Ellison's positions on crime dismayingly clear

Mpls Star-Tribune ^ | 10-18-06 | Katherine Kirsten

[DeweyCA]

Snip

Well, so what if Ellison's judgment about a convicted cop-killer like Shakur is flawed? How does he view real, day-to-day crime-related issues of importance to the Fifth District, like gangs?

As a criminal defense attorney, Ellison told the crowd, he saw "startling similarities" between Soliah and the gang members he represents: Bloods, Vice Lords, Gangster Disciples. He portrayed gang members as misunderstood victims, ordinary folks whose parents "scrimp, save... maybe sell plates of BBQ chicken so Junior can get an attorney."

Gangs are "stigmatized" and "vilified," he explained, just as Soliah's Symbionese Liberation Army was. "Nobody ever knows what it means to BE a Blood," he maintained, "because they've already said this is 'just evil.' "

In fact, in Ellison's view, young black men in prison seemed almost to morph into civil rights advocates. "The people who govern this society," he suggested, are "incarcerating all these young black men" in some kind of retribution for the victories of '60s civil rights activists, and those who campaigned to "free Nelson Mandela." For the powerful, he said, the "very idea of ... black people having civil rights has got to be obliterated with [obviously] the criminal justice system and incarceration."

[DeweyCA]

This is the face of the Dems, pander to the Islamists, and pander to criminals. But foolish Dems in Mpls will vote for Ellison because they want to be able to say that they were so "broad-minded" by voting for a Black who is Muslim. It's amazing.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Guess you gotta understand the typical 5th Disctrict Liberal self-loather's mentality. The more Ellison talks this way, the higher the vote count.

[YdontUleaveLibs]

I am glad I am in St. Paul and not Minneapolis. I think they will vote for Ellison as well. Hopefully, this kind of rhetoric gets Republicans out to vote. If not, I expect to see a lot of middle class flight over the next couple of years.

[lesser_satan]

You've got your conservative West Sider dems over there. No such thing on this side of the river.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

See, also...

http://www.startribune.com/587/story/752150.html

[headsonpikes]

"Nobody ever knows what it means to BE a Blood,"

I believe this worthy Democrat gentleman should raise his sights from the House to the national ticket in '08.

He represents far better than Obama the nihilistic primitivism of the Black Faction of the Party.

[Princip. Conservative]

Any polling out of this district? I read somewhere that most Americans wouldn't vote for a Muslim. I would have a problem doing so, personally.

[rhema]

This is the face of the Dems, pander to the Islamists, and pander to criminals. But foolish Dems in Mpls will vote for Ellison because they want to be able to say that they were so "broad-minded" by voting for a Black who is Muslim. It's amazing.

Indeed.

Today, Ellison has moved on to different topics. You probably won't hear him talk about victimized gang members, or freedom fighters who attack our police. He declined to comment for this column on his current view of felons such as Soliah and Assata Shakur.

The establishment is now embracing Ellison. Next week he will be feted at a fundraiser in a tony Lake of the Isles home ("as featured in the October issue of Midwest Home Magazine," says the invitation), in the company of dignitaries such as Walter Mondale.

Kenwood, let's remember, is far, far away from north Minneapolis.