The Big E Posts

Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN/NH) avoids meeting any left-leaning constituents at all costs. He rarely gives advance notice of free, public meetings. He schedules them in the day so people with day jobs are less likely to attend. He holds them in tiny towns away from large concentrations of Democrats.

He has only held a single public event in Duluth, MN during his entire tenure. That was August 23, 2011. He only held the meeting because of intense pressure. When confronted this June, Cravaack said he had something special planned for Duluth.

Cravaack's liberal constituents want to meet with him and realize how hard they'll have to work to get his attention. So he is taking more and more severe measures to never, ever meet with them. As I wrote about last week, he called police to remove several quiet, non-confrontational constituents seeking a meeting.

Yesterday, constituents found out he was having a non-public event in Duluth. So they showed up to ask Cravaack when he would hold any well-publicized, free event in a large city (Duluth, maybe?) during the evening.

And what did Cravaack do? He turned his back on his constituents and had his staff call the cops.

"We came here peacefully and never showed a single act of aggression. Rep. Cravaack had his people call the police almost immediately," said Emily Cusick. "All we wanted to do was ask him for a town hall that he promised almost two months ago, and instead, he turns his back to us and calls the police."

Pictures below the fold.

Newt Gingrich continues to defend Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Bachmann emulated Joe McCarthy and declared that the Muslim Brotherhood had "deeply penetrated" our government. Upon request for any evidence, she baselessly attacked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin.

While many Republicans condemned her McCarthyism, other like Newt defended her. And he did it again yesterday on CNN.

Host Wolf Blitzer singled out Bachmann target Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, telling Gingrich that it's "ridiculous" to include her and that the whole thing reeks of McCarthyism. But the former House Speaker - and Mitt Romney supporter - wouldn't back down, praising McCarthyism for rooting out communists and defending Abedin's inclusion in Bachmann's witch hunt. "This State Department has been amazingly pro-Muslim Brotherhood," he said, "American citizens have the right to have the Congress ask the question." Watch the clip:

At least her defenders are now admitting that what she's doing is McCarthyism.

Because the media won't expose the Republicans nationwide vote suppression efforts, comedians like Jon Stewart does their job for them. Stewart points out that there is no vote fraud and Republicans even admit that the real purpose is to help their candidates win.

Transcript here.

State Sen. Mike Parry (R-Waseca) must have no idea what he is saying half the time. Within minutes of smearing Democrats, he calls for more bi-partisanship then promptly returns to reviling Democrats. Obviously, Parry is the kind of Tea Pary Republican who believes bi-partisanship is when Democrats capitulate.

Parry is the quintessential modern Republican. Never cooperate, never negotiate, never compromise. The ends justify the means. Logical consistency simply doesn't matter:

More of a shocker was the decision to use his access to a a large crowd and a radio audience stretching across the 1st District to highlight Lugar's strong condemnation of partisan rancor.

"Take time to read it folks," Parry said of the farewell letter by the Indiana senator, who was defeated by a more conservative Republican in a May primary election. "Because, paraphrasing, here's what he said: Our country will fall because we are electing partisan-politic people who have no will or want to work with the other side. That's what's going to help destroy this country."

Parry continued by calling for the election of people more interested in the public good than partisan triumphs.

"We need to learn how to negotiate to get things done," he said. "And we need to work hard on it. We need to bring back statesmen to our Congress."

Moments later, with the forum concluded, Parry was surrounded by reporters grilling him about his comments about Dayton's alleged pill-popping. He declined to back away from the statement, saying he saw the governor take multiple pills at a breakfast meeting where both sides agreed to "take the gloves off" - although he was no longer saying 15 to 16.

"I don't know exactly how many," he said. "It was more than a just a few."

[my emphasis]

(Mankato Free Press)

Still no retraction and apology for his lie about Dayton cutting veteran's Honor Guard funding.

Minnesota Republicans are furious that MN Secretary of State Mark Ritchie rewrote the titles of their constitutional amendments. Unfortunately for them, Ritchie is within his rights as MN SoS. Their Voter ID amendment is a ruse for vote suppression. Their so-called "Sanctity of Marriage" amendment is not about protecting marriage.

Conservatives are desperate to distract voters from all of the problems with their Voter ID constitutional amendment. They don't want any voters to focus on the elimination of same-day registration, the elimination of absentee balloting and the introduction of provisional balloting. They don't want voters to harbor any thoughts about disenfranchising our soldiers on active duty, students, the poor and minorities. They just want people be suckered by their bait and switch -- they just want people to think about how requiring IDs isn't too much to ask to prevent non-existent voter fraud.

The far right conservatives who dominate the MNGOP don't want voters to think about how their marriage amendment discriminates against gay people. They want voters to think about how important the institution of marriage is.

Because MN Secretary of State Mark Ritchie retitled their amendments, they want him impeached. Unfortunately for them, Ritchie is following the law. Section 204D.15 states:

Titles for constitutional amendments. The secretary of state shall provide an appropriate title for each question printed on the pink ballot.

