North Star Politics

It's been a slow few days. We'll make this NSP's first open thread.

I'm not as up on the gubernatorial race as I am on the Senate race. In fact, I know very little about the two leading candidates, Mike Hatch and Steve Kelley. In the left-wing blogosphere, however, there seems to be a huge amount of anti-Hatch sentiment, many believing that he shouldn't win, can't win, or both. I don't understand this; until recently, I'd never heard much negativity about Hatch. From what I have heard, seen, and read, it seems to me that Hatch is a solid if unremarkable Attorney General. I'd like to hear readers' thoughts on Hatch - go ahead and leave a comment or e-mail me (northstarpolitics(at)gmail.com) and tell me what you think about Hatch, his record, and his candidacy.

My one thought on the matter, keeping in mind that I haven't read up much on this race, is this: Mike Hatch has a record of winning even when DFLers do badly. Think back to the 2002 elections, in which Democrats nationwide did very badly and the DFL lost practically everything it contested. Mike Hatch was the only DFLer to win a statewide election. That suggests to me that there may be more to him or his candidacy than meets the eye.

Think about it, and leave your thoughts, please.

I'd like to congratulate Minnesota Democrats Exposed for his discovery of wrongdoing within the Minneapolis city attorney's office, where assistant city attorney Lois Regnier Conroy apparently used city computers for DFL work.

This kind of stuff isn't acceptable by either party, ever, and I'm glad that it's been uncovered. While NSP vigorously disagrees with MDE on a lot of things, MDE has clearly shown himself to be careful and thorough in investigating this matter. In this case, MDE has done a public service, and I thank him.

As bad as Gov. Pawlenty is, we can all take pride in that he's not THIS bad.

NSP's good wishes and prayers go out to Colleen Rowley and Sen. Becky Lourey, who are headed to Texas to join Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protest. Sen. Lourey lost her son, Chief Warrant Officer Matthew Lourey, in Iraq in May.

This is about courage. SPC Casey Sheehan and CW4 Matthew Lourey had it. Ms. Sheehan and Sen. Lourey have it. The President of the United States doesn't.

It has been an interesting couple of days in terms of abortion, as there was a story in the Strib and an MPR piece (audio) yesterday. Rew at Power Liberal also linked to an Avedon Carol post considering the "pro-life" position.

There is a serious need within the Democratic party to reframe the debate on abortion. I, for one, am sick and tired of letting the Republicans demonize us because we're for privacy and choice. Republicans, of course, are against both, yet they're not really pro-life either. A typical Republican these days might be anti-choice, pro-war, anti-stem cell, anti-assisted suicide, and pro-death penalty. They often oppose contraception. These positions, taken together, make no sense; they have no consistency as a platform. The GOP can charitably described as pro-birth. Of course, Republicans generally don't care about fertility clinics, where embryos can and are legally destroyed when not needed. Too troublesome to too many people, not worth the political consequences. Thus, Republicans aren't even completely pro-birth.

It's high time for Democrats to start working harder on this issue, and it sounds hopeful that this debate is going on inside Democratic leadership. Democrats should start presenting themselves as the party of life. After all, Dems are often anti-war, pro-stem cell, anti-death penalty, a consistent position. We're against overreaching government restriction of abortion, and in favor of making it safe, legal, and rare. Republicans are all about making it unsafe and illegal, but more necessary.

Finally, we need to stop talking about abortion in the same way. I, myself, am very strongly anti-abortion. I do not support abortion. I think it's wrong. I simply don't believe that abortion is something the government can flat-out ban. I know that this is the position of most pro-choice advocates. This being the case, we can NEVER allow ourselves to be caught saying "I'm pro-abortion" or "I support abortion." The message must always be "I support rights. I support privacy. I support freedom. I'm against abortion."

It's not really about changing our stance. It's about safe, legal, and rare: reframing the debate. As Avedon says: "We are the real pro-life crowd. Don't be afraid to say so."

The Shame of Minnesota has a post calling NYT columnist Frank Rich out on his obvious defeatism. Anybody who hasn't read Rich's latest column, "Someone Tell the President the War Is Over," should thank their lucky stars that they haven't been infected by the left-wing propaganda machine and avoid the article at ALL COSTS.

Update: Umm, ouch, forgot a link to the column propaganda. So added.