Those Conservatives Who Put Winning Second

One person on Twitter reduced the fatal statement of Todd Atkin about rape, pregnancy and abortion to this observation: "Conservatives don't really help themselves when they attack their own.” Why yes, that's what this is all about.

How about conservatives who are terminally stupid and wield campaigns of utter incompetence but whose self-promoted high moral courage is more often spoken about than lived?

Todd Atkin, winner of the Missouri republican primary, challenger of Claire McCaskill, essentially said that if raped women have a biological function that is triggered to prevent pregnancy. Does the reader have any idea what it's like to have typed that sentence as a conservative?

If he hadn't missed a one-shot groveling apology with which he could truly abase himself, Atkin could have gone to ground, quietly raised money, shared his psychiatric records with potential donors, and have been rolled out in late September or early October for a decent win. Claire McCaskill is the electoral opposite of Amy Klobuchar. This seat is one of four US Senate seats needed to retake the majority by republicans. Everything that could go amiss, did.

First, Todd Atkin won the primary. In this, MO resembled MN in offering up its weakest candidate because oh look, over there, purity. See how it shines, my precious?

Next, Atkin gave an interview in which, somehow, he said what is summarized above. Baffling, to be honest. How does one invoke the abortion topic in such a profoundly ignorant manner?

Realizing the mistake if not its enormity, Atkin's issued a weird, non-apology apology, both underlining his original misstep while apparently trying to repudiate it. When conservatives have a hard time discerning what a conservative is saying, rest assured the media will run even more riot with it than is their usual shameful custom.

Sean Hannity, whom I find impossible to listen to, as opposed to Rush Limbaugh, fairly begged, from what I could read, Atkin to realize the gravity of his mistake and to leave the race. No he said, for reasons I've yet to grasp.

Then came the surreal news that this train wreck was going to appear tonight on Piers Morgan. More bafflement but by this time the temperature of conservatives on Twitter was quite high. Enough. This is the balance of the US Senate and we know full well what is in that balance. Must we nationally come down like the proverbial ton of bricks and change the state of affairs?

Yes.

Next, it was let be known that the hapless Atkin would not, after all, be appearing on Piers Morgan. The mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging conservative collective let out--what else?--a collective sigh. Alas, no taxpayer funded Heart of the Beast puppet masks were available to us in which we could celebrate. The oppression of The Man lay heavy on our hateful shoulders.

Morgan's producers, of course, were not about to let a good ratings thing get away and so they embodied the American national press by interviewing an empty chair. Who was dumber, we conservatives on Twitter wondered, Piers Morgan who personifies the louche state of American media, or the chair, who, with that lighting and all, did, one could say, have more dignity than Joe Biden?

I could, I must confess, see Don Shelby, our Ted Baxter, in that empty chair. Talk about meta. 

Previous to this money had been vanishing all day for Atkin. It's a very odd experience to see money for a campaign disappear like that on Twitter. Perhaps some dull witted but self-esteem heavy layabout could apply for a Minnesota Legacy Grant to explore that further someday.

The next act in the scene was out of Star Trek: he's dead, Jim.

It seemed too late in the news cycle, especially after the spectacular bungling all day long, for the Atkin campaign, if anything was left of it, to say it was over.

Would anyone in America not begrudge Todd Atkin the best sleep he is possible to manage? No. Then quit in the morning with our thanks that you will not be forgotten.

Amazingly, some "name" conservatives were wondering if sanity wasn't really a ruse for madness? Who knows, once you travel to the intersection of Crazy & Purity street? Atkin should stay; their tone-deafness making them all the more convinced. Comparisons were made with democrat scandals where the curr managed to survive. But this is like pointing to a cadaver and imploring him to realize others were not dead.

Erick Erickson. Dana Loesch. Both bemoaned wanting to win, which requires removing Atkin, with eviscerating conservative principles, which it manifestly does not.

Do they need to get out more? Leave the post-Breitbart (I die a bit every time I write that) cocoon and talk to others?

I don't know. 

