Fraters Libertas

Two Guys Who Had A Worse Friday Night Than You

Republican strategists - need a sure fire way to defeat Mark Dayton in the 2006 Senate election in Minnesota? Show any 60 second segment from one of his speeches on the Senate floor.

Ye-gods. Last night I watched a live C-SPAN broadcast of Dayton wrapping up the Senate's floor session for the week with a speech on Iraq. (Yes, THAT's how I spent Friday night.) And it had more wince moments than a documentary on Boston Red Sox clutch performances in the playoffs. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought this broadcast was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino - such was the level of discomfort and abuse heaped on the observer.

All bitter, partisan commenting aside, it was shocking. Again! In my long history of watching C-SPAN, I've never seen a worse public speaker than Dayton. And second place isn't even close. The trembling voice, the mispronunciations, the slurred words, the long, agonizing pauses while he's desperately searching his prepared text for the point at which he lost his way. The slow, languid eye blinking and occasional facial tics.

I don't know what Mark Dayton's problem is, but he clearly has one. At its most benign, his problem is being woefully under prepared to give a speech and absolutely terrified at the prospect. If this is the case, disorganization and laziness of this nature is simply not acceptable for a US Senator. Especially given the fact he's been giving this same embarrassing performance on a national stage for 3 years.

But if it's not a simple matter of preparation on his part, then what? I don't throw out these possibilities as a joke or to be mean, but his actions are symptomatic of possibly physical illness, mental illness, and/or the affects of drugs, or as Rush says "prescription medication." And if any of these are the root cause, how come we haven't heard anything about this in the media? Any professional, paid observer (that is, a reporter) in Washington has to notice the same things I do. It's got to start raising some questions in these undoubtedly inquisitive minds. So where's the investigative story? Where's the relentless, probing questions during press conferences?

If any of the above speculation about physical/mental illness is true, an open disclosure by Dayton (whether prodded by the media or not) might actually improve his prospects for re-election. This is Minnesota after all. And our therapeutic culture excels in ostentatious displays of inappropriate compassion. (Remember that standing ovation Ron Davis got back in 1986, after returning from a road trip where he blew a half a dozen saves in a week? Enough said.) Plus, I can imagine Star Tribune headlines, like "The Brave Struggle of A Warrior for Peace."

But if no explanation is forthcoming in the next 3 years and we're simply left with these performances alone on which to judge the competence of our Senator, I suggest the MN GOP run a straight feed from C-SPAN for their 60 second commercials. If the truly independent people in the mushy middle of the political spectrum see this, he's done.