you must ask yourself a different question entirely.

Army veteran Rusty Lear enjoys hunting and ice fishing beneath the palm trees of Wisconsin.

Update: For those readers who are coming here to find out whether there are palm trees in Wisconsin: the answer is no. The Lear bio line is intended to be funny. 

To fact check my claim about Wisconsin flora, visit Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium, a site maintained by a member of the faculty in the Biology Department at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point.

Photo: An image of a clearly distraught and anonymous crowd member in protesting in Madison.

Spinside the Senate: send GOP Senate Majority Caucus comm shop your questions

Articles in the Mankato Free Press are ordinarily published over staff writers' bylines, but the current puff piece for the Republican Senate Majority Caucus's radio show, Inside the Senate, goes without. I'm not sure I can blame the editors.

Show frontman Senator Mike Parry comes up with a good one for why the "we" on the show likely will be Republicans:

The “we” is likely to be predominately fellow Republicans as Parry said the focus of the show will be explaining legislation that’s reached the Senate floor — a criterion that will weed out Democratic proposals that don’t have GOP support in committees.

At least that beats having tapeworms.

But there's more:

Parry said, however, that he’s open to including Democrats on the show as the major disagreements over budget decisions and other topics come to a head later in the legislative session.

“I could see both pros and cons of a budget, sitting down at a microphone and having a debate like that.”

Bluestem is filled with great joy and rapture to know that Parry wants to do on his show (taped and produced at whose expense?) that very thing that he refused to do while the Minnesota State Senate was in session a few weeks back.

And since his minders at the Republican Senate Majority Caucus are so very graciously taking questions via email, there probably isn't any reason for DFL Senator Dick Cohen or any other DFL member of the legislature to show up to a taping session.

Citizens can send questions for the show to Parry the GOP Senate Caucus comm shop via insidethesenate@gmail.com.

Here are some questions you might ask:

Presumably, the show is produced by the communications department, so this is a chance for Minnesotans to go directly to caucus Communications Director  and Executive Assistant to Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch Michael Brodkorb(also Republican Party of Minnesota Deputy Chair) for answers.

Maintaing the spin about the taped content, Parry told the Free Press:

“I think that’s very important to give the citizens the opportunity to hear it straight from the lawmaker.”

And what better way than a taped radio show, with emailed questions? It's surprising the founders of the state didn't think of that one, instead opting for that messy process of office visits, committee hearings, and floor sessions.

And the show might eventually go live, Parry says:

“Inside the Senate” is being put together in two 25-minute segments, which will give stations the opportunity to devote either a half-hour or an hour of air time, Parry said. The show may eventually go to a live format, the tradition established by Independence Party Gov. Jesse Ventura and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty — something that allows for comments and questions from listeners via telephone or e-mail.

I suppose: if you have Michael Brodkorb "in the can," one best let him out.

Update: The first show starts out with Parry and Koch talking about how the strategy with which the Republicans took control of the Senate(via Morning Take).  And Parry opens the segment by calling it, "the official news." Is this "official news"--which discusses partisan campaign strategy-- produced at the expense of the Republican caucus or by the State of Minnesota?  Part 2.

Related content: Spinside the Senate: Senate Republican Majority Caucus produces Radio Free Mike Parry

Photo: State Senator Mike Parry.

Witness in Wisconsin: "Democracy is crowded"

Editor's note: A friend from high school days in St. Peter was posting status on Facebook from yesterday's massive rally in Madison. I asked her to write up her experience for Bluestem, and she posted a Facebook note for me to republish here. I've lightly edited the draft for the eye and for mechanics. A big thanks for a Wisconsin citizen's view of the rally.

by Kris Fultz

I just got back from a day of peace, love, solidarity and frozen toes in Madison with 100,000 people! Marched around the square with my sister-in-law's union: she's a nurse.

At the start of the day I wasn't sure what to expect; when we got to the mall to take the bus there was a line of people waiting that began at one store front and went around the corner and down the sidewalk two more storefronts. The line was broken in a few places where people had politely moved away from the store entrance paths to allow the customers to enter.

The crowd was happy, almost giddy with anticipation. Shoppers were driving by hanging out the windows of their cars cheering us and honking their horns. It felt like I was in a parade. We waited about an hour for our turn to board the bus. They let us fill up the bus and pack in like sardines.

An elderly woman looked around and said, "Democracy is crowded."

Everyone was so polite, kind, and respectful while waiting in long lines and at the rally. The only ones who weren't were the two men who drove by the throngs of people waiting to get on the bus to the rally and yelled obscenities at us. People just smiled and let them drive. I loved it!

We were dropped off near the Capitol where the streets were filled with people. In one spot tables had been set up on the sidewalk and folks were grabbing a hotdog, bottled water or a coffee. There was a donation can nearby.

We headed to the meeting place for the SEIU union workers. Inside the building it was buzzing with activity. I heard discussion about collective bargaining, patient care and caseloads. We saw Tammy Baldwin speaking to some of the union representatives in the hallway.

It was standing room only as I listened to speakers including JoCasta Zamarripa, the first Latina to be elected to the state assembly, who spoke to this crowd of SEIU union workers, NAACP representatives, and other supporters from Wisconsin and Chicago. Her voice broke as she tried to control her emotions when telling about how she felt when she was denied her voice and her vote (when the Assembly speaker pro tempore suddenly cut off the debate and demanded a vote just after 1 a.m. Friday morning).

We moved outside to begin the march and I was asked to hold one end of the banner. I found myself out in front helping to lead the large group. The crowds on the sidewalks cheered, chanted and banged drums to show their support as we marched around the square. We walked slowly and as we were walking I scanned the faces and the signs in the crowd taking it all in. What I saw were lots of smiles.

I saw ONE person who was pro-Walker - ONE all day in that immense crowd. He stood quietly on a street corner holding two signs as the people wandered all around. Later on the ride home, I talked to some riders on our bus about this and they said they only saw five, and those five were standing right in front of the FOX news cameras.

 I saw young people and old people, a few children, even a few dogs in the crowd.

We stopped in front of the steps where the rally was set to begin, and climbed up the hill a bit to get a better view. There were young people who had climbed the trees for a better view. I saw what looked to be TV cameras covered in plastic and set up on a platform; there were several of them, and they appeared to be filming the crowd and the rally.

While I stood listening to the speakers I scanned the crowd around me, several times I looked back to the Capitol building, I had never been so "up close and personal." Looking up I saw the Capitol's dome, the huge white columns and bronzed accents. The flag was flying on the platform in front, with the capital as the backdrop and large fluffy snowflakes falling. My sister-in-law looked around and said she felt like she was in a snow globe.

Before the speakers had begun, the crowd sang our national anthem.

The speakers included  Jeffrey Skiles, the co-pilot on what is now referred to as the "Miracle on the Hudson." He spoke for pilots and teachers, and talked about how Wisconsin teachers had helped his son earn an ACT score high enough to get into UW Madison. He won't be going he said, and explained, after a gasp went up from the crowd, "Because he's in the eighth grade."  Of his experience on the Hudson, he talked about how everyone worked together that day, the people who came and helped, "We are all heroes. And every one of them was a union member."

Another speaker (I'm not sure who it was) said that Governor Walker was claiming we weren't from Wisconsin, that they[ organizers] were busing in people from out of state and that Walker doesn't know what Wisconsin voters look like.

I heard a little voice from behind me say, "Well... we're all a little overweight."