First off, I have to credit
A Bluestem Prairie and
MN Publius credit for these stories. They haven't been posted on dKos and I am doing it with their permission.
First the story in the headline.
This came from a Bloomberg article in which Gutknect is quoted twice. The second quote is
"Voters vote their pocketbooks, and ultimately the strength of the economy will be the ace in the hole for Republicans," Gutknecht said.
While he said last week's events are "more distractions than they are pivotal to the outcome of November's elections," Gutknecht added that "it could get dangerous" if those distractions pile up.
Right. Distractions such as Iraq, the torture bill, Mark Foley, Condi Rice ignoring George Tennet. And about that economy...sure Wall Street's looking good, but housing is doing horrible, working sector jobs are paying less, the costs of living and healthcare are going up, and you're actively trying to break Social Security. But other than those minor things, yes. The economy's fucking fine.
More MN-01 news below.
The first quote in the article simply says that the last 10 days "have not been the best for us." Gee, imagine how the last several years have been for those pages, you schmuck.
On to another article originally posted as a graphic on MN Publius and now available online from the Mankato Free Press.
In it he had only good things to say about John Boehner.
"John Boehner is a friend," Gutknecht said during a visit to Mankato Wednesday. "John Boehner, I think, has been a beath of fresh air."
Yes. A breath of fresh air. That's
exactly how I'd describe him. Keep digging, Gil. One of my favorite quotes are the final two paragraphs.
Gutknect - who worked as a teenager at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant managed by John Wayne Gacy, who the world would later learn had molested and murdered dozens of boys - said he had nothing but the most vague negative impression of foley.
"There was something about (Gacy) that was very different," Gutknecht said. "And in retrospect, there was something a little different about (Foley)."
I guess it's you seen one child predator you've seen them all. Or, as Jon-David at MN Publius says:
I know when I meet someone that reminds me of John Wayne Gacy, my first insting is - let's go on a retreat to Arizona!
Also from that article, Gutknect says that he's willing to give Hastert "the benefit of the doubt" about his involvement in the cover-up of the GOP Leadership's inaction over Foley.
The final story i'm going to share comes from the New Ulm Journal via A Bluestem Prairie. In it he says that the House Leaders knew less than they seem to be letting on.
Gutknecht said Democrats seem to be overplaying the issue for political advantage, and speculated that an investigation might show House Republican leaders knew "a lot less about this than meet the eye."
Now, these quotes are from Wednesday prior to Denny's pointless press conference where he graciously accepted that his staff was to blame, but well after it was apparent to anyone with at least a quarter of a functioning brain that the House Leadership was in "oh fuck wuhdowedo wuhdowedo" mode and therefore guilty as sin.
I've linked to them plenty already, but because they were nice, I have to say it again. A big tip-o-the-hat to Ollie Ox at A Bluestem Prairie and the folks at MN Publius for letting me republish some of their work. Oh, and Publius, it was Ollie that said I could do it.
Update [2006-10-6 9:40:52 by guyermo]:
Some great news in a diary from a few days ago: Walz is polling ahead of Gutknecht! The poll is 46-40 with 14% undecided. Definately not good for an incumbant who sides with the predatory enablers 5 weeks before the general election!