Oh, Those Loony Voters… Minnesota’s Dem Rep. Peterson’s Offensive Statement: “I Don’t Talk to My Constituents Because They’re Nuts”
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on July 27, 2009
Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson (D) believes most voters that he represents are nuts
Not a good game plan, guys.
For Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota) to proclaim publicly that the voters he represents are mostly all loons, seems exaggerated, delusional, and rather loony on his part. And false-bravado cowardly. All leading to the yellow-brick road to political career suicide. Deservedly so.
Is it hubris season, Bugs Bunny?
From Hot Air:
Peterson: I don’t talk to my constituents because they’re nuts
By Ed Morrissey | July 27, 2009
The Minnesota GOP took notice of an odd statement from Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) in a Politico piece on the Birthers. They want Peterson to apologize for calling a quarter of his constituents Truthers and claiming that he can’t hold town-hall meetings in person with the other seventy-five percent:Out-party politicians have long had to deal with conspiracy theorists on their side — the people who think that the Clintons killed Vince Foster or that the Bush administration helped orchestrate the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Twenty-five percent of my people believe the Pentagon and Rumsfeld were responsible for taking the twin towers down,” said Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat who represents a conservative Republican district in Minnesota. “That’s why I don’t do town meetings.”
Somehow I doubt that a full quarter of Peterson’s constituents are Truthers, or even ten percent. However, what if they were? Doesn’t Peterson have some responsibility to talk to his constituents to dispel those paranoid conspiracy theories? More to the point, Peterson should be answerable to his constituents, but I suspect that his reluctance to face them now has more to do with Peterson’s support of Obama’s agenda on cap-and-trade than it does with him being frightened away by conspiracy theorists.
Either way, it’s hardly a profile in courage. Tony Sutton, the new GOP chair in Minnesota, wants an apology, and draws the same conclusion:
Collin Peterson must immediately apologize for the outrageous and offensive comments he made about his own constituents. By stating that ‘twenty-five percent of my people believe the Pentagon and Rumsfeld were responsible for taking the twin towers down’ and that’s ‘why I don’t do town meetings,’ Peterson revealed just how out of touch and disconnected he has become in Washington. Given his liberal voting record, the real reason Peterson doesn’t hold town hall meetings is because he is afraid to face the residents of his district.
On the overall Birther issue, it’s becoming a problem for Republicans. We have people like Chris Matthews helping to fuel it, not because Matthews has objective journalistic instincts, but because he knows he can make all Republicans look like loons — and encourage more Birthers to get vocal. Just when we need all the credibility we can muster to fight against ObamaCare and cap-and-tax, it’s getting sapped by the conspiracy theorists.
Let’s focus on the fights where the evidence supports our position.
Related reading on pro-statist, anti-conservative issues and commentaries:
Hot Air: Megan Fox: If only we didn’t have these white-trash Bible-beating hillbillies in middle America and Nation: Obama in big trouble if unemployment rises further and Olby and guest on the Letterman saga: Palin’s kind of become the villain in all this, hasn’t she?
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Why Are Conservatives So Mean? and “Black Sphere” Anti-ObamaCare Site Hacked and Attacked by Statist Thugs and Stacking the Deck: Mental Manipulation of the Public — Leftist Mainstream Media & Politicians’ Use of Non-Stop Bias Tactics
John T. Simpson, Big Hollywood: Story and the Power of Conservative Themes in Film
Big Hollywood: Letterman Apologizes to Palin Family
Greg Gutfeld, Big Hollywood: Daily Gut: Letterman Should Apologize for Being Lazy
Ashley Herzog, Townhall: Liberal Sexist Pigs
Jimmy Arone, Big Hollywood: Bill Maher: Harmless
Michelle Malkin: Cap and tax liveblog: Democrats limit debate, stampede toward national energy tax and “He talks endlessly of moderation yet does not appear to live in the real world.” and Nutroots arithmetic and “Liberal Sexist Pigs” and Daily Kos diarrhist urges you to pray for Michelle’s death
Clinging to G & G: John Nolte on The Extinction of the Movie Star
Charles Winecoff, Big Hollywood: A-holes and Insects – or Mother Nature Doesn’t Care If You’re a Good Liberal
Doug TenNapel, Big Hollywood: I Now Pronounce You Government and Wife
Sweetness & Light: Sotomayor Began Race-Baiting At 19
GayPatriot: “The meanest people in American politics are on the left”
Big Hollywood Exclusives: Prejean Attorney Strikes Back: Carrie Has Fulfilled her Pageant Obligations and Prejean Attorney Fires Back: ‘Keith Lewis Cannot Deny Truth’
Michelle Malkin: An Invitation to Janeane Garofalo
Pursuing Holiness: That’s what the United Nations is for
Pam Meister, Big Hollywood: Mellencamp: First Amendment More of a ‘Collective’ Thing
ScoopThis.Org: Bill Maher smears the troops!
Knee Deep in the Hooah!: Bill Maher is a total jackass (but you knew that already)
Vets On The Watch: I Offer A Cannot Lose Bet
Greg Gutfeld, Big Hollywood: Daily Gut: Janeane and Prejean
Chris Stigall, Big Hollywood: Remember When SNL Was Funny? (Obama Ushers in New Era of Comedic Irresponsibility)
ButAsForMe: “Cut the Mike” — Steamed Contessa Brewer Says After Palin Defender John Ziegler Destroys Her Arguments and ‘Pathetic’: Sarah Palin Responds to Letterman ‘Slutty’ Joke; Talks About the Media’s Bogus Plagiarism Claim, Failure of Socialism, Sotomayor and Contessa Brewer Calls Carrie Prejean A ‘Hater’
Rantings of mine: Whatever Happened to Entertainment? SNL Used to be Funny, The Dixie Twits Used to be a Band
Pam Meister, Big Hollywood: When Reality TV Stars Go Bad, Who’s to Blame?
The Brad Blog: Video: 9/11 Hecklers Take Down Live Bill Maher Show…in Real Time
Noel Sheppard: NewsBusters: Bill Maher Sorry the Assassination Attempt on Dick Cheney Failed
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