Tripp Emmer: It's not the drinking, it's the shaming

• Politics at its worse. Attacking on issues or own behavior is politically correct. Attacking family is wrong. And attacking a dad is heart breaking sad. Do you think any dad would be proud of this picture?

• Politics at its worse. Attacking on issues or own behavior is politically correct. Attacking family is wrong. And attacking a dad is heart breaking sad. Do you think any dad would be proud of this picture?

• @Bobby The problems it that neither you nor your father are running to be elected governor of the state of Minnesota. The people have a right/duty to judge the qualifications and character of those who will lead our state and make critical decisions on our behalf. And yes, sadly, that means looking at the actions and quality of character of their family. Parents bear responsibility for the character and actions of their children. That is a general truism regardless of the families involved. In an earlier post you said you thought the parents of the girl should be embarrassed by her actions. I submit Tom Emmer should be embarrassed by the actions of his son for firstly being involved in the sordid event and secondly for posting the photo on his Facebook page. It seems there are several things missing in the Emmer boy--maturity, basic human decency, and discretion...and we the voting public have a right to look at this incident and judge the father by it. If he can't manage his own family how will he manage the state.

• Sansdeity - It depends. Obviously if Tom Emmer did this it would be extremely relevant in HIS candidacy. I would need to know more about the other staffer before I passed any judgement. If it was a teenager or someone in their early 20s, I would feel the same way as I feel about this. My friends and I drew on and pulled other pranks on our friends who passed out from drinking too much when I was Tripp's age. A few years later, I look back on it and am disappointed in myself, but what can I say, I was a kid being a kid. My dad didn't know I did those things. If he did I'm sure he'd be disappointed. I'm guessing Tom Emmer is disappointed in his son as well. Has anyone considered the possibility that he found out about these pictures when the rest of us did? Phoenix Woman - I've asked you this on your website and I will ask again here: Are we supposed to sink to their level? Do you have any interest in making political campaigns about politics again, like they used to be, as opposed to non-issues like this one? I, for one, am sick and tired of what has happened to the way campaigns are run and I don't believe that just because the right goes low that the left should go there too. Because after that the right will just go lower, and then the left. Don't you want this to stop? I don't understand why you prefer this to focusing on actual issues that actually matter to Minnesotans? It doesn't make any sense to me. Why not focus your energy and writing on Emmer's complete lack of any plan whatsoever about balancing our budget? Also, I think it's a little farfetched to say Dayton would be forced out of the race over something like this. Obama was tied to a domestic terrorist by the Republican spin-machine, and he made it through that just fine.

• First off: Bobby, you apparently aren't a girl, because you never got the spiked-drinks lecture in college. My college chemistry prof repeatedly told the girls in his classes that once their drinks left their sight -- and he included turning their backs on the drinks, even for a second -- they were to consider them tainted and get new ones. And this was well before the current roofie epidemic. Second off: Sansdeity asks: "To those of you who say it's a non-issue, what would be your reaction if another staff member had done this? Or If Daddy Emmer himself did? None of you would be so forgiving." Actually, they'd try to distract from it by yammering about Teddy Kennedy (if they're older) or Bill Clinton (if they're younger), which is their standard response whenever a conservative/Republican is caught doing something like this. Speaking of predictions, I can tell you very nearly exactly what would happen if Mark Dayton's son and employee had done this: -- Tony Sutton would have held a press conference about it. -- It would be the lead story on every local network (just as Sutton's unbelievably pathetic attempt to smear Dayton (http://moderateleft.com/?p=6505) led all the local news shows last night). -- Powerline, Captain's Quarters, Look True North and every other conservative and/or Republican blogger would be running with it. -- Drudge would headline it. -- Politico would pick it up from Drudge. -- The national TV and print media would pick it up from either Drudge or Politico. -- Dayton would be forced out of the race. But since it involved Tom Emmer's son, there's a concerted effort to disappear this photo and pretend that this is just an underage drinking scandal. I suspect that this is why Tony Sutton had to scramble to invent a new smear against Dayton yesterday: He couldn't take the chance of this growing longer legs than it has already.

• correction. was a paid member. because he lives a normal life like the rest of the 20 year olds in the world he is now attending school in canada while playing junior hockey. not some phony who is looking to sabotage his fathers campaign. that picture was from 4 years ago now chill your shit.

• The kid is a paid campaign staff member, who drew depictions of a "staff" and/or "member" on a passed out girls face. (Pardon the puns) To those of you who say it's a non-issue, what would be your reaction if another staff member had done this? Or If Daddy Emmer himself did? None of you would be so forgiving.

