R.T. Loses It



We're in the midst of our municipal election cycle here in Minneapolis, and the incumbent mayor R.T. Rybak is facing a challenge from another Democrat, Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin. Saturday, May 14th is the Minneapolis DFL convention ("DFL" is short for Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, which is what we call the Democratic party here in Minnesota).

Minneapolis is overwhelmingly Democratic, so the contest is between wings of the DFL. This is an over-simplification, but R.T. represents the white-collar, "limousine liberal" part of the DFL, and McLaughlin is more of a traditional, labor-supported DFL'r.

The race is heating up, and there have been a flurry of attacks back and forth leading up to Saturday's convention. R.T. is now robo-calling delegates to the convention, accusing McLaughlin of making "Republican-style" attacks, and urging people to go to his website to check out the "truth."

So I went to R.T.'s website to check out the "truth." Here is the link. What I found what a brief repetition of some facts in response to claims that crime is up, etc., and the following outrageous statement:

"Don’t let the right-wing scare tactics of Karl Rove and his allies scare you away from participating in your democratic process."

R.T. has, in so many words, asserted that Karl Rove and Peter McLaughlin are "allies." Only one of two thing are true: (a) either R.T. really means this; or (b) the statement is outrageously sloppy. In other words, the actual truth value of the statement is distorted or diluted in an effort to punch up its rhetorical/emotional impact (something which R.T. has repeatedly done before).

Only the second possibility is plausible. It is inconceivable that R.T. actually believes Karl Rove is working with Peter McLaughlin to defeat him. Which in my mind makes the charge even more egregious -- making this kind of wholly fictitious claim, a far worse violation of political ethics than any charge or claim that Peter has made about R.T.

I supported R.T. in 2001. In fact, if I knew then what I know now I would still have supported R.T. Four years ago the municipal reset button needed to be pushed.

But this is 2005. And in the last four years we've learned R.T. is prone to over-the-top rhetoric which places him at the center of all that is good and light, and casts any opponent into the dark chasm of "politics-as-usual." This shopworn rhetorical device is now totally detached from reality.

The real news story here is R.T.'s irrational and paranoid response to Peter's criticism. At a minimum it raises a big red flag about what a second Rybak administration might look like.

P.S. - Attached is a jpg screen capture of the page on R.T.'s website, if the actual page gets yanked later.


Posted: Thu - May 12, 2005 at 10:22 PM        

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