Garrison may have burned a few bridges with folks in Lake Wobegon

St Paul Pioneer (de)Press ^ | 11/20/02 | CHUCK CHALBERG

[Valin]

I recall hearing Norm on Joe Soucherays show right after he was first elected mayor(as a democrat). He said that as mayor he was in the garbage pickup and snow removal business.
For some reason it's always stuck in my mind.

[MadIvan]

I don't regard any Democrat who supports partial birth abortion to be "decent". No one who is mildly acquainted with the procedure could possibly be in favour of it unless they were a moral vacuum.

Regards, Ivan

[E Rocc]

Those grapes can't taste very good.

-Eric

[driftless]

They're vicious and paranoid with a capital P. They said the same things when Reagan got elected, and amazingly the Republic (no pun intended) is still here. In fact the reality of liberal meanness gives the lie to their claim of being secular saints. I've enjoyed Keillor's work over the years, but this time he dug himself a hole so deep, the dirt fell in on him.

[Valin]

Or they have "sold out". Or oh yes I've been following them/him/her long before they made it. (translation) I'm incredibly hip.

[Let's Roll]

Just another example of how irrational dims are. But then a political party that relies on emotion instead of logic or common sense would tend to corner the market on the unstable.

[Billthedrill]

He's condemned to a life of small arrangements. There will be no passion, no joy, no heroism, for him. He is a hollow man.

The amusing thing is that Keillor really thinks he's talking about Coleman here, and not himself.

[Finny]

I remember years ago, shortly after he became notable, my Mom saw him on TV. The first thing she said was "He's a very angry man." Since it has been conclusively proven to me that my Mom knows everything, I have watched him with that in mind. She's still batting 1000.

Wow!! Aren't Moms great that way? When Clinton was campaigning for his first run at the presidency, my mom stated flatly (and I might add, uncharacteristically, for her): "He's a pathological liar."

[MrB]

what can he and fellas at the Side Track Tap possibly have to say to one another?

"fellas": "We don't 'preciate commies 'round here. Why don't you just step back out through that there door."

[CatoRenasci]

Another thought: do you think Keillor's emphasizing that Coleman was from Brooklyn was meant (for Minnesota consumption) as a veild anti-Semitic comment? Was he trying to appeal to the latent anti-Semitism that is so rampant among Scandinavians? Curious.

[justshutupandtakeit]

She is also resented for her beauty. There is no similiar resentment of YoYo Ma or Itzack Perlman or opera singers who must turn sideways to get through doorways.

[skraeling]

Was he trying to appeal to the latent anti-Semitism that is so rampant among Scandinavians?

Pass that one by again? I would suggest that Scandinavians are among the LEAST anti-Semitic of all Europeans, and I believe the historical record will bear that out.

[BibChr]

must they now think of this ex-patriot who obviously thinks so little of them?

Is this a typo, or a deliberate misspelling of "expatriate"? If the former, ouch. If the latter, OUCH!!

Dan

[Mamzelle]

re:it was said of Lindsey Graham, by Dick Harpootlian, the Chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. )))

Also the President of that state's Trial Lawyer Lobby.

[Right Wing Professor]

Another thought: do you think Keillor's emphasizing that Coleman was from Brooklyn was meant (for Minnesota consumption) as a veild anti-Semitic comment?

Who knows? Clearly he's couched it in such terms as to make the accusation of antisemitism deniable, and I'd hate to go on the sort of witchhunt for 'code words' the left is so fond of. One of our African-American football players said the other day that the word 'thug' is racist when applied to the quite frequent antisocial behavior of him and his friends - amusing to anyone with even the slightest exposure to Indian history (or the Indiana Jones movies).

Antisemitism is alive and well out here on the prairie. One of our former Democratic governors' wives writes monthly letters to the newspapers attacking Israel, often in terms in which the antisemitism is scarcely veiled.

[Right Wing Professor]

I'm sure you agree.

Damn. Gotta work at being more unpredictable :-)

[TroutStalker]

[hosepipe]

"Any man under 30 who is not a liberal has no heart, and any man over 30 who is not a conservative has no brains"- Winston Churchill

So much for Keillor.....next..

[moneyrunner]

”I always enjoyed listening to the tales from Lake Wobegon, but in quiet moments of reflective listening, I have always thought that there was more than a little bit of condescension and smugness in Keillor's schtick: that his mocking was not that of a knowing insider joking with others sharing the same background and values, but of an outsider making fun of rural people and values for an audience of urban professionals who would no more identify with the values of Lake Wobegon than they would with the Ku Klux Klan.”

From the first moment I heard Keillor, I knew that there was something that bothered me about his “humor.” It took me only a little time to realize that he was having inviting his audience to have fun by laughing at this characters, not with fondness, but with malice. If you listen carefully, it will be immediately obvious that Keillor is not laughing WITH the people of Lake Wobegon, but AT them. His monologues are an unending, ironic put-down of fly-over country people and values. Why, the inhabitants of Lake Wobegon even think that all the children are “above average,” obviously something only a poor, uneducated, rural hick could believe. Even the name: Wobegon, is an indictment. Only life’s losers would stay in a place of woe.

What fools people about his monologues is the tone of voice in which they are delivered: a slow, measured Midwestern drawl that lulls. It is the same technique that Dashle uses in his attacks against Republicans. The tone is low, measured and muted. But the words are designed to draw blood.

[ozzymandus]

Gee, maybe the ugly, no-talent loser will leave the USA! AGAIN!!