Norm Coleman is seriously screwed on this one.
Transcript:
REPORTER: On a different subject is there a reason that the Senator won’t say whether or not someone else bought some suits for him?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: Rachel, the Senator has reported every gift he has ever received.
REPORTER: That wasn’t my question, Cullen.
CULLEN SHEEHAN: The Senator has reported every gift he has ever received. We are not going to respond to unnamed sources on a blog.
REPORTER: So Senator Coleman’s friend has not bought these suits for him? Is that correct?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: The Senator has reported every gift he has ever received.
REPORTER: Why would say that? Why wouldn’t you give us an answer, “yes” or “no” on that?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: He’s recorded every gift he has ever received.
REPORTER: We haven’t asked whether he has recorded every gift he has ever received and I will take his word that he has recorded every gift he has received. Has he ever received a gift of suits?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: He’s reported every gift he has ever received.
REPORTER: If the answer is “no,” then why don’t you say “no”?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: He has reported every gift he has ever received, Rachel.
BLOGGER: Cullen, whose name is on Senator Coleman’s utility bill in DC?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: Is there any other questions from the Capitol press corps?
REPORTER: What about his, uh, Laurie, Mrs. Coleman’s job at Hays Company? Do you know what she did there?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: Again, they have disclosed everything they need to disclose on the Senate ethics forms.
REPORTER: So the Senator will only go according to the Senate ethics laws, rather, rules rather than answer questions?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: He has done everything that he is required to do, Rachel.
REPORTER: But that is not my question, Cullen.
CULLEN SHEEHAN: But that is my response.
REPORTER: Senator Coleman has talked a lot about campaign finance and transparency. He’ll repeat that: “transparency, transparency, that’s what you need to have.” If there are questions about whether he was a recipient of some very expensive suits and whether those were gifted to him in an appropriate way, why not just clear it all up? Because it is very unclear to us.
CULLEN SHEEHAN: He does that every year as a United States Senator on his Senate disclosure forms.
REPORTER: And will we find information about clothing on those forms?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: If it exceeds a gift limit, yes.
REPORTER: So is it possible that he received these suits and it was below gift limit?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: Uh, the Senator has reported every gift he has ever received.
REPORTER: It’s a little puzzling Cullen, why you won’t say whether or not he received these gifts and I understand that you don’t have respond to everything on blogs but you are getting questions from reporters and I don’t see why you aren’t answering that. Can you explain that a little to me?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: Yeah Rachel, we are not going to respond to unnamed sources on blogs. That is what we are going to do every day from now until election is over. The Senator has disclosed everything that he is required to disclose and recorded everything that he is required to report.
REPORTER: But Cullen if the Senator did nothing wrong here and that is what you are saying then just tell us that and the issue will go away.
CULLEN SHEEHAN: The Senator has reported every gift he’s ever received.
REPORTER: Did the Senator do anything wrong here?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: The Senator has done nothing wrong and reported every gift he’s ever received.
REPORTER: And you don’t know what Mrs. Coleman did for Hays Companies?
CULLEN SHEEHAN: And again whatever has been required to be disclosed about her income and what she does has been disclosed.
Actually, the nicest thing about this article is the title of it on Huffington Post….”Coleman Spokesman Humiliated”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/coleman-spokesman-humilia_n_133026.html
Sounds like Norm needs to sell some more furniture.
Hey - that “BLOGGER” was me!!!
And I gotta tell ya, I almost - ALMOST - felt sorry for Sheehan, doin’ the ol’ Smokescreen Shuffle, as he danced and dodged the question….
Reminds me of The Silence of the Lambs: It puts the lotion in the basket.
Ahh… wow.
Truthfully it appears that Norm Coleman is the Hobo Senator from Minnesota. He is so cheap to buy, you don’t even need to report the gifts they are such a low level. Wonder what he would charge for entering a bill to the Senate… nice underroos.
Shameless.
Are you seriously calling Coleman the Hobo Senator in this race? LOL
this is hilarious. Norm’s gonna get burnt on this one!
Hey guys! Did you hear? The senator has reported every gift he has ever received…
Seriously that made me laugh out loud.
Coleman is the Hobo Senator. Lives on the charity of lobbyists, pays his subsidized rent with furniture, seemingly takes trips for free when ever he can and can’t seemingly report all the nickels and dimes he scams out of people. I bet he knows all those old hobo graphics they use to show kind woman in house, bad dog here and loose lobbyist money here. That sort of describes a hobo to me.
I clicked on this link because I thought it was about Brokaw’s lame question last night about the evil empire (Yes or No? Do you want to insult Putin on TV?) He could have imitated John McCain and answered “Maybe”
Has Franken officially moved to Minnesota yet?
But what I really want to know that didn’t get answered:
Did the Senator report every gift he ever received?
So Coleman is a filthy corrupt politician carpetbagger that was planted by Rove, and Hays Company seems to be a front company to buy political influence, what else is new? The question is are the voters going to do anything about it?
DtM: Come on… you’ve got to admit that this exchange is ridiculous.
What is most amazing is the complete lack of due diligence by the press. I applaud Cullen, he stuck to it and the press doesn’t get it. If they believe there were gifts not reported DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Go to the disclosure and look, find your back-up and present it. Do you really expect that you can nit-pick line item by line item and have a campaign take the time to respond to every accusation? Why not get your facts first and IF you have something then go after it. Keep you fishing expeditions on the lakes and for once try being part of the solution, not the problem with politics in Minnesota. I am tired of our lazy and irresponsible media. Bias may be natural but complacency should not be tolerated.
I graduated high school with Cullen and considered him a friend at one point. Yet, his conduct here was not unlike his attitude at that time. I hope he is not fired for this misstep.