Posts Tagged ‘Republicans’

Disinformation – Makin' Stuff Up, The RightWing Way!

August 5, 2009

That bloggers wrote about Michael Brodkorb’s blatant hypocrisy with regards to Colin Peterson’s decision to no longer hold Town Hall meetings is no surprise; MudSlingerMike’s pals at his old radio gig tagged him as being in charge of “special ops.” What is surprising is one member of the traditional media picking up on it. Monday’s St. Cloud Times Editorial noted:

Really, though, the worst out of all this is the state Republican Party’s attempt to turn his (Rep. Peterson’s) comment into a campaign issue. It plans to run advertisements about it across the district this week.

“Really, Collin, 25 percent of your constituents are so out of touch they believe the U.S. government caused 9/11?” the commercial says. “So you won’t hold town meetings? They’re not out of touch. You are.”

Then what about Peterson’s neighbor, the GOP’s own 6th District Rep. Michele Bachmann?

Except for one tightly controlled forum at which she barely spoke, we don’t recall any town meetings she’s held in this area since elected.(St. Cloud Times)

This causes the question – why would one of this state’s shrewdest (cynical?) political opportunists, the ol’ MudSlingerMike himself, take such a chance at being called out for hypocrisy? Well, not by the RightWingLeaning PiPress, and certainly not by the RightWingOwned Avista Capital Partner’s Strib – no, ol’ MudSlingerMike and the GOP knows how to shove them around – remember the film of Seifert dissing the Strib at the GOP Convention? But still, why would he do that?

Perhaps what’s happening at Town Hall Meetings elsewhere might be an indication of why MudSlingerMike is disappointed. Rachel Maddow has the report; let’s look!

(Link here if video doesn’t play)

Disinformation, and organized anarchy – which Rachel called “hooliganism” at Democratic Party Representatives’ Town Halls, and MudSlingerMike of the State GOP going after DFL Rep. Colin Peterson…..hmmmm….hmmm….

Hey! Is it possible that MudSlingerMike weighed the odds of bein’ called out by the Strib and/or PiPress (somewhere between “slim” and “none”) and figured it was worth the chance to try and shame Peterson into holding meetings, in order to practice the same disinformation and organized anarchy GOPers are getting to ply elsewhere?

We don’t know, but we do know that you cannot spell “dirty politicking” without “GOP”.

Link here, for the memo Rachel referenced.

Link here, for a picture of the known GOPers in a “grassroots uprising”.

Link here to watch Brodkorb’s blatant hypocrisy.

(hat tip to CrooksAndLiars.com)

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

Katie Kersten, boiled down: "It's the blacks' fault they're profiled."

August 2, 2009

It seems the Strib disabled “reader comments” under Katie Kersten’s bizarre screed today. Perhaps Strib misManagement knew – just KNEW – that Katie’s ideologically-driven “blame the blacks” ravings would ignite a flame war that even the Strib couldn’t stomach.

Kersten and her ilk hate everything that has to do with government; Kersten specifically has railed about “the nanny state.” In Kersten’s world and among those denizens, the only good government program is a cancelled/eliminated program. Keep that in mind, while you read how Kersten ends her diatribe:

It’s tragic that a small group of black Americans commit such a high percentage of our nation’s violent crime. But until this changes, we’ll continue to have a steady stream of Henry Louis Gates-like incidents. (Strib.com)

Amazing, isn’t it? Oppose every program that could possibly eliminate the problem and cause change (after all, government “is” the problem), but bemoan the lack of change.

Karl Rove would be proud of the fine job Kersten did today in demonstrating the basic principle underlying every single play in today’s GreedOverPrinciples playbook:

“More hate – less tolerance.”

So I’m not going to take the time to fisk the intolerant tripe Kersten serves up today; no one should – Kersten’s insenstive divisiveness speaks for itself.

Instead, I’m recommending everyone should forward that pathetic piece of rightwing rubbish to everyone they know.

Kersten and her clan advocate holding people “responsible” – by forwarding Kersten’s bile, you can hold both her AND her party responsible for the destructive divisiveness they preach.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

You Couldn't Trust The GOP Then, You Still Can't Now, And Tomorrow Won't Be Any Different

July 31, 2009

The title of the post, back on February 15th of this year, was: RNC’s Michael Steele: “You have absolutely no reason – none – to trust our words or our actions at this point.”

