The X factor in Minnesota

Keith X Ellison was the Minnesota DFL attorney general candidate’s second of three adopted Nation of Islam pseudonyms. The third time around Ellison moved on to run for office in 1998 as Keith Ellison-Muhammad, an acknowledged member of the well-known hate cult. Yet Ellison has professed ignorance of the cult’s tenets and denied involvement in the cult for anything other than a limited period of time around the Million Man march; both of these assertions are nevertheless readily demonstrable lies.

The same goes as to Ellison’s really shocking support of cop killers. Ellison denies it, but the record of his support is easily available for anyone who bothers to check it out. Among those not checking it out, however, are the reporters of the Star Tribune. Readers who get their news from the Star Tribune would have no idea.

Over on the opinion page, the Star Tribune editors decline to endorse either Ellison or his GOP opponent, Doug Wardlow. As to Ellison, the Star Tribune editors assert: “Ellison’s commitment to justice for all is not in doubt [sic], but his personal judgment is. His history with Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam remains controversial even though Ellison has long since renounced the group’s anti-Semitic views. His previous support for gang members and fugitive Kathleen Soliah create further doubts and would make it challenging to build a strong relationship with law enforcement.”

Here we encounter a troubling epistemological problem: How would they know? Not from reading their own blasted newspaper, I can tell you that. Beyond the sports pages, the Star Tribune is a shameless joke. On the one hand, we have Keith X Ellison. On the other hand, we have the X factor of the Star Tribune’s journalistic nonfeasance and editorial partisanship.

Yesterday the DFL kicked off its statewide tour to get out the vote, but one notable face was missing from the magic get out the vote bus. Where’s X? In the KSTP/Survey USA poll released last night Ellison has pulled ahead of Wardlow 44-40, with 12 percent undecided and a 5.3 percent margin of error. Ellison’s lead is within the poll’s margin of error, but this finding jumped out at me: “Of respondents who told KSTP/SurveyUSA that they have already returned a ballot, Ellison leads by 27 points – 57 to 30 percent.”

We may nevertheless draw one adverse inference from the evidence of absence on the magic bus. The DFL must know that Ellison is a drag in more ways than one.

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