One of the Republican candidates for MN-1 has gotten himself in controversy a week before his primary by telling the donors at a fundraiser that the governor is a pill-popping scary person. State Senator Mike Parry, in a tough primary for the Republican nomination to challenge US Rep. Tim Walz, said that he has sat in negotiations with Gov. Mark Dayton, a DFLer (Democratic Farmer Labor Party) who beat the 2010 GOP wave, where the governor popped "15 to 16" pills.
The most liberal governor in the United States [that might be true, though that's a good thing]. When you sit across from him and watch him pop 15 to 16 pills while you're having a meeting, it's scary. We all know how scary Obama is. He is at the same level.
Gov. Dayton actually used the "L" word to describe Parry. No, not "liberal":
Dayton, who was at Farmfest to deliver the keynote address, punched back hard, calling Parry's claim "a lie" and "gutter politics."
"It's six days before a primary that he's probably going to lose, so he's desperate," said Dayton, who couldn't recall sitting down to breakfast with Parry this year, let alone downing a handful of pills. "Since he's lying about the situation, he could say we met on the moon and it wouldn't have any less credibility."
Parry backed off a bit, saying it might have been just a few pills. Dayton has been open about receiving treatment for depression (so of course Republicans attack him for it) and said he wasn't that bothered by the personal attack, but he was angry about the claim that he cut veterans benefits
when he actually fought Republican attempts to cut them, specifically, this claim from the same speech where Parry made the false pill-popping claim:
I sat across from Gov. Dayton. This is a scary man for the state of Minnesota. I negotiated with him. I asked him to resign. I fought him when he tried to take away veteran's benefits.
How many veterans are here ... [applause] ... 72% of the veterans in the United States take one benefit. That's the honor guard. A flag draped over the casket and the salute. Gov. Dayton wanted to take it away.
As a veteran I stood up to Gov. Dayton and he lost.
From the same link to MN Progressive Project, not only was Parry lying about Dayton trying to cut veterans benefits, he was lying about asking him to resign. He's on record just once asking for Dayton's resignation. This was when Dayton refused to give in to Republicans' nonnegotiable demands for ending the state government shutdown in 2011 (which shutdown some of us predicted as soon as the GOP legislative majorities became apparent on election night 2010 --- OK, I predicted it). If anyone really wants to get a load of this blowhard,
here you go. Dayton said he takes antacids, and when you consider that the MNGOP gave parry a committee chair, no wonder Dayton needs antacids. If you're wondering how Parry can be taken seriously as a candidate, his GOP primary opponent is Allen Quist, an activist who has never held office [correction: he was in the legislature in the 80's] and is probably unknown outside Minnesota, so I'll explain him this way: he was Michele Bachmann's mentor. Yes, Bachmann the beta version.
See the speech for yourself, and if you want a chuckle, look at the New Ulm Journal's Youtube channel, and notice how this video has about 100 times the views of any of the other speeches from the same event:
UPDATE: Just saw this.
This is someone who might be a congressman. h/t The Uptake.