Speed Gibson

I am mystified on a couple of points regarding the Sixth District Congressional Race in Minnesota. Here I am, a Minneapolis Star Tribune subscriber who decides to pick up a St. Paul Pioneer Press at Caribou this morning. Right away starting on page 1 I'm treated to a pithy puff piece on Amy Klobuchar. It contains not one single fact relevant to the election. It could have waited until after the election. It could have been run a year ago. I keep hoping that the STPP will "grow up" and give us a real alternative. Not this year, I guess.

But in the next section comes the Patty Wetterling endorsement, only it's really mostly a condemnation of Michele Bachmann. Vote for Patty because Michele is a holy roller.

Question one: Why does it matter where Michele Bachmann gets her values? She can at least point to a book that has been passed down through millenia. Where do what Bill O'Reilly calls "Secular Progressives" get their values? This question has been put to them many times on various programs, and it always comes back "I feel ..." or words to that effect.

What counts in an election is how you translate your values into your positions. I would not go as far as Bachmann does on some issues, but she's up front with all that and the voters can decide. The Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, and others conclude that she is not only wrong, she is possessed, unknowingly doing great harm in blind obedience to her strong faith.

Question two: Why is Patty Wetterling getting a pass on her low campaign tactics from both editorial boards? This isn't rhetoric. This isn't BS. Wetterling is engaging in repeated, significant, outright lying and slander, messages "she approved." But there's not a word of this in either endorsement. Tell me, where did she get these values? Not from Hubert Humphrey, Roger Moe, or Paul Wellstone.

Suppose she's elected. Will she suddenly morph from Dirty Patty back to Saint Patty as seems to be assumed? That's typically not what happens. There is no reason to think the claws won't come out again in 2008. No, Patty Wetterling is now a full-fledged politician now, or will be if elected.

It's time to end Patty Wetterling's political career such as it is right now. For if sleaze like this can triumph in a solid Republican area, we may never see another honest DFL candidate.