Hubert Humphrey: The Happy Failure

On August 4, 2012, in quintessential Minnesota fashion, a statue to Hubert Humphrey will be unveiled at the Minnesota State Capitol. No measured reflection on his failed legacy has appeared to date in local media. To the contrary, puff pieces on the Institute for Mediocrities, also known as the Humphrey Institute, have popped up in local and national press. How unsurprising.

Let's review this failed life which will shortly be honored for all the wrong reasons by the unctuous perjurer Bill Clinton and numerous lesser lights, which makes for dim viewing indeed.

First, the one, unqualified moment of excellence in Humphrey's life came rather early, in 1948 when as Mayor of Minneapolis he bravely spoke before the Democratic convention and addressed segregation and anti-semitism. Fine and well but hardly substantial and long lasting enough in and of itself to warrant a statue and the resulting adulation. One should keep in mind, though, the penchant of the Left to lie to itself (current presidential polls come to mind but the examples are legion).

Humphrey then went on to burnish his liberal credentials in the 50's only to sell out to Lyndon Johnson by becoming his vice-president. The arc of this failure and eclipse is set out succinctly in "Remembering Hubert Humphrey" at The Heath Post. It can be read in full here.

What is lost in this feel good nonsense is that liberals of the day turned on Humphrey. This inconvenient fact will be ignored by the oleaginous politicians who gather two days hence and pretend to be the successors of HHH. MC is certain they fail to understand how this damns them. But look for reflexively positive media coverage of the event; to write anything else would take courage.

Having hollowed himself out on matters of core principle, Humphrey's slide into disgrace was complete after his loss to Richard Nixon. As the Heath Post notes, he left no great speeches, no great written works. Liberals will have no body of thought that will sustain the legacy of Humphrey except for their own self-serving need to promote dependency on government and redistributionist policies that have failed everywhere. But that's all they've got so they will go with it, confident in their belief that the media will advance the chosen liberal narrative.

What won't be covered is that Humphrey's contemporary was Ronald Reagan (damn it) who like chuckles was born in 1911. If Reagan had died in 1978, as Humphrey did, the Heath Post notes tartly, conservatives would be quoting and referencing him for several generations, so great was his written body of work by that time.

Hubert? Nothing of the kind. There is liberalism and its inheritance. Actually, one can legitimately see Humphrey as the compromised hand maiden to big government, social engineering and failed public policies which still plague America and which those gathering before this cheesy statue seek to bolster.

The local repository of Kim Jong Il-ism of the Humphrey variety is, of course, the Humphrey Institute ensconced in the increasingly mediocre University of Minnesota. One would be hard pressed to think of a leader that that institute has produced. Instead, those wishing for perches on the upper branches of state bureaucracy flock to its programs. Haven't you always wanted to be senior management at MN DOT?

The Humphrey Institute offers a veritable progressive dim sum of choices, however, from which to choose. One can get a degree in Civic Engagement (whatever that is), Community Building & Neighborhood Revitalization (the jokes write themselves), Energy Policy (environmental wackos form the borg here), Politics & Governance (think Nanny Bloomberg; we know better than you rubes), Race & Social Justice (the laziest minds will be found here), and State & Local Government (in which the Institute becomes the feeder of choice to the parasitic state bureaucracy where the only diversity that is lacking is that of thought).

The Humphrey Institute is to political leadership what the Iowa Writers' Workshop is to good writing: superfluous if not outright damaging. Don't look for it to fade, though. The statue dedication is liberalism's way of telling itself it still matters, has not failed spectacularly by any objective metric and is not destined for a comprehensive rebuke November 6th.

Five Months Out Race Called For Klobuchar

Oh dear, this won't do, will it? Blois Olson's Morning Take newsletter yesterday reported a story by Minnesota Public Radio which quoted two nationally known & respected political pundits as saying the race by Rep. Kurt Bills (15 years a high school teacher of economics ya know!) against Senator Amy "Mom" Klobuchar was all but over before it even started. Edamame republicans were gracious in their utter vindication although the Ron Paul cult members who hijacked the party in order to give this sock puppet the endorsement insisted they were somehow to blame for this unavoidable blast of honesty. Yes, that is, apparently, the color of the sky within their borg. Of course, had they any association with honesty none of them could support crack pot and friend of David Duke Ron Paul. But liberty! Or something.

