I grew up in Minnesota and last lived there from 1996-2002. When Norm Coleman was mayor of St. Paul and a gubernatorial candidate during that time, I despised the man. The 2002 election that sent this jerk to the U.S. Senate immediately following the death of Paul Wellstone was one of the most heartbreaking stories of modern politics.
Coleman for some weeks has been suggesting a full, statewide election re-do in Minnesota after he lost the recount of the November 2008 vote by a razor-thin margin to Democratic challenger Al Franken. The cost estimate of such a hypothetical re-do came in today: $3.5-5 million. The hypocrisy is rich, as this TPM ITEM today by Eric Kleefeld, "Flashback: Coleman Said To Spare State Cost Of Recount -- But Is Now Angling For Multi-Million Dollar Election," points out.
When Coleman in November just after the election counseled Franken to step aside to spare expense (with Coleman appearing to be ahead), the estimated cost of the recount was under $100,000. After the recount put Franken ahead, Coleman suddenly became eager to have the taxpayers spend $5 million for his do-over. Oy...
I have a few old Norm Coleman posts. THIS ONE from 2004 analyzes the sorry distraction perpetrated by Coleman and his senate Republican colleague Susan Collins in attacking former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan over the Iraq Oil-for-Food program.
In a December 2004 letter demanding that Annan resign over Oil-for-Food corruption, Coleman included this gem,
Since it was never likely that the U.N. Security Council, some of whose permanent members were awash in Saddam's favors, would ever call for Saddam's removal, the U.S. and its coalition partners were forced to put troops in harm's way to oust him by force. Today, money swindled from Oil-for-Food may be funding the insurgency against coalition troops in Iraq and other terrorist activities against U.S. interests. Simply put, the troops would probably not have been placed in such danger if the U.N. had done its job in administering sanctions and Oil-for-Food.Alas! A completely novel explanation for the Iraq War! The U.S. simply had to root out the corruption that all the other compromised U.N. member states never would. So it's the fault of the U.N. and Kofi Annan that U.S. troops had to die in Iraq. The unwritten corollary here is that President Bush and his Iraq team did nothing except react properly to the circumstances.
Coleman (and Collins) were BLIND at the time to the U.S.-run cleptocracy in Iraq called the Coalition Provisional Authority.
There is a lot more to say about Coleman's senate performance, surely one of the worst six-year stints in senate history. A follow-up Oil-for-Food episode included a Coleman attack on UK politician George Galloway, see HERE,
Coleman: If in fact he lied to this committee, there will have to be consequences.Wow, Norm, some threat! How'd that turn out?
The post cited, from May 2005, blogs a response on his old radio show from none other than, Al Franken!
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