In the common vernacular of greater Minnesota, good country people often reference to letters to the editor as "editorials," though properly defined, an "editorial" is written by editorial staff to reflect a consensus opinion of a paper's editors or editorial board.
Mike Parry must having been grooving on the country sound last Friday.
A post in the City Pages by Blottermeister Aaron Rupar notes Mike Parry falsely claims Faribault Daily News' endorsement; gets scolded by editor. Bluestem is shocked to learn that Mike Parry, the Belle of Waseca County, got a little fast and loose with the truth in a tweet or maybe just a wee bit down home as convenience sake allowed.
Well, there is a blue moon this month.
The Blotter relates this tale of troubled taxonomic tweeting:
Last Friday, Parry offered up this tweet:
. . ."Faribault Daily News: Mike Parry, best candidate for Republican Congressional primary is.gd/AKuPh0" We concur.
That's a link to a letter to the editor by Rice County Republican activist and Parry supporter Kathy Brown Dodds, one of a thimbleful of pro-Parry letters Bluestem mentions in First district papers publish few letters from Allen Quist supporters, fewer from Mike Parry's friends.
City Pages notes that Jaci Smith, who has written favorably about Mike Parry in the past, tweeted back with the electronic equivalent of a sharp rap on the knuckles with a rolled Faribault Daily News:
@mikeparry Faribault Daily News didn't say that, a reader in a letter to the editor says that. Big difference, Senator.
Pill-popping Parry-dox versus old letters "in the can"
Reading around district papers since our August 2 post, Bluestem is finding more endorsements letters from Parry supporters. However, since they all seem to have been drafted before Parry mouthed off in Hanska, there's a certain quality about them we noted yesterday:
Two letters to the editors of the Winona Daily News underscore the limitations of letters as tool for earned media. By their very nature submitted a least a day before, the headlines on Doug Baker's Quist is too far out and Patrick Boone's Parry stands out read like hipsters' ironic asides tweeted in the wake of Mike Parry's pill-popping comments.
Just yesterday at Farmfest, Parry touted his ability to put together bipartisan compromises--though he didn't mention any one in particular--while doubling down on Dayton's supposed pill-popping and how scary a Democratic state legislature would be. Mankato Free Press staff writer Mark Fischenich reports today in Parry talks bipartisan, slams DFL, Dayton:
About 16 hours after Republican congressional candidate Mike Parry called Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Democratic President Barack Obama “scary” and told Brown County Republicans that Dayton pops “15 to 16 pills” at a time, Parry implored a large crowd at FarmFest to elect “statesmen” who will set aside partisanship for the good of the country.
And about five minutes after referring the FarmFest audience to the farewell statement of Republican Sen. Dick Lugar, where the six-term incumbent bemoaned the “unrelenting partisan mindset” and “rigid opposition to the actions and proposals of the other party,” Parry said that the goal of Minnesota Democrats is to turn the state “into one of the most socialistic states in the nation.”
It isn’t surprising that the Waseca state senator, who is looking to be the Republican nominee against Democratic Congressman Tim Walz, would make caustic comments about Dayton and Democrats. He’s done that several times during his three-year career as a senator.
More of a shocker was the decision to use his access to a large crowd and a radio audience stretching across the 1st District to highlight Lugar’s strong condemnation of partisan rancor.
It's terrific analysis--go reading it.
That positively post-modern approach to partisanship and bipartisan compromise that Fischenich identifies is rejected by pro-Parry endorsements letters in the endorsement letters section of the Winona Daily News. Justin Gilbert of Mabel, MN writes in Parry over Walz:
. . .Mike Parry is the strongest candidate to take on Walz in November. Parry grew up working on a family farm in Albert Lea, spent time serving the community as a police officer, and is a small business owner in Waseca. In addition, Parry is a proud veteran. Parry has only been in politics for a few years — I think it’s time we sent a fresh face to Congress.
In his short time in the state Senate, Mike Parry has proven that he won’t compromise his conservative principles to get things done. I encourage you to vote for Mike Parry in the Republican Primary for Congress on Aug. 14.
Another endorsement letter in the WDN goes for the conservative muscle. Bob Bergen writes in Parry not Pelosi:
. . .Although both Quist and Parry offer a clear alternative to Walz, Mike Parry has my vote as someone who is not afraid to take a stand and bring some fiscally sound votes to the U.S. House.
A vote for Parry in the Aug. 14 primary will bring us one step closer to turning us back from the fiscal catastrophe lurking just around the corner.
As opposed to the communications catastrophes that seem to occur to Mike Parry whenever consultant Ben Golnik is off servicing the Chip Cravaack campaign.
Photo: The congressional candidate forum at Farmfest. Photo by Eric V. Adams for Bluestem Prairie.
If the Minnesota Republican Party had any leadership or spiritual qualities, they would publicly ask that this person step down from further consideration. On the other hand, they haven't done it with Bachmann so they can't do it with this candidate either. It says a lot about the Minnesota Republican Party and their future plans for campaigning.
Posted by: T Pa or Coffee | Aug 08, 2012 at 05:29 PM