Saner minds knew full well that pundits Larry Sabato & Jennifer Duffy were only stating the most obvious of facts: the weakest candidate the MN GOP could run against Klobuchar got the endorsement. Not the cheesy ripped-off-from-the-late-Sen. Wellstone bus (cults have zero imagination) nor the moronic Econ 101 slogan will do anything to avoid the electoral abattoir.

Besting the always to be regretted scolding to "get over it," real republican activists have done something better: they have moved on. None of them will work on the senate race and for good reasons. Senator Mom™ has already locked up all the corporate money in Minnesota. And as MPR reported: "Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report says while Bills' association with Paul is helping him now, it will cost him support in the long run. 'I mean it almost guarantees that Bills will not get a single independent vote and will not get any moderate Republican support,' Duffy says." Moderate? Try rank and file Jennifer.

But the soon to be announced "Team Minnesota" will give all real republican activists around the state an easy and helpful way to assist in retaining the MN GOP majorities in the Minnesota Senate & House. The state party is not only useless and broke, its become the leading edge of Vichy republicans. Elephants are said to have long memories and karma is said to be a bitch. More, no reasonable person expects the party to have anything to do with keeping the majorities. Certainly the Senate & House caucuses do not.

Team Minnesota will attempt to augment efforts around the state where needed in particular races. Team Minnesota isn't particularly interested in the internecine warfare currently in progress in both chambers. It only cares about returning a majority of republicans to each of them; to one of them in a worst case scenario to stop the brain dead liberal take over of the state. The lesson of the last legislative session is black and white: republicans don't deserve to win but democrats don't deserve to govern. Minnesota could only hope to be as politically vibrant as next door Wisconsin but instead is merely constipated. Yet much mocked Minnesota continues to think itself superior to its neighbor. Quite the reverse.

More will be said about Team Minnesota in the coming weeks. In the meantime, one can hear Kurt Bills on the Late Debate by clicking here. He appeared Sunday last, June 3rd and his performance gives no comfort even to those inclined to magic thinking. Remarkably, he admitted that the much promised Ron Paul money spigot had not yet opened. Funny, that. The Paul zombies, he explained, are busy trying to get Mr. Hemp & Raw Milk a speaking slot at the national republican convention in Tampa this August. And then what? They'll donate all their drug money to Bills? Hardly. Ron Paul will not endorse Mitt Romney either. Or if he does, it will only be the most grudging possible in order to speak his dogma one last time: a swan song of lunacy, anti-semitism and paranoia. The money still will not flow to Kurt Bills; his puppet masters already know the race is lost (someone should really tell teach). That money best belongs in a PAC controlled by pere et fil Paul. Like the Kims of North Korea, the Pauls are in for the long haul. Long Haul Pauls.™

The insufferable wave of new comers to the MN GOP, who pretend they alone know something about liberty and the constitution, will fall flat on their cultish faces. The senate campaign will limp along but only as something to be put out of its misery. Others, of course, will be blamed for the political incompetence but that dog won't hunt.

Like a mother unable to part with her stillborn child, the Minnesota cult of Ron Paul will continue to hover around the Bills campaign for the next five long months, an advertisement for what happens when closed minds hold sway. Like those who know when to bury their dead, however, regular republican activists will flee to the races around the state that will keep the legislature safe from that party which has not had a new political idea in more than five decades. The contrast between the two could hardly be greater or of more importance.

Rep. Kurt Bills Is A Ron Paul Republican

Hand picked by Ron Paul's lead representative in Minnesota to run for senate against incumbent Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Kurt Bills was always dishonest in denying his ideological association with this fringe, unserious crackpot. Pushed at one point in the endorsement battle to describe his kind of republicanism, Bills bleated that he was a Kurt Bills republican, a heretofore unknown sort of republican, notable, apparently, for its shape shifting capabilities and breathtaking insincerity. Ciphers now had their own kind of republican.

Bills handily won the endorsement of a Paul dominated MN GOP state convention on the second ballot. Both challengers--Dan Severson & Pete Hegseth--declined to appear with him on stage as he accepted the endorsement. Even for the slow of thought in the Minnesota republican party (and various sundry elected officials who endorsed him) this refusal to be tainted by a Ron Paul sock puppet should have served as a profound and disturbing warning.

