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TEAM FRANKEN’S EMBEDDED BLOGGER AT MN PUBLIUS JUMPS THE SHARKS; ATTACKS CREDIBILITY OF MINNPOST AUTHOR FOR ARTICLE CRITICAL OF TEAM FRANKEN
By Michael B. Brodkorb | July 31, 2008
Team Franken’s embedded blogger at MN Publius, Aaron Landry, left a comment on MinnPost attacking Blois Olson’s credibility because he wrote an article about the problems at Team Franken. Landry apparently missed that Blois will have post on MinnPost tomorrow about how Team Franken can turn things around. I’m sure the new east-coast staff at Team Franken will be reviewing Blois’ post tomorrow, as they certainly need advice from a seasoned Minnesota politico.
Landry’s complaint about Blois’ article is that according to Landry, Blois was a “strong” supporter of Mike Ciresi’s campaign and therefore, Blois isn’t a credible critic of Franken’s campaign. Landry’s comment on MinnPost also suggested that Blois’ “strong” support of Ciresi should have been disclosed in the article.
A search of the FEC’s website shows that Blois didn’t contribute money to Ciresi’s campaign (the last contribution listed was in 2004 to John Kerry’s presidential campaign), nor was Blois listed on any public supporter list from Ciresi’s campaign that I could find. Based on this research and previous conversations with Minnesota Democrats, I can’t find any factual basis for Landry to claim that Blois was a “strong” supporter of Ciresi’s candidacy.
But since Landry decided to attack Blois over failing to disclose his “strong” support of Ciresi’s campaign that didn’t actually exist, I decided to visit MN Publius’ “About” page and review the information Landry disclosed about his connection to Team Franken.
In an e-mail sent to me earlier this week, Landry wrote that he volunteered for Team Franken during the DFL endorsement battle. Landry also wrote that he hasn’t received any compensation from Team Franken. The extent of Landry’s volunteerism on behalf of Team Franken is missing from his bio on MN Publius.
If Landry is going to attack Blois for a failing to disclose his “strong” support for Ciresi’s campaign that didn’t actually exist, then Landry should immediately disclose his very real “strong” support and volunteer efforts for Team Franken on the “About” page of MN Publius.
In fact, while attacking Blois’ credibility in the comment section of MinnPost for failing to disclose his “strong support” for Ciresi’s campaign that didn’t actually exist, Landry chose once again not to disclose his “strong support” of Team Franken. Landry only disclosed that he was “a staunch partisan in the Senate race…” Also, the website connected to Landry’s username is his personal blog and not MN Publius.
It seems that Landry decided to attack Blois’ credibility for failing to disclose his “strong” support for Ciresi’s campaign that didn’t actually exist, while simultaneously hiding his “strong support” for Team Franken from the readers of MinnPost.
Trailing in the polls by double-digits, Team Franken is getting more and more desperate and Landry’s attack shouldn’t surprise anyone. Rather than digesting the sound political advice and guidance from someone with actual campaign experience in Minnesota, a Team Franken ally goes into attack mode.
Team Franken is filled with east-coast transplants and Washington D.C. staffers who have parachuted into Minnesota to try and save Franken’s “foundering” campaign. Instead of attacking prominent Minnesota Democrats with trumped-up accusations, Team Franken and their out-of-town political staff should maybe list to their advice.
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25 Responses to “TEAM FRANKEN’S EMBEDDED BLOGGER AT MN PUBLIUS JUMPS THE SHARKS; ATTACKS CREDIBILITY OF MINNPOST AUTHOR FOR ARTICLE CRITICAL OF TEAM FRANKEN”
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August 1st, 2008 at 12:28 AM
That’s two this week!
August 1st, 2008 at 12:38 AM
Aaron: Care to back up your claim that Blois was a “strong†supporter of Mike Ciresi’s campaign?
August 1st, 2008 at 12:42 AM
Aaron is so in the tank for Franken it tarnishes his credibility as a partisan blogger.
