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In a well-worn thread at MN Publius recently, Centrisity's ever-poignant Flash makes a good point in comment #25:
This thread demonstrates why the GOP wins the Governor's chair in what should be a Blue State. A bunch of Bickering loyalists blindly parroting campaign rhetoric without considerng the damage it may cause their opponent should they become the eventual nominee.
You all have a great time in Rochester, I'll be in the garage . . . . drinkin'
Mmmm....beer. The cause of and solution to all the world's problems. No, the point is generally well-taken - intra-party bickering, if we allow it to taint our views of the candidates too strongly, will lead not only to us as individuals not working as hard as we can to replace Tim Pawlenty with a DFL Governor, but this dispirited lack of action could in and of itself cause that DFL candidate to fail. We must not allow single issue disagreements with any of the three gubernatorial candidates to sway us from the knowledge that any of the three would be better than Tim Pawlenty. The same goes for our candidates for US Senate. The trolls who would have you believe otherwise are just that, and are missing the big picture. I accept no fiercely negative comment on any blog or message board as credible unless its author reveals either their identity or makes clear their political loyalties via explicit disclaimer.
That being said, I am firmly of the opinion that the reason the commonly held perception of DFLers and Democrats as cats in need of herding, own-children-eaters, whatever, is merely a product of history. If the Republicans spend a few years in the political wilderness, I submit that we might see a very similar scenario to what we saw recently in the CD6 GOP convention - lies, backstabbing, manipulation, etc. To send them into the wild so Minnesota can be brought back to the national fore as a progenitor of progressive success should be a goal around which we can all pull together.