The CD8 GOP passed a resolution asking House Majority Leader Kurt Zellers to impeach Ritchie. They want to suspend his ability to discuss the implications of their Voter ID amendment in particular. Ritchie's explanation of how expensive it would be, how vaguely defined and how difficult it would be to implement is getting a lot of press.

They want him silenced.

They know they don't have the votes (a 2/3 majority is needed), so this is a especially cynical ploy to prevent the truth to come out about their Voter ID amendment.
Here's their letter:

Speaker Zellers:

Pursuant to the provisions of Article VIII of the Minnesota Constitution (reproduced below), the 8th Congressional District GOP Executive Committee urges the Minnesota House to initiate impeachment proceedings against Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

Of the two causes of impeachment action identified in Section 2, Mark Ritchie seems clearly to have been, and continues to be, participating in corrupt conduct in office.

Mr. Ritchie exceeded his traditional, legal and constitutional authority by manipulating the title of the two legislatively placed ballot initiatives scheduled for the November 2012 election. When the title of amendments is determined by legislative action, the wording of such amendments remains within the solid purview of the Legislative Branch. We view Secretary Ritchie to be politically motivated. We view these actions to be against the best interest of the people of Minnesota. We view these actions to clearly constitute corrupt conduct in office.

Secretary Ritchie has campaigned aggressively with numerous public appearances against the content of the voter ID amendment. We view these actions as corrupt conduct in office.

With a Republican majority in the Minnesota Senate for the first time in 38 years, the corrupt conduct of the Minnesota Secretary of State regarding amendments becomes an issue for the first time. Previously, the Senate was able to block all conservative amendments regardless of which party held the majority in the House. Suddenly the idea of an activist Secretary of State with an agenda becomes a problematic and immediate problem.

Note that between the House impeachment and the Senate trial, the constitution forbids Mr. Ritchie to serve as Secretary of State. Keeping Mr. Ritchie from further mischief and corrupt conduct in office would be of value to the people of Minnesota regardless or the ultimate outcome of the Senate trial.

This particular fail turns epic

The flaming homophobe who came up with the most unwittingly ironic and hilarious protest against General Mills support of marriage equality was fired from his job. The video of Michael Leisner setting Honey Nut Cheerios on fire in front of General Mills headquarters in Golden Valley, MN has had nearly 300K views and has made national news.

His former employer doesn't want to be associated with his homophobia and now has a boilerplate response to any inquiries about Leisner:

Leisner, the 65-year-old "mastermind" behind the hilariously clumsy Cheerios-burning General Mills protest video, worked as a real estate broker for Greater Midwest Properties -- until they decided to cut him loose yesterday.

According to the Joe. My. God. blog, Greater Midwest yesterday began emailing the following statement to folks leaving complaints on the company's contact page:

Thank you for your comment. Greater Midwest Properties does not condone or support the actions of our independent contractors. Also, Greater Midwest Properties does not support the alleged destruction of property. Therefore, the agent's license will be returned to the Minnesota Department of Commerce. Greater Midwest Properties has no involvement in this incident and it is unrelated to us serving our clients in a professional manner. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. - Greater Midwest Properties.

Former Republican Ian Alexander has a few problems with his campaign finance report. Alexander is running in the DFL Primary for the 59B seat vacated by Bobby Champion who is running to replace Sen. Linda Higgins. He faces Terra Cole and Ray Dehn next Tuesday, August 14, 2012.

Alexander says he raised $18,324 yet only has $4,908.84 left. What happened to the $13,415.16 that is unaccounted for? He says his campaign only spent $50. Unfortunately, the math doesn't match. (Click on the image below to go to the report.)

This missing $13K+ most likely went for literature, mailings and fundraising. Its unlikely anyone donated the printing and mailing costs and his report does not indicate much of any In Kind contributions.

Sen. Mike Parry (R-Waseca) is no stranger to personal attacks against political opponents. He infamously tweeted that President Obama was an "power hungry arrogant black man" and that "Whats with Dems and Pedophiles." Yesterday, Parry claimed that Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton popped pills while in negotiations with him and that it frightened him.

Watch for yourself:

When you sit across from him [Gov. Dayton] and watch him pop 15 to 16 pills while you're having a meeting, it's scary. We all know how scary Obama is. He is at the same level.

Dayton's Chief of Staff Bob Hume released the following statement concerning Parry's attack:

"This is the final gasp from a candidate who has nothing to offer the people in the 1st congressional district. The Governor will not stoop to comment on Parry's vile personal attacks.  However, he does want a retraction of Parry's lies about funding for Minnesota's veterans."

What did Parry say about funding for MN's veterans?

I sat across from Gov. Dayton. This is a scary man for the state of Minnesota. I negotiated with him. I asked him to resign. I fought him when he tried to take away veteran's benefits.

