by Steve Timmer

Jul 18, 2014, 7:00 PM

Scott and Karin, turn up your hearing aids

My older readers — which means most of you, I suppose — can remember when Bob Dole, running against Bill Clinton in 1996, said, in a debate, I think, “Let me be your bridge to the past.” I knew at that instant that Bob Dole would never be the president of the good ‘ol YOU ESS AAAY.

It probably appealed to the people who could quote the poem that begins In Flanders fields . . . by heart. In the Home.

But as political messaging, it had limited appeal. And sure enough, the Clinton campaign adopted Let Us be your Bridge to the 21st Century as a slogan the next morning.

It was a foolish and unforced error. Tone deaf. Not unlike this one:

This is a web banner ad that began to run, as far as I can tell, at about the same time as it was announced that Minnesota had a lower unemployment rate than since before Governor Gutshot winged the deer. (Actually, a few years before that, back to when  Gutshot was still in the process of driving the state into the ground.) And on top of it, the state reports historic low rates of uninsured for health insurance.

I am told that Really Bright People are running the Honour/Housley campaign.

I find this very sad. But the ad is truthful, I suppose.

Apparently, when life gives you lemons, you throw them at the Governor.

Update: It is rumored that the well-financed Honour/Housley campaign would begin a media blitz about now, leading up to the primary in August. Perhaps it has gone back to the drawing board.