So Valium finally comes to Lake Wobegon, and they lived bitterly ever after. Fuggem. |
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.
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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.
The man is funny, and I love his radio voice. But he doesn't seem to understand that the folks who like to listen to Prairie Home Companion are the types who identify with the down-home values he mocks. On the radio program it comes out as good-humored mocking. But when Garrison opens his mouth to spout his political opinions, the truth appears.
So Valium finally comes to Lake Wobegon, and they lived bitterly ever after. Fuggem. |
It's called growing up, Garrison.
How would this scumbag liberal know what is inside Coleman's heart or what motivates him?
In truth, Norm Coleman said that he decided to become a Republican on Yom Kippur of 1996. For you non-Jews, Yom Kippur is the day that Jews are supposed to atone for their sins.
Oh yeah, THOSE guys:
That description sounds more like Bubba, in my opinion.
This, to Garrison Keillor, is 'raw grief'. His swipes at Coleman are about as far off base.
Maybe Minnesotans remember how that "steak" they ate twenty-two years ago was tainted with E. coli.
Do you mean, Garry, like the past two years have not been kind to Clinton?
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.
How exactly does this guy expect his party to win these voters back next time, when they've spent the past few days blaming them and calling them names? It shows their true nature, which is a total lack of respect for the voter.
I dont recall any conservative voices blaming the people after 1992 & 1996. I could be wrong about that, but it seems to me conservatives are alot more introspective after losing.
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.
There is only passion in being a Democrat, there is only joy in being a socialist, and apparently there is only heroism in losing an election when your Socialist Democrat opponent tragically dies in a plane crash.
By the way, that's Senator-Elect Coleman to you buddy!
I occasionally listened to A.P.H.C., and enjoyed it at times. I never knew this was the guy doing that show, oh well, its back to Rush reruns on the weekends.
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Oh look, a bitter liberal with a nasty streak! He lost, and he's so mad.