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Gail O'Hare

St. Paul
Commenter for
5 years 24 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 05/23/11 at 01:51 pm in response to Marriage amendment is legislative session's legacy, despite all the rhetoric about the budget and spending

I have to agree with Greg and Paul: you're being too lenient. These idealogues are unlike anything we've seen before.

Because amending the Constitution is a profoundly political act, I hope the ACLU will sue to end all exemptions for churches. No exclusions, no tax deductions for contributions. Archbishop Nienstadt made this his cause last summer and should have been stopped then. It's time to examine all benefits our outmoded tax code has bestowed on churches.

Yes, I know...

Posted on 11/11/10 at 05:01 pm in response to Worried DFLers exploring options if GOP tries stalling after governor's recount: Then what?

Like Gilda Radner's Emily Litella, Mr. Swift gets his facts wrong and then blows them out of proportion. I'm waiting for his meek, "Oh, well, never mind."

It's comforting to know that there will be a new sheriff in Ramsey county come January. If the Republicans deliberately prolong the process in order to engineer a Pawlenty coup, a million or so of us will converge on the Capitol to protest. Sheriff Bostrom won't herd us into pens or arrest hundreds of us on frivolous charges. We'...

Posted on 10/29/10 at 11:23 am in response to Mark Dayton: A serious man taking serious work seriously

I think "fragility" is off the mark. He certainly feels the injustices and vulnerability experienced by those who have been ignored in the past ten years. But he responds with guts. Who else would have taken seniors to Canada for affordable medicine - an act of courageous defiance when everyone else was offering nothing but palaver.

Dayton doesn't do palaver. He's been specific and gutsy from the beginning of this campaign. As a governor he will welcome bold ideas. He won't set...

Posted on 09/30/10 at 01:33 pm in response to Why don't politicians apologize when caught telling a whopper?

In defense of journalists, it's not always their call. Newspapers are owned by various investors and conglomerates whose focus is profit, profit, profit. I recall Cowles saying that his family once considered 6% to be a decent profit. Makes you laugh through your tears, right?

Television is even worse. Our traditional media are ruled by bean-counters who only value ratings and advertising dollars. Murrow and Cronkite and Sevareid and all the other luminaries could not survive in...

Posted on 09/27/10 at 02:08 pm in response to Latest Strib, Rasmussen polls throw a couple of curves into governor's race

I'm disappointed to see Eric Black turn this into a story about Horner. Mark Dayton is winning. Despite the slanted Strib coverage (take a look at the headlines they use for any Dayton story) and the general media bias, most Minnesotans trust Mark Dayton. They know his priorities are their priorities.

Horner may not be as bad as Emmer on policy, but he's worse than everyone else who started in this race on experience. He's an ad man! His idea of a platform is working with his...

Posted on 09/01/10 at 01:47 pm in response to Latest numbers show a wide-open race for Minnesota governor, pollster says

I used to be proud to say I was from Minnesota. The past 8 years of Pawlenty's rule have left me embarrassed. We've slid so far down the list of measures states can take pride in, we might as well be Mississippi. Pawlenty vetoed all progressive initiatives and quashed bills before they made it to his desk by flatly promising to veto.

Where have Republican economics brought us? Where are all the companies that have created jobs because Republicans protected them? What will either...

Posted on 08/09/10 at 11:18 am in response to On primary eve, Margaret Anderson Kelliher revs up election buzz before, during and after final debate

I hate saying anything negative about a Democrat, but I don't see substance in either Kelliher or Entenza's "plans." Lots of high-sounding rhetoric about growth and investment in business and infrastructure, but nothing resembling a real PLAN. To do that you have to talk dollars - and only Dayton has had the courage to be specific about that. Returning to the tax rates before Ventura and the Republican juggernaut slashed them is the only way we can get back on track.

Only Dayton...

Posted on 08/05/10 at 11:26 am in response to In the bull's-eye: How Target -- and Minnesota -- landed at ground zero of an expensive U.S. debate

I don't consider myself far left. However, I will spend money where I can be reasonably sure it won't fund candidates I oppose. Being reasonably sure is going to be hard, though, so I very much appreciate media focusing on companies' contributions. I have little money of my own to contribute, but at least I can buy toilet paper and detergent from companies that support candidates and causes I believe in.
That means companies that in no way fund racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-...

Posted on 08/04/10 at 07:56 pm in response to Three strong candidates vie for two slots in the Ramsey County attorney primary

I've been leaning toward Schultz and would like to hear more from fans of the other candidates. (Can't help wondering if you're all Schultz's friends.)
I've heard quite a bit of criticism of Choi's role in the RNC debacle. I've also been unimpressed by the notion that being a manager is an important criterion. Wouldn't it be important to understand the law and what can be successfully prosecuted and what is a waste of time and money?

Posted on 08/02/10 at 01:54 pm in response to Where are the nastygrams against Mark Dayton?

I'm disappointed that you have enumerated potential attacks on Dayton as irresponsibly as hack journalists to whom you are usually superior.

Once and for all: during a high terrorist alert, when all of Congress was leaving Washington on their Thanksgiving holiday, Dayton chose to send his staff home as well. He didn't like leaving them in danger (which we had all been urged to treat with utmost seriousness) while the hotshots decamped. Further, he was haunted by the death years...