I’ve been bragging about the progressive Democrats we have here in Minnesota: Dayton, Klobuchar, Franken, for instance. But sometimes even our Republicans surprise me.
Minnesota GOP Chairman Keith Downey is breaking from leading Republican presidential candidates after controversial remarks about Muslims by Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Downey spoke at “Muslim Day at the Capitol” last week after deadly attacks in Brussels by Islamic terrorist group ISIL. The attacks prompted Trump and Cruz to call for closer scrutiny of Muslims to protect the country from dangerous extremists.
The GOP chairman, who spoke at the annual event for the first time, quoted extensively from letters he exchanged with Asad Zaman, executive director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota and an organizer of the discussion. Downey told the audience that “the political debate occurring in this context unfortunately is severely hampered by a lack of knowledge about Islam and the Muslim community in America.”
I’m still not ever voting for them. But they’re taking steps in the right direction.
(Before 300 million people pack up and move to Minnesota, I’ll remind you all of the downsides. Cold. And mosquitoes. Also, occasional outbursts of accordion music.)
That’s downright reasonable of him. Shame that he’s a republican.
But I like cold. And accordion. Mosquitoes are a deal-breaker, though. I’ll stick with the political fundraiser mosquitoes.
So, basically the same as Montreal — but without the croissants? Sorry, I’ll pass.
I would rather have people who stop rowing the boat forward (or even try to turn around), than the ones who seemed determined to steer for the jagged rocks like Trump and Cruz are doing.
Mosquitoes? Feh… When I lived in Merced, CA, it was noted that there were 28 species of mosquitoes living in California…and 19 of those species were found in Merced County.
As one who is an accordionist, whatever is wrong with accordion music?
Mental note, send the squeeze box to the shop for those loose reeds…
More seriously, mosquitoes are your problem? Just relocated to NW Louisiana, the B-52’s from Barksdale have to evade our mosquitoes, lest they mutually destroy one another.
Thankfully, our century flood two weeks back interrupted the mosquito breeding for a bit and flight operations continue over my house unabated. :/
When the shadow of a B-52 comes over the house, the cat runs from the window in a panic.
We also have a wing of A-10’s at Barksdale, they’re a lot quieter. If those chimes start up again, let me know, PZ. ;)
I’m sure they won’t miss one little JDAM, especially since they flew all over the place with a half dozen nukes, while oblivious to that fact (a *lot* of careers ended that day and rightfully so).
Snow, now that’s a big deal. I loathe shoveling snow. With a passion. Philly had its share of snow and the blizzard of ’96 dumped three feet of the shit on us. I’ll go with our flooding and tornadoes.
Note to self: Get tornado insurance with the flood insurance…
PZ forgot to mention the black flies, which are a bigger problem in Dah YooPee than the mosquitoes.
Nerd, that’s why they make baseball bats.
Philly has roaches the size of small dogs.
OK, not quite that big, but oriental roaches are rather large and they’re naturalized by now, full citizens. ;)
At least here in Louisiana, our similar sized American roaches stay outside once it warms up and if they err in coming inside, the cat takes care of them.
May I remind you? One L Bachmann.
Obviously, he’s a RINO as no true republican would ever say as such things about moslems. He’ll be primaried by some true ‘murican patriot.
Your Republicans are better? Two words: Michael Bloomberg.
Yeah, the north has much better Republicans than the south does. I remember years ago reading about Republican State Legislator up north ,( Minnesota? Michigan? Wisconsin? I don’t remember) who won the lottery with a ticket he bought at a liquor store. Gambling AND drinking!?! That’d made him too liberal to be a Democrat in Arkansas!!!
wzrd1 @ 6
People who overuse Master and don’t keep their accordions in tune. I’m not a great fan of accordion, but it can be played very nicely.
#12: gambling and drinking is a “librul” thing. I did not know that …
This shows their complete unsuitability for leadership. Both of them are intelligent men (OK, there are some signs suggesting the contrary, but still) and they or their advisors must know that they are doing exactly what Daesh want them to do, yet they go ahead and do it anyway. It’s almost like they don’t actually care about their country, just as long as they get their turn to play with power.
@wzrd1 #6:
The only things in human existence which are louder than a B-52 are a B-1 and a Motorhead gig.
“Cold. And mosquitoes. Also, occasional outbursts of accordion music.)”
The upside is that you can see Canada from there.
Isn’t accordion music an anti-malarial?
I don’t know about anti-malarial usage, but I do know that accordion music can induce polkas.
Everybody loves a polka!
What is this “cold” you speak of? [/california]
Hmm. Mosquitoes might be manageable. The others sound quite tolerable.
A lot of conservatives are anti-alcohol, since it gives people pleasure.
They also consider gambling with things other than the future of the country and the stability of the economy sinful.
Minnesota also appears to have..um..110 breweries. Down from 509 here.
So the market might not be saturated yet…
On the other hand, “Minnesota Nice” and Aspergers don’t seem like they’d mix well. :(