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Empty victory for a hollow man How Norm Coleman sold his soul for a Senate seat.
Salon.com ^ | Nov. 7, 2002 | By Garrison Keillor

Posted on 11/08/2002 5:13:50 PM PST by AlwaysLurking

Empty victory for a hollow man How Norm Coleman sold his soul for a Senate seat.

http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2002/11/07/minnesota/index_np.html By Garrison Keillor

Nov. 7, 2002 | Norm Coleman won Minnesota because he was well-financed and well-packaged. Norm is a slick retail campaigner, the grabbiest and touchingest and feelingest politician in Minnesota history, a hugger and baby-kisser, and he's a genuine boomer candidate who reinvents himself at will. The guy is a Brooklyn boy who became a left-wing student radical at Hofstra University with hair down to his shoulders, organized antiwar marches, said vile things about Richard Nixon, etc. Then he came west, went to law school, changed his look, went to work in the attorney general's office in Minnesota. Was elected mayor of St. Paul as a moderate Democrat, then swung comfortably over to the Republican side. There was no dazzling light on the road to Damascus, no soul-searching: Norm switched parties as you'd change sport coats.

Norm is glib. I once organized a dinner at the Minnesota Club to celebrate F. Scott Fitzgerald's birthday and Norm came, at the suggestion of his office, and spoke, at some length and with quite some fervor, about how much Fitzgerald means to all of us in St. Paul, and it was soon clear to anyone who has ever graded 9th grade book reports that the mayor had never read Fitzgerald. Nonetheless, he spoke at great length, with great feeling. Last month, when Bush came to sprinkle water on his campaign, Norm introduced him by saying, "God bless America is a prayer, and I believe that this man is God's answer to that prayer." Same guy.

(Jesse Ventura, of course, wouldn't have been caught dead blathering at an F. Scott Fitzgerald dinner about how proud we are of the Great Whoever-He-Was and his vision and his dream blah-blah-blah, and that was the refreshing thing about Jesse. The sort of unctuous hooey that comes naturally and easily to Norm Coleman Jesse would be ashamed to utter in public. Give the man his due. He spoke English. He didn't open his mouth and emit soap bubbles. He was no suck up. He had more dignity than to kiss the president's shoe.)

Norm got a free ride from the press. St. Paul is a small town and anybody who hangs around the St. Paul Grill knows about Norm's habits. Everyone knows that his family situation is, shall we say, very interesting, but nobody bothered to ask about it, least of all the religious people in the Republican Party. They made their peace with hypocrisy long ago. So this false knight made his way as an all-purpose feel-good candidate, standing for vaguely Republican values, supporting the president.

He was 9 points down to Wellstone when the senator's plane went down. But the tide was swinging toward the president in those last 10 days. And Norm rode the tide. Mondale took a little while to get a campaign going. And Norm finessed Wellstone's death beautifully. The Democrats stood up in raw grief and yelled and shook their fists and offended people. Norm played his violin. He sorrowed well in public, he was expertly nuanced. The mostly negative campaign he ran against Wellstone was forgotten immediately. He backpedalled in the one debate, cruised home a victor. It was a dreadful low moment for the Minnesota voters. To choose Coleman over Walter Mondale is one of those dumb low-rent mistakes, like going to a great steakhouse and ordering the tuna sandwich. But I don't envy someone who's sold his soul. He's condemned to a life of small arrangements. There will be no passion, no joy, no heroism, for him. He is a hollow man. The next six years are not going to be kind to Norm.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

About the writer Garrison Keillor is the creator and host of the nationally syndicated radio show "A Prairie Home Companion," broadcast on more than 500 public radio stations nationwide. For more columns by Keillor, visit his column archive.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: coleman; keillor; minnesota; salon; senate
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To: John Lenin
Well they won't have to feel it for long. NASDAY has called Dr. Kivorkian.
141 posted on 11/08/2002 7:42:21 PM PST by Doctor Raoul
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To: AlwaysLurking
Empty victory for a hollow man ... and I thought he was talking about Bill Clinton!!

142 posted on 11/08/2002 7:44:16 PM PST by victim soul
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To: Doctor Raoul
Funny that he says nothing about Lautenburg. Pulling out old fossils from the democrat party almost worked. Coleman was justice for Lautenburg.
143 posted on 11/08/2002 7:45:22 PM PST by John Lenin
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To: fent1968
Sex life? No, I don't recall anything like that.

We did have threads about perjury and lying to the American People if that's the one you're writing about.
144 posted on 11/08/2002 7:48:02 PM PST by Shooter 2.5
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To: Doctor Raoul
"How did Lautenberg get into this discussion?"

How indeed ? Lautenberg is no more capable of back pedaling than he is of raising his body temp to match room temp on a cold winter day when the furnace is broke, or showing a heart beat during a cardiogram.

