Rep. John Kline & The Minnesota Tea Party Paulers

Coleen Rowley, former G-man, one of three of Time's People of the Year 2002, and legendary local Leftist, who I knew beforehand only by sight, sat directly in front of me two rows into the audience seating, fairly staring at me the whole time. For a long moment, it was as though we two were the only ones who knew what was about to begin.

What was this?

I ran late driving to Buffalo, MN for a fundraiser for Wright County republicans the evening of November 23rd, having been asked a few weeks earlier in a Twitter direct message by Walter Hudson (who was the evening's moderator) if I wanted to be on a "foreign policy" panel. Sure, I said, me being me. Only later did a friend point out that on Facebook Walter had styled the event as "Hawks vs. Doves."

Right.

Milling about at the Buffalo American Legion were both Tom Emmer and Phil Krinkie, making small talk with those who had showed up. Where was my candidate, Rhonda Sivarajah? Cloistered away by those who know nothing about how to run a federal campaign? Beats me. Rhonda's running as bad a campaign as Tom did when running for governor. No one, apparently, can penetrate her bubble. Sound familiar? Here's hoping there's still time for her to turn it around.

At any rate, there I was: defending Israel, my neo-conservative piñata status certified. The Rowley crowd was weirdly stuck in time: what about Vietnam? Seriously. And: can we ever expunge the stain of overthrowing Mosaddegh? The line of questioning was, frankly, as stale as an Almanac show with a panel of Larry Jacobs clones. I was ready to be passed a joint.

Some current events managed to be referenced: what about civilian casualties of drone attacks? A pity, to be sure, but war has always had collateral damage. As I pointed out by way of contrast, Palestinian terrorists deliberately target civilians. The Israeli military does quite the opposite. So does the United States of America.

This meant nothing to the co-panelist seated on my right: he managed a reference in due course to John Mearsheimer, the co-author along with Stephen Walt of "The Israel Lobby." I didn't have time to unpack that coded little mention for my audience; we would have been there all night if I had gotten started. The latent anti-semitism of Ron Paul and his ridiculous followers fairly filled the room. When I called Ron Paul anti-semitic the gentlemen to my right stood up to leave in a huff, refusing "to be called an anti-semite." This, of course, I had not done and he was easily persuaded to stay on the dais. Most people are.

My ideological ally on the panel, David Strom, later remarked that immediate umbrage was taken at the mention of Paul's anti-semitism while the two of us, in the course of the evening, were compared to Nazis. I can't speak for David but I would have gotten a bit more concerned about being called a Nazis if I took those who thought such of me more seriously. Or seriously at all.

Foreign policy was uni-dimensional in that crowd: military action alone. In fact, as I tried to explain, foreign policy entails much more than that and, indeed, military action can be said, in certain respects, to represent its failure. To paraphrase Mia Farrow's Twitter biography, I was trying.

What empire was the United States claiming in undertaking President George W. Bush's wildly successful PEPFAR program in Africa, which has saved tens of millions of lives? Engagement with China has been crucial, never more so than after the death of Mao and the ascent of Deng Xiaoping whose policies lifted hundreds of millions of souls out of desperate poverty and in our very lifetimes. The West and its forces of freedom (quaint, I know) won the Cold War against the USSR without firing a shot (proxy wars admittedly excepted). I mentioned Natan Sharansky tapping on his prison walls to other captives that Reagan had called it the focus of evil in the modern world. I had kind, although not wholly unreserved, words to say about Edward Snowden, whom Ms. Rowley had seen in person in Russia a few weeks earlier. It takes genuine courage to make such a trip and, though it might strike some as incongruous, I had a lot of respect for her in undertaking it. These people are living out their principles at no small cost. It's not hard to respect them more than the parasitical lobbyist types like Weber, Coleman & Pawlenty, even though I disagree with much of their world view.

Experience trumps ideology. Except when it doesn't. I made a point of looking directly at Rowley when I said "If the predicate of your foreign policy views is that what's wrong with the world is America, I don't need to know anything more about you. I've seen that movie."

*****

I recapitulate my little adventure in Buffalo because it further informs my thinking about what is going on in Minnesota's Second Congressional District, currently represented by John Kline. Here we have the clearest example of the remnants of Ron Paul's followers in Minnesota reorganizing under the Tea Party rubric. What's deceptive, of course, is that while the general Tea Parties organized around the country are quite tired of ever expanding government and its infringement on personal liberty, almost none have the blame America and/or the Jews mentality that so infects Ron Paul and his minions. In other words, they're adults. 