And that was BEFORE the crazy “birther” stuff, and a whole bunch of other bogus stuff slung by the GOPers nationally. Well, and locally too, by FEC Tony and MudSlingerMike. So, since some things never change, here that post is again – Michael Steele telling the world there is no reason – NONE – to trust what the GOP has to say.

Yep – that’s the RNC’s Michael Steele talking; talking to Glenn Beck. Beck was saying conservatives can’t trust today’s GreedOverPrinciples party; I submit NO ONE can trust today’s GreedOverPrinciples party. Let’s watch, and then – below the fold – I’ll elaborate:

**original YouTube pulled down; link here to watch**

OK, now, why can’t reasonable people (and conservatives, too) trust today’s GreedOverPrinciples party?

Let’s review just the past couple of weeks.

On CNN a while ago, some clown GOP Congressman was claiming that a Congressional Budget Office report concluded (in one variation of the various GOPer soundbites) that very little spending from the stimulus bill would occur in the first two fiscal years.

The only problem with that claim, that this and other various GOPers were making? There was no CBO report. HuffPo’s Ryan Grim fisked that one; I double checked, too.

The GOPer’s leadership simply made it up; the GOPer’s rank (and I mean “rank”) and file dutifully regurgitated it.

The Colorado Independent did a story about Trancredo’s clone replacement, GOPer Mike Coffman, who dutifully spewed that party line.

Locally, I’d be surprised if Kline, Paulsen, or Bachmann didn’t follow suit, but it’s a Sunday and I got stuff to do and I’m not going to take the time to check. So, I’ll go on to the next incident of Republicans You Simply Cannot Trust – and it’s on the same subject, The Stimulus Bill.

And this incident has to do with John Boehner, the Liar-In-Chief for the US House republiCons. I first saw this, over at Mercury Rising, so a hat tip is in order for Phoenix Woman. Here’s what she wrote:

Stupid And Evil, That’s Our Boehner!
Posted by Phoenix Woman on February 15, 2009

If anybody’s thinking of running against John Boehner next year, here’s some lovely oppo for ya!

Boehner recently uttered this slam against passenger rail spending in the stimulus package:

“Tell me how spending $8 billion in this bill to have a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is going to help the construction worker in my district.”

Turns out that 1) there is no line from LA to Vegas and 2) Ohio stands to benefit mightily from high-speed rail.

And, yes, Boehner actually said that – that there was $8 billion in the Stimulus Bill for a line between LA and Vegas, even though there isn’t. Boehner said it on the floor of the House; Boehner has it on his web page: “Tell me how spending $8 billion in this bill to have a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is going to help the construction worker in my district.”

I’m not going to talk about how Boehner is objecting that there’s no pork for his district, if there were a line between LA and Vegas; about how that would be an obvious example of hypocrisy typical in today’s GreedOverPrinciples party: objecting to pork ONLY WHEN THEY DON’T GET ANY – no, not me! I’m simply focusing on how reasonable people reasonably cannot trust republiCons like John Boehner to tell the truth – which is what new RNC Chair Michael Steele acknowledged, and you saw, in that YouTube above the fold. So, who’s next, you might ask?

Well, Minnesota’s own “Let’s Investigate Those Un-American Types In Congress” Michelle Bachmann!

Oh, wait – I just pointed out, just yesterday, how Michelle Bachmann made stuff up about how there’s $5 BILLION for ACORN in the stimulus bill. Well, and how Bachmann made the claim the good ol’ USofA is “running out of rich people”, despite the obvious results of the GreedOverPrinciples’ war on the middle class during these last 3 decades. And actually, there’s more outrageous stuff that Little Miss Hiding In The Weeds said; but again, it’s a Sunday….

So, let’s go back to that Boehner bit, for a second, and look at how a few GOPer Congressman are touting (yes, “touting” – according to McClatchey) the just passed Stimulus Bill:

GOP lawmakers tout projects in the stimulus bill they opposed
By David Lightman
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Rep. John Mica was gushing after the House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the big stimulus plan.

