DAMN MNGOP WATCH
Blogs are abuzz over Minnesota shutdown
The blogosphere has been humming since a budget impasse shut down parts of the state government on Friday for the first time in state history.
Unsurprisingly, blogs from the right and left blamed their ideological opponents for the shutdown, which idled about 9,000 state employees, closed driver's license exam stations and barricaded highway rest stops over the July Fourth weekend.
Top legislative leaders met late Monday afternoon to try to reach a budget deal, but no resolution was reached. Leaders were expected to meet again today.
For right-leaning blogs, the DFL-controlled Senate forced the shutdown to politically damage Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a popular Republican.
"Political insiders here in Minnesota told me some time ago that the Democrats were maneuvering to try to achieve a shutdown of the state government," John Hinderaker wrote on Power Line. "Their strategy was to refuse to agree on a budget, hold out until there was no alternative to a shutdown, and then blame Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. The Democrats have been frustrated by Pawlenty's strong popularity throughout the state -- his high approval ratings include many Democrats -- and a shutdown was viewed as a means of denting the governor's popularity."
In a spring Minnesota Poll for the Star Tribune newspaper, Pawlenty earned a 56 percent approval rating while the Legislature received a 40 percent approval rating.
Pawlenty and the Republican-controlled House were the villains, according to some left-leaning blogs.
"Our Minnesota Republicans are so stubborn, so obsessed with playing politics instead of getting the job done that they're even threatening to go back on earlier compromises," Minnesota Republican Watch writes on its Web site.
Some blogs pointed accusing fingers not at the politicians, but to the voters who elected a government with deep ideological splits. Source: Associated Press, July 5, 2005
The blogosphere has been humming since a budget impasse shut down parts of the state government on Friday for the first time in state history.
Unsurprisingly, blogs from the right and left blamed their ideological opponents for the shutdown, which idled about 9,000 state employees, closed driver's license exam stations and barricaded highway rest stops over the July Fourth weekend.
Top legislative leaders met late Monday afternoon to try to reach a budget deal, but no resolution was reached. Leaders were expected to meet again today.
For right-leaning blogs, the DFL-controlled Senate forced the shutdown to politically damage Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a popular Republican.
"Political insiders here in Minnesota told me some time ago that the Democrats were maneuvering to try to achieve a shutdown of the state government," John Hinderaker wrote on Power Line. "Their strategy was to refuse to agree on a budget, hold out until there was no alternative to a shutdown, and then blame Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. The Democrats have been frustrated by Pawlenty's strong popularity throughout the state -- his high approval ratings include many Democrats -- and a shutdown was viewed as a means of denting the governor's popularity."
In a spring Minnesota Poll for the Star Tribune newspaper, Pawlenty earned a 56 percent approval rating while the Legislature received a 40 percent approval rating.
Pawlenty and the Republican-controlled House were the villains, according to some left-leaning blogs.
"Our Minnesota Republicans are so stubborn, so obsessed with playing politics instead of getting the job done that they're even threatening to go back on earlier compromises," Minnesota Republican Watch writes on its Web site.
Some blogs pointed accusing fingers not at the politicians, but to the voters who elected a government with deep ideological splits. Source: Associated Press, July 5, 2005
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