MINNESOTA NICE: The party of racists and sexists? The club of racists and sexists? I.e., does some faction need to be clopped upside the head, to get their attention that some things merit disapprobation? Or is it sufficient to simply notice that faction, and weigh their activities accordingly?

Freedom of speech and ideas is Constitutionally protected, for sound reasons.

But when publicity of a questionable nature attaches, can a community judge?

Hold that question in mind. An image:

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What might garner instant revulsion and disaffiliation, in today's political sphere in Minnesota? Ask Strib:

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Bipartisan revulsion should matter. Please read the entire online Strib report for the flavor of official Republican Party leadership policy, in the instance reported. Focus here is on but a few mid-item paragraphs:

Text above the photo cited writer David Horowitz describing Ellison as “anti-Semite, anti-white, racist and fascist,” and added, “And our current Rep. Collin Peterson take [sic] this lunatic Turkey Hunting.”

[Minnesota Republican Party Chair Jennifer] Carnahan said Monday night, “As chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota I absolutely would like to issue an apology to Congressman Ellison.”

She said, “The Facebook post is in no way reflective of the values of our party or the values of the Seventh Congressional District, and the swift manner in which it was handled and responded to demonstrates our zero tolerance policy for hate speech.”

[italics emphasis added] If you feature a bigot at an annual dinner, are you endorsing bigotry, or is there some other rationale? That question matters even with freedom of speech being bedrock Bill of Rights material. You can say and act freely, but others can judge freely.

One would hope GOP chair Carnahan having intentions beyond hollow words, would have a public comment about Freedom Club decision making, given the pattern of Freedom Club endorsing some GOP candidates, and publishing vile negative material and mailings about others. Is Freedom Club a Republican Party asset, or a disavowed Repubican Party embarrassment? The public needs to know.

We should not anticipate content and nature of any Republican Party leadership reaction to special dinner speaker bookings Freedom Club chooses to make and publicize statewide, indeed with a web post, worldwide. But such leadership should be asked the question by an attentive press.