• Tripps doing really good he hasn't even got one DWI yet

• After my first college party I learned not to pass out cause the same thing happened to me. This does not make him a bad kid it's just people do dumb things when there fcked up.

• I have never once voted for a Republican in my life. I voted for Dayton in the DFL primary and I plan to vote for him again in November. I don't understand why people keep calling me a Republican simply because I am against shady tactics like this. I know Republicans employ them all the time, but that doesn't mean you should sink to their level! This whole Tripp Emmer story is more at home on Fox News than City Pages, although it would never run there for obvious reasons. Tom Emmer is a terrible candidate. There are plenty of actual campaign issues to attack him on. What Tripp Emmer did was clearly bad, but City Pages and a lot of other people seem to be spinning this way out of proportion. I wish they would give this much time and effort to some investigative journalism of some kind. When I was 19, (I am now 26, for the sake of full disclosure), I saw plenty of people who passed out at parties drawn on exactly like the girl in the facebook photo, or had other pranks done to them. That's what kids do. Some people in the first post were saying I shouldn't call a 19 year old a kid, but when I was 19 I certainly still acted like a kid and the same goes for most 19 year olds. I don't see the connection at all between this and what happened to your friend. Drawing on someone is not a crime, raping someone is. Obviously if Tripp was involved in sexual assault, then it would definitely be an important issue, but that's not the case here. So is this okay if a guy does it to another guy? If a girl draws on a guy is at also sexual assault? I am not trying to cheapen sexual assault here, but I just don't see the connection to drawing on someone, even of a drawing of a penis. It seems like a lot of over reacting because they think politics are some kind of team sport and they want to hurt the other side. To that I say, just like I'd say to a 19 year old who drew on a passed out friend: grow up

• Bobby sez: "...if I were that girls parents I would be certainly much more upset about the fact that she drank to the point of passing out than the fact that her friends drew on her after she passed out." Leave it to fast-draw commenter Bobby -- wow, does the MN GOP have City Pages on RSS feed, or what? -- to bring up the old "she was asking for it" defense of obnoxious frat boys everywhere. Yup, good old Blame the Victim works every time! You know what, Bobby? I'm old enough to be that girl's mother. And I've been to college. And I've known at least one young woman who got, if not passed-out drunk, at least drunk enough that she wasn't able, by her own later admission, to exercise good judgement. Her penalty was to find herself the centerpiece of a gangbang -- and to have sobered up just as the bangers were really starting to get their freak on. If it weren't for the fact that her friends were nearby, in another room of the house, and starting to ask about her, I shudder to think what would have happened. I'm sure that you'll be happy to hear that she blamed herself, as you apparently think she should, for letting herself get drunk in the presence of people she thought were nice clean-cut well-behaved (in public, anyway) guys. As for me: I'm not. Fast-forward nearly three decades, and here's another girl who looks like she had a bit to drink. (Or her drink was spiked with roofies, as happens every now and then when certain horny clean-cut guys are unwilling to wait for a girl to get drunk enough to lose her judgement.) At least in my friend's case, nobody took her picture when she was naked and tied to a bed, much less put that picture online, without benefit of eye covering (that was supplied by City Pages well after the fact), on a Facebook page that was public until recently. If I were that daughter's mother, I wouldn't be slut-shaming my daughter. I'd be wanting the hides of all the bullying frenemies who thought that publicly humiliating my daughter was somehow "cool" or "funny". If this is the best the Republican Party of Minnesota can do at defending this photo, they have some big-time problems.

• I can't get behind Tripp posing in front of and posting that picture, but if I were that girls parents I would be certainly much more upset about the fact that she drank to the point of passing out than the fact that her friends drew on her after she passed out. This seems to be a lot more about City Pages than the actual news now. If this was originally about the shaming, why was most of the original piece about his underage drinking violation? It seems like when a national commentator brought this up, City Pages was more interested in that all of the sudden. Then of course comes the "statement" part of this article. Mr. Hoffman, you act like this is the first time a 20 year old kid has drawn on a passed out friend, when both you and your readers know that's not true. You act like this is the first time that a shameful/embarrassing picture of someone has been posted on Facebook, when both you and your readers know that's not true. But that's not even the worst part. The worst part is when YOU, a journalist, tell your readers what is and is not an issue. No. No. NO NO NO NO NO. You have it exactly backwards. The readers tell you what is and is not an issue. You have lost sight of that fact and that is the EXACT reason this newspaper has gone foul so quickly, along with most of the rest of the news media in this country.

TotalComments: 12