No one expects Minnesota's state political party chairs to pull their punches when they're reacting to news about the opposition. But even by that ungentle standard, the lines issued by DFL state chair Brian Melendez Friday to news that Gov. Tim Pawlenty would not be on the national GOP ticket were off the incivility charts.
A slap and a kick to go with it
August 29, 2008 at 10:22PM
The DFL chair seemed to show some sympathy for Pawlenty when he allowed that his rejection in favor of Alaska's Sarah Palin "is a slap in the face" by Republican nominee John McCain. But Melendez followed the slap with a kick when he opined that Pawlenty would have been an embarrassment in a debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, and that the Republican's governorship "has miserably failed Minnesotans."
Melendez could have welcomed Pawlenty home from the national campaign trail and reminded him of the problems in Minnesota that need gubernatorial attention. Instead, he forecast "two more years of an absentee do-nothing governor while Tim Pawlenty curries favor with the privileged elite," in advance of a presidential bid in 2012.
DFLers have months, and maybe years, in which to fling such rhetoric at Pawlenty. Doing so on Friday amounted to kicking a guv when he's already down.
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