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Republican fear mongering
Cumulative but differently nuanced sources; here, here, and here.
If it were Hegseth in isolation, well, Pete is Pete and Trump is Trump, business as usual.
However it is not just Pete being Pete. Instead, it is larger, and orchestrated. Some Minnesota readers may recall a parallel "infiltration" scare tactic being used locally; e.g., reporting here. They are under the bed, in the pantry, in droves like weevils. (Is "drove" the proper pluralization for weevils, or insects in general - e.g., Moses and the "plague" of locusts, so Republicans could say "a plague of Islamists" and that usage can be anticipated before election day although such usage has yet to be encountered, even via Hegseth or the Minnesota GOP).
Minnesota local GOP shenanigans:
Sorensen at Bluestem Prairie has posted much on the engineered GOP phenomenon; recently this item deconstructing a circulated hate mongering mailing per Sorensen's post lead image, copied below, see also, Sorensen, here:
It is a drumbeat from June 18, onward, starting on the heels of the Swanson choice to run for Governor, being heartlessly used and appearing to be having traction in the hustings with women and the young less prone to accept the propaganda barrage than men and older people.
This image of a hate-piece video's opening image, posted Sept. 20 on Doug Wardlow's own facebook page, 29K viewings - mongering for the worse in voter bias:
Ellison would keep continuity of the award winning focus at the AG if elected - protecting consumers from abusive banks, credit card enterprises, elderly exploitative "insurance," pharma ripoffs and outright frauds. Wardlow would foment discord and disarray. Ellison is black and latent racism seems afoot. Ellison follows the Muslim faith, and overt Islamophobia is being ginned up. An Oct. 14 Gilmore-Alpha "News" item in part:
This week Wardlow did something few Minnesota Republicans do: he ran an ad that will likely get him elected because it is unstinting in telling the truth about Ellison and his abusive past, while deftly pivoting to positive reasons to vote for Wardlow. When I first saw it, I could hardly believe that it was one from the party for which I vote: who flew in a shipment of Rocky Mountain oysters?
With Gilmore posting that kind of stuff at Alpha News, as if it was something other than one more Wardlow step down the negative campaign path, he should be ashamed of himself. That ad that went up on YouTube Oct 9 is a sack of crap. The same sack as used in the June 18 Alpha-Wardlow staged "interview." Same consistently negative stuff, repackaged.
It is sick Willie Horton redux. It is Wardlow. It is bias. It is Alpha News. It is bias. It is not suitable for suggesting Wardlow would somehow be different than abusive of other viewpoints if ever being Minnesota's Attorney General. Moreover, Gilmore does a glide and slide over Alpha News in bed with Wardlow doing that stuff from early and throughout his campaign, per the crudely staged "interview" immediately posted upon the heels of Swanson's filing for governor and with the Wardlow hate machine changing gears to dump on Ellison as primary target.
BOTTOM LINE: Women and the young need to show up and vote. The DFL knows that fact and will be generating a get out the vote effort. Besides the easy votes, the two female U.S. Senate incumbents and Walz's reasoned record and position on issues, voting down ticket DFL in every Minnesota House district is necessary to prevent the worse of possible outcomes. And that includes strong turnout and voting for Ellison, who has been subjected to the most vile mudslinging the Republicans have indulged in, this election cycle.
Watch the video that matters and not scurrilous stuff from Wardlow-Gilmore-Alpha and in watching the fair half-hour video, compare Ellison and his mannered approach with Wardlow in constant attack mode. And then contemplate the Swanson achievements being ongoing vs stymied by a Wardlow office purge.
________UPDATE________
A quick reminder, please take time to fully read and reflect upon Sorensen's Oct. 17, post, as previously linked to while posting its opening image. Having a sense that one of the dirtiest campaigns ever in Minnesota is unfolding from the Republican side will be helpful to all the "undecided" friends we have and can speak with between now and election day.
________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Sorensen, Oct. 23 Bluestem Prairie post: The ethics of a man using the advertising stamina he has shown in attacking his opponent for the Attorney General seat, a seat where unimpeachable ethics is a necessary expectation.
_______FURTHER UPDATE_______
That miserable video that Gilmore says gets his juices flowing has to be from the same Halloween scare-house GOP beltway mill as this one - identically formatted, as Gilmore phrased it telling stuff about the Democrat and his abusive past, while "deftly pivoting" to positive reasons to vote for the Republican as good-guy for all Minnesotans. If lawyer John Gilmore truly saw anything "deft" at all in any way about the "pivoting" within that hackneyed structuring of creepy voiceover with image shuffling format, then Gilmore deserves less respect than I had previously thought. Two GOP productions, same creepy voiceover genre, (only the gender of the creep-speak person on the soundtrack is different), same shuffling of pejorative images; with one key difference being Wardlow's campaign paid for his own half-minute crappy little beltway-produced video, while Republican DC outsiders paid for Stauber's. You can catch that at the end of each.
I hope the Wardlow people paid a lot. They got their pockets picked, however much they got stung for.
If that kind of beltway dreck really can motivate voters in Minnesota, than the state most assuredly is in steep decline. And if it works on a national level then the Chinese are going to eat our lunch.
_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Ellison got the female creepy voiceover treatment. You look long enough you find an outside agitator group playing the identical hate-card the Wardlow campaign played. It seems either coordinated, or suprisingly parallel, go figure.
Unless I err, the Radonivich hit piece and Ellison item flagged in this update have the same female voice doing the creepy deed. Go figure that one too.