Dishonesty and outright lying have been a feature of Republican Party politics in the last week. It started at the top. Take this statement from the Washington Post:
"President Trump wrote an opinion article for USA Today on Oct. 10 regarding proposals to expand Medicare to all Americans, known as Medicare-for-All, in which almost every sentence contained a misleading statement or a falsehood, including some that had been debunked in the past.”
Then take the Republican candidate for Attorney General, Doug Wardlow.
“The polls are looking good and we’re on a very good path. I think it’s because of the message. Everywhere we go, Minnesotans understand that the attorney general shouldn’t be political.”
So Wardlow says he’s going to be apolitical and just abide by the Constitution and he accuses DFL candidate for Attorney General Keith Ellison of wanting to make the Attorney General’s office too political. But Wardlow said this at a Republican Party fund raiser this week:
“It’s really exciting now to be in a position for the first time in a half century to take this office back,” Wardlow said. “We’re going to fire 42 Democratic attorneys right off the bat and get Republican attorneys in there.”
MPR played the taped audio of the comments on the radio. I could hear Wardlow laugh when he said it and his audience laughed and applauded his comments.
This hypocritical and two-faced campaigning is evident in Karin Housley’s campaign as well.
Housley has spent a pile of campaign funds criticizing Tina Smith for not throwing Keith Ellison under the DFL bus. She asks, Why hasn’t Senator Smith abandoned Ellison because of his girl friend’s allegation of one-time emotional and physical abuse.
“Tina Smith said Judge Brett Kavanaugh ‘committed sexual assault’ and called for a ‘quick and thorough investigation’ into the allegations made against him, despite the judge’s repeated, emphatic denials. But curiously, Tina Smith has chosen to believe Keith Ellison’s ‘categorical’ denials, affirming her support for him and openly campaigning with him,” Housley wrote on October 1st.
Housley’s statement above was made as part of a request that the Minnesota Attorney General investigate the abuse allegations against Ellison. This request after the DFL had investigated the allegations, the Minneapolis police had declined to conduct an investigation, and Ellison had asked the Congressional Ethics Committee to investigate him.
“It’s time to put an end to the hypocrisy and give Minnesotans the clarity they deserve,” Housley concluded.
Housley is an ardent supporter of Donald Trump who insults women, pays them off to keep quiet about his tawdry liaisons with them, and who brags about assaulting them. Not once has Housley asked that Trump be investigated or held accountable.
On October 6th Housley celebrated another Senior Republican Predator by saying:
“The United States is better off because Justice Brett Kavanaugh sits on the Supreme Court. Justice Kavanaugh is an extremely capable jurist who has spent his career dutifully upholding the constitution and the rule of law. I am confident he will continue that legacy on our nation’s highest court.
“When radical politicians like Tina Smith declare Justice Kavanaugh ‘committed sexual assault’ in the complete absence of due process, it allows anger, fear, and bitterness to become the primary motivation. Such blatant partisanship divides our country. That’s not how we do things in Minnesota – and we might take Tina Smith more seriously if she applied that same standard to her friend and far-left ally Keith Ellison,” Housley continued.
The standards for investigating Kavanaugh and Ellison have been equal or even somewhat more stringent for Ellison.
In Ellison’s case there has been plenty of time for more allegations to emerge. None have. Additionally, the DFL had plenty of time to conduct a thorough investigation and to conclude that the evidence against Ellison didn’t support the allegations. The DFL investigation had the potential to be partisan but both the DFL and Ellison have asked for third party investigations.
I conclude that Ellison is probably innocent but I’m open to hearing additional facts. For now, I plan to vote for him.
As far as Kavanaugh, there was a partisan investigation directed by the White House. The investigation was rushed and incomplete. An estimated twenty witnesses with information relevant to the to the investigation were not interviewed. More importantly, two to three assault victims stepped for to allege assault by Kavanaugh. In Kavanaugh’s case at pattern was emerging of inebriated assault. Finally, no extended third party investigation has been offered by Kavanaugh or the White House.
At this point, I’d say I suspect Kavanaugh to be guilty as accused but I’m open to additional facts.
But that’s not how Karin Housley sees it. Trump will forever be above any standards of guilt or innocence. He will be forever forgiven. Kavanaugh was always innocent because he was an extension of Trump. And Ellison will be forever guilty because he has criticized Trump.
It’s time to put an end to the hypocrisy and give Minnesotans the clarity they deserve.
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