Pity the poor slow loris. Like their metabolic kindred, the sloth, slow lorises (lori?) don't move very fast, making them vulnerable to poachers, predators and a chronic inability to Google information. In short, constitutional and congenital roadkill on the information superhighway.
The slow loris is the obvious totem animal for True North blogger Nancy LaRoche, who developed major fantods over a bit of gossip she--a veteran communications manager at a local purpose-driven marketing firm--heard in a movie lobby:
Last night, I bumped into a State Senator at the movies. . . .One of the most remarkable comments the Senator made was how Governor Mark Dayton has transformed his office. He installed cubicles into his office space for staff, and moved his office into... a closet. My first reaction was, "that sounds like a panic room." . . . This office space raised my concerns for his handling of leadership, and the location sounds like a physical way to insulate himself. The State Senator is also wondering about the state of Dayton's mental state. . . .
I felt the need to report this, as this would likely not be covered by mainstream media. True North will be following this closely to report all sides of the issue. I've sent an inquiry to the Governor and will follow up with his response.
Pity poor Nancy LaRoche, the latest victim of slow loris syndrome, both thinking it clever to engage in a pathetic fallacy, while breathlessly reporting idle chatter from a senator in Michael Brodkorb's caucus as breaking news.
Too bad a Slow Loris Syndrom mental state prevented her from knowing that Google is Your Friend. What LaRoche and her fellow rightie bloggers clutch their pearls over this morning was news.
Over a month ago.
In Bigwig chooses tiny digs, the Star Tribune's Rachel Stassen Berger reported on January 15:
The new governor has taken the reins of state, but he's letting go of the some of the trappings. When visitors come into the ornate, spacious corner office traditionally reserved for Minnesota's head of state, they will find three staffers.
Dayton will work out of a closet-sized room nearby. A minimalist by nature, Dayton says his new Spartan space suits him: Just enough room for a desk, a computer and a phone. Two people could not stand side by side without being closer than Minnesotans like to stand.
"This place isn't going to change around in my lifetime," he said of the governor's office space. "So we had to change to it."
A reporter joked that Dayton's new office may put an end to any press corps complaints about their notoriously cramped, dingy Capitol basement digs. Dayton, however, noted his advantage: "I have a window."
Pity poor LaRoche. When it comes to ginning up a meme in the politics of personal destruction, she's a little slow.
Photo: A slow loris, totem animal of True North blogger Nancy LaRoche.
Just another salvo in the right wing's ongoing War on Reality. Sigh.
Posted by: Erik Hare | Feb 21, 2011 at 01:46 PM
Hey, at least she didn't accuse him of being drunk at work.
Posted by: DiscordianStooge | Feb 21, 2011 at 09:37 PM
"this would likely not be covered by mainstream media. True North will be following this closely to report all sides of the issue."
I breathlessly await the next True North installment covering the other side of this important issue.
Posted by: Charlie Quimby | Feb 22, 2011 at 09:21 AM
Wait a minute: The party of Bachmann and Pawlenty feels itself fit to make mental health diagnoses? Really?
What's next -- Tom DeLay on making moral choices as a public servant?
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | Feb 25, 2011 at 09:09 AM