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GOP candidate Jim Hagedorn removed posts from his “Mr. Conservative” blog prior to announcing his bid this morning for U.S. Rep. Tim Walz’s seat. But a review of scrubbed posts reveals a brand of humor that might not sell well in southern Minnesota, including jokes about the memorial service for Northfield-professor-turned-U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone just 11 days after he died.
According to the blog’s “about” page, Hagedorn’s “unique style of commentary mixes cutting humor, reflective analysis and hard charging commonsense to promote the brand of conservatism established by America’s Founding Fathers, reintroduced by Senator Barry Goldwater and perfected in modern times by President Ronald Reagan, the author’s hero.”
But some of that cutting humor was cut, sometime after Oct. 16, 2009, according to Google’s cache of the site.
On Nov. 5, 2002, Hagedorn’s nationwide election analysis included a note of optimism for Minnesota, which he assessed was “actually showing signs of rejoining the Republic.” He wrote [Google cache; pdf]:
Until Paul Wellstone’s plane crash, DFL Trotskyites were confident the Senator would soar [emphasis his] to victory over Norm Coleman…
Then he joked about fumigating the arena that hosted Wellstone’s memorial service, after mourners — which he surmised included pedophiles and “tree huggers” — left:
About the memorial service. Was it just me or did it not seem as if someone bailed out the union thugs; tree huggers; abortion rights feminists; peaceniks; citizens for gay animal rights; NAMBLA members and the other Marxist sympathizers who protested at last month’s IMF meetings, and transported them to Wellstone’s memorial in a slew of green busses? Talk about lefties all in one convenient location. Hopefully after the ceremony they fumigated the arena.
He concluded the section with a prediction — a Walter Mondale win in the Senate race that Norm Coleman eventually won: “Goofdale will win, something like 50 – 46 with the independent parties taking the remainder.”
As mentioned earlier, the post also includes an analysis of the 2002 race in South Dakota, in which Hagedorn wrote of voter registration irregularities on Native American reservations:
Voter backlash against the Democrat’s (typical) election-stealing maneuvers will be the margin of victory for Thune. Leave it to liberals to ruin John Wayne’s wisdom of the only good Indian being a dead Indian.
A Nov. 7, 2000 post, also scrubbed, accurately predicted a win by Democratic Senate candidate Mark Dayton, while jabbing fellow Republican Rod Grams: [Google cache; pdf]:
Now, you arrive for work at the Senate and in the first days you do which of the following to solidify your long-term political viability (please choose one):
1. Divorce your wife of 25 years
2. Make a public statement that you are banging your chief-of-staff
3. Remind the Republican establishment and the voters that you are really an arrogant SOB
4. Clean up your act.If you chose D you are definitely not Republican Senator Rod Grams and could have maybe figured out a way to win reelection. Senator Grams, on the other hand, tried his best to achieve A, B, and C before casting his first vote. Thus, liberal self-financed Mark Dayton, not an attractive candidate, is going to the Senate.
(Ironically, Hagedorn’s own father, former 2nd Congressional District Rep. Tom Hagedorn, was implicated in a sex scandal himself: According to a United Press International story of Dec. 10, 1988, available on Lexis-Nexis, former Washington lobbyist Paula Parkinson told CNN’s Larry King that she’d had sexual relations with six Republicans who’d served in Congress, including the elder Hagedorn. )
The site erasures — first noted by Bluestem Prairie — bring to mind the case of another First District Republican, Gil Gutknecht, whose office tried twice in 2006 to remove references in his Wikipedia bio to a 1995 pledge he’d made to only serve 12 years. He broke that pledge in 2005, but lost the race to Rep. Tim Walz.
Hagedorn has not responded to the Minnesota Independent’s request for comment.
Related:
Walz challenger Hagedorn says Dems are ‘driving us toward European socialism’
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17 Comments »
Comment posted December 2, 2009 @ 3:32 pm
Typical name-calling politician. The man with the ugly brain in the ugly body.
Pingback posted December 2, 2009 @ 3:56 pm
[...] seeking the GOP nomination for congress against Tim Walz today. As noted at Bluestem Prairie and Minnesota Independent, he has scrubbed some entries from his blog entitled Mr. Conservative. Through these posts, [...]
