This is the second Keillor fund raiser email on behalf of Bachmann opponent Tarryl Clark. I don't know how many Keillor has written this election cycle. The copy is printed below.
Garrison Keillor is always there for the liberals and Dems, lending his Minnesota icon status to candidates he believes in. Until this election cycle it was a mystery to me why Keillor--so outspoken about his own liberal political beliefs--refused to take on Bachmann.
I mean: he's "Lake Woebegone" (the town of Anoka, in the Sixth District.) That's "the place of the mind" that made Keillor's career, that provided the basis for his beloved and humane comic monologues.
Wouldn't you assume that a politically active writer like Keillor would care deeply about a hater and conspiracy nut co-opting the place where he grew up--the place that is the basis of his personal and literary narrative?
(CONTINUED)
Bachmann and her "do anger like cocaine" supporters don't fit into Keillor's portrait of the people of Lake Woebegone. Political cranks and nuts do sometimes figure in Keillor monologues--they're presented as if they're loony exceptions.
But Bachmann's ability to take the district indicates that such people are not the exception; that it's Keillor and not Bachmann who's "got the place wrong." Bachmann's political career started with speeches to local conspiracy nuts, began to flourish when she broadened the rhetoric to cater to haters, and went national when she started lying and smearing the federal government. (Most of supporters in the Republican Party know she is an habitual liar, by the way. Their reaction to that is the same as the reaction to Bush/Cheney/Rove lying: it's great that they can get away with it.)
So clearly there's a really ugly aspect to Lake Woebegone that Keillor keeps out of his take on his home. These creepy haters are not a tiny minority in the district; they're an effective majority of the voters. It's a very strange place, Keillor's Sixth District
People laugh at Keillor's portrait of these Minnesotans because they recognize the truth in the portraiture. But Keillor can't tell the whole truth about the people he grew up with...That would be too truthful, too ugly. It would be potentially repellent "literature" rather than attractive and amusing "entertainment."
Here's his latest fund raising letter on behalf of Clark. He's made a good choice here. Clark is the kind of person that should represent the families of the Sixth District. She's got a demonstrated track record of achievement and integrity. She's shown a career-long commitment to the interests of her constituents.
So Keillor's endorsement here is unqualified. The title of the email is a reference to Bachmann and Christine O'Donnell:
Re: Not a witch, but...
Dear William,
The big wind that blew the leaves off the trees was nothing compared to the steady hurricane of political attack commercials we've seen, and I am thinking particularly of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's campaign - the second most expensive House campaign in the country this year at $8.6 million so far. That's $187,000 a day in October!!
I ask you: Why does an incumbent need to spend $8.6 million for a re-election campaign in one district? In Minnesota!
Because Tarryl Clark is running against her, that's why. Join me in supporting Tarryl by making one last donation to her campaign today.
Tarryl Clark is a smart, well-spoken State Senator who puts the common good of Minnesotans ahead of political ideology. She has done the hard work of balancing budgets, creating jobs and investing in education. She's held taxes down for middle class people. She is salt of the earth and speaks honestly about the challenges we face.
Her well-financed opponent is from the new breed of politicians who get caught again and again making wildly false statements - and never say they're sorry. That's why Bachmann holds the "All False / Pants-on-Fire" record from the Pulitzer Prize award winning fact-checking organization PolitiFact.
She is not a witch, but she does something which we were all brought up not to do.
Tarryl will always speak honestly about the challenges we face. Help her make her case to Minnesota voters in these critical final days with a contribution of any amount today.
I take a personal interest in the 6th District since Lake Wobegon is there and I think the good people of the 6th deserve able and honest representation.
And so I am passing the hat one last time to give the campaign a little bump and put more workers in the field. Election Day is at hand, that blessed quiet day when the shouting dies down and people go to the polls to vote their conscience. A majestic day. Let's do the right thing.
Thank you for reading this note.
Garrison Keillor
P.S. I'm proud of the campaign Tarryl has run. She's a hard worker in the Amy Klobuchar tradition - she has forced Congresswoman Bachmann's wealthy corporate patrons to dig deep into their pockets - and I hope you'll join me in supporting Tarryl today.
ACTION LINK: Bachmann's unleashed a media barrage of smears against Clark in the last few weeks....this time, it's Garrison Keillor who's got the begging bowl out for Clark. The letter he wrote came out today, apparently he's convinced that last-minute contributions to Clark can make a difference. Go here, please, and give what you can...
http://tarrylclark.com