How many veterans are here ... [applause] ... 72% of the veterans in the United States take one benefit. That's the honor guard. A flag draped over the casket and the salute. Gov. Dayton wanted to take it away.

As a veteran I stood up to Gov. Dayton and he lost.

What actually happened and what specifically is Parry lying about?
There are two specific lies. First about cutting the Honor Guard. Second, Parry did not ask Dayton to resign in relation to the honor guard issue as his remarks indicate. Basically, Parry can't keep much of anything straight even in his own mind.

Early in 2011, Dayton submitted his budget first as is traditional. His budget kept veteran's funding intact. In the budget that the Republicans were considering in late May, they cut all services across the board including veteran's.

The American Legion and several others noticed the reimbursement for the Honor Guard was cut and wrote to Parry (Dayton was cc'ed). Dayton then wrote to Parry asking that there be no cuts to veteran's services.

At this point, Parry goes off the deep end accusing Dayton of all kinds of nonsense. Read TwoPuttTommy's post about this for all the gory, crazed details.

Unfortunately, the shutdown mooted the DFL's efforts to restore this funding. Funding the Honor Guard was not included in the compromise Dayton and Republicans eventually agreed to so that our state's government would reopen.

Dayton and Parry then worked together and restored the funding. Parry said the following this spring when Dayton signed his bill to restore funding for the Honor Guard.

"I'm glad that Governor Dayton and I were able to put down the gloves and do the right thing for our war heroes and veterans. I can hardly wait to shake the Governor's hand and thank him personally for working with me on this solution for our Honor Guard program," said Senator Parry."

At no point was Sen. Parry fighting Dayton over this issue. When Dayton saw that Republicans had cut this important service, he began working to get it restored. As did Parry despite all of his insane rhetoric over this issue.

Finally, I'll address when Parry and in what context Parry asked Dayton to resign. The fact is that Parry doesn't seem capable of being honest about his own history. Or maybe he confabulates.

con·fab·u·la·tion  [kuhn-fab-yuh-ley-shuhn]

noun

1. the act of confabulating;  conversation; discussion.
2. Psychiatry . the replacement of a gap in a person's memory by a falsification that he or she believes to be true.

Confabulate means that he rewrites what actually happened into some bizarro history in which he is the knight in shining armor protecting MN from the scary, scary people like Mark Dayton.

Parry asked Dayton to resign after the Republicans shut down the state's government.

And, yes, it was the Republicans who never negotiated in good faith in the last hours before the shutdown. They kept including right wing pet dream proposals as poison pills to guarantee Dayton would reject their budget. They were playing chicken and Dayton behaved as the adult.

Here's the details of Parry's demand that Dayton resign. Notice that there are no references to the Honor Guard cuts.

Parry shared his feelings with veteran Mankato Free Press political reporter Mark Fischenich for the report, GOP rhetoric on Dayton varies. Fischenich writes:

"The guy should resign," said Parry, a Republican business-owner serving his second year in the Senate. "He should resign as governor and let (Lt. Gov.) Yvonne Prettner Solon finish out his term because he's shown to me that he doesn't care about the state of Minnesota."

Parry said Dayton is willing to use state workers as political pawns in budget negotiations because he simply doesn't care about them.

"Let me tell you, the governor has no feelings," Parry said. "If he did, he would not put 22,000 people out of work on July 1. He has no feelings. ... The shutdown doesn't bother him at all. He gets his trust fund." . . .

MN-08 debate begins at 7:00pm. Watch it here live.

Watch live streaming video from theuptake2 at livestream.com

Three DFL candidates face off the week after tomorrow (August 14th) in the Minnesota Eighth District DFL primary. The winner takes on Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN/NH) in November.

Rick Nolan is the DFL endorsed candidate. He is seeking his fourth term in Congress. His positives are that he has built a strong grassroots organization that beat his opponents in their home turf for the endorsement. His main negative is he last served in Congress in the 1970s. His fundraising hasn't been all that great, but when you combine his money with the DFL and Labor's, he'll be able to get his message out.

Jeff Anderson served on the Duluth City Council and rose to Council President. His positives are he was born, raised and has always lived in the district and he's young. He's also breaking ground as an openly gay candidate. His negatives are his fundraising -- he doesn't have enough money to buy any TV ads. Regardless, the Duluth News Tribune (owned by the right wing Forum Communications) endorsed him:

While his nationally known opponents have been raking in cash and collecting endorsements from all over, Duluth's Jeff Anderson has been quietly and steadily - one parade and one conversation at a time - building support among those he'd actually represent: residents and others in Minnesota's 8th Congressional District.

Add the News Tribune to his list of supporters in the Aug. 14 Democratic primary. Anderson has the leadership skills, sound ideas and Northland values to advance to the general election on Nov. 6 to face Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack.

