There's nothing like an old-fashioned political rally, featuring failed 2010 gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, Senate Majority Leader wannabe David Hann and former congressman Gil Gutknecht, to get the Steele County Republicans going.
Then there's the local talent.
Owatonna People's Press staff writer Ashley Stewart reports in Republicans rally in Steele County to show support that Senate District 24 Republican candidate Vern Swedin has mastered the art of exterminationist rhetoric. Stewart writes:
The message for changing the course of those representing the state and the country continued throughout the rest of the rally.
Swedin made those in attendance laugh with his “spelling lesson.”
“The last four letters American is ‘I can.’ The last four letters in Republican is ‘I can.’ The last four letters of Democrats are ‘rats,’ and remember November is Rodent Removal Month,” he said.
Steve Swiggum, Minnesota Senate communications director, said what is ahead of the country is a lot better than what is behind it if Republicans dominate this year’s elections.
“There’s something better coming for this state and this country, folks. There is,” Swiggum said. . . .
Swedin usually isn't such a hyper-partisan kidder--at least not while out in public among nonpartisan crowds.
Update: it looks like Swedin--original thinker that he is--borrowed his rhetoric from a "joke" making the rounds on the innertubes. This stroke of genius puts him in the Mary Franson School of Deep Thinking. [end update].
Take his campaign webpage, for instance. On the front page, in the Vern Swedin Radio Spot, there's this:
This is Vern Swedin, your "first things first" candidate for the open District 24 Senate seat in Southern Minnesota. As your next State Senator, I want to help put truth back into politics, hold leaders accountable to hear and represent their people and to work across partisan lines to accomplish meaningful initiatives for our state.
. . .And the truth is that I will not engage in attacking my opponents or their party. I am committed to cooperation, understanding and working together across party lines to focus on human need, not political gain.
Surely, that starts with calling one's opponents "rats" and calling the election part of "Rodent Removal Month."
Swedin's remarks are in response to a radio spot produced and paid for as an independent expenditure by the Alliance for a Better Minnesota.
And then there's the letter from supporter Larry Tindall, "Honesty In Politics - Part 1," which states in part:
If "we the people" understand how this daily process works, why do so many of our aspiring leaders appear to have sold their integrity for a party endorsement? Why do they and their parties seem more engaged in burying their opponent at all costs, than in honestly displaying their own core values and effective solutions? People of heroic quality simply don't have a personal need to attack the opposing side.
At least not most of the time.
And it's not just on his website. Earlier in the month, Mankato Free Press veteran political reporter Mark Fischenich wrote in District 24: Jensen, Swedin seek Parry’s Senate seat:
While he might share some policy positions with the Republican senator he hopes to succeed, Swedin said he would bring a different style to the Capitol. And he’s confident that senators from all political perspectives can share one goal.
“I don’t like to be adversarial,” he said. “... We have to make sure our 67 senators are focused on the same priority — good-paying local jobs.”
This week, Minnesota's voters learned from Ousted GOP insider Brodkorb: Marriage amendment about votes, not values:
Ousted state Senate Republican insider Michael Brodkorb says GOP leaders put the proposed marriage amendment on the Minnesota ballot this fall not to protect family values but to drive social conservatives to the polls. . . .
In an interview Tuesday, Oct. 16, Brodkorb said that when Republicans took control of the Legislature two years ago, leaders discussed how to ensure high conservative voter turnout in 2012 so they could retain the majority. . . .
Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, said Brodkorb's assessment rings true.
Dibble, who is gay, said several GOP senators told him they voted for the amendment for political reasons, not personal beliefs, and some even asked for his forgiveness.
"They have violated their own conscience for political reasons while claiming to be standing on principle," Dibble said. . . .
Proclaiming one value in public while violating it elsewhere for political reasons? Sounds like Swedin will fit right in with that crowd.
Photo: Vern Swedin, present master of exterminationist rhetoric. At least among friends.
Related post: UPDATED! Third GOP Jensen mailing, ABM radio ad dishing Swedin's business record raises rancor in SD24
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