This one surprises me; David Hann is NOT known for throwing bombs/calling names. He is known for being a conservative extremist, and highly fundamentalist when it comes to religion - which is not a surprise; Hann served in the Chaplain Corp in the Army back in the day's of 'Nam.
And apparently, his theological pedigree trumps the local Catholic Archbishop's:
Now, let's take a look at an opinion on Hann's opinion in the National Catholic Reporter:
A "socialist" Archbishop?
by Michael Sean WintersIn Minnesota, like many states, the Catholic Church has asked state governments not to balance their budgets on the backs of the poor. The scriptural source for this stance is, well the whole message of the Gospels speaks of compassion for the poor, but most specifically, the 25th Chapter of teh Gospel of St. Matthew: Whatever you do for these the least of your brethren, you do for me."
But, David Hann, a Republican State Senator who is the assistant majority leader of the Minnesota State Senate has discerned a socialist agenda at work in the Church's position. In a letter to Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul, Hann accused the archbishop of endorsing a "socialist fiction."
I am guessing that Archbishop Nienstedt does not, in fact, have a well-thumbed copy of Das Kapital on his bookshelves.
Just when you think you've seen crazy, you discover something even crazier.
I don't know how "crazy" calling a Catholic Archbishop a "socialist" is, but I do know that it's typical for an elected Republican to call people that disagree with them socialists and communists and worse.
For instance, GOP CD-04 Deputy ChairNathan Hansen called Army LTC Joe Repya a commie - and was rewarded by GOP Party Leadership.
No surprise there; GOP Party Chair Tony Sutton called 13 distinguished and long-time republicans "quislings" - and said there's "a special place in hell" for them.
And just last Thursday, GOP State Senator Hackbarth compared unions with communists, Hitler and Castro.
There's more - plenty of it - and here's the point: there's a pattern here, and GOP Senate Assistant Majority Leader Hann is playing along. "Disagree with us - party leaders - and you're obviously liberal/leftist/socialist/pinko/commie/(fill in the blank)."
Hey, that's what the local GOP leadership did last election, to Eden Prairie Nancy Lukens - label her as a "big spending liberal" when nothing could be farther from the truth.
Just to be clear, Senator Hann isn't big on government spending on social issues; just this spring, he introduced legislation to state spending for Meals On Wheels. Senator Hann only withdrew that legislation because he HAD to; NOT because he wanted to.
So I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that if - IF - Senator Hann apologizes to the Archbishop, that to will be because he HAS to; NOT because he wants to.
Because Senator Hann's record clearly indicates his theology trumps everyone else's. Even the Archbishop's.
(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject; follow me on twitter: @TwoPuttTommy)