Tarryl Clark is the former State Senator from St. Cloud and ran against Rep. Michele Bachmann in 2010. Her strength is her excellent fundraising which will buy plenty of mailings as well as TV and radio ads. Her negatives are she not from the district and has little grassroots support. She did garner the Minneapolis Star Tribune endorsement:

Many primary voters will attempt to judge which of the three is most likely to topple Cravaack -- former U.S. Rep. and party endorsee Rick Nolan, former state Sen. Tarryl Clark, or former Duluth City Council member Jeff Anderson.

We hope they also consider which candidate has the best potential to provide the region and the nation with top-notch congressional service. It's on that basis that Clark gets our nod.

Who do you think won the debate?

Are you brave enough to predict a winner of this DFL primary? Or are you at least brave enough to give up some Las Vegas-style odds?

In June, General Mills came out in opposition to the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The bigots weren't going to take it lying down (or in any other position), so they decided to hold protests at General Mills headquarters in Golden Valley. The protests were a failure as very few people actually turned up.

Since nobody is paying much attention to them, they thought it would be a good idea to stage a bigger, more epic fail publicity stunt. Here's where the problems began.

First, they found the perfect protester. Yes, that's right. They found the guy who fails the hardest at repressing his homosexuality.

Second, they dress him in a pink shirt to accentuate his flaming tendencies.

Third, they decided to burn a box of Cheerios. Had any of these morans been paying attention, they might have known we're in a bit of a drought. And, fourth, they didn't notice how strongly the wind was blowing.

Y'all know where this is going:

(h/t City Pages)

Yup. That's right. That's called attempted arson.

Why is the focus of criticism of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) for her Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy theory solely about her slanderous attack on Huma Abedin? She also attacked Rep. Keith Ellison. Does anyone remember that?

While the Pioneer Press defends Bachmann's McCarthyism, at least the Star Tribune has provided a counterpoint after Bachmann attempted to spin her conspiracy theory and deflect the resulting firestorm of criticism. They got Eric Schwartz from the UofM's Humphrey Institute (and former National Security Council advisor) to weigh in. He also focused on the slander of Abedin.

The issue is the poison of public innuendo. Innuendo is not the wild claim, the allegation of wrongdoing, which can be easily discredited. Rather, it is the remark, the hint -- or, to use Gingrich's term, the "question" -- that creates the suggestion of guilt without any accusation of wrongdoing.

Does the letter fit that definition?

Abedin is the only State Department official other than the secretary mentioned in the letter, which asserts the Muslim Brotherhood is engaged in information operations. It alleges that Abedin has potentially nefarious connections and asks about Muslim Brotherhood agents in the U.S. government.

That's innuendo. It's damning, and unless subjected to the disdain it deserves, it imposes upon its target the impossible task of proving his or her innocence when he or she has not been accused of any wrongdoing. And it comes in all shapes, sizes and political ideologies.

Schwartz makes very salient and appropriate points about Bachmann's slanderous conspiracy theory. Schwartz highlights what's most dangerous about the kind of fear-mongering that Bachmann engages in and how poisonous her utter disregard for the truth is.

My point isn't to take issue with Schwartz as much as to ask why everyone has so conveniently forgotten her baseless and slanderous innuendo against Ellison.

Is it okay to slander Ellison like this because he's Muslim? Is it okay for her to slander Ellison like this because she's attacking a fellow member of Congress? Is it forgettable because she was on right wing hate radio?

Or is it that no Republican will stand up for a Democratic Member of Congress?

Sen. Mike Parry (R-Waseca) is getting desperate. All signs point to him losing the MN-01 MNGOP primary to Allen Quist. He's not raising much of any money at all and can't seem to generate much support for his campaign amongst the MNGOP faithful. And his negative attacks on his opponent haven't worked all that well.

So he's trying to pull a publicity stunt just before the primary to get anyone/someone to pay attention to him.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton negotiated contracts with the various government employee unions. They aren't exactly panaceas for the unions, but are typical of contracts negotiated over the last decade.

State employees are currently operating under their old contracts which are giving them yearly raises.

The contracts approved this week include 2 percent pay raises for most workers, although some will be in line for an additional 2.7 percent to 3.5 percent through "step" increases based on experience.  There are modest increases in co-pays for health care office visits, but the contracts continue to cover 100 percent of health insurance premiums for employees and 85 percent for dependents.  This is where the contracts are likely to face opposition from Republicans.

Next week the Subcommittee on Employee Relations will meet to consider the contracts.  The chair of the GOP-controlled committee, Sen. Mike Parry, says the committee is likely to reject them.  "The contracts were put together behind closed doors," Parry says.  "The citizens of the state had no involvement whatsoever."  Parry says having employees pay so little toward their health insurance is "out of step" with what's happening in the private sector where employees are taking on a bigger burden of health insurance costs. Those costs are expected to increase 9 percent for state employees this year.

(KSTP)

Parry is lying. These contracts were not negotiated in secret. These contracts were negotiated in the same way contracts were negotiated under former Governors Tim Pawlenty, Jesse Ventura and Arne Carlson.