It’s almost as if he believes in the values the man stands for and the stances on the issues that he has taken!
Why, if I didn’t know better–I’d say Aaron Landry is going to VOTE for Al Franken on November 4th!
August 1st, 2008 at 12:43 AM
Why don’t I get my own category on this website?
August 1st, 2008 at 12:45 AM
Aaron: Care to back up your claim that Blois was a “strong†supporter of Mike Ciresi’s campaign?
August 1st, 2008 at 12:57 AM
There’s a great piece in this upcoming Sunday’s New York Time Magazine on trolling.
August 1st, 2008 at 2:43 AM
Mike Ciresi and his settlement with Big Tobacco was no small feat.
$200 million annually for the State of Minnesota as long as tobacco products are sold in the state of Minnesota, should get an Honorable Mention at the Republican National Convention (RNC) during Prime Time.
Most especially, if Paw Claws gets the VP nod from McCain.
What did Paw Claws do with that $200 million each year?
Mike Ciresi had/has a lot of strong supporters, and Aaron Landry is entitled to his opinion.
I wonder what Aaron’s opinion is on the $200 million annually that Mike Ciresi also won when he took on Big Tobacco.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:21 AM
Maybe at this point in the campaign, Al could use a little tough love.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:22 AM
Aaron — I here by declare you a no talent ass clown of the first class.
Great work on exposing this guy, MDE. Once again, this proves that you are the preeminent blogger in Minnesota.
How much do you bet that Aaron Landry shows up on the Franken payroll when the next FEC report is filed?
August 1st, 2008 at 6:28 AM
Watch the local Angry Al(len) paid staff go all nuts on Blois. Here it comes……
…as predicted at 7:03 pm yesterday. Loser liberals never disappoint and are soooooo predictable.
August 1st, 2008 at 7:24 AM
The Publius crew has been in the bag for Franken since the beginning. Franken hired one of the founding members of the blog and no a critical word has been uttered since. They tried to feign objectivity during the primary but flew into spittle filled tirades when anybody pointed out that all posts on Democratic candidates other than Franken were negative or, at best, neutral. The moment Sean admitted to a Franken bias Matt stepped in and tried to put the cat back in the bag.
The fact is that Franken bought his primary victory with cash. He purchased the loyalty of more than a few Minnesota Democrats by fund raising for them over the last few years and then started his campaign early and made sure to throw lots of money around. He hired a lot of staff, like the guy from MNPublius, to make sure as many people as possible would have a financial interest in his campaign. Not only are you assured the support of those on your payroll but you most often get their gullible friends as well. Nobody wants to bad mouth their good friends boss or see that friend out of a job. That is why his burn rate was so incredibly high during the primary.
Franken’s primary campaign was reminiscent of what you often see on the East coast or in Chicago. It was about buying support with money and jobs.
It isn’t as though anybody actually likes the guy.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:09 AM
I still waiting for Aaron to back up his claim that Blois was a “strong†supporter of Mike Ciresi’s campaign?
August 1st, 2008 at 9:00 AM
Thank god MDE is a neutral and objective corner of the interweb. These wonk bat blogs like MN Publius are ridiculous.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:25 AM
I love blue-on-blue warfare.
Michael, when your opponent is committing suicide, it’s best to just sit back and watch.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Plymouth:
I think you’re missing the point. Mike who does MDE doesn’t claim that he is neutral. He is a partisan Republican. Furthermore when he worked for the Kennedy campaign and know on the Paulsen campaign he goes and discloses it.
What this post was and obviously you didn’t read let alone care what was on it was Mike was attacking somebody who posted a comment that has serious ties to the Franken campaign who doesn’t disclose it.
Of course you and Aron don’t seem to care about that detail.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
August 1st, 2008 at 9:42 AM
At what point did MNPublius ever claim to be neutral? Any moron would know they are partisan. And if you didn’t know that, you could look on the right hand column of this website and, hey, there it is, MNPublius under LIBERAL links.