I understand the need for refurbishment: by the time he left the national stage Ron Paul was a laughing stock. His candidate for senate in the 2012 Minnesota race was an object lesson to republican parties around the country what not to let happen in their own. Some of that candidate's enablers still seek higher office this cycle. They fail to see that 2012 was Paul's high water mark; that the tide has gone out. 

Being mostly a spent political force in their own right, the "liberty" movement has either invaded or created Tea Party groups by which to advance their goals. I call it Paulism Without Ron. Shrill and strident, dogmatic and insecure, this group attempts to pass itself off as somehow representative of the larger republican body politic. They are not, of course, but that doesn't stop them from demanding that they be treated as such. 

In CD 2 they have fallen in behind the specious David Gerson, who seeks the republican endorsement which the Tea Paulers™ hope to deliver, thereby forcing Rep. Kline into a primary if he wishes to return to office. They pillory Kline for his record and large parts of it should come in for excoriation. That said, it's folly to the point of political suicide to remove him from the ballot and replace him with some low rent demagogue who could be easily beaten by a competent, moderate democrat. 

The anti-Kline people like to hold up fatuous things like Freedom Works' scorecards, which for Kline shows only something like a 42% rating. Have they a clue about the frauds constituting Freedom Works? Are they aware it paid Dick Armey 8 million dollars to go away and never bother the group he helped start? Probably not, but every time you get an email from the sleazy Matt Kibbe, Freedom Works' current head, be sure to give generously because don't tread on me! I'm certain CD 2's middle-class and lower middle class won't mind it when he again spends $15,000 in a single 3 day weekend at a  luxury hotel, as has been his wont. 

Freedom Works is playing them for suckers, although no one currently can match the fleecing ability of the repulsive Glenn Beck. If you're hitching your wagon to either of these two stars, your destiny does not lie in future Minnesota republican politics. And if your idea of a constitutional scholar is Kris Anne Hall, I'm to be forgiven for laughing in your face. You can stay dumb but you're not about to dumb me down, thanks. Nor, I would guess, are most other republicans in or out of CD 2. 

The juvenile attempt to deny Rep. Kline the endorsement is of a piece with the juvenile foreign policy on view in Buffalo last month. However they want to mask themselves, the Ron Paul followers are fellow travelers with Rowley on many, if not most, issues. They are by no stretch of the imagination republicans in the traditional sense of the word. Consequently, those of us who want to win elections in order to change public policy have every justification for calling them out, for marginalizing them, for defeating them.  

It's hard to say if Kline will be denied the endorsement. If he is, it's hard to see how he would not win the primary and go on to win another term. If Gerson obtains the endorsement, it would be more confirmation that when the inmates take over the asylum, a recommendation from the asylum's management is worthless. The same holds true for the race in CD 6 to replace Michele Bachmann, as it does in the governor's race and as it could in the US Senate race. 

The future viability of the Minnesota republican party lies in the primary process, far from the out of touch, inbred activists who take turns upholding one cult after another in that strange process known as the endorsement. To the extent that the Tea Paulers™ hasten the day of the endorsement's demise, I'll be the first to thank them. 

Time For The Independent Republican Party?

The hideous Ron Paul invasion of the Minnesota Republican Party is not quite over--the denouement known as its state convention in St. Cloud this weekend awaits--but enough evidence is in hand to draw some grim conclusions for those who are not enamored of a Jew hating fringe cult political figure who speaks to alienated, fairly ignorant and frequently unwashed lost souls. There are just enough exceptions to this characterization on an individual basis to prove its general truth.

The Paul zombies™ tried their best last cycle and were rebuffed by the party establishment. To these strange persons this was akin to living in North Korea. Their bleating about tyranny is perhaps the easiest example by which to show how they are simply not serious people in a political sense. They have no idea what tyranny is except the infantilized one fed them by friend of David Duke Ron Paul.

What's new and extremely disturbing is their winning of party positions on a variety of levels throughout the state. The old guard, to use a term it seems impossible to get away from, tells itself that these interlopers will soon fade away as they did in previous cycles. MC disagrees and believes that hope to be profoundly misguided if not outright dangerous. More, the idea that they can be worked with is positively delusional, a willful refusal to look at and admit what has recently happened. It's like those poor Russians who said, during the Great Purge, if only Stalin knew. Guess what?

One measure of their malice is found in a recent email from the newly elected chair of the 4th CD, John Kysylyczyn. A laughable fool and former disastrous mayor of Roseville more than a decade ago, he was put forth by Marianne Stebbins--chief zombie in Minnesota for the Jew hater--over then current chair Jim Carson if the party didn't bow to her demands. Much to and fro was had, involving Pat Shortridge, Matt Dean, Pat Anderson (the stealth zombie choice for RNC) and others. Because Shortridge would not capitulate to Stebbins' demand to remove certain people from various convention organizing committees, the idiot was elected by his fellow morons. Carson was shocked but those of us who had been paying attention were not. MC usually doesn't employ such language as idiots and morons but unless the reader has actually met these Paul zombies™ they have no idea how true such characterizations are; not ad hominem but veritas.