Private sector employees are also getting small raises and their health insurance premiums are not out of step with the private sector.

Parry is just grandstanding because his congressional campaign is foundering. The legislature normally has to pass a bill regardless of what Parry's subcommittee does. Rubberstamp or reject, the legislature has final approval of the contract.

A group supporting Tarryl Clark mailed to voters in Minnesota's Eighth District this week. Their piece attacks DFL endorsed candidate Rick Nolan for his stance on abortion.

Women Vote!, the political arm of Emily's List, says in the mailing that Democrat Tarryl Clark will protect abortion rights for women. It raises Nolan's voting record on abortion during his tenure in Congress in the 1970s.

"As a member of Congress, Rick Nolan failed to protect a woman's right to choose, voting repeatedly in favor of limiting access to abortions for some low-income women," the mailing says.

This is the first action Emily's List has taken on behalf of Clark. The group, which works to elect female candidates who support legalized abortion, endorsed Clark's candidacy last year. A spokeswoman for Women Vote! did not returned messages to comment on the group's activity in the race.

(MPR)

A Nolan supporters group, Women for Nolan,  responded with a press release:

With less than two weeks to go before the 8th District DFL Congressional primary, some outsiders are filling our mailboxes with lies and distortions about Rick Nolan's record on women's issues.

Shame on Tarryl Clark and her outside Washington supporters. With outside money and distorted, negative attacks, they are attempting to tear down Rick Nolan's well-earned reputation as a 30-plus year champion for women's rights, for Planned Parenthood and for civil rights and human rights for all Americans. This is wrong.

Not being from the district, Tarryl is obviously unaware that this is not the way to do politics in the 8th Congressional District and in our DFL Party. Tearing down a good friend and Democrat is not the way to advance the cause of women's health and women's reproductive rights here in Minnesota and across our nation. Nor is it the way to beat Chip Cravaack and the Republicans in Congress.

Former State Senators Becky Lourey and Twyla Ring as well as Tina Welsh (Founding Director of the Women's Health Center) Cordy Strand, Cathy Daniels, Lynette Swanberg and Tessa Hill all signed the statement.

Images of the attack mailer below the fold.
Click on the image to see larger versions. Images from MPR.

Here's the entire Women for Nolan press release:

Eighth District Women for Nolan Respond to Clark's Negative Mailings

For Immediate Release

Thursday, August 2, 2012

(DULUTH, MN). . .With less than two weeks to go before the 8th District DFL Congressional primary, some outsiders are filling our mailboxes with lies and distortions about Rick Nolan's record on women's issues.

Shame on Tarryl Clark and her outside Washington supporters. With outside money and distorted, negative attacks, they are attempting to tear down Rick Nolan's well-earned reputation as a 30-plus year champion for women's rights, for Planned Parenthood and for civil rights and human rights for all Americans. This is wrong.

Not being from the district, Tarryl is obviously unaware that this is not the way to do politics in the 8th Congressional District and in our DFL Party. Tearing down a good friend and Democrat is not the way to advance the cause of women's health and women's reproductive rights here in Minnesota and across our nation. Nor is it the way to beat Chip Cravaack and the Republicans in Congress.

We are deeply disappointed Tarryl Clark and her allies have become so desperate as to go negative. Rick Nolan has never strayed from running a positive and uplifting campaign focusing on the core issues that unite us: creating jobs, protecting Medicare, ending the partisan gridlock in Washington and ensuring equal and fair treatment for all. This is why he won the DFL endorsement and this is why he is the best candidate to beat Chip Cravaack.

We must reject these negative campaign tactics. We are confident that 8th District primary voters will respond by resoundingly confirming that our DFL endorsed candidate, Rick Nolan, will win on August 14th.  He will represent us all in a manner we can be proud of.

Sincerely,

Women for Nolan Co-Chairs:

Becky Lourey - former State Senator, Kerrick

Tina Welsh - Founding Director, Women's Health Center

Cordy Strand - Aitkin County DFL Vice Chair

Cathy Daniels - 8th Congressional District DFL Treasurer, Hibbing

Lynette Swanberg - Senate District 7 DFL Board, Duluth

Tessa Hill -Senate District 32 DFL Director

Twyla Ring, Former District 18 State Senator, North Branch, MN

Republicans in Pennsylvania pushed through a Voter ID law similar to the Minnesota Republican's Voter ID constitutional amendment. The difference is the MN Republicans didn't specify how the law should be implemented. They did in PA and the results are going to be predictably bad.

During a call about the voter ID lawsuit Tuesday, State Senator Vincent Hughes (D-PA) stressed how unprepared Pennsylvania is to implement the law without disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of people.

"It is absolutely unequivocally clear that the state cannot pull this off by Election Day," he said. "There's not enough information or staff time to implement this in time, and it will cost the state an extra amount of millions of dollars to get this done."

...