“I applaud President Obama’s recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America’s future,” the Florida Republican beamed in a press release.

Yet Mica had just joined every other GOP House member in voting against the $787.2 billion economic recovery plan.

Republicans echoed their party line over and over during the debate: “This bill is loaded with wasteful deficit spending on the majority’s favorite government programs,” as Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., put it.

But Mica wasn’t alone in touting what he saw as the bill’s virtues. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, also had nice things to say in a press release.

Young boasted that he “won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program and other Alaska small business owners last night in H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”

One provision would have made it harder for minority businesses to win contracts, and Young explained that he “worked with members on the other side of the aisle to make the case for these programs, and was able to get the provision pulled from the bill.”

Yet later in the day Young — who recently told McClatchy that he would’ve included earmarks, or local projects, in the bill if it had been permitted — issued another statement blasting the overall measure.

“This bill was not a stimulus bill. It was a vehicle for pet projects, and that’s wrong,” he protested.

That was more in line with the Republican message.

Young wouldn’t return a request for comment on the apparent contradiction of his press releases.
(more, here:Miami Herald)

Ladies and Gentlemen, these examples of republiCons making stuff up and dutifully repeating the made-up stuff are the obvious ones; they stick out without really looking.

But what is amazing, is the new RNC Chair, Michael Steele, saying about his party what reasonable people already knew:

“You have absolutely no reason – none – to trust our words or our actions at this point.”

It’s about time the GOP quit making stuff up, and I – for one – am glad the RNC Chair finally acknowledged that.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

"I'll take dirty politics for $200, Alex."

July 29, 2009

“Here’s the answer: In 2009, they ran the first negative ad for the 2010 Minnesota elections.”

“Who are FEC Tony and MudSlingerMike?”

“You are correct!”

Smart money was betting that with the election of Tony Sutton and Michael Brodkorb, the GOP was going down and dirtier. So far, those bets look like winners. Over 15 months out, and Sutton and Broadkorb seem bound and determined to make the 2010 elections the nastiest ever.

(crossposted from <a href="http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/diary/3675/ill-take-dirty-politics-for-200-alex&quot;MnProgressiveProject)

MudSlingerMike Tweets It

July 29, 2009

So, I see the tweet, from MudSlingerMike:

mbrodkorb The bad press continues for Congressman Collin Peterson; http://tinyurl.com/m3n23w; #mngop #mn2010

So, I link on the tinyurl, and read this:

But Republicans on Tuesday saw the gaffe as an opportunity to make headway in Peterson’s conservative Seventh Congressional District, which he has securely held for many years. In 2008, he won 72 percent of the vote.

Got that? Less than a year ago, DFLer Colin Peterson won 72% of the vote.

So, what does the intrepid Deputy Chair of the GreedOverPrinciples Party say about Colin Peterson?

“This has really I think energized activists in the area and is going to lend [itself] to a first-tier candidate coming forward to run against him next year,” said Minnesota GOP deputy chair Michael Brodkorb, adding that there has been an “absolute explosion” of interest in the seat in the past 24 hours.” (Strib)

Say, Brodkorb? An “absolute explosion” of interest in taking on a guy that just won with 72 percent of the vote??!?

Yeah, “right.”

And a “first tier” candidate to boot? Not gonna happen – no “first tier” candidates remain in today’s GreedOverPrinciples party. T-baggers and “birthers”? You got pawlenty. “First tier”? Not so much.

Oh, noticed this tweet, from MudSlingerMike, too:

RT @MinnPostRSS: Minnesota GOP ready to launch ad campaign against Peterson remarks: http://bit.ly/DByJR

Say, Mikey? Good luck with that “ad buy” you’re tryin’ to sell. When you say “five figure ad buy” that really means “$999.99 or less” – yes?

Although personally, I wish the GOPers would dump a coupla hundred thousand into the 7th, between now and the new year….

(crossposted from <a href="http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/diary/3669/mudslingermike-tweets-it&quot;MnProgressiveProject)

Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul & Dirty Tricks, Part 3: "When Soldiers Speak Out"

July 21, 2009

Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul has been discussed in the blogosphere quite a bit lately, concerning his use (mis-use?) of his @us.army.mil email account. Political Muse began writing about this back in early April. Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul recently exacerbated the issue by launching an ambush on Congressman Tim Walz – as discussed yesterday in Part 2 of this series.

