Strib, "Minnesota GOP backs Scott Jensen in race to unseat Gov. Tim Walz
- Jensen, a doctor and former state senator, narrowly beat Kendall Qualls after a heated fight for the GOP endorsement. " By Jessie Van Berkel and Hunter Woodall Star Tribune - May 14, 2022; stating in part:
Supporters said Jensen is the most electable choice.
"I think he's got the best chances in November to win against Gov. Walz," said convention attendee Kyle Christensen, who works in marketing for a health IT company. "He's survived all of the attacks that Democrats and others have thrown at him, so I think he's tested."
The family physician from Chaska spent one term in the Legislature, where he was regarded as moderate. He worked with Democrats on bills to lower prescription drug prices and require universal background checks for gun sales and transfers, among other measures. He apologized to delegates Saturday for the gun legislation, saying he had been on the "wrong side" of the issue.
Democratic state Sen. Matt Klein, a doctor from Mendota Heights, took aim at the senator he served with at the Capitol during an event Friday down the street from the GOP convention.
"As doctors we do take a Hippocratic oath to do no harm. But to Scott Jensen, this was just another thing he could sacrifice at the altar of his political ambitions," Klein said.
"No one has done more than Scott Jensen has done to convince people that the safe, effective measures we have to prevent and treat COVID-19 are not helpful and that the COVID-19 vaccine is ineffective and dangerous."
[...] Jensen reiterated his suggestion that Secretary of State Steve Simon should be jailed for how he has handled the state's elections — there have been no allegations that Simon committed any crime — and in his speech, he embraced unproven, fringe ideas about dead people voting.
Earlier, Strib here, profiled Jensen's pre-convention candidacy, what got him the nomination of his Republican peer group (after their ninth GOP convention vote in t he governor's contest):
While less bombastic and quieter in style than the former president, Jensen's messaging around COVID-19 has drawn support from the Trump faithful. His success in the nomination process will be a test of whether Minnesota Republicans plan to chart a new path or embrace Trump-era politics as part of their electoral strategy in the 2022 midterm election.
"Scott Jensen is definitely appealing to those voters who have developed a distrust of institutions," said David Sturrock, a former state Republican Party official and a political science professor at Southwest Minnesota State University. "Donald Trump ran that way, though with a very different tone and style."
In the race for governor, Jensen is leaning heavily on his medical credentials and positioning himself as the outsider in the field. He's Dr. Scott Jensen on campaign materials, and he's often seen wearing a white lab coat or sitting in his clinic in frequent videos posted to social media.
"I describe it as his bedside manner. His format for the videos is very successful for him," said Amy Koch, a political strategist and former GOP Senate majority leader. "He doesn't rely on the media, much just like President Trump didn't and many other candidates don't now."
But unlike many past candidates who fashion themselves as outsiders, Jensen grew up immersed in state politics. His father, Carl Jensen, spent more than two decades on and off in the state House and Senate between 1951 and 1980. Before running for an open seat in the state Senate in 2016, Jensen served on the Waconia school board.
During the four-year term he served at the Capitol, Jensen became known as an eccentric and unpredictable legislator. He was willing to put his name on a bill to legalize recreational marijuana so that the bill could get a hearing. He backed a bill to let local governments implement ranked-choice voting, which other members of his caucus have tried to ban.
His experiences as a family doctor put him at the center of legislation to regulate pharmacy benefit managers and negotiations. Jensen was open to supporting universal background checks, drawing backlash from gun groups at the Capitol. Now, Jensen says he wants to have conversations about background check systems but he doesn't support those changes.
"The human mind is a dynamic instrument; we take in new data, we have new experiences and all of those things shape us," Jensen says of his views. "I think my perspectives change; I don't think my core convictions have."
As COVID-19 took hold last year, Jensen's focus pivoted to the pandemic. He appeared on Fox News suggesting health officials were coaching doctors to fill in COVID-19 death certificates, even without confirmation, putting him on the national stage as a skeptic to the pandemic's response. He said his concerns also prompted his run for governor.
[...] "Scott Jensen has ignored science and fact and probably done more harm in this state around COVID than anyone I know in terms of being a public servant," said Ken Martin, the Minnesota DFL Party chair.
