A Minnesota foofaraw

On Monday the Minnesota GOP issued the following press release:

Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Ron Carey today issued the following statement following Coleen Rowley's doctored photograph likening John Kline to a Nazi.

"Coleen Rowley's comparison of a 25-year Marine Corps veteran like Congressman Kline to a Nazi represents a new low in Minnesota politics. It is now clear that Coleen Rowley's campaign is in complete disarray and devoid of a moral compass.

"I call on Coleen Rowley and the DFL Party to apologize for this outrageous attack on Congressman Kline."

The photograph referred to involved MN Rep. Kline of the Minnesota 2nd District, a district that encompasses the southern edge of the Twin Cities metro area, and counties to the south. (Rep. Kline is not my representative. I live in the 6th District.)

Coleen Rowley, perhaps best known outside of Minnesota as a whistleblower, is running for Kline's seat as a DFL candidate.

A photoshopped image appeared on Rowley's website with Kline's face blended into a photo of Col. Klink from the TV show Hogan's Heroes.

(The photo has since been removed, but it can be seen at Power Line. MDE has a better version of the photo.)

As mentioned above, the MN GOP referred to this juvenile political poke as "outrageous." Power Line called it a "despicable slander." Shot in the Dark called it an "incredible display of sophomoric cretinism." MDE called it "unreal" and "unconscionable."

Power Line has a letter from Rep. Kline himself, in which Kline writes:

It has come to my attention that you have placed on your campaign website a doctored photo of me in which my military uniform has been replaced by a Nazi uniform. I demand that you immediately remove from your website that outrageous and disgusting insult to me, my family, and every man and woman who has ever worn a military uniform in defense of our country.

No one knows better than I the rough-and-tumble of a political campaign, but we owe it to the voters not to cross the line of civility, respect and common decency. With regard to each of these, you have clearly crossed the line by portraying me as a Nazi.

I demand a personal apology from you, as well as an apology to every veteran.

Your attempts to smear my good name and 25 years of honorable service in the United States Marine Corps by equating me to a Nazi shows a lack of perspective, a lack of seriousness, and a lack of good judgment. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Far be it from me to tell Rep. Kline how he should feel since he is the one involved. If you've read this blog for more than five minutes you know I bow to no one in my support for the military. But, I've never served in uniform, and Kline has, so he is entitled to zealously guard the honor of the uniform.

However, I would counsel Republicans not to be quick to leap to outrage. According to the First Ring blog, this appears to be the work of some of the Rowley campaign's volunteers, inesperienced folks who obviously did not have the judgment and good sense to know coming anywhere near your opponent with a Nazi slur is stupid politics.

I do believe whoever created this photo was not really trying to paint Kline as a Nazi. Col. Klink is an archetype of the bumbling, ineffectual loser. (And not everyone in the Wehrmacht was a Nazi.) Kline's political opponents in all likelihood meant to brand him as precisely that. Such lame personal attacks are part and parcel of politics.

As Republicans, we could say something about who we are in our reaction. We poke fun of Leftys all the time who leap to outrage for silly reasons. Pillars on the Left such as Barbara Boxer and Teddy Kennedy get outraged at the drop of a hat, and look silly for it.

It is often said the Democrats are the Mommy party, and the GOP is the Daddy party. There is truth to that, and we could go a long ways to portraying ourselves as a mature, responsible party if we just shrug off such puerile stabs at political debate, and save our outrage for matters of great import, such as Iran making threats with nuclear weapons.

Let the voters know we won't be distracted by the little things, that we won't be knocked off the path by such fleeting matters.

We can mention it, make tsk-tsk-ing noises about how the kids are scribbling on the walls with crayons again, but then drop it.

The Democrats will reveal who they really are by these foolish actions, let those actions speak for themselves. We'll just shake our heads at the unruly children, and stay focused on adult issues.