He just unconsiousely flowed to the Senate, like a t*rd to the septic tank when the commode has been flushed.
145 posted on 11/08/2002 7:48:49 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell
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To: jlogajan
Sounds like Garrison's kind of guy would be the one who made up his mind about everything at the age of 20 and never entertained another piece of information, lest he have to change it.
146 posted on 11/08/2002 7:51:55 PM PST by Inkie
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To: AlwaysLurking
Keillor has really become very political. It makes it increasingly difficult to enjoy Prairie Home Companion. I've heard that he even polarizes his live audiences by subjecting them to nasty anti-conservative/Bush comments. Not smart for an entertainer, and such a disappointment in so talented a man.
147 posted on 11/08/2002 7:52:08 PM PST by Libertina
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To: AlwaysLurking
Consider the source. And, to think, I once liked listening to this guy. But, like too many other liberals, he lost his ideas and now he just sounds shrill and didactic.
148 posted on 11/08/2002 7:56:10 PM PST by Exigence
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To: Common Tator
"I went to Minnesota once to work. My Dad told me the good news was that Minnesota was home to some of the most feminine women in the world. The Bad news was it is home to the most feminine men in the world too. "

Right on. Ever notice what a tiny nose has ol' Garrison? I've heard it said that guys with such short noses sometimes have a problem with the ladies - course ol' Garrison is such a raging narcissist he probably doesn't care when the gals laugh at his collateral.

149 posted on 11/08/2002 7:57:13 PM PST by Bedford Forrest
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To: shrinkermd
"Garrison is right about how small St. Paul is."

St. Paul is "small?" No. Montgomery MN is "small"--2400. I guess I'm just too provincial. I always thought St. Paul was pretty big. Of course, to me, 100,000 is big. Is this considered "small?"

150 posted on 11/08/2002 8:02:23 PM PST by redhead
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To: Petronski
At least he wasn't singing.
151 posted on 11/08/2002 8:04:41 PM PST by poindexter
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To: Geist Krieger
Garrison who?
152 posted on 11/08/2002 8:06:12 PM PST by CARepubGal
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To: All
Bump - to all those that are just now finding out what an idiot Keillor is.
153 posted on 11/08/2002 8:06:13 PM PST by gremu
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To: Congressman Billybob
Remember Keillor's story about slaughtering pigs (or was it chickens?). It was all about how solemn the occasion was; how there was no joking around; how unseemly joking would be for the solemn act of slaughtering animals; how it was a lost tradition; etc. His tones were those of high moral seriousness--the death of a living thing is no laughing matter.

He should re-listen to that old taped story and remind himself how decent, ordinary people act out of respect for death--even the death of an animal. The Democrats didn't even show the respect for Wellstone that the people Keillor grew up with (in Marine-on St.-Croix) would have shown for a pig or a chicken.

But what would you expect of a DFL?

Keillor should be ASHAMED of himself.
154 posted on 11/08/2002 8:06:52 PM PST by The Person
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To: AlwaysLurking
Thanks for posting this - a fascinating insight into the liberal mind.

I pick out this line:

To choose Coleman over Walter Mondale is one of those dumb low-rent mistakes, like going to a great steakhouse and ordering the tuna sandwich.

First, there is the breathtaking elitism. He literally thinks people are too "dumb" to make the right choice.

Beyond that, there is the complete absence of any acknowledgement of the importance of political philosophy. Even if what he said about Coleman were true, I would still have voted for him because I disagree so strongly with what Mondale stands for.

155 posted on 11/08/2002 8:10:58 PM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: AlwaysLurking
"By Garrison Keillor Nov. 7, 2002 | Norm Coleman won Minnesota because he was well-financed and well-packaged."

BZZZZT. No. Wrong answer (as usual, what else would any educated adult expect from ideologues). Norm Coleman won because he didn't dance on Senator Wellstone's grave at the memorial service while Mondale, Gore, Clinton, McAwful, Harkin, and Daschle did dance on said grave.

156 posted on 11/08/2002 8:11:49 PM PST by Southack
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To: laurav
"The man is funny, and I love his radio voice. "

He can be, when he is telling stories or doing skits on his show. But I have tried to read a couple of his books and they are uniformly neither interesting nor amusing. And bad to the point that I did not finish either one, a rare omission for me.
157 posted on 11/08/2002 8:17:45 PM PST by MainFrame65
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To: fent1968
Please define "everyone".
158 posted on 11/08/2002 8:20:59 PM PST by mountainfolk
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To: AlwaysLurking
Norm Wins!!! WoeBeGone!
159 posted on 11/08/2002 8:21:47 PM PST by NormsRevenge
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To: AlwaysLurking
Written like a man who's given a few thou to Demos over the past few years.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

160 posted on 11/08/2002 8:31:20 PM PST by mikeb704
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