Some days the Republican sense of victimhood--nay a downright Miltonian sense of injured merit--blots out all common sense.
We draw our readers' attention to a pair of stories in today's Rochester Post Bulletin about high school students getting stoked about politics. In one Student interest in election is growing, the debate between GOP MN-01 hopefuls Randy Demmer and Brian Davis last Thursday night is covered; in the other companion piece,Young people perk up for presidential politics, there's a look at one Obama supporter's view, followed by a statement by a young Republican.
As if on cue, what sort of self-pitying, "working the refs" comment has instantly been posted to the latter? What else:
Anonymous wrote: January 28, 2008 12:01PM
So the Democrat kid gets two-thirds of an article (and a photo) and the Republican kid gets a paragraph. The P-B has definitely shifted beyond center.
Ah, yes. Life for Republicans in Rochester and Southeastern Minnesota must be frustrating now that the spiral of silence has been broken and even the voices of DFL children are heard in the media. The articles are billed as "Related Stories" on the site-- the commenter's vision must have been blurred to that fact.
There is one troubling passage in the debate story, which illustrates the young Republicans, too, might be learning to bristle at the slightest perception of a whiff of a trace of offense:
Last week's debate at Mayo High School was the latest, most visible sign of a new political activism among high school students. Mayo Clinic physician Brian Davis and state Rep. Randy Demmer of Hayfield both showed up for the forum, but state Sen. Dick Day, citing a prior family responsibility, declined.
Four well-groomed students sat at a table in the middle of the stage, firing questions at the two candidates, who stood behind podiums.
Miffed at Day's rejection, one Young Republican member set a chair up for the Owatonna senator at the far end of the stage as if to mark him as an outcast.
Ian Cameron, one of the organizers, emailed us that Senator Day was not at the debate due to the arrival that day of an adopted grandchild.
Since the student organizers were aware of the reason for Day's absence, this action borders on rudeness. Senator Day cannot be faulted for joining his family in welcoming a new child.
We certainly don't agree with most of Senator Day's positions, but his absence at this forum speaks not to rejection of young activists, but to the better sentiments humans share. The students need to drop their fault-finding where none is warranted.
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