Here is the new chair deliberately eviscerating the organizational structure of the 4th CD in an email dated May 14, 2012:

Steve,

Mike B. has forwarded me some concerns that you have concerning CD4 activities.

First, no full committee meeting has been scheduled.

Second, the exec committee is planning on meeting at the state convention.  I anticipate that we will set some of the schedule for the coming year at that meeting.

Third, CD’s have nothing to do with legislative races.  It is clearly stated in the constitution.  We also have little to do with the congressional district race.  We are not the candidate’s committee.  In fact, we are not the committee of any candidate running for office this fall.

To be frank, it does not matter if we are up to any particular speed for this fall’s elections.  I understand that many may not agree with this or maybe things have been done differently in the past.  As someone new to the position, I sat down the first week on the job and read the state and CD constitutions and the bylaws.  My analysis is strictly based off of those documents.

There seems to be this mistaken belief that the CD is some sort of super campaign committee.  It is not.  There also seems to be this mistaken belief that CD’s win elections.  This is not true.  Candidate committees win elections.  There also seems to be a mistaken belief that CD’s sort of bind together BPOU’s that choose to operate as house districts.  This is not true.

We are required to hold four full committee meetings per year.  It is my intention to have 4 full committee meetings a year.  It is my intention to have actual agendas for meetings and a real purpose for having a meeting.  Every time we have one of these meetings, there is potentially 100 of our best volunteers who are not spending an evening on the campaign trail.  That is a lot of manpower.  Meetings need to exceed this expense of manpower.  I don’t believe in holding meetings for the sake of holding meetings.  Meetings are for the purpose of getting specific business done.

In the past, there appears to have been a cattle call mentality concerning the calling of meetings.  Just have one every month.  It doesn’t matter if we have any agenda.  Don’t bother sending out agendas.  Whoever shows up does.  Fill the time allotted.  To be clear, I do not operate in this fashion.

When we call a meeting, there will be a specific agenda.  We will have everyone’s email address and they will get the meeting agenda.  Meetings will be for members participation only.  We therefore need to know who the members are.  This takes time.  Normally we have elections in the odd numbered years.  We have 18 months until the next election.  In redistricting years, we have 6 months.  Moving forward in an organized fashion takes time.

But let me be clear, the bottom line is that no candidate’s campaign is affected by the efforts of the CD.  Any excuses claiming such, is just an excuse on their part to place blame if their campaigns are not successful.

John M. Kysylyczyn

Frighteningly, Kysylyczyn now runs a day care center. Is stupidity contagious?  It's no wonder he's never held elected office since his stint at mayor; no wonder he's a perfect rube for Stebbins. She has an army of them. She prevented Joe Westrup from being elected to the State Executive Committee from the 4th CD and instead rammed through a Paul zombie™ who is barely sentient.

All of which presents the question: is it time to bring back the Independent-Republican Party of Minnesota? The Paul zombies™ can have the RPM; what, really, is left of it? Why the party jettisoned the IR structure in 1995 can be discussed another time. What real republicans in Minnesota need to discuss amongst themselves is whether resurrecting the IR is a good idea and, if so, how to go about it?

Republicans in CD 4 are organizing and meeting on their own outside the Kysylyczyn circus. This perhaps forms the germ of a future IR party. Or not.

What happens at State Central is crucial: if Janet Beihoffer is elected to the RNC for a full four year term, the party as currently known may be salvagable. If she isn't, it most likely is lost and another vehicle for real republican ideas and candidates must be found.

When Republicans See John Marty As Their Own

What do you call it when Minnesota republicans and democrats together sell out their respective parties' core principles?

The Vikings stadium.

In an astonishing public display of craven opportunism, toadying and corruption the Minnesota House of Representatives and then Senate bucked every opportunity to stand for that which they claim. Democrats, naturally, believe there is too much corporate welfare and "giving" away to the rich. There is much not to be believed in this. Republicans, equally naturally, believe in market forces and reduced government spending. Here too there is much not to be believed in.

Yet at their fundamentals, this is indeed what both parties are and then some. The natural tension between the two defines our local, state and national politics. How was it then that we saw those members in each party who, apparently, are foolish enough to want to act on such principles, easily pushed aside and a toxic stadium bill passed in each chamber with room to spare?

