Comments on: The battle for Pine County: Obama lost in the woods?

By: Thomas Kurhajetz

Thomas Kurhajetz — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 03:11:43 +0000

This article reminds me of Jon Stewart's answer to the question from Larry King in a May 2008 interveiw ' Is America ready for a woman or black president?'
Jon Stewart looked at Larry King quizically and replied ' That is such a non-question. Did anyone ask us in 2000 if Americans were ready for a moron?'

By: redon55

redon55 — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:41:20 +0000

I talk politics with my fellow residents of Pine County daily,and I do not find that Obama is “lost in the woods”.There are some concerns about Obama, but more often there are questions concerning points like these…1-every week we hear about the hell of post-traumatic stress on our combat veterans in Iraq, and how it will change mental health all their lives to have experienced trauma,Some of them saw only minutes or days in a state of trauma,but we are asked to put a person with 5 and 1/2 years of 24/7-365 unending trauma, and put his finger on the buttons that could destroy us all. 2-We talk about race as a real issue, and age as a source of jokes about McCain,but probably not a deterent to performance as a president.Few of us would care about the color of our doctor when we went to surgery,but do you want a 72 yr old surgeon? Hell I do not want a 72 yr old to change the oil in my car,why would I want one to make decisions in the most important job in the world ? Do the majority of us think that people retire because they are as sharp as they were at 30,and just want to take a long vacation,or do we all see ourselves slow down,and hurt, and become less than we once were? 3-If age and long term torture and imprisonment do not concern you, how about job qualifications? Some people rave on about a lack of experience.Let us say you run a business,and interview two applicants of the same race and age,One was last in his class at the Naval Academy where he recieved great training in Engineering and Aviation,and has somewhat more job experience than the 2nd, who was first in his class at Harvard Law with a further degree in Political Science, Oh yea we have to add that during applicant #1's job experience, he was percieved as a maverick with a short fuse and a heavy temper,and had a financial indescretion which caused some concern a few years ago,who do you want ? A lot of us have suffered these last 8 yrs because some put more stock in wanting to have a beer with your nation's leader than if he could chew and walk.That performance has lowered the bar conciderably for the future, but let us not loose track of what we want for a President in Pine County, and everywhere else.There are 300 million of us,and only one gets the job make the right choice this time.

By: David

David — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:52:16 +0000

Pioneer Press 8/14/08
Minnesota Rep. Mark Olson, a Republican who was booted from the House GOP caucus after he was convicted of domestic abuse last year, won local Republicans' endorsement for a Minnesota Senate run last week. But the Minnesota Senate Republican caucus will be supporting someone else and will not welcome him into the caucus if he wins, the caucus announced today.

A statement from the GOP caucus:

Over the last few years, too many Republican office holders, especially in Washington, were given a free pass for personal misconduct because they “voted right.” We could all recite the names. Well, it’s time we go back to holding people accountable.

By: ob_one

ob_one — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:09:17 +0000

I couldn't have said i better myself. Peterson is a liberal at it's finest. Obfuscating facts with hyperbole. She distinctly singles out Olson while ignoring her own parties transgressions. Unfortunately you have a lot of people out there snowballed by the “baffle 'em with bullshit” who buy into this drivel.

By: Rudy Takala

Rudy Takala — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:49:13 +0000

It's a little deceptive to state that Mark Olson is a "convicted wife-beater." He was acquitted of intentionally inflicted harm. Moreover, he and his wife are back together, and his wife endorsed him in front of the convention. I generally avoid taking potshots, but considering that the Democrats once defended Bill Clinton and now nearly elected Hillary Clinton, I think it is the height of hypocrisy to show such disdain for A) spouses who reconcile and B) to try to portray their party as one that spurns adultery. (Need I also bring up Eliot Spitzer, or has the point been made?)

I believe that the odds are slated slightly against Obama in Minnesota, but not because of racism. The reason is that northern Minnesota is very conservative, and particularly our own Congressional District 8. Jim Oberstar has continued to be re-elected over the years because he often votes conservatively on social issues. He often votes pro-life and pro-second amendment. (Unfortunately, he is also one of the most massive spenders in Congress.) Barack Obama is much more liberal than anything to which northern Minnesota is accustomed. Saying that gun-owning Christians are "bitter" and bigoted because they're poor didn't help him. If that was his central campaign message, he wouldn't win more than twenty percent of the vote in Minnesota. His ability to win this state will be contingent on masking what he believes on social issues. If he continues to come across as pro-abortion, pro-gay, anti-gun, and anti-"flyover country," he will go down in flames as badly as our local Wal*Mart shoppers seem to be suggesting that he will.

Now on a more local note: Make what case you will for Democrats, but it should not be that they support family values. Let me use Mark Olson and Tim Faust as examples. When Mark Olson presented an amendment that would've included the promotion of marriage in sex education, your Democratic Rep. Tim Faust voted AGAINST PROMOTING MARRIAGE. When Mark Olson offered an amendment that would've allowed instructors to present negative information about homosexuality, Tim Faust voted against it. When Mark Olson voted to allow individual school districts to choose whether to offer sex education, Tim Faust voted to FORCE school districts to teach sex education.

These may be your "family values," but they are not mine. The difference between us is that while I don't want to force my values on liberals, liberals are trying to force their values on me. It is the nature inherent to this contrasted worldview that produces Obama's biggest weakness: No one wants to have things forced on them by an individual who believes that he is better than they are. That problem may or may not cost Obama the general election, but I am more than comfortable in predicting that it will cost Obama Pine County by seven to eight hundred votes.

By: Barbra Peterson

Barbra Peterson — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:25:31 +0000

Mr. Demko, it's unfortunate that you didn't come to the Pine County DFL meeting, where you would've gotten a much different story. While Pine County republicans were busy drafting a letter in support of a convicted wife-beater, the DFL meeting , where we continually have new people signing up to volunteer for Sen Obama, we were busy discussing how to get more Obama lawn signs, we're running out! Also discussed was the great receptions we've had at the various parades throughout the county, many commenting on the fact that each year just gets better and better as far as crowd enthusiasm for the DFL float , and our candidates, grows.
Your article unfortunately painted a skewed picture of Pine County. Do we have racist bigots here, perhaps, but no more than any other county. Pine County has, for the most part, wonderful, loving people, unlike the few you interviewed at Wal-Mart. We definitely believe in strong family values, unlike one of the bigots interviewed, who thinks adultery is no big deal, and a political party unit who thinks a convicted wife-beater should be supported. We also have 3 of the finest DFL Legislator's, State Senator Tony Lourey, and Rep.'s Bill Hilty and Tim Faust.
Pine County DFL meets the 3rd Weds of every month, drop in sometime and see the real people of Pine County. Thank You, Barbra L. Peterson, Chair, Senate District 8