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DFLers blushing over e-news blunder

Last update: July 31, 2009 - 7:29 PM

Uh, never mind. Also: Sorry about that.

That essentially was the DFL's red-faced response Thursday when it sent out an electronic news release blasting Gov. Tim Pawlenty that had a profanity-laced video attached to it.

The release was designed to respond to Pawlenty's speech before national Republicans in San Diego, attacking his record on job creation, health care and the state budget deficit.

One small problem: The link that was supposed to direct reporters to a state economic development report actually sent them to a YouTube video titled "Chinese Grandma Learns English." For four minutes, an elderly Chinese woman repeats obscenities, oblivious to their meaning.

The release went out at 4:17 p.m. Four minutes later, the party sent out another e-mail asking if it could "recall" the original. A moment later, it sent out a corrected version, which it followed up with this explanation 10 minutes later:

"The previous version of this release contained an incorrect and inappropriate link. We did not check the links before the release was sent. We apologize for this error."

DFL Executive Director Andrew O'Leary said the link came from an outside researcher who had not checked it and the party did not double-check the link before sending the release. The party "obviously made a mistake," O'Leary said.

State Republicans, obviously tickled about the DFL's screwup, were content to let their opponents stew, merely alerting reporters to the error.

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Governor: Tim Pawlenty
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