But no.

In the ten days or so since Hennepin County Commissioner & RNC man Jeff Johnson grossly misjudged the current state of affairs and lectured those at the convention who reject Paulism to "get over it," (the phrase has taken on a mocking life of its own on Twitter) a few things have become increasingly clear. Far from this simply being another endorsement battle with differing wings of the party needing to come together, the 35% of the delegates who were not members of the cult (or their enablers: well known republicans who fawned to get their picture taken with Paul and lost the respect others had for them) saw clearly this development was different in kind, not degree. That people as bright as Johnson could otherwise be so comprehensively obtuse in their assessment only added to the general discouragement.

Perhaps this could get their attention:

"If there’s one thing that the 2012 campaign has taught us about Ron Paul, it’s that he is a bald-faced liar. Not just a run-of-the-mill liar like most politicians, but a liar so shameless that only the most slavish of devotees could maintain respect for him."

Well yes and some of us were unfortunate enough to see the slavishness up close and personal for two days which, Inception-like, felt like a month.

The quote is from James Kirchik who has written extensively on the liar Ron Paul. Could any of our so called leaders in and out of the party be bothered to read his work? MC has already provided many links to his work at The New Republic (which Paul zombie Terry McCall emailed was a washed out and discredited magazine).  The quote above comes from a review by Kirchik of a recently published fatuous and myopic book on the so called Ron Paul revolution (the very definition of preposterous). MC understands why dullards like McCall can't be bothered with the truth but what's the excuse for so many others? Political malpractice? Kirchik is deadly in his assessment:

"The lies [the author] can’t bring himself to acknowledge, let alone criticize, concern the notorious newsletters that the libertarian guru Paul published from the late 1970s through 1996, the bulk of which I uncovered and exposed in a 2008 article for The New Republic. The full contents of these “bigot-grams,” as the Dallas Morning News referred to them, need not be fully rehearsed here, but needless to say they are replete with ugly statements about gays, blacks, and Jews, not to mention endorsements of a variety of quack scientific claims, support for the right-wing militia movement, and defenses of such loathsome individuals as David Duke, Marge Schott, and Bobby Fischer.

Paul’s acknowledgment of his involvement, or lack thereof, in the newsletters, evolved from a defense of their contents in 1996 to telling CNN in December of last year, “I’ve never read that stuff.” A former secretary of Paul’s told The Washington Post, however, that Paul “would proof” the newsletters, a claim seconded by another erstwhile aide. It is frankly inconceivable that Paul was unaware of what was being produced in his own name and to his massive personal enrichment."

The entire review can be read by clicking here.  But why re-raise what MC has raised previously?

Because in recent days the mask has slipped and what those with a functioning cerebral cortex knew all along was revealed for all to see: Kurt Bills is a Ron Paul republican. In fact, MC isn't sure Ron Paul himself is a republican; he's more of a cult-based cottage industry preying upon the paranoid and the conspiracy minded. He suggested his followers could well vote for Cynthia McKinney for president in 2008 although ultimately he himself endorsed the Constitution Party candidate. Only by the most dishonest--that word again--use of republican could one claim Paul to be.

Bills has endorsed son of the great leader Rand Paul's budget blue print. Really? Not the respected and deeply serious Paul Ryan's? Of course not: you're dealing with a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ron Paul movement. Bills won't have an original idea of his own this election because the borg will not let him. This is so banal, so underwhelming and tawdry that calling it a Faustian bargain would be an upgrade. Kabuki doesn't deserve to be denigrated by employing it as a metaphor either. Don't bother to raise the obvious creepy nepotism: all is well within the cult. The secret knowledge possessed of the laughable "liberty" types is by nature not available to the masses and so passage of it from father to son is in the order of things if Americans are eventually to take the red pill and see the matrix for what it is. MC does not exaggerate.

