True North

Years ago, my uncle taught me what's now an old saying. The saying goes like this: "There's no sense making anything idiot-proof. They'll just build a better idiot." That appears to be the case with the Twin Cities media scene.

For years, bloggers like Mitch Berg and John Hinderaker have ridiculed Nick Coleman with their dissections of his mentally incoherent columns. Many is the time I've enjoyed watching these talented bloggers turn Nick Coleman's writings into examples of deranged liberal incompetence.

There comes a time, though, when a torch is passed. In this instance, it isn't so much passed as it's snatched from Coleman's hands by someone who makes Nick Coleman almost look reasonable. ALMOST. The newest useful idiot on the deranged liberal scene is the CityPages' Hart van Denburg. This morning, Hart's column states that Gov. Tim Pawlenty mischaracterized something that President Obama:

So Gov. Tim Pawlenty is making a trip to Las Vegas to help defeat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. That part's fine. Politicians do this stuff all the time. But in announcing his trip on Facebook, Pawlenty says he's going to "defy President Obama's orders" by making the trip.

Orders? Cute line. Probably aimed at, well, "misinformed" folks who think that a democratically elected president is actually a Marxist dictator.

I thought about saying something like "if the Marxist shoe fits...", then thought better of it. Then our newest deranged liberal launches into a factcheck of what President Obama said:

What he's alluding to, while leaving out the crucial, actual truth, are some impolitic remarks that Obama made just about a year ago in Indiana, when he was asked at a town hall meeting what he thought about the lavish bonuses enjoyed by corporate CEOs bailed out by taxpayers. Thanks to the Reality Based Community we know what Obama actually said:

"You are not going to be able to give out these big bonuses until you pay taxpayers back. You can't get corporate jets. You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers' dime. There's got to be some accountability and some responsibility."

First, it's time that Hart learned something that politicians occasionally use. It's called a sense of humor. In this instance, Gov. Pawlenty used a very dry, sarcastic form of humor It's worth noting that this isn't uncommon with Gov. Pawlenty.

Second, I'm fairly certain that Gov. Pawlenty wasn't referring to President Obama's year-old comments. Rather, I'm betting that Gov. Pawlenty was referring to President Obama's ill-advised comments last week:

"You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices. It's time your government did the same."

Gov. Pawlenty simply highlighted President Obama's ill-advised, boneheaded really, criticism of Las Vegas. Van Deburg needs to not get his undies in a bunch over something this trivial. More importantly, he needs to get a sense of humor.

Most importantly, van Deburg needs to get a life. Whining about a politician's tongue-in-cheek comments isn't likely to attract readers.

Comments welcome at LFR.