When a poster says “The Publius crew has been in the bag for Franken since the beginning” as a means to discredit anything said there it’s a bit ridiculous when this site is prefaced on the fact that Michael is in the MnGOP/Coleman bag from the beginning. Who cares?
August 1st, 2008 at 9:51 AM
PD, you really do miss the point… the criticism of MNPublis being “in the tank” for Al Franken related to the Democrat primary battle.
We all know — and don’t care — that they’re in the tank for whatever Democrat in the general election.
MNPublis, ostensibly, should have been a neutral observer in the battle for the Democrat nomination. But they apparently weren’t.
Eh, whatever. Not sure why I’m wasting time trying to spell out the nuance to a bigot like you.
August 1st, 2008 at 10:16 AM
“MNPublis, ostensibly, should have been a neutral observer in the battle for the Democrat nomination. But they apparently weren’t.”
Shouldn’t MDE therefore be neutral toward Shepard? How shocking that a liberal leaning blog would be in the tank for the DFL endorsed candidate. Few (if anyone besides MDE and Faris) is in the tank for Faris.
August 1st, 2008 at 10:21 AM
just curious–who gets more “hits” on their websites? MDE or MN Publius
August 1st, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Just to add to Chestnut’s correct clarification to my earlier post. IT isn’t just that a site is in the tank for one particular candidate on not. It is whether they admit it. Publius made conscious effort to hide their bias during the primary and continually claimed to be neutral despite the obvious facts.
The only reason to hide a bias is in an effort to deceive people. The guys at Publius were willing to do that during the primary to people from the same “side”. I doubt they suddenly became honest and ethical for the general election.
August 1st, 2008 at 11:11 AM
PD, I find it difficult to believe that an individual can actually be as absolutly stupid as you appear to be.
MDE HAS been neutral on Jack Shepard. It hasn’t uttered a word about that retard one way or another.
Like I said, MNPubis was ostensibly playing the part of neutral observer in the DFL contest… but in reality, it was biased toward Al Franken… BEFORE THE ENDORSEMENT PROCESS WAS COMPLETED… which shot its credibility to hell in terms of the DFL contest. … it’s never had any credibility in the general election to start with…
Even for a Democrat, PD, you really are stupid.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:44 PM
The last I heard Attorney Mike Ciresi was in trial – WORKING – as a PRIVATE CITIZEN.
As long as the tobacco companies continue to sell tobacco in the State of Minnesota, the State of Minnesota continues to receive $200 million annually.
That was just a PART of the SETTLEMENT with BIG TOBACCO.
If Blois Olson was not a STRONG SUPPORTER of Mike Ciresi, perhaps after the settlement with Big Tobacco is read Blois Olson will has wished otherwise.
If Blois Olson was a STRONG supporter of Mike Ciresi, Mike is now a HARD-WORKING, PRIVATE, citizen, and has private and public foundations.
I don’t see what the harm is in being a strong supporter of someone who WORKS HARD, is successful, and also SHARES some of the benefits of that hard work and success with others.
August 1st, 2008 at 5:21 PM
I am late to this conversation because I have been traveling, however, I still find time to follow the election. It is clear that anyone who is a “a seasoned Minnesota politico” knew that Ciresi was the best candidate. It makes me both happy and sad to see exactly what I feared happen: Dems get bitter about any decent and lose the election to Norm.
At the point, I hope Franken goes down in flames and takes all the weak DFL candidates who would stand up.
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:36 AM
There’s plenty of flames behind ol’ Smokescreen, and they’ll be exposed before folk go into the polls to toss the GreedOverPrinciples party out.
And ol’ Smokescreen will land on his feet after defeat; a cushy lobbying job provided by his pals in the energy industry.
Senator Al Franken will be taking the oath in January, right around the same time ol’ Smokescreen upgrades his digs in D.C.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:16 PM
[...] certainly worth the time and the company was nice. Friend Aaron Landry, “Al Franen’s embedded blogger at MNpublius.com” was in attendane and got a nod from Esme for being a must-read for anyone [...]