The issue isn’t Dave Thul’s right to speak out; the issue is following established military rules, regulations, and protocol while doing so. In today’s edition, we’re going to look at an article from US Army War College, written by noted Army lawyer Major John Kiel, an expert in military free speech issues. The name of that article is “When Soldiers Speak Out: A Survey of Provisions Limiting Freedom of Speech in the Military”.

“When Soldiers Speak Out” was published in the August 2007 issue of Parameters while the national debate about the war in Iraq was intense. This debate was beginning to include active duty soldiers, as Major Kiel explains:

Remarks against the President (Bush) have become more prevalent among service members because they communicate through a host of mediums unfathomable to yesterday’s generation of fighting men and women. Soldiers frequently post digital journals, cell phone photos, and music videos on popular Internet sites such as YouTube and MySpace. A few techno-savvy troops even manage their own milblogs, or online personal diaries where they can communicate in cyberspace about virtually anything to virtually anyone.

That sure sounds like Major Kiel could be directly referring to Dave Thul, his personal blog, and his comments about President Obama and Congressman Walz, doesn’t it?

Major Kiel goes on to describe in his 14 page article specific cases and specific rules, regulations, and protocols involving troops speaking out while on active duty.

In his article, Major Kiel discusses but doesn’t link to Department of Defense Directive 1344.10, Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces. That Directive can be linked to, here.

In Dave Thul’s case, while on active duty is key. Clearly, according to this article published at the US Army’s War College, Dave Thul would be in some serious hot water over his actions — were he on active duty. Were he on active duty, Dave Thul could potentially face Courts Martial for his actions. The question is how these rules, regulations, and protocols affect members of the National Guard NOT on active duty – such as National Guard member and Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul.

So far, I have been unable to find rules, regulations, or articles about these questions.

Therefore, the questions raised have been brought to the attention of the Minnesota National Guard’s Public Affairs Office for clarification.

Stay tuned!

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul And Dirty Tricks, Part 2: A New Low

July 20, 2009

Last Friday, we reviewed an investigation into the dirty politics of John Kline, R=GreedOverPrinciples. The story focused on “transparency” – more specifically, lack thereof – and “accessibility” – and again, lack thereof – and John Kline.

And as disgusting as John Kline and his paid staff’s actions were, Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul actually acts worse. Yes indeed, Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul set a new low in the dirty tricks department last week.

For the very first time (that I’m aware of), an elected Republican official – Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul – actually did the dirty deed himself. And not only did Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul stage the ambush attack himself, he did it inside the office of his target.

As pathetic and disgusting as it was for someone on the John Kline gravy train to stand outside a Coleen Rowley campaign event and yell racial slurs – Mike Osskopp – or crash a Steve Sarvi campaign event and badger the candidate – Diana Bratlie – at least John Kline could maintain some kind of plausible (cough, cough) deniability: “Hey, it was just some staffers.”

Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul went lower than that: he did the deed himself, and he did it in Congressman Tim Walz’ offices.

Let’s look at the YouTube Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul shot, and then analyze exactly how UNtransparent Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul was.

Now, before we talk about how Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul’s attack was completely UNtransparent, it’s important to note that GOPers tried to SwiftBoat Tim Walz’ military record in his 2006 race against Gil Gutknecht AND in 2008 against Brian Davis. “tried” – as in failed, because the smear didn’t work.

Blue Man wrote about this just two days ago:

The attacks on Congressman Walz have started again. This time, a tool named Thul is attacking the Congressman on his military record, saying that Walz did not serve “in support of” Operation Enduring Freedom.

Yep, we went through this stuff back in 2006 too…and the response is the same. (Blue man in a Red District)

And Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul’s allegation regarding the picture is just as bogus, as I (tried) to explain to Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul last week; the sign does NOT read “Enduring Freedom Veterans” followed by “for Kerry” – the sign reas “Enduring Freedom” followed by “Veterans for Kerry.”

