Friends,
Well, it's certainly been awhile! I haven't been silent for lack of topics...and while I would like to claim that delay is due to my day job, I'd be lying. My lack of commentary has far more to do with my blood pressure than with the office.
It's frustrating to watch the MN GOP eat itself from within. I'm tentatively hopeful about the party on the national level (although after his sad performance in response to President Obama's speech, I'm not sure Bobby Jindal is all he's cracked up to be), but I'm beyond annoyed with the decisions being made in St. Paul.
Our party leaders can say whatever they like, but many of us know why the GOP stood no chance in this past election. Conventional wisdom used to say that the Democrats couldn't win elections because they focused on policies instead of politics. The problem is that as the world has become more connected, content is the new gold...and the Democrats were far better poised to push their content over the new mediums.
Voters now have instant access to more information than at any time in human history. It's difficult to twist words and encourage falsehoods for either side when the original source material is available to anyone with an internet connection. In the GOP's case, it wasn't about spin so much as it was about content; the Democrats had more content ready, and now they had a way to distribute it.
I believe in conservative principles, and I believe many other Americans do as well. The issue becomes one of distribution. Unfortunately, the MN GOP (specifically, the Senate Caucus) is about to make a serious tactical error. They aren't focused on the distribution of content; they are focused on the political games that got them into their current mess (e.g. 21 members).
By this point in time, it should be obvious that Norm Coleman's senatorial campaign is in serious trouble. I've met Al Franken, and while I have to admit that he is an intelligent man (regardless of what more visceral bloggers who have never talked to him, much less discussed any issues with him may say), it is still amazing that he could beat a party drum-beater such as Coleman. I'm not sure that the Franken campaign really had to do anything other than sit back and let the Coleman campaign self-destruct. I've never seen a campaign so vicious and bloodthirsty...the problem is, the attacks were all coming from the Coleman camp. Franken used his time to discuss issues, while Coleman used his to draw attention back to Franken...whereupon Franken proceeded to talk about more issues. Oops.
You may ask how the MN Senate GOP Caucus plays into this? Good question. Earlier this year, the caucus fired its longtime chief of staff. Rumor had it that they wanted someone with more of a political mindset. "Great!" many of us said. We thought we would finally see someone who would push conservative ideals and would take the fight to the DFL issue-by-issue. Wow, were we ever wrong.
There are many excellent political websites that cover Minnesota politics. Not more than a few days had passed before the rumors started appearing. Although the public job listing stated an application closing date of 2/23/09, the caucus was already talking to a "top candidate"...Norm Coleman's campaign manager.
Now, perhaps I'm crazy or utterly naive, but does it seem strange to anyone else that coming out of an election where the GOP had just been soundly thrashed, the top candidate for this job is one of the key examples of why we lost???
I think the party leadership may have finally gone round the bend. The quick and dirty (albeit tongue-in-cheek) definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result each time. Masochistic is perhaps a better way of saying it. Either way, this is idiotic beyond belief.
Let me say the following to our party's elders:
STOP CAMPAIGNING AND START GOVERNING!
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