Posted by
The Hermit Crab on Wednesday, December 09, 2009 3:18:35 PM
As I watch the struggles over Cap-and_Trade, the Health Care Hostile Takeover bills, etc., I think "It sure would be nice if Norm Coleman were still a Senator from Minnesota." As I recall, the election went down to the wire on election night, with Coleman holding a narrow lead against Democratic candidate and former comedian Al Franken. The Democrats spent the next 72 hours creating votes for Franken, while the Republicans, with naive trust in the electoral system (and apparently forgetting Florida 2000), sat on their hands instead of demanding that all ballot boxes (or their Minnesota equivalent) be impounded immediately after the polls closed. Syndicated columnist Ann Coulter tried desperately to get the Republicans to act, but their hesitation proved fatal.
The Coleman campaign and the Republicans in Minnesota and on their Senatorial Campaign Committee share the blame for this loss, of course, but they're not alone. I remember many sanctimonious conservatives declaring that they would stay home rather than vote for John McCain for President. A friend of mine was among them, but my friend is a reasonable man, and he agreed to vote for good Republicans on his local ballot even if he didn't vote for Johnny Mac. I wonder how many of his fellows stayed home altogether, rather than vote for a less-than-perfect candidate? I wonder how many in Minnesota? Enough to swing the election?
Norm Coleman was not perfect, to be sure. No man or woman is. We can be sure, though, that he would have stood with his party to fight these horrific proposals. Every "Simon-pure" conservative who stayed home rather than vote for John McCain helped elect Franken, and shares the responsibility for our current problems.
Thanks a lot, you pompous twits.