GEOFF MICHEL SLIPS PRECIPITOUSLY!

That's the word from the Taxpayers League of Minnesota. More to follow as details become available! Stay tuned!

Borene's writings about Iraq and veterans . . .

Some of the veterans in Operation Truth have a page on the site with a short biography and a link to some of that veteran's writings. You can find Andrew Borene's, DFL candidate for the Minnesota Senate, here.

Andrew Borene gets some nice ink . . .

Nick Coleman has been back on the beat after a few weeks parental leave. He has a great column today on why it is time to talk about the Iraq war as grownups. The reason for mentioning this here rather than on The Cucking Stool is that along the way Nick made some nice comments about Andrew Borene, who is running for the Senate seat currently held by Geoff Michel. An excerpt:

The troops are not coming home yet, but the war's fallout seems to be. And Minnesota may be one of the hot spots in a coming political debate over the lies that got us into war and the truths that must be faced.

"We're going to have a debate on Iraq," says Andrew Borene, an ex-Marine lieutenant who served in Iraq and wants to serve in the state Senate from Edina. "Bush and Rove and the neocons oversold the threat that Iraq made to the U.S. Now, the war is going to become a public issue."

If Iraq becomes part of a debate over the direction of this country, it will be because a new breed of candidates are taking off their uniforms and taking on the tough questions, criticizing the war and defending the troops. Candidates like Andrew Borene and Tim Walz.

Walz, 41, is a Mankato high school history teacher who recently retired from the Minnesota National Guard after 24 years of service, including overseas duty guarding an air base as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. He is gaining attention as a Democrat running against First District U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht, a pro-war Republican.

"This thing is a mess and people are starting to wake up," Walz says about the war. "They told us our troops would be greeted as liberators, that they would be home in six months and that we'd be building Wal-Marts in Iraq. We got in under false pretenses and now all they tell us is, 'Buck up.' "

"Buck up" doesn't cut it anymore. Voters want truth-telling.

"I'm only running for the Legislature, but I am getting more questions about Iraq than state fiscal policy or education," says Borene. "Iraq has become a huge issue on people's minds. People don't feel they are getting the honest story about what's happening, or why the troops aren't getting what they need."

Borene, a fresh-faced 30, was a Marine intelligence officer in the invasion of Iraq. Now he plans a run as a DFLer for the state Senate seat held by Geoff Michel, a conservative Republican who marches to the tune of the Tax Evaders League, the "no new taxes" gang that won't be happy until we are fighting for food in the ditches with clubs.

Spotty has called Taxpayers League Republicans "social Darwinist hunter gatherers," but Coleman's words are more colorful.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

A grave injustice . . .

Jim Ramstad held a town hall meeting tonight at the Edina City Hall. Spotty had a reporter in attendance, and you can read more about the meeting on his other blog The Cucking Stool. However, there is one thing the Congressman said that need to be mentioned over here.

Ramstad gave Geoff Michel a plug on transportation issues in Minnesota. Geoff Michel. Sweet Jesus, a good transportation bill passed the Minnesota Senate over the nay vote of every Republican in the Senate, including our own senator Michel. The bill passed, and the governor vetoed it. It was Republicans in the Senate and the House that gave the governor veto-proof margins.

To compound the felony, two of the handful of Republicans in the House who voted for the bill, Ron Erhardt and Neil Peterson, were also in attendance. In fact, Ron Erhardt chairs the Transportation Committee and was a major sponsor of the bill.

Michel did squat to promote better transportation, including transit.

Congressman Ramstad, you owe Reps. Erhardt and Peterson an apology, and you ought to set the record straight on your website and in a communication with your constituents.

Spotty gets a plug . . .

Spotty understands that the Senate District 41 DFL webpage has a post with a link to Spotty's site. If any of you are reading this blog for the first time because of the link, welcome. Spot tries to follow 41 politics with particular emphasis on the district's first-term senator, Geoff Michel. It is perhaps obvious that Spot thinks that Senator Michel should be replaced with someone more concerned, for example, about the education and transportation needs of the district.

Spotty hopes you will take some time to read some of his old posts that cover much of the last legislative term. He thinks you will find them illuminating.