Bills also announced, in a tip-credit sort of dis-associative moment, that foreign aid should be capped and four federal agencies should be eliminated altogether. Who can doubt this is what Minnesotans have been clamoring for? Who can doubt that these positions have radically changed the senate race in Minnesota and has Amy Klobuchar on the run? Pretty much everyone outside the Bills Borg.™ But no matter.

Rather than ascertain what an underfunded candidate can do to maximize his appeal to the voters of Minnesota, and raise desperately needed money, Kurt Bills has mocked even his supporters of last resort by clearly signaling he's a willing tool in the programmatic Paul movement. Winning is not of the slightest concern to them. When both parties are the same, how could winning matter in any fundamental sense? Bills will be told to run, and consequently will run, a campaign to highlight the many ludicrous positions espoused by Ron Paul. Think of it as the largest state based infomercial in the history of modern politics.

Don't think of it as anything that can help Minnesota republicans keep either of their majorities in the House or Senate. Something new to help in that effort is being born currently and will be announced in greater detail soon. But it's in spite of Bills, not because of him.

The usual suspects on Twitter are trying to fall in behind Bills, to castigate in a friendly manner those who see what's truly going on and to pretend they've seen this movie and how, with a bit of extra effort, the ending can be the same as before. But they haven't seen it and the ending won't be as hoped.

The only real question is whether Bills will lose to Klobuchar by less or more than twenty points and how much damage to what's left of the party is done by those who hold it in contempt.

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.

Ron Paul Cancer On The MN GOP Body Politic

Congressman Ron Paul is a career politician with no legislative accomplishments to his tarnished, crackpot name. Representing Texas's 14th congressional district, Paul has a long track record of loony ideas few responsible people hold. He's an anti-semite and hostile to blacks and other racial minorities. He has repeatedly praised white supremacist David Duke over the years. His newsletters are full of vile and paranoia. He advocates a feckless foreign policy, whining in his trademark nasal pitch that we should leave the world alone because it will then leave us alone. Ignorance is rarely this invincible. He blames America for the 9-11 Islamo-fascist attacks. He and large numbers of his followers believe it was an inside job. Or, if it wasn't, then it makes no difference if it was caused by Islamic terrorists or Mossad. Lovely but such is the stench of his mind set. [click the image above to enlarge it; you'll be glad you did]

The New Republic (filled with Jews you know) published a series of articles that vetted Paul and his Julius Streicher newsletters. The idea that they were published without his knowledge, consent or approval has been conclusively refuted. The initial article can be read here; the second follow up one can read here & the third and final one here. Google Ron Paul newsletters, Ron Paul Jews, Ron Paul David Duke. You'll think your toilet backed up into your mind.

Paul's juvenile brand of libertarianism appeals to both a wide and narrow group of devotees. Most can be justly categorized as neo-hippies. Not too bright, reflexive, not previously engaged in politics for the most part. Their body odor at the MN GOP CD 3 convention was staggering. One national alternate from that fiasco had never voted before. You read that right. Another who was elected to its executive committee has already quit; too busy doing something else. MC can only guess what that might be but will be charitable, a rare instance when it comes to what MC calls the Paul zombies.

The Paul notion of liberty is classic arrested development: unfettered individualism, a genuine sense of grievance that not everything goes. No legal heroin? Dictatorship! Raw milk regulations? Oppression. The word tyranny is dropped at a moment's notice. To live in America and pretend to feel this put upon is disgusting. But the victimization mentality is key to understanding the zombies, especially how the ones in Minnesota have executed a blitzkrieg during the caucuses and CD conventions, to say nothing of taking over various party structures themselves.

In a word, the zombies routed real republicans. Much umbrage is taken when MC calls them not republicans but they themselves do not consider themselves such. Take them at their word, not their smoke and mirrors. Any party official who thinks they can be worked with is grossly mistaken. To cooperate is to be co-opted. Indeed, it could be said that trying to work with these fringe nutters is what has led to this month's wipe out in delegates going to the republican national convention in Tampa this August.