This discussion came up due to my investigation into Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul’s use of a @us.army.mil email account for political purposes; a subject to be addressed in the coming days…stay tuned! For a quick background on the origins of this issue, link here.

At any rate, Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul is as wrong about the picture as he is about Tim Walz’ record. That said, let’s look at Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul’s ambush attack at the Mankato offices of Congressman Tim Walz:

OK, let’s reveiw how and when Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul identifies himself during his ambush attack:

Start: I’m Dave Thul, …

0:32, I’m Dave Thul …

0:47, I’m Dave Thul, …

5:23. “I’m also a blogger…”

OK, remember at the beginning of that investigation of John Kline? You know, “transparency”? Was Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul transparent?

No (cheney)in’ way was Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul anywhere close to “transparent.”

Not once does Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul identify himself to Walz’s staff as an elected GOP official (Co-Chair of the Steele County Republican Party) even though there are four chances for him to do so in that 5 1/2 minute film.

Four chances, and not once – NOT ONCE – does Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul disclose his partisan party position.

That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is dirty politics – laying a political ambush and lying by omission – and even John Kline hasn’t stooped that low.

There’s more to this story, and it has to do with what Steele County Republican Party Co-Chair Dave Thul said at the 3:15 mark: “…we’re both National Guardsman ourselves…”

Stay tuned!

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

The Supreme Court Senate Confirmation Hearings, or….

July 14, 2009

…confirming the current state of today’s Small Tent Party.

Well, “Hypocrisy, Thy Party Is GOP” fits, too.

A big ol’ hat-tip to CrooksAndLiars.com for this one – and a big ol’ (cheney)in’ raspberry at the GreedOverPrinciples party for the racism they – as usual – put on display at the Sotomayor Hearings:

Does anyone see the similarity between what those good ol’ Senate GOPer White Boys are doing to Judge Sonia Sotomayor, and what the good ol’ State GOPer White Boys did to Representative Laura Brod?

Seriously – why would anyone that’s not an aging and angry white male belong to today’s GOP? The angry white males running the GOP hates EVERYONE that’s not EXACTLY just like them.

Senator Durbin: “Of the one hundred and ten individuals who have served as Supreme Court Justices throughout our nation’s history, one hundred and six have been white males.”

MADDOW: That was Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois speaking at today‘s confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama‘s pick for the Supreme Court. It is widely assumed that Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed. She will be sworn in as the first ever Latino to serve on the Supreme Court, not to mention only the court‘s third woman.

Which means Republicans in the Senate are using the Sotomayor hearings, not so much as an opportunity to block the president‘s nominee, because they know that pretty much they can‘t, but rather to demonstrate the character of themselves in opposition which, it turns out, looks a little something like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many of Judge Sotomayor‘s public statements suggest that she may indeed allow or even embrace decision-making based on her biases and prejudices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Already prejudiced against one of the parties.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allow biases and personal preferences – the wise Latina woman quote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your wise Latina –

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your wise comment –

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R-AL): Justice Sotomayor has said that she accepts that her opinions, sympathies and prejudices will affect her rulings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: If your irony-sensing ulcer is spitting bile right now, let me confirm that that last guy there was Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, accusing Sonia Sotomayor of having a prejudice problem.

That would be the same Jeff Sessions whose own nomination for a federal judgeship could not make it out of the Republican-run Judiciary Committee in 1986 after testimony that he had called the NAACP un-American and communist-inspired, had joked that he thought the Ku Klux Klan was OK until he found out members of the Klan smoked pot, and that he agreed with another lawyer who said a Department of Justice attorney, who was white, was a disgrace to his race because he represented African-Americans.

And those are the things that he admitted to saying and tried to defend. The charges he denied included the allegation that he told a black attorney he should, quote, “Be careful about how he talked to white folks,” and that he called a black attorney “boy.”

Now Jeff Sessions is leading the charge against Sonia Sotomayor on the grounds that she has a prejudice problem. And Sen. Sessions is doing it as part of the hearing process that is basically certain to result in Judge Sotomayor‘s confirmation, which means that Sen. Sessions, specifically, and his party generally, are using this opportunity to stand on the giant media platform that is a Supreme Court nomination to proclaim themselves to the nation as opposed to the first ever nomination of a Latino to the Supreme Court, mostly on the basis of questions about race.

