Minnesota Independent

Minnesota Capitol. Photo: Paul Weimer, Flickr

Rep. Hackbarth accuses union member of communism, invokes Hitler

By Andy Birkey | 06.13.11 | 4:32 pm

Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, courted controversy last week after he emailed a member of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) asserting that union members are communists and likening calls to raise revenues by taxing the top 2 percent of Minnesotans to the rise of Hitler in Germany and Fidel Castro in Cuba. The email prompted a sharp rebuke from MAPE, which asked Hackbarth to explain his comments.

Pawlenty ties for first in Beltrami County straw poll

By Andy Birkey | 02.22.11 | 8:38 am

While still a year out from Super Tuesday, Republicans in the northwoods held a straw poll over the weekend to gauge interest in the 23 Republicans rumored to be mulling a presidential bid in 2012 or a campaign against Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Beltrami County Republicans picked former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Mike Huckabee for the GOP nomination while Rep. Michele Bachmann was the favorite to take on Klobuchar.

Mound activists rile passersby with Obama/Hitler poster

By Paul Schmelzer | 08.27.10 | 9:09 am

The by-now-tired image comparing President Obama to Adolph Hitler shouldn’t shock after its over-use during last year’s tea party anti-healthcare protests. But a streetside booth set up in Mound, Minn. — featuring Obama with a Hitler…

Bachmann endorses conference featuring speaker who links Obama, Hitler

By Andy Birkey | 10.30.09 | 8:53 am

On Nov. 9, the Citizens Council on Health Care will host a fundraiser with a woman who says Obama’s policies are similar to those that brought the rise of Nazi Germany and that Obama could be paving the way…

Speaker for local rightwing fundraiser likens Obama to Hitler

By Andy Birkey | 10.15.09 | 12:20 pm

The New York Times noted on Monday that rightwing opposition to the Democrats’ health care reform plans contains plenty of references to Nazis. On Wednesday, a Minnesota-based, rightwing health care group offered a local example, announcing a former…

Demonstrators in Minneapolis raise voices in support of Iran protestors

By Chris Steller | 06.24.09 | 5:58 pm

The message on a Minneapolis street corner Wednesday was unmediated: VIVA IRAN. That and dozens of other slogans of the Iranian protest movement were carried on signs and on the mercifully cooler air that wafted through downtown, where a crowd of as many as 200 people gathered in a semicircle for urgent call-and-response chants.

Forget Franken v. Coleman: Franken v. Coulter is more fun

By Paul Schmelzer | 01.05.09 | 12:44 pm

With Al Franken poised to declare victory over Norm Coleman when the State Canvassing Board makes official his lead, unofficially at 225 votes, this afternoon, BoingBoing dug up an excellent video of Franken winning against another…

From ‘Nickel Bag’ to ‘Whinehouse’: Election ’08 write-ins

By Paul Schmelzer | 12.19.08 | 4:26 pm

I spent the afternoon clicking through the Star Tribune’s excellent database of challenged ballots in search of the ballot Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign reportedly questioned because the voter penned in a note of gratitude: “Thank…