A Twitter account gave one a ringside seat to the brawl. MC could be mistaken but has there ever been this high a profile legislative issue in Minnesota history that was given such intimate scrutiny by the public, the media and the members in real time? Amendments to the bills were an adventure in policy discourse alone. Humor abounded, as did barbs and snipes. Local media, in MC's view, did an exceptional job in tweeting the facts, the corrections, the ups and downs in the process.

Perhaps what was most fascinating about this sordid process was how the low rent politicians prevailed over the principled ones in both parties. It puts one in mind of that (relatively) famous Nora Ephron quote: "No matter how cynical I get, I just can't keep up."

Time and again the implausible case was made that a many-times-over millionaire needed the taxpayer money of Minnesota. Concerns about the funding source of the state's share of the project were more or less dismissed out of hand. Gambling, that hideous thing, made numerous appearances in numerous Faustian guises. The DFL's Eddie Haskell, Rep. Ryan Weiner, er, Winkler flipped when his masters told him. MC gives him credit, though, for advancing the truly bogus notion that the give away of taxpayer's money to the already wealthy was for Minnesota's "quality of life" and not because of the economics of the deal. This must be akin to what liberals think of the Constitution's commerce clause: either a nuisance to be ignored or a concept stretched past the point of recognition. Either way no credibility is left. The creepy rent a mob known as the Welfare Rights Committee protests against Rep. Mary Franson but not this? Mark must have told Alida (or Carrie? has anyone seen those two together?) to keep them in check.

The House debate was a debacle. Chaotic, venal and at times pathetic, those watching could only marvel. Interestingly, the pro-stadium types let only a few of their supporters talk, for which MC could be forgiven for thinking they'll be amply rewarded. The others were grinding the sausage.

What was left of real conservative republicans in the House did their level best. So too did liberal democrats. At one point Sen. John Marty gave an impassioned, reasoned argument against the bill so sounding in GOP principles that those listening had to check to make sure the identity of the speaker. This is the political equivalent of an out of body experience.

Particularly painful were the tweets of House caucus staff. MC understands they have to bleat out the leadership line but must they pretend to superiority while doing so? It only makes them look worse than they are, which takes some doing. MC also understands that "activists" are looked on by them with indifference at best and with scorn usually. That's ok; it would be cruel to wake them up. Oh, and can someone tell Chas Anderson that that Kurt Zellers rocket she was going to ride to the governorship? It ain't happening.

Having been passed by the House, a similar but different bill was then take up by the Senate. It's no exaggeration to say that the Senate debate over the bill stunned even the most jaded, thereby exonerating by excess the heretofore thought of low point in Minnesota politics (or was that when Jesse Ventura was elected governor?).

At any rate the discourse was so egregious MC suggested in a tweet that Sen. Geoff Michel be waterboarded. No apology will be forthcoming. Actually, others should be added to the list.

In due course the mandate of Heaven was passed by a wholly owned senate that represented no one except those who had bought them off. When RINO's, liberal democrats, Ron Paul supporters and other flavors of both parties are in agreement, something genuine is occurring. That occurrence is the selling out of principles; real, genuine principles. Not every vote, not every issue, invokes those principles in the way the vote on the Vikings stadium did. But that vote did. We have been tested and we have been found wanting.

Perversely for republicans, a majority of the vote in both the House & Senate were democrats. As Sen. Dave Thompson (who has taken a few whacks from MC) tweeted: Who is the majority party? Indeed, Senator.  Credit where due though he had the support of others who are well known if you have been following the battle. He was hardly alone. Pro-tip Dave? Don't give media interviews as if you were.

Enter Nick Coleman, who weighed in with an exceptional J'accuse. It can be read by clicking here. If you're reading this post, you must read it as well. MC doesn't agree with all of it but that's not the point. The point is that MC and many, many other republicans do in point of fact agree with it. To his credit, Coleman on Twitter heaped praise upon those republicans who stood true to their principles. As MC does to the John Marty's of Nick's party. Coleman & MC are now following each other on Twitter.

Passing strange.

Sen. Gretchen Hoffman, who gives hope to those of us who believe in leadership, tweeted that the Senate debate was so much "bread and circuses." That was enough for Sen. Julie Rosen, our Medea when it comes to republican principles. Photos show her in victory as buffoonish as the buffoons with whom she poses.

DFL Eddie Haskell's manufactured quote that this is about Minnesota's quality of life ("Robin Hood in reverse" as Ralph Nader called it), is endlessly telling. Don't look to him to understand it though. Robots only know their programs.

Instead, those who thought this would improve the state in which we live are deluded. What the supporters of this stadium bill have delivered unto us is not Minnesota but Illinois.

The worst of it is that they don't even know it.

But we do and for now that must suffice.



This post is dedicated to Susan Closmore.