From “yes” to “no.” Kristine Phillips at the Washington Post has a piece on North Dakota’s Sen. Heidi Heitkamp switching her vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh after his tussle with Sen. Amy Klobuchar: “Heitkamp said she listened to Kavanaugh’s exchange with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who asked the judge whether he had ever been in a drunken blackout. Kavanaugh threw the question back, saying, “I don’t know. Have you?” to the senator.… Kavanaugh’s performance changed everything, Heitkamp said.”
In other testy political news, WCCO has video of a debate between GOP state Rep. Duane Quam and DFL candidate Jamie Mahlberg in which Quam grabs the microphone from Mahlberg’s hand to rebut her statements: “The audience appeared unsettled, while Mahlberg also seemed surprised at Quam’s action. When Quam was done with his remarks, he threw the microphone back down in front of Mahlberg, drawing more shock from the audience. The Post-Bulletin reports Quam later said the gesture was a result of ‘nerves.'”
Redlining Scream Town. The Associated Press has a brief on Scream Town owner Matt Dunn’s recent comments about Somali guests: “[Matt] Dunn told the Star Tribune the original post was made after a group of teenagers caused trouble at Scream Town. He said the original post was poorly worded and came off as generalizing. He says he wants to make the attraction safe and called it a ‘terrible misunderstanding.'”
In related news, Nora G. Hertel at the St. Cloud Times covered a Faith in Minnesota event featuring state Reps. Ilhan Omar and Erin Murphy: “‘It is easy to advance a message that scapegoats some people,’ Murphy said. ‘When we hear a candidate talk about ending any refugee resettlement, we know what that is about. When we hear a candidate for the attorney general’s race saying he wants to change the complexion of the state of Minnesota, we know what that is about.‘”
How big is that font? The Bismarck Tribune has a strange tale of an unconventional church service: “A 21-year-old Mandan man, allegedly high on methamphetamine, climbed naked into the holy water font during mass at Spirit of Life Catholic Church on Tuesday, Oct. 9. Mandan Police were called to the church around 9 a.m. and arrested the man for ingestion of meth, criminal mischief and indecent exposure.”
In other news…
Nine-hundred were killed: “Minnesota loon conservation efforts get $7.2M from Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement” [Pioneer Press]
Winter is … you know: “Significant snow expected for northern Minnesota this week” [Star Tribune]
Just one spot? “400-pound freshman moves into starting spot on Gophers’ offense” [Star Tribune]
Amazing story: “One of the last survivors of 1918 fire dies” [Duluth News Tribune]
One last thumbs-up: “Viva Beck of ‘Viva and Jerry’s Country Music Videos’ dies suddenly” [City Pages]
Heitkamp’s excuse is falling on deaf ears back home. Cramer is extending his lead, 10 points in some polls, and she is simply done.
Any thinking person who watched that exchange knew they were seeing the real Bret Kavanaugh. If Heitkamp loses her seat for trying to keep someone with such low character off the Supreme Court so be it. She did the right thing.
Sure. I hope that provides comfort for her.
Not selling one’s soul is very comforting.
Seems to me that she sold her soul when she promised the voters of North Dakota that she would represent their wishes in Washington.
If she had acted with integrity, she would probably be re-elected.
Interesting, how Republicans and other far-right-wing folks mistakenly throw around the word “integrity” these Trump days!
The Senator from North Dakota showed the kind of deep integrity the Senator from Alaska also showed, voting against simply political realities of toe-the-party-line to vote with integrity.
Kavanaugh showed those of us who know how to read body language and facial grimaces,and actually listen to the uncontrolled emotions and partisanship in his words at the hearing, that he doesn’t belong on the Supreme Court.
Plus, the overkill of his seeming compelled to hire ONLY female clerks. The guy has no sense of balance.
North Dakota will see that Heidi Heitkamp has true integrity and uses it.
And no one should ever vote for a mic-grabber–I wonder what else he thinks he can grab whenever he feels like it?
I know Conservatives see it a weakness, but most people living in a civil society see doing the right thing as a virtue. I guess we’re just old fashioned.
Polls? Polls??? You have GOT to be kidding.
I thought after 2016 conservatives don’t pay any attention to polls.
Do you really think Quam would have done that if his opponent were a man?
But still worth considering, I think.
Quam is an excellent example of today’s Republicans. In his mind the little lady wasn’t responding quickly enough to he request for rebuttal so he did what any red blooded Republican does when a woman had something they wants, he took it from her. Describing that as nerves really doesn’t capture it.
It started with Donald’s Access Hollywood tape, more recently with Kavanaugh’s hearing and now we see it in this Quam person. Do we really want these kinds of people running our state?
So Quam is Kanye and Mahlberg is Taylor Swift? I’m guessing she won’t agree to appear in any of his videos.
Are we ever going to hear the end of the Kavanaugh controversy? Substitute smoking reefer for all of the boozing he is alleged to have done and see how the dialogue would change. Just curious.
Talk about a lot of crazy guys covered in one report. Actually the least awful was the meth guy who tried a full immersion self baptism. One can kind of understand how a disordered mind could think that a reasonable action.
The other three actions (the blackout evader, the microphone grabber and the Somali detractor) were simply actions of a self-centered jerks who offer really lame and forced apologies.