Often biased, always thoughtful.

The Shrinking GOP: Will Mark Olson’s endorsement fracture the MNGOP?

They’ve been falling apart nationally, and now the Republicans are starting to fall apart in Minnesota, too. MNGOP leaders who were hoping for a quick and painless resolution to the SD-16 endorsement of Mark Olson, who was convicted of domestic assault, are going to be disappointed.

Political Muse at Liberal in the Land of Conservative reports that, despite MNGOP leadership’s best efforts, Olson will not be going down quietly. This is particularly bad news for them because the fact is that denouncing Olson was a great move for the Republicans. In fact, it was the only move that would allow them to continue their attacks on Franken, in a race that’s a much bigger deal than the SD-16 state senate race.

But now comes the dissension in the ranks. Jason Lewis, noted talk-radio lunatic, supports Olson (via Dump Mark Olson and MnPublius):

I can’t tell you how shocked I was to see the letter from the Senate State Caucus basically insulting all the state delegates that came to our convention and made their decision. Saying “No, you people are too stupid. You’re just country hicks. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

More from Lewis:

This is the pinnacle of elitism. A bunch of elitist, Republican party hacks have gotten together and decided to override your choice. That’s what rubs me the wrong way. [ed. note: see the Conservative-to-English dictionary; "elitist" is a catch-all term for anyone disagreeing with whatever you deem public opinion.]

There’s one simple reason why this is a huge deal: It represents a major breakdown in Republican message discipline and party unity. That’s always been one of their largest strengths, and one I have argued the Democrats need to improve on. With Republican message discipline starting to fall apart in Minnesota, it’s going to cause serious consequences up and down the line in state elections. The more Mark Olson fights for his survival, the further he’ll pull the whole MNGOP down with him.

Is the GOP capable of discussing issues?

Al Franken continues to try to start a debate on the issues, but the GOP isn’t having it. They have proven that, no matter what the issue, they will stick resolutely to personal attacks. I suppose it’s all they have.

The Star Tribune reports:

the Franken campaign said Coleman failed to hold hearings on waste and abuse in the reconstruction of Iraq when he was chairman of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

A competent campaign might have offered some defense of its record. But not Coleman and the Republicans… they’re hoping they can go five more months without ever mentioning their record. Instead, the responded with the most ridiculous attack I’ve heard in a long time:

Al Franken is a hypocrite. He demonizes oil and pharmaceutical companies, and attacks any Republican who receives donations from individuals who work for these companies. He attacks Halliburton as a corrupt company. Yet, he has made himself richer by investing in mutual funds that are soaked with investments in these companies.

Where to even start with this? First of all, who is even talking about the oil and pharmaceutical companies right now? Second of all, you’re attacking him over the content of his mutual funds?! Come on, you guys are the party of the wealthy–you should know how mutual funds work. They invest in anything and everything, and their mix of stocks is constantly changing. This is such a non-issue, I can’t even believe it. When the only attacks you can come up with are this irrelevant, you’re better off just staying quiet.

GOP promises to make Senate race all about personal attacks

After Al Franken’s nomination yesterday, the GOP said they will try to make this election about Al Franken.

Funny, I’d like to make this election about the people of Minnesota and making policy that will be good for our state. Senator Bush is going to try to make this all about Franken because he knows he has not represented the interests of our state. He knows that, if the debate ever turns to policy issues, he’s sunk. He can never run on his record.

Does the MNGOP care about tax fairness? Don’t bet on it.

The Republican party, as long as I can remember, has been the party of smear tactics and identity politics. But now it’s becoming clear that they will say anything–even if they don’t believe it–if they can score attack points.

In a letter to the California State Franchise Tax Board, the MNGOP’s chairman/pit-bull Ron Carey writes:

I write this letter as a concerned citizen of the United States who believes that every American has an obligation to pay his or her fair share of taxes.

Excuse me? Since when does the Republican party give a lick about tax fairness? Let’s review, shall we? They didn’t care about tax fairness when they cut taxes for the rich and transferred the responsibility for important services to the middle class. They didn’t care about tax fairness when they slashed Local Government Aid and forced up your property taxes. and they don’t even care about tax fairness right now–they’re trying to raid a dedicated fund for healthcare.

Bottom line: the MNGOP doesn’t care about tax fairness and they never have. In fact, they would like nothing more than to turn the system upside down and give millionaires like Franken some more tax cuts at our expense. But that still hasn’t stopped them from exploiting any opportunity for partisan attacks.

In the interests of full disclosure, I’m not a Franken supporter. I don’t really care if the GOP wants to attack Franken–but how about having a bit of intellectual honesty?