Cross-Posted at Daily Kos

Gil Gutknecht (R-MN) is scared. Gutknecht is frightened by his challenge from Fightin' Dem Tim Walz in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District.

Since Gutknecht has no record to run on, he is simply trying to divide the people of Southern Minnesota.

When illegal immigration was supposed to be the silver-bullet for the GOP in 2006, Gil Gutknecht was out on the front lines of the issue. He came out and joined the ranks of nutjobs like Tom Tancredo, Steve King and James Sensenbrenner with xenophobic and hateful rhetoric:

"...today our borders are a sieve, with illegal immigrants pouring into the country. The time has come to reform our immigration policies." [gil.house.gov]

The people of Southern Minnesota didn't bite. They didn't let Gil's hateful rhetoric divide them. Gil saw that his purely political speech wasn't sticking.

Gutknecht, realizing this wasn't going to carry him to re-election, suddenly did an about face on the important issue of illegal immigration:

"I don't think it's the end of the world if we pass nothing" [Minneapolis Star Tribune June 20th 2006].

This is a career politician playing politics . But, ladies and gentlemen, this is just Exhibit A.

Exhibit B: The Iraq War.

Since the war started Gutknecht has been a staunch supporter of the President's policy in Iraq and made the decision not to talk about it:

Until recently Gil Gutknecht ignored the need for a real plan in Iraq, telling both the Wall Street Journal and the Star Tribune that he wouldn't talk about the war because the American people did not understand it.
[Tim Walz for US Congress Website]

But after a trip to the Green Zone and some hefty polling by the Gutknecht campaign (I assume). Gil seems to have finally gotten the hint that not talkin' about Iraq isn't going to work out for him. Gutknecht has now gone from the far-right "stay the course" to now calling for troop withdrawal. Flip. And Flop. Gutknecht's reasoning?

"I guess I didn't understand the situation."[Washington Post, 7/20/06]

Didn't understand the situation?!

It is clear what Gutknecht is doing here. He is flip-flopping and trying to position himself as a "maverick" on the war in Iraq.

We can't let him do this. We can't let him play politics while our soldiers are in danger. Tim Walz says it best:

"A partial withdrawal [such as favored by Gutknecht] leaves those left behind exposed to even more deadly insurgent violence. Gutknecht's suggestion is his own re-election plan, not an exit plan will keep our troops safe.

Gutknecht is flailing his arms, struggling to hang on to his seat in the House of Representatives. He is trying to be re-elected to a 7th term, when he promised to serve only 6.

We can't let him do this.

It is time for Gil to go.

It is time for Congressman Tim Walz.