Is Chris Kunze Now "Toast", Politically Speaking?
"Anonymous" wrote in and asked if I thought Chris Kunze had any political future at all after his very public election eve betrayal of the school levy, his colleagues on the School Board, and the local public schools.
Anonymous--you must be kidding. Does he have a future? His political future is brighter than ever! This creepy behavior has just turned Kunze into the next rising Republican star in this district! Assholes everywhere in Stillwater will love this guy! "Finished?" Are you kidding me? He's riding a rocket of anal popularity right now--and if he follows up the right way he may ride that rocket right into the State House!
You see, what you guys who read this blog tend to forget is--most of the people we talk to and associate with--are sane, decent people. Most of them are, for the most part, ethical people. They're unlikely to stab you in the back--take advantage of your good nature.
But there are a lot of other people we wouldn't want to have lunch with. They're angry, thwarted selfish people. Some of them are just plain kooks when it comes to the issue of taxation. They have all kinds of kooky arguments and worldviews and schemes and stuff, and they're flattered by the talk radio Republicans.
There's a LOT of those people, right here in Stillwater! That's why the St. Croix Valley is represented by four anti-tax legislators in St. Paul--remember? It is a tremendous mistake for you guys to think that the number of selfish, kooky people is small--just because you and I tend to exclude those people from our social circles. On the contrary--the number of selfish and kooky people is quite large--and they're politically active, too! You must remember that reality, if you want to talk realistically about local politics. The selfish silly bastard vote is probably smaller than "the decent folks who care about the schools" vote--but the selfish silly bastard vote is very active, votes at every given opportunity, and is backed by the conservative media and the present government in St. Paul! You bet Kunze has a future!
What his critics don't seem to realize yet is that what Kunze has done will RAISE his reputation in the eyes of local selfish kooks. His betrayal of his school board colleagues is a sign of CHARACTER in the bizarro world of no-new-taxes morality.
Thole, on the other hand, has LOST credibility with local conservative anti-tax nuts. When he started pushing this levy, he went from local conservative hero to goat. And I bet he's a bit stunned by that. He probably can't believe that his sincere word on how necessary this levy is, is no longer good enough for local conservatives.
George Thole, Republican standard bearer on the School Board, distrusted and marginalized by the local right! Shoved aside as local hero on fiscal restraint in school spending, by his back-stabbling little political wannabe vice-chairman! I bet that's galling to Thole, to suddenly find himself pegged firmly a "big public spender" in comparison to his former protege.
Yes, Kunze has a future! It doesn't matter that he lied and he was caught--how many times has Bachmann been caught publicly in a lie, and she's in the State Senate and ahead in the GOP race for congress! Some of you guys don't get it--the conservative GOP LIKES people who lie, so long as they're ostensibly more anti-tax than anyone else.
I'll bet people are already writing in to the papers in support of Kunze! You have to accept this about a large number of the conservative voters, so I'll say it again: they LIKE a person who does the betraying/lying thing; what Kunze did. And they DESPISE a conservative who votes for necessary public spending as a matter of principle--like Thole.
The sad part is: Thole really thought that his reputation for fiscal prudence, his deserved reputation as a conservative--was going to be enough to convince other local conservatives that this levy really was necessary. Instead he finds himself--at his advanced age--getting in other conservative's faces, week after week, to defend both the levy and his integrity.
I hate the guy's personality, but I admire his stamina and his stand on this particular issue. I hope the levy passes and that Thole then kicks Kunze's ass publicly on election day. But YES--Kunze has a future in politics, if he sticks to the stringent conservative code of ethics that he just followed in betraying the School Board and the families who send their kids to our public schools.
posted by Prendergast @ 9:29 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Kunze: he has always squivveled his rhetoric, that though on surface may have just been an exhibition of administrative over-my-head panic, was really just an obvious sign of his root character flaws, which is why he will undoubtedly be a Republican rising star !
There you go--bratworst is a guy who sizes the situation up accurately and in light of conservative ethics.
I think he knew what he was doing with his "trying to torpedo the levy at the last minute" timing, though. It was a careerist thing on his part; the hell with my promise and my duty, thinks Kunze, I've got to think of my career.
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I've think you've done a very good summary of 1) explaining what's at stake, and 2) what Kunze did that was so wrong.
"Explaining what Kunze did that was so wrong" is very important--because the newspaper reporters aren't allowed to do that (the objective reporting rule) and Kunze's fellow board members will be reluctant to comment on his transgressions (so close to the date of the levy, which is probably part of the reason that Kunze waited until now to screw them.)
So I think people who write in--like you--and explain "what Kunze did that was so wrong" are doing the voters a service. I hope that one of the papers picks up your article before the election date.
I'm a little more optimistic. I'm also a conservative (and *gasp* a Republican). I'm also strongly supportive of this levy - schools are a good investment, period.
I have more faith in our electorate than this. I think that many, like me, find his craven, unethical, lying, cheating, ambushing, dishonest, corrupt, despicable, moronic behavior to be not the mark of how we want our political leaders to behave. We have a long tradition in MN and in Stillwater of rejecting that sort of behavior.
Let me put it this way - I wouldn't want to be Chris Kunze right now.... I care about my reputation and I wouldn't want to walk down the streets downtown and know that people thought I was a liar (even if I was one). If I did this, I'd have to move from town in shame.
There are conservatives and then there are conservatives. The bad ones, like Kunze, give the rest of us a bad name. Just like bomb throwers on the left give decent thoughtful liberals a bad name. We all need to remember that there is room for what used to be known as the 'loyal opposition.'
Please don't lump us in the same camp as this moron. People with ethics - on either side - find this behavior to be corrupt.
You're right--I painted with too broad a brush there. Not all Republicans will automatically support Kunze; not all conservatives will automatically support Kunze. Thole certainly doesn't, and he's unquestionably a Republican conservative.
And I know that there are even people of principle (people who wouldn't do what Kunze did) who are against the present levy.
But I abide by my main point--his betrayal of the school board and the kids of the district--at the last minute, when it counts the most--could be the beginning of a bee-yoo-tiful right-wing political career. There are that many conservative talk radio loons in this district.
I just checked the Stillwater Courier's website, and my letter to the editor is there (11/3/06)! Hopefully it will also make it into the print version.
We'll see about the Gazette. Their website is VERY limited, and they don't seem to have opionion letters on it. They did call to verify my identity, so maybe they will publish it, too!
Well, my letter made it into the Gazette also! It was actually in yesterday's (11/2/06) paper, but we don't get ours in the mail until the next day, so I didn't see it until now.
Congratulations, c.
It's a lot easier to get a letter in, than most people think. And more people read the letters to that editor, than most people think. The politicians and older readers (who are very likely to vote) are especially likely to read the LTEs.
But you are to be congratulated-- because if there's a difficult time to get the papers to run your LTE, it's right before an election. The competition is a lot stiffer when an election looms, but the editors at both our local papers make a point of reading everything they get.
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