Comment posted December 2, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
He is not a very nice, or classy, or even civil person. Why would the voters of the Mn 1st want this shrill partisan to be their thoughtful advocate in Congress?
Pingback posted December 2, 2009 @ 5:21 pm
[...] is an improvement over Quist in terms of Clown Car Syndrome, they might want to think again. As Paul Schmelzer reports for the Minnesota Independent: As mentioned earlier, GOP candidate Jim Hagedorn removed [...]
Comment posted December 2, 2009 @ 5:59 pm
Why didn’t MrConservative scrub his whole blog ?
In describing the MN 2008 Senate contest, he attacks Franken as a “New York transplant” and then writes “the long divisive campaign has exposed Franken as a humorless mean spirited jerk, not the kind that typically plays well with the easygoing Minnesotans.”
Before returning to Minnesota this summer, when did Hagedorn last live in Minnesota ? 1980?
That stated, I agree with Hagedorn’s assessment : “a humorless mean spirited jerk is not the kind that typically plays well with the easygoing Minnesotans.”
Hagedorn has nothing to offer except poor taste jokes.
Comment posted December 2, 2009 @ 11:21 pm
This is beyond uncivil. This is naked racism in the case of the Indian remark, and dancing on someone grave in the case of that soaring remark. This is a hateful man of no decency. At least his candidacy ought to motivate DFL voters to turn out.
Comment posted December 3, 2009 @ 11:46 am
Two thoughts:
Scrubbing your blog is about the stupidest thing you can possibly do. The comments were ugly, yes, but to run away from them is pure hypocrisy. Voters often forgive the former, never the latter. Besides, was he really stupid enough to not realize there are archives?
Second of all, this sort of thing had to be predicted when MDE’s own Brodkorb ascended to the rank of Vice Chair in his party largely on the strength of his blogging fame – despite the provable fact that very few people actually read his rantings in the first place. Many bloggers have a highly inflated view of themselves to start with, so the recognition given Brodkorb will certainly put stars in the eyes of a lot of people who have no business trying to make it in the real world. Hagedom is probably going to be part of a very silly trend.
Comment posted December 3, 2009 @ 1:59 pm
Jim Hagedorn seems MANIACALLY obsessed with gay sex. So much so, in fact, that it is not even possible that this man is a heterosexual just by how much he thinks and writes about gay men. I wonder why he never mentions gay women? I guess that’s OK because the girl-on-girl action is what gets most hetero men off anyway. So, as long as heterosexual men are getting their rocks off on something, all is OK with God. How wonderful!
One wonders if this ‘man’ is even a human being.
I guess we will have to find out once he is, inevitably, elected and worshipped in this ‘great’ nation.
Jeez. These days, I have NEVER been happier to be a gay American.
Look around at the hetero-alternatives. You guys are the best-of-the-best humanity has to offer, huh? Really???????
No thanks.
Comment posted December 4, 2009 @ 6:13 pm
Don’t scrub me bro.
Comment posted December 5, 2009 @ 2:10 am
It appears that Mr. Schmelzer has a position at the government subsidized Walker Art Center- or one of its affiliates. The same Walker Art Center that dropped AIDS tainted blood on its patrons a few years back. It is not surprising that the likes of Mr. Schmelzer would love a joke by Al Franken- and would find the same joke by Jim Hagedorn to be reprehensible. Partisan shills tend to be this way. OPM (other people’s money) is like a narcotic- and people like Jim Hagedorn would prefer the “artists” get real jobs- as in surviving in a free market by selling the fruits of their labor without involuntary forced subsidy from working people. Hence the venemous hatred toward Hagedorn. Humorless mean spirited jerk- the blog above says. That must be Franken. Ironic that HIS jokes are not mentioned here.
Comment posted December 5, 2009 @ 8:36 am
Your facts here are wrong (about me and and the Walker/Ron Athey case), but to correct them indulges your tactic of shooting the messenger instead of addressing the newsworthiness of the story. Like Franken and his comedy writing, Hagedorn’s presentation of his ideas to the world are fair game for public scrutiny — especially since he’s seeking public office, and especially since a candidate who touts his humor appears to have removed his humorous writing from public view. To try to impugn me is merely an attempt to distract from that. I don’t have “venomous hate” for Hagedorn, and I sincerely hope he’ll accept my offer to discuss his writings and candidacy.