Hughes said he and other district officials have encountered many individuals who were given mixed messages about what kinds of identification were permitted and what exactly they needed to do in order to get the proper photo ID. He blamed the confusion on lack of training:

We don't fault those staffers. This is completely brand new to them and not part of their historic responsibility. Their responsibility in PennDOT is to work on drivers licenses, not to focus on the proper info for photo ID measures. But what we do fault is the training that is clearly not occurring at the executive level for these individuals so they can do their job or do this new responsibility as part of this law.

What's more, handling the number of voters who need the ID - a conservative estimate found more than 750,000 people without ID - is far beyond these offices' resources.

"There's no way PennDOT could process anywhere near that number of IDs, even if people could get the documents and the transportation to get there," said Penda Hair, co-counsel for the voter ID lawsuit.

(Think Progress, h/t firedoglake)

Take this into consideration the thousands upon thousands who won't be able to vote in PA with the Republican House Majority Leader Mike Turzai bragging how Voter ID helps Mitt Romney win and you clearly see why they passed Voter ID in PA:  vote suppression.

The Republicans in Minnesota have the same motives.

Sen. Joe McCarthy wanted to get his name in the headlines more often. He didn't want to be a back-bencher from the backwoods. So he exploited Americans fear of communists in our midst to wage war of lies and slander against anyone with communist tendencies or links. Like McCarthy, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is a shameless self-promoter who will do anything to keep her name in the headlines.

After her presidential bid floundered, she decided that she's exploit America's islamophobia to continue to build her national stature. In letters to various government departments, she and four other Representatives alleged that the Muslim Brotherhood had "deep penetration" into our government.

When confronted to provide any facts by Rep. Keith Ellison (DFL-MN), she personally attacked him. She alleged he had ties to the Brotherhood. She also pointed the finger at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin for which she was widely condemned. She still has not provided any evidence to back up her slanderous attacks.

Today, she took to the op-ed page of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to wage her islamophobic McCarthyism and distract everyone from her inability to provide any facts.

I am immensely aware how vitally important it is to restore confidence in our economy and create quality jobs for Minnesotans. It is also clear that life is becoming increasingly unaffordable for average Americans.

And while I am working tirelessly every day to promote progrowth policies so Minnesota's small businesses will once again invest and hire new workers, I cannot ignore the national-security threats facing our nation.

In a recent interview, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said "the West is asleep on the issue of Islamist extremism."

Sadly, he's right. The panic-stricken reaction to the letters that four of my congressional colleagues and I recently wrote to the Inspectors General of five government agencies, asking them to simply investigate the premise of our concerns, is an illustration of exactly how unwary many of our leaders are here in the United States.

Her opening is Teh Awshum! Just in case you are convinced she's just a shameless self-promoter who couldn't care less about Minnesota or her district, she lets everyone know that the opposite is the case. She wouldn't lie about this, would she?
Strangely, Tony Blair doesn't want witch hunts against all Muslims as Bachmann does, but wants the western world to reach out in Africa and the Middle East and help build democracy and tolerance.

She characterizes the bi-partisan condemnation of her attacks on Huma Abedin and the demands for facts to back up her slanderous lies as "panic-stricken reactions." Opposing McCarthyism is not a "panic-stricken reaction." Its righteous indignation at its best.

But I love love love how she dismisses any condemnation of her or demand for evidence: "Whatever the reasons for it..."

Whatever the reasons for it, Washington's political and media establishment fears an honest discussion about the real threat to this country posed by radical Islam. They are reluctant to initiate an honest assessment as to whether the Obama administration has subordinated national security to political correctness.

Our letters asked a set of important questions -- based upon publicly available information -- about the Obama administration's policy concerning radical Islam.

But instead of finally providing any evidence, she brings up some brand new allegations. She means to distract from her previous slander.

Her new tactic is to bring up the Fort Hood shootings. Maj. Nadal Hassan didn't lose his mind and shoot up Fort Hood, he had islam extremist ties. So don't ask her questions about slandering Rep. Ellison, look at the bright shiny object.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

Last month, the State Department granted a visa -- in violation of federal law -- to a member of an U.S.-designated Egyptian terrorist group. This terror group member, Hani Nour Eldin, was then welcomed into the White House to meet with National Security Council officials, where he proceeded to lobby for the release of the "Blind Sheikh," Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life sentence for his involvement in terror plots, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. We want to know why.

Despite our government declaring Egyptian politician Hani Nour Eldin is not a threat, Bachmann shrieks that he's a threat.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

She has no shame. She has no dignity. And it seems that nothing will stop her from her bigoted witch hunt.

Megan Boldt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has leapt to the defense of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Bachmann is in trouble for her Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy in which she claims the Brotherhood have "deep penetration" into our government. After Rep. Keith Ellison (DFL-MN) and many others asked for evidence, she expanded her allegations but offered no evidence. Furthermore, she attacked Ellison claiming he had ties to the Brotherhood as well.

