In a far ranging interview with his district's largest newspaper, the Rochester Post-Bulletin, former Representative Gil Gutknecht discusses the highs and lows of his 12 years in Congress as a republican representing MN-01. Gutknecht is the incumbent, Tim Walz, a fighting Dem. and Camp Wellstone graduate, beat. It is a rather candid interview. When Tim Walz addressed Rahm Emmannuel's group after the election, he did point out that he beat a "personally honorable" incumbent who was not tainted by scandal. There is a hint of bitterness in this interview. I believe Rep. Gutknecht does feel betrayed by his party.
More below the fold.
The MN-01 race has generated a lot of press because Rep. Gutknecht was swept into office during the "94 Gingrich revolution and swept out in "06. Gutknecht also has some choice comments about Delay. This is the part about Iraq:
Q: Do you still support the president's approach to the war?
A: I'm not sure I know what the president's approach is. One of the real problems this administration had is they are just miserable communicators. If they had expressed from the beginning a clear vision, the American people would have stood behind that vision for a very long time. But the vision has been somewhat misunderstood, that's the term I would use. ...
The White House indirectly sowed the seeds, I might say, of my demise, by things that they did early on that didn't prove to be correct. Not that they're evil, or whatever, but they didn't think about the consequences down the road if that wasn't correct....
I would put under a bigger umbrella, the whole notion, the whole theory, and I have to blame (Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice for this, the whole theory was that they would be so pleased to be out from under the yoke of Saddam Hussein that they would put aside their secular differences and unite behind the banner of secular democracy. Well, the Iraqi people do want democracy, but they first want justice. The Sunnis and Shias have scores that they want to settle, and I don't think we thought through what those scores were and how violent that could become.
Rep. Gutknecht's background before becoming a representative was as a state legislator, school supplies salesman, and auctioneer. I'm not sure if he's saying here or not that it's not his duty to second guess the administration on foreign policy, but that's what I think he's saying.