Comment posted December 5, 2009 @ 9:29 am
Rest assured that I have read Hagedorn,s blog over the years and had many of the concerns expressed here. I put some of these very questions to Hagedorn in the past. The Wellstone funeral, for instance, became an embarrassing event for the DFL and for Paul’s legacy. It was abused as a political rally rather than treated as a solemn occasion. The DFL paid for this at the polls .The concerns about voter fraud on the Sioux Reservation was directing anger at those who engage in voter fraud- in this case they happened to be Native Americans/Sioux. He simply did not say the rather absurd and ridiculous bigoted comments attributed to him here.(HE used quotes of others in the historical past to demonstrate how these types of incidents allow some retro figures (in the past) to express rather biased views. The summation of the quotes that you attribute to Hagedorn are nothing more than the journalisitc equivalaent of a drive by shoting. I suspect that Hagedorn likely reworded many of his blog entries to attempt to prevent this abuse in order to engage in honest debate. Rewording would make it more difficult to attempt to smear his good name by taking statemens completely ouy of context- and then distorting them- and thus diverting attention from the real issues. This is hardly a novel approach- there is nothing wrong with honest and civil exchange of opinions and debate. Taking his statements completety out of context is an attempt to engage in character assassination and preclude an honest and thoughtful discussion. Rather pathetic. Oh, and by the way, does Acorn’s fraudulent votes for Hollywood franken concern you? Do the multibillion dollar bailouts of the Wall Street fat cats (both Bush AND big Obama donors) bother you? Do kids in the military being blown up for political purposes bother you? These matters are news- the rather pathetic and venemous attack on Hagedorn is not news. Hagedorn was (and is) vehemently opposed to these bailouts and the killing and maiming of American kids for political purposes-i.e. Obama’s headlong dive into the Afghan quagmire. Your journalistic drive by shooting of Hagedorn and your venemous hate appear to cloud your capacity to focus on the REAL issues of subsintance.
Comment posted December 5, 2009 @ 9:37 am
I have “venomous hate” for no one, and I challenge you to point out any language I used that would suggest I do. If you believe Hagedorn “simply did not say the rather absurd and ridiculous bigoted comments attributed to him here” — despite my documentation of them — then we don’t have much common ground to keep talking.
Comment posted December 5, 2009 @ 9:15 pm
Your drive by journalistic shooting of Hagedorn appeared to have a focus on the Wellstone funeral and the South Dakota voter fraud issue. My explanation and prior research points ouy why you are attempting to engage in character assasination by taking statements out of context in order to distort Hagedorn’s position. Many, including myself, thus have a factual basis to conclude that venomous hatred is a motivating force here. Indeed, if you are not open to truthful explanations, there is no basis on which to continue discussion.
Comment posted December 6, 2009 @ 1:14 am
Noel: All you’ve got is ad hominem. You bring up my employer of nearly three years ago and your factually inaccurate recounting of an art controversy there 15 years ago to impugn me. You talk of my “drive-by journalistic” practices and “venemonous hate,” yet offer no facts to challenge what I’ve laid out in an impartial way.
You’re correct: end of conversation.
Comment posted December 6, 2009 @ 2:49 pm
“Leave it to liberals to ruin John Wayne’s wisdom of the only good Indian being a dead Indian.”
When did John Wayne ever say this?
I believe it was actually said by Rep. James M. Cavanaugh, of Chatfield, MN, on May 28, 1868 on the floor of the US Congress. There were later claims that General Phillip Sheridan had quoted it to Comanche Chief Tosawi (Silver Knife), but Sheridan always denied this.
Hagedorn can’t even get his racist quotes correct!
Pingback posted April 6, 2010 @ 9:05 am
[...] to go with the outright lies and sexism, Jim — though it’s true that you’re not exactly unfamiliar with making outrageous statements. I guess with noted feminist Allen Quist running to your right, you have no choice short of [...]
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