Minnesota Republicans: The Golnik Diagnosis

A week or so ago my friend Ben Golnik wrote an opinion column for the Star Tribune titled "End an error before it begins." His piece was, in part, a response to one written by Steve Shier whose premise, with caveats, was that the DFL was in a position to dominate Minnesota politics for the foreseeable future. The lack of comment about Golnik's piece was telling to me, especially on my side of the aisle.  Let's just say the local equivalent of Opie & Anthony, Davis & Emmer, wouldn't have him on to explicate. The mutual bitch slapping would have been amazing radio. But, no.

Golnik's piece is both boilerplate politico consultant positioning for his next gig and genius. His detractors (some of whom I share so there's that) focus on the former to the exclusion of the latter. They tend to be the ones who have brought us to our current predicament. Oddly, they can't see that so they blame Ben. Right. They must not possess mirrors.

Buried deep in Golnik's piece was this essential sentence: "It is imperative that a group emerges on the right that will operate year-round to hold elected officials accountable and drive the conservative message of responsible government."

A group? Thanks Ben but recovering in Minnesota will take more than "a group." We can't monetize everything you think of, especially after some of us already thought of it.

We still have to fight off the cancerous Ron Paulers, a fight from which you were noticeably absent (where's the money in that?). To be fair, you didn't enable Jeff Johnson & Pat Anderson. Pat Shortridge. Kelly Fenton. Keith Downey. Except you did, by silence, purchased or otherwise.

Golnik's op-ed is the definition of self-serving. Good. Or is that too sophisticated an analysis for my fellow republicans to understand?