The dealings at last week's CD 4 convention are instructive. The zombie delegates were prepared to take out the CD chair and the leading candidate for the state executive committee. Pat Shortridge, Matt Dean, Pat Anderson and others attempted to broker a deal. They apparently stressed that those two positions were a bridge too far for the friends of the friend of David Duke. Leadership infrastructure was being cannibalized. Discussions with the highest levels of the Paul national campaign ceased when the zombies demanded the removal of one or more key persons involved in planning and organizing the RPM state endorsing convention next month in St. Cloud. Consequently those two positions were won by zombies. Neither are what one might call impressive.

At one point MC (sixth alternate from SD 65, thank you) walked back into the convention when people running for elector to the Electoral College were giving their nominating speeches. Some yutz was explaining that he wanted to be an elector because only the Electoral College has standing to challenge Obama's birth certificate.  A birther. It was the low point of a very low day. The zombies thought nothing of it. Then again, why would they?

MC had a discussion with RNC committeewoman Pat Anderson after the convention gathering was euthanized. She believes the zombies can be worked with; MC believes they need to be purged. Most non-Ron Paul supporters side with MC. Paul zombies routinely claim that there is no difference between Obama and Romney. How does anyone work with a mind that closed? Ron Paul is a cult and an understanding of cults is your best guide to understanding how the zombies work.

The cancer has infected the race for senate as well. Hand picked by Anna, the head Minnesota zombie, Rep. Kurt Bills is in over his head and it shows. Did he not vet Ron Paul? Apparently not. He approached MC when standing next to Andy Aplikowski at last week's senate debate. He got an earful about Ron Paul's Jew hating and generally kooky ideology. He didn't know Paul endorsed Cynthia McKinney for president in 2008. The teacher failed his test and retreated into the safety of the zombies in attendance. True to crackpot form, Bills would not endorse strong support of Israel. This is an ideology foreign to republicans and conservatives. If you don't want to support Israel, Obama's your guy.

Speaking of not supporting Israel, Allen Quist, vying for the endorsement in Minnesota's CD 1 against Mike Parry, allegedly stated last weekend that he would cut off funding for Israel. That's ok, you see, because he'd cut it off for all other countries. Right. The Kurt Bills supporters threw in behind Quist, no surprise given their hostility to all things Jewish. But Michele Bachmann has endorsed Quist. Speak up, Michele. MC can't quite hear you. 

Rumor has it that the freak himself may address the state convention. In that case, a dignified walk out by everyone who has a shred of self-respect and dignity should take place. Shouting Paul down or protesting with signs and noise is a tactic of the left, with which the zombies have far, far more in common than with the right. If Kurt Bills gets the endorsement then Dan Severson and Pete Hegseth should both run in the primary. MC despairs of such courage from either man, however. They seem to think the endorsement matters and that to primary is to end their political careers. The exact opposite is the case, however. They claim to be leaders. Lead already.

Paul zombies have remarkably short attention spans (insert favorite drug addled brain joke here) and that is one cause for hope. But it will not be enough to reclaim the party structure for mainstream republicans. They have to be taken back one battle at a time. This means activists can't completely despair. Take a break from the action while the zombies re-arrange the deck chairs? Certainly. But don't go down with the ship. There are lots of lifeboats bobbing around that will gather again to put the party right. Edamame republicans.™ Candidly, however, given the collapse of republican leadership, coupled with with zombie cancer, the destruction of the Minnesota GOP is almost complete.

More than 30 House members have endorsed Kurt Bills. His Senate supporters are said set to be announced this week. What are they thinking? With Bills at the head of the ticket in Minnesota, the majorities in both chambers are further imperiled. Then again, their endorsement is a joke: these are the same people who elected current legislative leadership. Could every incumbent republican please quit and we run different people?

A number of unfortunate events have come together to bring the MN GOP to its current sorry state. They have been amply detailed here, on other conservative and liberal blogs, in the national and international press. MC means to belabor nothing. It is worth noting, however, that the caucus system is a relic of the past and needs to be replaced by a primary. Activists have come together to support what Derek Brigham (@DerekBrigham on Twitter) has suggested: go to a primary, let the party apparat focus on what it does best, outsource the rest. In other words: follow the left model. There's never been a better moment to implement this idea.

The zombie cancer won't kill but the cure will be unpleasant. So be it.

On top of all this Andrew Breitbart is still dead.

There is no God.