by Steve Timmer

Aug 26, 2012, 10:30 AM

Bob, and Tom, and the Senate Staffer

From the blog of Davis and Emmer:

The former Republican operative and Senate Staffer claims he has “dirt” on members of the legislature.  He is also suing his former employer, the Minnesota Senate Republicans alleging invasion of privacy, defamation and gender discrimination.  He had and intimate relationship with a female Senator.  He was fired.

Before you get too engrossed in the blog post, kids, it is probably good to remember that Michael Brodkorb, the “former Republican operative” (who is either Yahweh or Voldemort, apparently) is not suing the “Minnesota Senate Republicans;” he’s suing the Minnesota Senate, which is an instrumentality of the State of Minnesota, not a political caucus. Not that the DFL Senators had anything to do with it, of course.

The duo continue:

To date, the Republican Senate Caucus has refused to accede to the former staffer’s demands.  Now the media seems intent on reporting how much the legal dispute has cost rather than suggesting that perhaps the former staffer is blowing smoke in an effort to leverage a large settlement.  Outside of the courtroom this would be called “extortion” or “blackmail.”  [or maybe defamation]  So long as it is in the courtroom, I guess our news media assumes it is about justice.

In other words, the media should speculate about whether Brodkorb has the goods and traffic in innuendo rather than reporting factual matters such as how much the state is paying to defend against the allegations of the actions of the Senate Republican caucus.

No, Bob and Tom, my friends, speculative suggesting and trafficking in innuendo is your job! If the media did it, even fewer people would listen to your show.

Davis and Emmer do do (to quote Madeline Kahn) innuendo quite well:

Is it possible that the Senate Republican Caucus has hired an attorney to defend against these claims because the claims are entirely without merit?  Is it possible that the former staffer has nothing?  Is it possible that all he has is the threat of a story that might appeal to the public’s prurient interest?  Is it possible that he is manipulating his longstanding relationships (after all, he was in charge of Communications for the Senate Republicans) with reporters and certain seedy bloggers who are unwittingly spreading hollow innuendo?

Is it possible that morning talk radio has dumber pair of hosts?

Yes, Bob and Tom, defendants always spend northward of a hundred thousand dollars needlessly to insulate themselves from baseless claims. The quoted paragraph does have a certain breathless Minnesota Democrats Exposed quality to it that is funny given the subject matter. It is perhaps where Davis and Emmer learned the technique.

Now, that would be ironic.

 Update: The Davis and Emmer post is titled “The truth will set you free.” Sorry, guys, but in your case you’re thinking of milk of magnesia. And it’s Emmer who wrote the post.