Sen. Matt Klein, DFL-Mendota Heights, bonded with Jensen as the only other doctor serving in the Senate, but he's struggling to understand where Jensen's positions are coming from on COVID-19.
In 2017, they both ran to DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's side when the governor collapsed on the House floor during his State of the State address. But Klein was surprised to see Jensen quickly turn to the television cameras after Dayton left the chamber.
"To me it was a harbinger of things to come, that he was willing to exploit that moment," Klein said.
Most electable? What a damning assessment of the other endorsement seekers! Vote for a prima dona posting "white coat" social media stuff? Grow up, Scott.
And, the ticket? Second fiddle - Matt Birk? Football in hand Mr. Birk; like white coat Mr. Scott. What a crock.
From the Birk issues page:
Protect the Unborn
Matt Birk knew he was pro-life after cradling his first-born son. He has been a long-time pro-life activist - and his Catholic faith drives him to protect the unborn. You can often find Matt Birk at March for Life rallies and advocating for the unborn. As Lieutenant Governor, Matt will help drive policy decisions which reduce and eliminate the eradication of babies - which predominantly impact the black community in Minnesota.
So, is he a Knight of Malta too, just like Leonard Leo, judge filter on a mission? Or just another run-of-the-mill Catholic intermeddler into the lives of others - wanting to bully himself into the doctor-patient relations of women and others, where it is ABSOLUTELY NONE OF HIS BUSINESS? As if women are unfit to make decisions, so he has to make the decisions for them?
Is Mr. Birk also for or against contraception? Guess that one. That's next on the Alito-Cony Barrett hit-list. And when that Supremes' sucker of a decision lands, as it will, the outrage will be even greater than earned by the Alito Roe killer draft.
Expect it. It is next. Griswold in the crosshairs.
Back to Birk. What a piece of work. How others live and choose their reproductive decisions are matters which should be free of Mr. Matt Birk's entrenched upbringing and consequent biases: be that Mr. Birk as another citizen with an opinion or worse, as a possible office holder.
SANE WOMEN HAVE TO QUELL THAT GARBAGE.
YESTERDAY NOT BEING SOON ENOUGH.
............................................................
And the problem is not just with Tonto. Scottie's there too:
Life is Sacred. Support Minnesota Families.
Scott is a doctor who has delivered hundreds of babies, he is a witness to miracles over and over again. He believes in the sanctity of human life, from conception to natural death. While not every child is born into ideal circumstances, every life matters. His Christian faith compels him to fight for the least among us and that starts with unborn children. Extremists who argue for late-term or partial-birth abortion do not represent Minnesota values. The family is the backbone of civilization, and its values shape our nation's values.
At least Birk is direct in saying things, defining his anchor; while this above quoted pile looks as if lifted by Scottie from a CPAC convention folder's blurb.
If life is sacred, Scottie, where are you on Medicare for All, which will undoubtedly save many, many, real and existing and suffering lives when it finally pushes through the bullshit. It's your cash cow at stake, and so you take to the convenient cash-flow protection for you and insurers who pocket too much of the premiums they take in, for shareholders and bean counters, not doctors. Scott babble:
Affordable Healthcare Means Having a Competitive Market.
Dr. Jensen worked diligently during his Senate term to introduce competition into the healthcare field by allowing for-profit insurance companies to operate in Minnesota, increasing pricing transparency in clinics and hospitals, and requiring pharmacy benefit managers to eliminate contractual gag clauses. Our current structure includes a public-private partnership which works well in some ways but poorly in others. Adopting a single-payer system would diminish individual Health Freedom, expand government intrusion, reduce system accountability, and erode patient empowerment. Dr. Jensen strongly opposes single payer healthcare for Minnesota.
Back to the headline . . . Medicare for All, after all, is for all. This dude favors pay to play medicine. If you cannot afford, go off somewhere and die.
But - "Life is Sacred." He says so. What a study in bullshit self contradiction.
The fact is, it is sensible to have a "competitive market" on reproductive choice. Some doctors who are eager to help pregnant women not wanting the child; some unwilling; and they in a competitive market can compete. The woman free to choose, no law saying she lacks a right to choose. No impediment to women having a competitive market facing their intent to choose.
Enough.