MARK DAYTON AGAIN

Mark Dayton Speaks About Something?

MN Progressive Project did a blog on February 18, 2009, called Mark Dayton Makes a Move. The blog includes an enlargeable picture of a flyer that Dayton had sent out to some of the voters (hey, he missed a whole bunch of us).

This particular blog that Populista did at Minnesota Progressive Project includes links to a speech and a debate that Mark Dayton had with two other candidates for senator. Go to the website linked to above. The RealAudio links are accessed by scrolling about two thirds of the way down the page.

One commenter on this blog is not happy with Dayton's oratory skills. He says, DFL State Convention Speech, May 22, 2004. Scary. He just goes completely off the rails. 

For the debate, he says, U.S. Senate Debate, October 15, 2000. Falls apart when put under pressure. Hour 2 is especially painful.

Personally, I didn't think it was as bad as all that, but go to the site by clicking on the highlighted link above, scroll down, click on the audio links and listen for yourself. The speech in the first clip is kind of wild, much like the more recent AFSCME on the Hill speech. Only left wingers would appreciate it.

There are two separate audio clips of the debate with Rod Grams. The latter obviously won the debate because he had better communication skills and made more sense. Yet one must say that Dayton stood up for himself quite nicely and logically when Grams tried to twist his words. Dayton is not an eloquent speaker (he stumbles over his words a lot), but he is sincere.

Read the rest of the comments on this blog to see what fellow Progressives think of having Dayton as our next governor. Here's one of the comments:

We deserve better than Dayton

The man left the Senate as a disgrace -- he was poised to lose to Mark Kennedy of all people!!! He is yesterday's news, and there's nothing progressive about that. We have tremendous, new-blood progressives poised to lead the DFL back to prominence. Let's not screw this up with a pick like Dayton.

I also posted this on my Facebook wall. Here's the comments that were written about it:

I don't understand this post.

Just go to that website, scroll down, and listen to the three speeches/debates. My purpose is to make sure we get the best candidate for governor and not someone who wins because he's got enough money for superb media advertising. The three RealAudio segments speak for themselves. Also read what progressive DFLers have to say in the comments section.

Oh. Okay. Cause it looked like you were working against Dayton, now that you've had a personal falling out with him.

I am working against Dayton because I am no longer blinded by untenable devotion and loyalty and thus have made the rational decision to fully support Paul Thissen, who is an excellent communicator, has a great record in the legislature, can win the election in November because he appeals to all voters, including moderate, swing and independent. I abhor the idea of Dayton winning merely because he has the most money and the name most recognized by all Minnesotans because of Divine Dayton's Dept Store, which he never had anything to do with as far as the running of it. It's time we elected someone on their merits, their common sense, their integrity and their stand on the issues.

In listening to the debate in the above link, between Grams and Dayton, it's so obvious that Grams won the debate. Yet Dayton won the election because he had more money to spend on advertising. He spent $12 million on that campaign. Conclusion: he bought his Senate seat.

Why does Mark Dayton get elected to public office? Simple. He's rich. That means he's got a lot of money to spend on advertising. Plus he's got a name that everyone in Minnesota recognizes. So Dayton doesn't get elected because he's the best candidate for the job. No indeed. It's because he was born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. He's so rich that he can't understand what it's like for those who aren't. Sure, he lived with a welfare family for awhile way way back when. What, did they have to pay to feed him? Oh, I suppose there was some kind of program through Yale. That was over 40 years ago, though. When's the last time Mark Dayton hopped on a city bus? Just to see how regular people live? Try the 16 that goes between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Or the 10 that goes from Minneapolis up Central Avenue all the way to Northtown.

When's the last time Mark Dayton ever had to go hungry? Did he ever have to steal a loaf of bread from the grocery store next door because he had no money and nothing to eat? When he brought it home, did he have to put only mustard and ketchup on it because there was nothing else to make a sandwich with?

When's the last time Mark Dayton had to hitchhike because he couldn't afford a car? When's the last time he had to drive an unsafe car because he couldn't afford to fix it? When's the last time he had no place to sleep because the homeless shelters were full?

Don't tell me all the good things this guy has done for people. Not when all of these incidents eventually become fodder for political gain. Take the stories told by others at his campaign kick-off on January 20. Good stories. He didn't even have to toot his own horn. He had others do it for him. Now all those stories are on his website. Sounds boastful, doesn't it? Many of us think it's unbecoming to put those on his website. If you're going to help people out, no need to boast about it. Just do it and keep quiet about it.

It seems that Dayton does things for a few people with his untold riches and then files the story away to be used later for political reasons. Like that's going to make the voters elect him. Well, maybe it will. Voters are sometimes easy to fool. We usually believe what we want to believe.

I have a Facebook friend who said how great it was that Dayton emailed her in compassion because he saw that she lost her beloved little dog. How did he know that? Most likely by the Facebook conversation I was having with the lady. A slick politician looks for things like this all the time so he can appear selfless, kind and compassionate. I fell for that for quite some time myself. Until for some reason he targeted me to be unkind to. Guess he had to be unkind to someone just for a breather. But why choose someone who went out of her way to do nice things for his campaign? Why pretend to like someone when you don't? That was really hurtful. It still is.

How else can you tell how someone really is? Look at all their pictures. If most of them have the candidate looking straight into the camera, you can bet your booties that the candidate is highly political. If he's looking at the other person or people in the shot, then he's genuine. Mark Dayton has been a politician for decades. He's learned all the tricks of the trade.

Did he have to use all those tricks to hurt a woman with a potentially fatal chronic disease? Did he wake up one morning and say, "Today I'm going to find someone to hurt?"

Is this someone we want to be the next governor of Minnesota? I think not. He didn't do very well in Washington as a senator. Why would we think he would be a good governor?

And speaking of oratory skills, take a look at part of a speech he gave at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis. I was going to show you the whole speech, but it's been scrubbed off the internet. Here's the part I found:

Our country has moved decidedly to the right. Our citizens, many are less involved. Our social system is less compassionate, government is less effective and liberalism is more distrusted....Where is God in the midst of all this injustice? I don't have a clue. I don't know if He, or She, or Whatever doesn't exist, died, is incompetent, doesn't care, is laissez faire, or has a master plan I don't understand.

The commentator on this speech said:

Does that sound like a stable and intelligent speech to give to Catholics? The only part with which I could agree is this: "I don't have a clue." He certainly demonstrated that yesterday in his performance on national TV.

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