While the first district Republicans' endorsed candidate rejects government programs to help incubate Southern Minnesota's nascent renewable energy industry, we can report this evening that Bluestem Prairie has discovered that the pachyderm party at least supports recycling.
However, Scripture reminds us that re-use isn't always the best option. We recall that memorable analogy from the Gospels that tells us to pour new wine into new skins, lest the old wineskin burst and leave one heckova mess to clean up.
And hence a quip in the "breaking news" of Brian Davis's endorsement may indeed indicate that something's broke with Republican congressional campaigns.
In Mayo doctor Brian Davis gets GOP nod in First District, the state GOP chair speaks:
Prior to the vote, state Republican Chairman Ron Carey urged delegates to unite to defeat Walz, whom he said "masqueraded" as a conservative when he ousted Gil Gutknecht in 2006.
"The only conservative thing about Tim Walz was his haircut," Carey said. . . .
Now, where and when did we hear that before? Oh yeah, Minn. Roundup: Walz a Legit Barrier to Gutknecht in 1st District, a New York Times article published on October 17, 2006:
Republicans are trying to emphasize what they portray as Walz’s liberal outlook, which they said will not play well with voters who voted in favor of Bush both in 2000 and 2004.
“The only thing conservative about Tim Walz is his haircut,” state party spokesman Mark Drake told CQPolitics.com.
The NYTimes and CQPolitics teamed up to share coverage in the 2006 elections.
Minnesota wasn't the only place nor Walz the only Democratic candidate against whom the elephants rallied this punchline. Witness a 2006 ad against Montana's Jon Tester:
Earlier this week, the NRSC released both a television and radio ad centered on Tester's trademark buzz cut. Both are set in a fictional barbershop and feature the punch line: "Conservative haircut. Liberal values.
Like Walz, Tester unseated an incumbent.
We knew that the National Republican Congressional Committee was short on cash, but we're surprised to see a new candidate's chances poured so recklessly into the old skin of an unsuccessful slogan.
Meanwhile, the Republicans are awfully quiet about Walz's ranking as a centrist by the nonpartisan National Journal. We think they are so far to the extreme right that the center looks far, far way to the left. It's quite likely that Southern Minnesota's common sense voters are closer to that center as well.
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