Sometimes I tell progressive and liberal friends that there are American conservatives abroad in the world who are capable of "speaking true" about matters of public concern.
The response is usually an unbelieving stare, which is understandable--because for so long the currency of American conservatism has been "lies;" "movement propaganda."
Nonetheless, I stand by my claim: there is a small, very uninfluential flock of American conservatives whose standard for speaking truth exceeds that of Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh.
The Fargo Forum (of Fargo, North Dakota) was founded in 1878. I have received assurances that these days it is "reliably red"--a Republican and conservative paper. Here is some of what they had to say about Michele Bachmann in wake of her visit to the state:
...the fallout from the visit could very well be...to cause sensible North Dakotans to wonder why the state (GOP) and its marquee candidate--Governor John Hoeven for the US Senate-- would cozy up to Bachmann and her, frankly, loony ideas.
There's "that word" again to describe Rep. Bachmann--"loony." I can remember the day (prior to her entry into Congress and shortly thereafter) when I was castigated for identifying as such on blogs. PiPress columnist Craig Westover threatened to ban my comments his blog because I identified Ms. Bachmann as a "nut, liar and bigot." But now it is permissible for those aspects of Bachmann's character to be featured in newspaper editorials.
Why? Because that "loony" stuff is true, and newsworthy, and always has been--despite the determination of Minnesota political media to screen out that word and others in their regular print profiles of Bachmann.
The Fargo Forum gives several examples of the "loony" stuff. But I can't give you a link because they will charge you $2.50 to pull up the online editorial in their archive. (Colossal nerve, the editorial just appeared on February 12th of this year.) Here are a couple of extra paragraphs:
BACHMANN IS FUN, BUT NO FRIEND
...describing her as "conservative" doesn't do her justice. Nor is it fair to thoughtful conservatives, because she subscribes to a hat full of peculiar notions that could cause her to be mistaken for a mad hatter...
(Ed. note: Obvious, to the editors of this out-of-state conservative newspaper. How to reconcile that statement, with the fact that the obviously "loony" Bachmann is accepted by the MN political press and conservatives--as a conservative in good standing, even a "role model" for politicians?
The editorial give a very abbreviated list of Bachmann "goofy comments" and then proceeds...)
Her goofy comments aside, Bachmann's take on serious policies disqualifies her as a friend of North Dakotans. Her agenda would return North Dakota to a marginal economic outpost instead of its current role as a vibrant player in the nation's energy, research and agribusiness economies.
Facts like that are underappreciated. An extremist in office following a wacky worldview can do a lot of economic damage to the very Americans that they are supposed to be representing. They cost their constituents opportunities, prosperity, money--by chasing a fantasy ideology.
A lot of people don't see why it's so important to keep extremists out of office, out of policymaking. Believe it or not, that's true--a lot of people (including reporters!) simply don't understand why it's "a bad idea to let extremists into the government."
Here we have an example of a conservative editorial board, looking at other conservatives cheering "the loony"--and realizing: this trend could cost us big: in real money, real consequences, the real world.
In addition to writing here, I volunteer for the Uptake doing videos, for now over a year. I have always been gracious and have been always treated graciously by the Republican Party in my coverage. My friend Craig Stellmacher is even more neutral and open in his questions, yet at the Kline town forum, Craig was told
Media does not get to ask questions!
Craig Stellmacher said:
The start of a heated discussion with Rep. John Kline's media liaison Troy Young, Friday at John Kline's forum in Fairbault MN. After earlier he'd refused for us to stream, Troy explains why not only TheUptake, but ANY media isn't allowed to ask questions to John Kline.
In Brian Lambert's new profile of Michele Bachmann in this month's Mpls/St. Paul magazine, conservative activist Drew Emmer predicts that Bachmann will challenge Amy Klobuchar for her Minnesota Senate seat in 2012.
Disturbing; one of many disturbing comments in the article.
But where's "the book?"
