Op-ed

Like other Minnesota pols, Norm Coleman likes to invoke the memory of the late Hubert H. Humphrey, whose Senate seat the Republican held until last month (and which he is now trying to regain in court). The latest example came in a newspaper column opposing the Senate stimulus bill in which Coleman claimed to quote Humphrey, deftly identifying himself with the legendary leader of Minnesota’s DFL Party. But signs are scant that Humphrey spoke those words — unless Coleman meant the other Hubert Humphrey?

The byline on the Strib’s Commentary page today reads, “By Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty.” And that’s the most interesting part of the op-ed, which revisits ground Newt and Tim covered last fall when Gingrich introduced fellow government shutdown vet Pawlenty for a horn-tooting keynote speech at Gingrich’s Center for Health Transformation.

So why now? Their [...]