I love living in Minnesota, but sometimes the people here can cause a little embarrassment.  Thirty-eight percent of Minnesotans elected Jesse Ventura as governor in 1998, and ten years later, 42% put Al Franken in the US Senate.  At least yesterday’s embarrassment was limited to one lunatic with catastrophically bad aim:

A man was arrested for throwing tomatoes at Sarah Palin during her book signing on Monday at the Mall of America.

Jeremy Olson, 33, allegedly threw two tomatoes from the second balcony, however did not come close to hitting Palin.

So who did he hit?  Uh ….

Bloomington Police report that Bloomington Commander Mark Stehlik was struck in the face with one of the tomatoes and may face charges for assaulting a police officer. Olson was booked at the Bloomington jail. He was arrested for suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct.

Good shooting, Jeremy!  Instead of hitting his bête noir, he hit a police commander — and now could face some serious jail time as a result. And for what?  He wanted to injure Palin for writing a book, which apparently Olson finds somehow threatening.  Anything thrown from the second floor down to the first other than a Nerf ball would have a good chance of causing an injury, especially to the face.

Adding to the air of mysterious stupidity, Jeremy also apparently goes by the name Jeremiah Wobbe.  The police initially reported his arrest under that name.  Olson, or Wobbe, seems to need more than one identity to contain his bountiful immaturity.

Just to cut off the rumors, Olson is not one of  the Viking quarterbacks.  At least not this year.

This is one of a string of assaults on conservatives making personal appearances over the last few years, although usually it involves pies rather than produce.  It’s a natural reaction, I suppose, from those who lack the intellectual heft to debate issues.  Unfortunately for Olson, he also lacks the aim to do anything other than ensure that the police will demand his prosecution.  Maybe he should stick to his Wii.

Update: It occurs to me that this is more violence than anyone saw from Tea Party protesters. Will that fact get hours of analysis on MS-NBC? Don’t hold your breath.