Tom Emmer Smacked Down By Mark Dayton

Republican Tom Emmer was smacked down by Democrat Mark Dayton when both appeared at Game Fair a huge show for hunters here after he asked about Dayton's previous F rating from the NRA.

Moderator Ron Schara had asked if anyone had any questions for the candidates, Tom Emmer responded, "I do! I do!" Well.. take a listen to what happened next. (I'll put the transcript below)



Tom Emmer: I do. I do. Ah, Senator Dayton you talk about deathbed conversions. Ive explained why I do the things I do. Ah, if you could just explain to me and everybody else here in the state of Minnesota, how is it that you can have an F rating from the NRA and you can sit up here and tell us that you’re gonna defend sportsmen’s rights, you’re gonna defend my right and my children’s right to hunt and fish in this state when you got an F from the NRA? Have you had one of your own ah, deathbed conversions? Well, we wont call it deathbed, but one of your own conversions that you’re sharing with us today?

Mark Dayton: Well, I had a D rating from the NRA in 1982 when I ran for the Senate. I had a two- an A rating in 2000. There were two principal votes you can look em up ah, when I was a Senator. One was ah, banning Cop Killer bullets. And, ah, one reason that I have the endorsement of the Minneapolis Police and Peace Officers Association, Representative, is because I respect the law enforcement men and women. I was on a ride-along last week to, as Ive been several times with a police officer in St. Paul. And those guys wear bulletproof vests every time they go out there. Men and women. And anybody who wants to go out there and see them put their lives on the line to protect us.

And when the police chiefs and the police officers of this state and this nation send to us and say, Those bullets are made to kill us, then yeah, Ill vote to ban em. Does that prevent a law-abiding hunter or fisher, a hunter in this state from, from going out and hunting and fishing? Absolutely not.

How many of you, how many of you own Cop Killer bullets and use em against police officers? Raise your hand. How many ever fire a Cop Killer bullet against a police officer in this state? Raise your hand. Nobody’s, Representative Emmer, nobody. Nobody. And they shouldn't ever happen.

Now I'm going to a, a service, I'm sure you are too sir, next week for a sheriff, a deputy sheriff, in this state, who gave his life, a Maplewood police officer who gave his life. Men and women who die. And their children and their wives suffer for the rest of their lives And if I can prevent one police officer in this state from dying through a Cop Killer bullet I will do so as governor of this state. And I will at the same time support the right of every law-abiding Minnesotan to bear arms, to possess firearms as I do, use those for lawful purposes. And to insinuate otherwise is just, just untrue.

As always, many thanks to The Uptake for their invaluable coverage of Minnesota politics!

We Should All Have A Boss Like This

Yesterday, AFSCME in Minnesota endorsed Mark Dayton in the race for governor here in Minnesota.

Now putting aside my feelings for how early it is to be endorsing anyone, especially considering a few weeks ago the biggest Teamsters local here endorsed someone who hasn't even declared his candidacy yet, I have to make a comment about Mark Dayton.

Mark Dayton is someone I don't agree with all the time. Sometimes, he just seems a wee bit to out there for my taste. I've been lucky enough to meet him on several occasions, and he genuinely believes what he believes. I like that in politicians. You know,a person who actually states their beliefs and values and then stands by them, consistently? Not enough politicians like that in my opinion, but I digress.

In reading some of the various commentaries in the comment section of the articles about his AFSCME endorsement, I noticed that several folks made comment of how cowardly Mark Dayton had been when he closed his Senate office after 911.

At the time it happened, I think I developed the mentality of the crowd and agreed with this knee jerk assessment.

But then in April of this year, I read an interview with Mark Dayton, where he stated:

"I acted to protect my staff," said Dayton. "The intelligence I saw made 9/11 pale in comparison. The likelihood of an attack against Washington was heightened. I didn't communicate my decision as well as I should have, but we senators were leaving for the recess anyway and it would have been immoral and unethical to leave the staff members there unaware of the threat."

and

"Everyone else played Russian Roulette with the lives of their staff members," said Dayton. "I'm willing to stand alone in a decision and accept criticism later."

*the rest of the interview is here: http://www.minnesotabrown.com/2009/04/mark-dayton-minnesotabrown-interview.html

I owe this man a public apology and now that I have started this blog, here it is:

Mr. Dayton, I am truly sorry. You did not deserve the anonymous venomous wrath that I and others brought your way in our 'we don't care what the facts might be' frenzy.

I wish that I could convince myself that my reaction was due to the terror of those days but while that might be a reasonable excuse, it is still nothing more than an excuse.

Thank you for what you did. We should all have bosses who care about people as much as you do.