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First District Republican candidate Jim Hagedorn is apologizing for old blog posts that targeted Indians, gays and women.
On his Facebook page, Hagedorn wrote that he had written political satire years ago and "even though most of my writing were composed more than 10 years ago, national and DFL liberals are determined to attack me personally, mostly by exhibiting snippets of out-dated, misunderstood or out-of-context material and calling me derogatory names."
Nonetheless, Hagedorn wrote that "I do acknowledge that some of my hard-hitting and tongue-in-cheek commentary was less than artfully constructed or included language that could lead to hurt feelings. I offer a sincere and heartfelt apology."
Hagedorn won an upset victory in the Aug. 12 Republican primary over the party-endorsed candidate Aaron Miller, of Byron. The Blue Earth Republican will take on 1st District DFL Rep. Tim Walz in November.
Hagedorn wrote the posts between 2002 and 2008 on a blog called Mr. Conservative. Among the posts was one that referred to alleged voter fraud in the 2002 South Dakota election involving American Indians. He wrote that "Many of the votes registered for absentee ballots were found to be chiefs and squaws who returned to the spirit world many moons ago." He went on to write, "Leave it to liberals to ruin John Wayne's wisdom of the only good Indian being a dead Indian." Another referred to two Washington senator as "bimbos in tennis shoes."
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Hagedorn's apology came after Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Mike McFadden said he thought Hagedorn should apologize for the posts. In his Facebook apology, Hagedorn said it's hypocritical that liberals are not demanding U.S. Sen. Al Franken apologize for some of his offensive writing done before he was a senator. Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Keith Downey and McFadden have also said Franken should be held to the same standard as Hagedorn.
The Blue Earth candidate ended his Facebook post by writing, "Rather than dwell in the rigged game of political correctness, my campaign will forge ahead to engage with the people of southern MInnesota and address the issues that will decide our country's future during these critical times."
