Posted: 10/26/08 12:40, Edited: 10/26/08 21:43
by Dave Mindeman
MNPUBLIUS points out a very compelling article in Media Matters which discusses in detail the changes at the Star Tribune. This is something that activists in Minnesota need to assimilate because there are going to be more traditional media changes that will follow over the course of the next year or two.
But let's go over a few more points about the Star Tribune's endorsement of Norm Coleman. This might hurt Al Franken's campaign because most people have not followed the changes made at the Strib....the loss of previous editorial staff to online or other media and their replacement with corporate lackeys for the most part. The editorial departure from previous sentiment might persuade some fence sitters in the Senate race.
What is particularly galling is the editorial's pervasive use of Norm Coleman's talking points. For example:
The more independent, pragmatic Coleman emerged when he helped speed money to Minneapolis for a new Interstate 35W bridge;
Anyone who has followed Norm Coleman's career of credit taking knows that the I-35 Bridge money was not a Coleman undertaking but rather a joint effort from most of the Minnesota Congressional delegation. Norm, as usual, was the consummate bandwagon jumper..... as he is with a lot of his election year posturing. It is the same pattern as always... he is a partisan ideologue when it gains favor with party big shots and then when election time comes around, he is suddenly the very essence of a "pragmatic consensus builder".
The list went on:
...when he promoted tax credits for renewable energy investment; when he pushed for larger Pell Grants for needy college students; when he stood up to President Bush on extending publicly subsidized health insurance, including MinnesotaCare, to more poor children and their parents.
That is Norm's list; the list he recites from memory at debates. Of course, we leave out the "other" parts. The tax credits that came via other credits for the oil companies. The Pell grants that came after massive cuts in student aid. The standing up for health insurance after it was clear that both Houses of Congress would clearly override the Presidential veto. These are NOT the courageous stances of a leader forging a path -- they are simply the election year posturing of a vulnerable incumbent.
Another point from the editorial:
Coleman didn't begin his Senate service as an agent of bipartisanship. But that's the note on which he wound up his six-year term and which he has sounded repeatedly in his reelection campaign. We like the trend we've seen and believe Coleman is capable of taking it further.
"We like the trend we've seen"????? That is the trend you ALWAYS see with Coleman. It is no accident that Coleman is trying to pick up the Republican caucus Senatorial Committee leadership position while running the current campaign. If he gets re-elected, he will immediately vault into a new round of hyper-partisan behavior that will propel him into every talk show's "A" list for the next several cycles. He will get another 6 years to "improve" his lot. My guess is this... Norm will portray his election in the "face of great odds" as a means to propel him into a presidential bid. Yes, Norm would be that crass. Now if that is what they mean by "capable of taking it furthur", then they are exactly right. But that is not how they seem to perceive it:
By the same token, a more senior Sen. Coleman would have standing to tug his own party in a less rigid direction. It is with that end in mind that he says he is interested in seeking a campaign leadership post in his party's Senate caucus. Coleman appears to have discovered -- belatedly, but better late than never -- the counterproductivity of harshly negative campaigning.
Coleman won't be doing any tugging at his own party -- no, Senator Coleman will be contemplating the pervailing winds of his party and then position himself as the poster boy of Republican values. He will probably offer himself as an experienced alternative to Sarah Palin while espousing all of her "conservative principles".
And I like the "belated" discovery of "the counterproductivity of harshly negative campaigning". For over a year, Coleman and his surrogates pounded and pounded every aspect of Al Franken's career and then, only now, when they have discovered that it is hurting their own campaign does he profess a "road to Damascus" conversion.
Norm Coleman is the consummate political animal who has used everything he can find to his advantage. The Star Tribune's sudden corporate editorial change is one more "gift" for the weasel of Minnesota.