"The book" I am referring to is "the book on Michele Bachmann," the first attempt at a prose political biography of this fascinating politician. (I'm already doing the first comic book attempt to document and explain her career and significance. That "counts," but I'm wondering who will do the the first serious book about her that doesn't contain "funny cartoon pictures.")
Bachmann is now a national figure and it may be that a book about her is already in the works somewhere--being pitched at least, I bet.
(CONTINUED)
... a print article by journalist Brian Lambert which profiles Michele Bachmann. It is alleged that this article appears in the February 2010 issue of Mpls/St. Paul magazine, and that this issue is currently at newsstands near you.
(UPDATE: 1:36pm, fed 18--someone has just sent me a copy of the Lambert article--so I now have a copy. Thanks to you all, anyway.0
It is not at newsstands near me, because I am out of town for the foreseeable future. It has also come to my attention that copies of this pertinent and apparently informative article are not presently available on line.
This Lambert piece is of some interest to me, because a reliable Minnesota informant tells me that it is the only Bachmann profile by a professional journalist that references (albeit in passing) the Congresswoman's career-long relationship the national evangelical conservative political machine.
I would be very grateful to any person or persons that took the time to direct a copy of this magazine piece to me. An attempt to end the political media's blackout on the "padrone/ring kisser" alliance between the Council for National Policy and Bachmann is a newsworthy event in and of itself.
If any reader or colleague has read the article I am referring to and has taken the time to form some opinion of it--his or her opinion would find a warm welcome here, in the comment thread to this article.
Sincerely,
William Steerforth St. John Aloysius Prendergast
Esq. (Ret'd.)
Here's the lede from an AP piece containing little more than keening over the dwindling number of Evan Bayhs in Washington D.C.:
Bayh the latest exit as moderates leave Congress (AP) AP - The moderate middle is disappearing from Congress. Evan Bayh is just the latest senator to forgo a re-election bid, joining a growing line of pragmatic, find-a-way politicians who are abandoning Washington. Still here: ever-more-polarized colleagues locked in gridlock - exactly what voters say they don't like about politics in the nation's capital.
Pragmatic? Find-a-way? Since when did Evan Bayh find a way to do anything but make noise about how he was screwing over his own party's priorities like reforming the health insurance system, or climate legislation, or a litany of other issues?
You know who was a find-a-way leader? Ted Kennedy. It didn't matter that he was the Liberal Lion, he found a way to work across the aisle, even with people with whom he shared little more than a title and a health plan. Immigration reform was a great example -- at the height of the Bush Administration, he struck a deal across the aisle to make a comprehensive reform plan work. It didn't pass, but that didn't change the fact that it was Ted Kennedy, and not the "pragmatic," "moderate," "find-a-way" Evan Bayh who made that deal happen.
What voters don't like about Washington is when nothing gets done. You need a target toward which to point fingers for that one? Bayh's available. And logical. And yet the AP is always available to play into the conventional wisdom despite its total incongruity with the real world.
In the Star Tribune's version of reality, there is always good news to write about for the Republican party. When they do, they most often do it on the front page. Strib stenographer Mike Kaszuba pushed the Republican talking point that the Republicans are really hopeful about the 2010 elections. It seems that whenever the Republican Party has a meme to push, Strib stenographers are always willing. Kaszuba and et al always seem to forget that MN's version of Baghdad Bob, former Party Chair Ron Carey, also always and relentlessly saw the rosy side of things.
Minnesota's Republicans are talking confidently again, hoping to capitalize on a country -- and a state -- they think may already be growing tired of President Obama and the Democrats.
From Rod Johnson, a Cannon Falls auctioneer, to Mike Rolih, a onetime baseball pitcher from Illinois, a new wave of GOP candidates is eyeing state legislative seats and predicting that the worst days Republicans endured over the past two years are behind them.
Buoyed by victories in Massachusetts and at home in Waseca, Minn., Republican leaders are talking openly of building a majority in the Minnesota House, shaving the margin in the DFL-controlled Senate and keeping the governor's office firmly in Republican hands.
(Strib)
Kaszuba points to a win in Waseca where a former DFLer, Roy Srp, stole votes from the DFL candidate, the MA win and the fundraising lead the Republican House caucus as proof ... proof ... PROOF (I tells ya ...) that 3 straight landslides are going to be reversed in 2010.
As usual, Kaszuba only uses two paragraphs to bring a little reality, which he probably hopes shows his objectivity, and quotes House Majority Leader Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm). The editors put that on the inside page. Typical.
Like most of us, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) is concerned about the White House's lack of leadership on healthcare reform. Frankly, I'm irate and if Al got mad, that'd be fine by me. Sam Stein of Huffington Post wrote this fact-based upon post based upon anonymous sources:
Shortly after Barack Obama addressed a Senate Democratic caucus meeting and urged them to push health care reform forward, one of the chamber's most progressive members took the president's closest adviser aside and asked him why the White House wasn't doing more to help.
Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) put pointed health-care-related questions to senior adviser David Axelrod following Obama's speech, multiple sources tell the Huffington Post. He was echoed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-V.T.) The gist of their concern was that the administration has not shown enough leadership to get legislation passed through Congress in the wake of the party's defeat in the Massachusetts Senate election. Franken insisted that "he really needed to know if the White House was going to lead," according to one Democratic aide.
Okay, this sound reasonable. Al's concerned, that's good. He stated those concerns to Axelrod ... all good.
Al Franken lays into David Axelrod over health care bill
Being good regurgitators of Republican talking points, Manu Raju and Andy Barr (no relation to the Good Andy Barr who worked for Franken) push the "Angry Al" meme that all Republicans love to push.
Here are the breathless details from their anonymous sources (... maybe just taken from Sam Stein?):
Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats.
Five sources who were in the room tell POLITICO that Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration's failure to provide clarity or direction on health care and the other big bills it wants Congress to enact.
The sources said Franken was the most outspoken senator in the meeting, which followed President Barack Obama's question-and-answer session with Senate Democrats at the Newseum on Wednesday. But they also said the Minnesotan wasn't the only angry Democrat in the room.
"There was a lot of frustration in there," said a Democratic senator who declined to be identified.
They use words and phrases like "ripped into", "tense", "angry", "most outspoken", "appeared to trigger Franken's anger" to describe Franken.
Politico already has low journalistic standards, but the last three paragraphs of the post really shows what kind Republican stenographers Raju and Barr truly are:
Franken - a comedian turned liberal talk show host - vowed to keep a relatively low profile when he arrived in the Senate over the summer after a protracted legal battle with former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman. But he has developed a reputation among his colleagues as one of the more aggressive personalities on the Hill.
Last November, after Tennessee Republican Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander authored an op-ed in a local paper defending their opposition to a Franken amendment, Franken confronted both men on the floor - and grew particularly irritated with Corker.
He lashed out at Corker and a staff member in a follow-up meeting about the matter, several people said. Franken also clashed with South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in GOP leadership, last month in a scathing speech during the health care debate, and staffers have reported other run-ins.
I don't know quite what's going on in the Waseca/Faribault/Owatonna media market, but it really seems like the Owatonna People's Press has a thing for muddying the waters in this upcoming special election:
The race took a heated turn early when Parry came under fire for some messages that he allegedly posted on his Twitter account - messages that have since been "scrubbed." In one, he allegedly referred to President Barack Obama as a "power hungry arrogant black man" and in another, he linked Democrats with pedophiles.
The posts were brought to light by bloggers at the Minnesota Progressive Project, a liberal site that posted screenshots of two posts that have allegedly been removed from Parry's Twitter feed.
In the hubbub that followed, the DFL called for an apology while nationally known Web site The Huffington Post seized on the story. Conservative bloggers were quick to strike back. A Web site called Minnesota Democrats Exposed took aim at Engbrecht, sending someone with a camcorder to all of his public appearances. The site used the footage to put forward what Engbrecht called "gross, misleading statements" about his attendance and actions on the Faribault school board. On the Republican end, Parry's critics have also charged that he was frequently missed at Waseca council meetings as well.
The blog-wars added to what Srp described an "air of incivility" in this race. As a third-party candidate, Srp stayed out of much of the Web-based melee, but he said that the campaign trail has changed drastically since his last run for state government in 1996.
...
But faceless bloggers were not the only ones to hit the trail on their respective candidates behalf. All three candidates got an unusual amount of support from their parties - monetary and otherwise.
In that ellipsis, the article gave third-party candidate Roy Srp several paragraphs to offer the standard "pox on both your houses" lines while offering exactly zero details of actual policy ideas.
And "faceless" bloggers? Folks, I've submitted a letter responding directly to the OPP's editorial which got numerous facts about Tweetgate wrong, and I called every number listed on their website looking to set up a time to speak directly to the editorial board about the issue. We're quite a bit more than faceless specters out here on the internet looking to play "Gotcha!" with opposing candidates.
If you look closely at that article, you'll also notice an interesting juxtaposition: progressive bloggers (MPP, Bluestem Prairie, and others) catching Mike Parry screwing up, trying to hide it, then defending it, then apologizing for it) and MDE "sending someone armed with a camcorder."
Did MDE send someone with a camcorder, or did the Minnesota Republican Party send a tracker and "distribute" their product to "friendly" "media outlets"?
This is a serious problem with local media -- there's often no watchdog forcing them to actually report the truth instead of this kind of "they did this, the other side did that" false dichotomy junk.
It's a disservice to the voters of Senate District 26, who will head to the polls on Tuesday.
Maria Elena Baca of the Star Tribune has confused ad agency with newspaper. Or maybe Maria is just confusing stenographer with journalist. She wrote a piece that a campaign would have had a hard time putting out, since it is that balantly an advertising piece for Sheriff Fletcher. Let's see how high we can get on the Kelly scale of how biased can an article be.
1) Starting with the title. "Take note if you're up to no good: Ramsey County is watching". Does Maria Elena Baca or the Star Tribune realize that Sheriff Fletcher in previous campaigns took credit for the Metro Gang Task Force now under serious criminal investigation? Does that count as "up to no good?" Or that two close co-workers of Sheriff Fletcher were convicted of corruption? Did Maria ask if any these cameras were being installed in the Sheriff's office? Or if any cameras were already in the Sheriff's office? Or if any of them were actually turned on?
For years I've been berating Minnesota political journalists for giving Bachmann sweetheart interviews ever since she got into politics. (The editors and reporters get access to Michele in return for not raising the uglier aspects of her claims about conspiracy in government, "Obama's a tyrant," etc.)
Well, according to this article, she just got another "free pass" sweetheart interview from a Minneapolis-St. Paul publication:
Michele Bachmann gets another free pass, digs into gun talk
By Hart Van Denburg in Michele Bachmann
Fri., Jan. 22 2010 @ 1:50PM
The MinnPost did it. The St. Cloud Times did it. Now, Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine has helped Michele Bachmann score a hat trick of softball interviews in which she gets to say anything she wants without so much as a hint of a challenge from the reporter conducting the interview.
The reporter did ask her about the "bloodier" side of her rhetoric, though. Here's the link:
The story about Arlen Specter asking Michele to behave like a lady is really boring and not as important as the stuff I've just printed here. But editors are putting at the top of the news, so here's the link if you want to read it.
Air America, the company that brought you Al Franken, Rachel Maddow, Tom Hartmann and Ed Schultz to your ear hole, is done. They have filed for Chapter 7 protection and are ceasing operations over the next few days. Here's an excerpt from the email that was forwarded to me. Link here.
From: Charlie Kireker
Date: January 21, 2010 4:36:59 PM EST
To: All
Subject: Air America Operations
It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.
The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America's business. This past year has seen a "perfect storm" in the media industry generally.
National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry's long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.
I called our station, KTNF AM950, but there was no answer. We will get a statement from them soon, hopefully, about the impact on them. I assume they'll just have to get the Hartmann, Schultz and et al feed in some other manner.
A British newspaper, the Telegraph is releasing one of those "lists" that make ears in Washington D.C. prick up. It's a list of the 100 most influential liberals and the 100 most influential conservatives in the United States. Michele Bachmann comes in as the 80th most influential conservative on their list.
Q. Who cares what the Telegraph concludes about "who are the most influential liberals and conservatives?"
A. Well, not me (not very much) because the Telegraph is working inside an accepted media framework which punishes originality in thinking or findings. (They freely admit the decisions on inclusion were by a committee of journalists-- which is usually a terrible way to form conclusions about reality.)
Q. Well, if you don't care what the Telegraph or other corporate media think, why are you doing a piece on it?
(continued)
The Owatonna People's Press issued an editorial opinion on Mike Parry and Tweetgate in the Senate District 26 special election coming up later this month. In that editorial, they get some key facts wrong:
In this day and age, you would think that someone with even a modicum of understanding of the Internet would know that such messages, once posted, are never lost for good in cyberspace. And if he ever desired to seek public office beyond Waseca, he should have known that such postings would eventually come back to haunt him, just as they did last week. It was a foolish thing for him to do - a realization that he must have come to since he issued an apology for them.
What is equally troubling about the situation is the way that Parry's foes have jumped on the tweets and tried to turn his postings into something that would disqualify him for office. On Wednesday, Minnesota DFL Chair Brian Melendez called a news conference in St. Paul in which he called Parry both racist and homophobic. Likewise, the left-leaning Minnesota Progressive Project posted blogs on Parry's tweets, blasting Parry for the remarks.
What is clear, however, is that both are doing it for political reasons - to shoot Mike Parry's candidacy down and improve the chances of left-leaning politicians to get elected to the Minnesota Legislature. Not convinced? Then consider, if Mr. Melendez wanted to bring his concerns about the tweets to voters in District 26, then why did he hold the press conference in St. Paul rather than somewhere in District 26. Owatonna, Faribault or Waseca would have gladly welcomed such an event. And if the Progressive Project really wanted to talk about this as an issue rather than use it as a way of attacking, then why didn't they bother to pick up the phone, call Mr. Parry, and ask him about it? And why at the end of the blogs have they used what happened as a way of soliciting donations for Parry's DFL opponent Jason Engbrecht?
After the break, you'll find an open letter which I have submitted via email the Owatonna People's Press editorial board as a letter to the editor, which I sincerely hope they will publish. As it stands, that editorial contains numerous incorrect assumptions and falsehoods, and the record needs to be corrected.
Years ago, prior to Michele Bachmann's first election to office, I wrote about why it was important to beat her at election time. I gave several reasons, but the reason that I'm writing about here is this one: I claimed that if Bachmann was successful in political life, we would face not only Bachmann herself--but a mob of politicians seeking to emulate that success, seeking to exploit the same paranoid and proto-fascist base that would respond positively to a Michele Bachmann.
If Bachmann--a proven nut, liar and bigot--succeeded in getting past the professional news media and into office, then the gates would be opened for other similar types. Extremists formerly excluded from the GOP would advance into it, and suddenly become viable candidates operating as one of the only two viable political brands in the United States.
I don't know how things are developing where you live. But two stories from the Minnesota Independent show that my prophecy is now coming true, here in the state of Minnesota. (continued)
The Star Tribune has selected a new publisher, Michael Klingensmith. Read all about him here.
My issues with this are actually pretty focused. Will the op-ed section move away from the dreary establishment hackdom of Will/Krauthammer/Brooks/Kristol/&c./&c.? Will the paper dump Katherine Kersten, thereby ceasing to display unmitigated contempt for its readers' standards every time it prints her pitiable drivel? Will it seek to somehow mitigate the Associated Press's increasingly flagrant rightward lean? Will it start to tell the truth about Pawlenty, Kline, Paulsen, (especially) Bachmann, and/or the TBagger loonies in general?
In short, will it try to become a publication that politically engaged, thoughtful, knowledgeable people will respect again? Remains to be seen.
