Minnesota Democrat Rails at 'Republican Whore' Reporter

November 3rd, 2006 4:17 PM

One of the side effects of the left's control of the media is that Democratic politicians often have trouble dealing with criticism because they aren't subjected to the 24/7 scrutiny that Republicans usually face. This leads them to fall apart when they come into contact with a reporter that doesn't defer to them like usual.

Minnesota's Democratic nominee for the governor's office, Mike Hatch, provided an example of this yesterday in the face of questioning about his running mate's apparent lack of knowledge about the subject of the gasoline additive ethanol.

Mike Hatch’s aggressive reputation showed through Thursday for one of the few times in this year’s heated gubernatorial race.

Hatch lashed out at Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Republicans for attacking his running mate, Judi Dutcher, over a recent incident in which the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party lieutenant governor candidate appeared to know nothing about E-85 ethanol.

“This governor is afraid to debate me on issues,” said Hatch, the current attorney general who recent polls show is narrowly leading Pawlenty in the governor’s race. “He wants to beat up on a woman.”

Hatch’s anger overflowed during a Thursday morning telephone interview.

A Forum Communications reporter asked Hatch about Dutcher’s knowledge of ethanol and why she wasn’t available to discuss the issue. Hatch abruptly ended the interview with: “You’re nothing more than a Republican whore. Goodbye.” He then hung up.

Television crews following the Duluth native Thursday reported other sharp comments when reporters pressed him for response to Dutcher’s comments.