Friday, February 15, 2008

More on Tinklenberg's 08 announcement

Interesting post, don't agree with everything though.

Elwyn Tinklenberg announced last week that he will seek the DFL endorsement for Minnesota's 6th congressional district, so that he might challenge incumbent Michele Bachmann. What I find very interesting is a statement that Tinklenberg made last week, and which was played over and over as a sound bite on the radio.

Tinklenberg said that the 6th needed new leadership, citing three specific reasons: the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, and the 35W bridge collapse. Let's think about that.

Bachmann is in her first term. She took office in January, 2007 -- this year! Let's see, the Iraq War has been going on since 2003, Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 -- I'd say Michele Bachmann is new leadership since then! (And what does the 6th district congressman from Minnesota have to do with Hurricane Katrina, anyway?)

But the most interesting aspect of this is the 35W bridge, which, incidentally, is not in the 6th district.

I think it's the most interesting aspect, because do you know why Elwyn Tinklenberg's name sounds familiar to Minnesotans? No, not because he sounds like a character from Mr. Roger's "Neighborhood of Make-Believe," but because he was Minnesota's Commissioner of Transportation from 1999-2002!

Sounds to me like he already had a chance to exhibit his leadership when it comes to bridges. But he didn't prevent the collapse.

Now is that Chutzpah, or what?

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