After widespread condemnation by many Republicans, conservatives have leapt to her defense. And so has Megan Boldt.

Boldt is not the kind of journalist to concern herself with the facts, politics is just a she-said-he-said game. Instead of examining the evidence behind Bachmann's conspiracy theory, she just let's Bachmann spin her personal attacks upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's aide Huma Abedin and Ellison:

Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann said the backlash and national headlines in the past two weeks over her calls for an investigation into alleged Islamic influence in U.S. government show that political correctness is trumping national security concerns in this country.

"The concerns I have and my colleagues have are real," Bachmann told the Pioneer Press on Monday, July 30. "We cannot elevate political correctness over national security."

How is opposing McCarthyism political correctness? Boldt is just a stenographer and won't examine her claims.

If Bachmann had any evidence, our government might look into it. If her attack on Ellison wasn't anything more than slander, someone might investigate.

But Boldt isn't that kind of journalist. She's the kind of journalist that aids and abets Bachmann's McCarthyism.
Bachmann's latest spin is to claim that if we weren't so concerned about political correctness, we'd be more concerned about preventing things like the Fort Hood attack. Let's let Boldt The Stenographer continue Bachmann's spin:

She talked about the 2009 Fort Hood, Texas, shooting that killed 13, pointing to a new report that found the FBI made a mistake by not investigating Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, despite evidence of troubling emails between the Army psychiatrist and a Yemeni terror leader.

"This was a preventable disaster," Bachmann said.

Boldt let's Bachmann ignore the mass shootings that have occurred since. She just allows Bachmann get away with claiming that if an islamophobic witch hunt would have been under way, Hasan would've been drummed out of the military and everything would be fine.

Republicans candidates for State Senate in Minnesota may have illegally circumvented actually raising the necessary amounts to qualify for public finance matching money. They are alleged to have asked donors for a contribution which would be immediately repaid out of the candidates personal account.

Many Republicans may be involved including Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, Senate Tax Chair Julianne Ortman, Senate President/President of the Senate/Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee/Republican Senate Caucus Campaign Re-election Chair Michelle Fishchbach and Ethics Committee member Senator Bill Ingebritsen. These four were at least aware according to the complaints filed with the Campaign Finance Board, St. Louis County Attorney.

I examined the emails sent by Brandon Anderson. Candidates Eric Langness and Torrey Westrum expressed interest in participating in the scam. It seems like pretty much all the MNGOP Senate candidates received the email and were at least aware of the scam. At this point we don't actually know how many participated in it.

Minnesota has a public financing system to encourage candidates who aren't wealthy or able to raise vast sums. If a candidate raises a minimum amount, they get a match from the state. If a candidate agrees to abide by the guidelines and their opponent exceeds the suggested limits, the candidate gets extra money from the state. This encourages reasonably priced legislative races.

You can read the email below the fold ...

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Send me $50 and I'll send you $50. Simple. I am prepared to do such; I have the personal

funds available.

I am a first-time candidate running against 12-year incumbent Dave Tomassoni here in District 6 in the northeast, which includes the Iron Range and our future precious metals mines, PolyMet and Twin Metals. I am endorsed by the party.

Things have been going great for me, but right now I am a little over $800 short of the $3000 goal required by Monday to qualify for the public subsidy. I have plenty of known available donors; my only roadblock is that I don't have the time to collect. I work 45+ hours per week, mix that with the commute and frequent stops at the bank and gas station, and it nearly a 50hr commitment. Then there's meetings, interviews, softball,

children, weddings, vehicles to maintain, grass that keeps growing, etc. Life is hectic.

I've found that simple fundraising letters have a low chance of success, but the follow-up calls make a huge difference. That, or face-to-face contact, easily brings in donations. But the average call has been taking 15 minutes, and any face-to-face is a longer commitment than that. I was laying in bed last night unable to sleep, crunching numbers (I'm an engineer so I'm a numbers/data guy) and realized I have only a slim chance of hitting the goal before midnight Monday with the time available to me.

Suddenly it occurred to me I have all of you, who are or at one time were, first time candidates like myself, and you know how tough this can be. We all have a vested interest in seeing each other's campaigns succeed, to maintain our majority in St. Paul. And I happen to have right now the cash to reciprocate your donations. ('Necessity breeds creativity', or 'desperation breeds innovation'. Either way, has anyone ever tried this before?) This area has had Democratic Senators for 98 years. Mindset here has changed rapidly though in the last 8 years or so. Just look at Cravaack's ousting of Oberstar 2 years ago. (I am pretty much following in his footsteps, being the same political neophyte.) Now last week the 49ers union endorsed Chip over his 3 DFL opponents. Our 2 biggest unions here at 49ers and Steelworkers. Steelworkers are weakening as well, since a majority of miners began their career between '74 and '80, so there has been massive mine employee turnover since 2004, with the staunch old union democrats being replaced by more fair-minded Generation X and Y constituents.