(crossposted from MnProgresiveProject)

Hypocrisy, Thy Party Is GOP

July 13, 2009

Eric Cantor, R=Hypocrite, was on Fox News yesterday, trying – TRYING – to make the argument that after being elected on a “Family Values” platform, getting caught in, say, an “unFamily Values affair” doesn’t much matter in today’s GreedOverPrinciples Party. Let’s watch!

(h/t to CrooksAndLiars.com)

What makes this performance by Eric Cantor, R=Hypocrite, even more hypocritical, is the smear campaign directed at GOPer Laura Brod – allegedly masterminded by high-level state GOPers.

Transcript of Cantor’s We-a Not-a Culpa and a couple of thoughts:

WALLACE: Finally, when you’ve got Republican leaders like Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina or Nevada Senator John Ensign admitting to extramarital affairs and staying in office, questionable use of either private funds or state money, in the case of Sanford, doesn’t the GOP, with all its talk of family values, risk looking like a bunch of hypocrites?

CANTOR: Look, I mean, is anyone happy to see all that have happened? No. I mean, it’s not good. But listen. We have our thoughts with their families and they themselves.

However, look. The party is not just about personalities. It’s about ideas. It’s about our ability to go out and prove that yes, we can lead this country again. So we have got a plan. We are talking about the solutions that actually can address some of the problems that working people in this country are facing, and we’re going to do that over the course of the next 16 months.

WALLACE: But if you’re going to talk the talk, why not walk the walk and say, “You know what? They should step down?”

CANTOR: Well, listen. I mean, again, I say in the instance of the people in South Carolina and Nevada, it is up to them, and those are the elected individuals by those states.

And again, it’s not about, necessarily, these personalities. The direction of this country — and the challenges that we face are enormous. And we ought to be talking about how to go about creating jobs again. We ought to be talking about the things that matter most to people in this country.

WALLACE: Congressman Cantor, we want to thank you. Thanks for coming in today and please come back, sir.

Everybody catch that? Let’s do that again:

We ought to be talking about the things that matter most to people in this country.

Two Points:

One – if the situation were reversed, does anyone really think that Cantor would be saying the same thing about a Democrat that got caught with the proverbial pants around the ankles? and…

Two – while Cantor, a national high-level GOPer is defending Sanford and Ensign at the national level, it’s allegedly state high-level GOPers trashing Laura Brod at the state level.

Hypocrisy, Thy Party Is GOP.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

"…a Republican staffer in the Capital…"

July 9, 2009

That’s part of a line in a blogpost Andy Aplikowski made, and promptly deleted on June 30th, 2009.

Here’s the whole line:

Yes, that’s right, it appears that a Republican staffer in the Capital is trying to tank some of the condender’s on Seifert’s behalf. (emphasis NOT added)

The subject of Andy’s blogpost was the smear campaign against Laura Brod; Andy made allegations that the smear was coming from within the MN GOP. Specifically, Andy wrote:

The alleged culprits of the attack are Seifert supporters with speculation of the ringleader being the candidate himself.

Marty Seifert has denied personal and/or staff involvement as documented by Brian Falldin here and Political Muse here.

It’s important to note in Marty Seifert’s written response to Brian Falldin, Marty Seifert wrote:

I would ask anyone in question that allegedly has done this to open up to a lie detector test, open up cell and computer records and come clean.

One person that could come clean – and probably very easily – is GOP State Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb, owner of a blog where one of the smears appeared, on June 4th. This was discussed yesterday, here.

So far, GOP State Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb hasn’t stepped forward to aide Rep. Seifert in locating the culprit by handing over easily located IP records. This makes me wonder if it is possible that Andy Aplikowski could be refering to GOP Senate Caucus Communications Director Michael Brodkorb when he says a “…Republican staffer in the Capital”?

More importantly, after making such serious allegations, why is Andy Aplikowski now aiding in the cover-up by not stepping forward to clear the air? Does his silence indicate that he simply made it all up or does he still have information that he isn’t sharing?

Stay tuned!

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)