On my drive home from the office today I heard a fantastic story by MPR’s Mark Zdechlik, “Coleman defends bailout comments.” Coleman already proved he has very little understanding of the current financial crisis but I would have thought he would have gotten himself some quick schooling. Looks like all he got were talking points. That and he actually defended his earlier statement:
Coleman is not disputing the accuracy of the quote. But Coleman said in his own call with reporters, he “presumes” he was referring to past government bailouts, not the current proposal to fund the Treasury Department with $700 billion to buy bad debt.
“I believe that it was a reference to a discussion about bailouts and government involvement in general, and I believe that the context was talking about Chrysler,” he said.
Coleman went on to say he was also referring to last week’s federal takeover of insurer AIG and the savings and loan crisis.
He believes he was talking about Chrysler? Does he have any clue about this at all?
Rachel E. Stassen-Berger adds:
On his call, Coleman when given the opportunity, didn’t say that the quote was inaccurate but said he was largely talking about the AIG bailout, in which the federal government bought a part-ownership of the massive insurer at fire sale prices, and compared that to the Chrysler bailout and the Resolution Trust Corporation situation. That’s not quite the context the Mankato Free Press puts on the Coleman quote.
So Coleman doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Another thing that’s interesting to compare is that Franken has been talking about this for a long, long time. He was even fielding questions about this at a different press event this week and gave a conference call about it this morning. This was before he was meeting with other Senators in Washington. Meanwhile, Coleman kept “unavailable for comment” Monday and Tuesday until after he had his Republican luncheon with Bush’s Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson before talking with press. Can’t he get questioned by the press before he gets his talking points from the White House? Sounds like Sarah Palin’s tactics to me.
Check out Esme Murphy’s comparison. It includes:
In a conference call with reporters Senator Norm Coleman said “This is an economic 9-11.”
Sen. Coleman said after meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen and other treasury officials he is convinced that the impact of not acting will be devastating for ordinary citizens.
An “economic 9-11”? Is that codeword that we should be complacent with whatever the government wants to do? And who’s saying we shouldn’t act? It’s just fear-mongering talking points. Coleman has some more talking points compared to Franken’s actual informed thoughts and plan on the matter.
Then there’s Coleman’s campaign talking points. He says:
“This is about statemanship and not about partisan bickering not about fighting about what you against. Again, we are facing a crisis here,” Coleman said. “Bottom line is I work for solutions. The difference between me and Al Franken is he yells, screams and curses and argues against and I work for solutions.”
That last quote mimic the choice now being offered on Coleman’s campaign Web site, the home page of which has been given over, for the moment, to two ads: Angry Al vs. Coleman’s “Outrage isn’t leadership” ad.
Bottom line is that people that are paying attention today are seeing Al Franken working on solutions to defend taxpayers and Minnesotans while showing a very clear, detailed understanding of the subject. They’re also seeing Coleman not talking to the press until he gets his talking points downloaded and then sounding like he’s robotically talking the partisan line with no clear understanding of the crisis at hand.
It’s becoming more and more clear: Norm Coleman is proving he’s a lapdog and showing he’s not ready for prime time while Al Franken sounds like our Senator.
Here’s an MP3 of Franken’s conference call earlier today, the MPR story, Rachel’s post and Esme’s post.
Loading ...
I heard it too. It was really well done. Al sounds better than ever. And Norm looks and sounds more and more like a Bush/Rove prototype by the day. Every time he opens his mouth or puts out on of his ads it is clearer and clearer. And MN sees it. He’s scared! You would think he would pull a Palin and go into hiding.
My guess is that from now on, any time someone brings up Coleman’s bonehead statement, he’ll fall back on Ol’ Faithful: “My critics are living in the past.”
I think MPR still has functioning audio of a debate Coleman had with Jay Benenav in 1999 on the Twins Stadium referendum. In it, Coleman confidently predicts that “the chances of baseball getting its economic house in order by 2003 are excellent.”
Norm Coleman: Would you trust your pension with this man?
Good topic.
Is EVERYTHING for all time going to be held up to the 9/11 yardstick?
What I don’t fathom is the shallow rhetoric Coleman throws out there.
Does he think he woke up as Giuliani with the
“NOUN, VERB & 9/11” type of lines?
A mindless reaction is really going to make sure our money if spent, is pent to good effect, right?
One more alarm bell:
Yesterday it was reported that the white house has been working on this for months.
Assuming that is true - was it only the political wing? Cheney’s secret task force perhaps?
WHO was involved in this several month deliberation?
Ultimately its writing Paulson a cashier’s check to manage as he sees fit. Does he have that great a track record?
I’ve barely heard of him - certainly he’s not got the name-recognition of Greenspan! Would we have trusted Greenspan with this check?
Or are we going to the registrar’s office to transfer the ownership of an over-priced jalopy?
Can we trust he won’t lose that check on his way to the bank parking lot? And is he good for it?
This is all over the net today… it would be funny if it was not so close to reality.
Your Urgent Help Needed
Dear American:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a
transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had
crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion
dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most
profitable to you.
I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my
replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may
know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the
1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds
as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names
of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family
lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person
who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account
numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to
wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for
this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with
detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the
funds.
Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson