The Minnesota Independent

1984 - Latest Stories

Bush’s torture-by-bug smells like rat method in Orwell’s ’1984′

By Chris Steller | 04.17.09 | 1:44 pm

picture-41The Bush “torture memos” that Obama released yesterday owe a heavy literary debt to George Orwell’s novel “1984.” The most blatant rip-off is the government’s now-famous plan to sic insects on captive Abu Zubaydah:

Red Lake has a knack for mattering in recount-tight races

By Chris Steller | 11.17.08 | 1:34 pm

Braublog notes that the purgers at President Bush’s U.S. Department of Justice may have been onto something when they targeted former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger for working to advance voting rights for Native Americans; turnout continues to

Rollins, ‘not bitter,’ clings to idea that votes of Minnesota’s ‘dead Indians’ denied Reagan ’84 sweep

By Chris Steller | 10.23.08 | 5:09 pm

On CNN’s “American Morning” show today, at the end of a segment titled “America Divided” — about controversial comments such as those made last week by U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann — anchor John Roberts asked commentator Ed Rollins, who managed Ronald Reagan’s 1984 presidential re-election campaign, “How did you screw up Minnesota?” (Minnesota was the only state Democratic challenger Walter Mondale won.) Rollins’ reply: “They voted a lot of dead Indians along the border. 1620 votes, I’m not bitter.”

Rollins’ use of the phrase “dead Indians” is disturbing — especially coming at the end of a segment that began with Bachmann’s labeling as “anti-American” the country’s first major-party African-American presidential nominee. By the most charitable interpretation, Rollins seemed to be saying that Native Americans in northern Minnesota who were ineligible to vote (or even actually deceased?) had thrown the election and denied Reagan a 50-state sweep.