I am going to beat Tomassoni. He's sitting on his laurels, no parades, no signs, he figures he's got it all wrapped up again without any effort, but this time he's going to get a wakeup.

I've done 8 parades so far and talked to hundred of people, to great reception. I've already handed out almost 5000 business cards, so that's a good start.

Getting the public subsidy is paramount, as you all know how important advertising is to winning.

So, send me $50 and I'll send you $50. Or if you have a spouse, go ahead and send $100 and I'll return the same.

ASAP, only 5 days left.

Be sure to send the required info (name, address, employer.) Reply to this email to let me now how much you are sending and by which method, and your donation info for the best way I can return the favor ASAP.

I can take Paypal to mailto:GOP-BDA@ USA.comGOP-BDA@USA.com

I can do credit cards on my smartphone; send me name on card, #, exp, and 3-digit security code on back.

Checks or cash to 'Brandon D Anderson for SD6'

615 NE 5th St, Chisholm 55719.

Thank you all, here's to wins for us all in fall!

* * *

Brandon Anderson

GOP-endorsed MN Senate District 6 Candidate

The Republican Party of Minnesota is in a world of hurt right now. They're broke. They nearly got evicted from their headquarters. They probably face hefty fines from their financial irregularities over the past couple years. Former officials and the MNGOP itself likely face federal investigations. And they face an ongoing sex scandal that looks to carry through election day (at least).

So I find it really rather comical that one of the two architects of the MNGOP's downfall is gloating over the problems he helped cause:

Both parties have spent just about all the money they've raised, but the DFL has more cash in the bank and less debt. Republicans have $24,421 in cash compared to $848,708 in debt, while the DFL has $46,183 and $310,456, respectively.

The news even prompted Michael Brodkorb --  the Senate communications director for the MNGOP caucus until he was outed as Majority Leader Amy Koch's paramour and ousted from his job last winter -- to gloat a little bit. We assume Brodkorb still identifies as a Republican, but there's surely some bad blood between him and the MNGOP, especially in the wake of him finally filing his long-awaited lawsuit against the senate on July 23.

Tweeted Brodkorb:

(City Pages)

Last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) personally attacked Rep. Keith Ellison (DFL-MN). After Bachmann launched her Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy theory in which she claimed The Brotherhood had "deep penetration" into our government, Ellison asked for facts backing up her conspiracy theory.

While she elaborated on her conspiracy theory, she provided no facts to back them up. Instead, she personally attacked Ellison. She claimed he had a long association with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now she expects Ellison to work with her.

Less than two weeks after she questioned her fellow Minnesota U.S. Representative's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Rep. Michele Bachmann announced Monday in St. Michael, MN that she's hoping to team up with Rep. Keith Ellison on Medicaid reform.

In a meeting with St. Michael business owners, Bachmann said she was looking to do bi-partisan work to end Medicaid fraud.

"Minnesota is the poster child for Medicaid fraud. If we're going to have a system, we need a system that works for the poor. Right now, it's not working. I've been in communication with Rep. Ellison and hope to work with him on this issue," she said.

(St. Michael Patch)

Why would Bachmann fraternize with a terrorist sympathizer?

In what Bizarro Joe McCarthy world is it okay to label someone in your own state delegation a terrorist sympathizer and then seek to work with him on an important issue like Medicaid fraud as if nothing had happened?

Or was she not serious when she accused Ellison of having ties with terrorists? Was she just using a cynical ad hominem attack to discredit her opponent?

Does Bachmann possess even the most basic sense of decency to see that she has poisoned their relationship?  

How scared is Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN/NH) of meeting any constituents who don't agree with his Tea Party politics? So scared that he'd let his staff call in more than a dozen police to remove four peaceful, polite liberal constituents wanting to talk to him.

These constituents had the gall to request to speak to Cravaack about his position on extending the Bush Tax Cuts for the 1%.

Cravaack has a policy of never holding well-publicized, free events in major cities during the evening. He holds meetings in tiny towns during the day that are announced at the last minute. He figures (correctly) that liberals won't know about the meetings and won't take time off of work to come to his events. Most of the time only staffers attend. As far as I can tell, he only visits MN for public events 3 times every 2 months.

The result is he never has to face any DFLers who think

ending Medicare is a bad idea

ending Social Security is a bad idea

the Ryan Budget is a bad idea

or think protecting the 1% above all else is wrong.

Lucas Hafdahl, Terrie Gimpel, Noah Hobbs and Corey Cusick are the voters who live in Minnesota's Eighth District who had the temerity to seek this meeting. They were even willing to talk to a staffer which is all his constituents ever get anyway, but that wasn't even possible.

Watch Lucas and Terrie describe their ordeal and how Cravaack's security goons treated them:

Yup. Pretty scary people, eh? They're as scary and dangerous as I am short. But in the United Police States of America, liberals seeking meetings with Tea Party Republicans must be dealt with forcefully and rudely.