Ed Schultz had a discussion last week about the right wing tactics being used to take down Al Franken. He labeled Norm Coleman a "skirt chaser" and vowed to find people who could confirm the rumors.
A few days later, a right wing blogger in Minnesota defined Senator Coleman's marriage as an "unconventional marriage".
I read "Shot in the Dark" with great interest earlier this week. Mitch Berg labeled Senator Norm Coleman's marriage as an "unconventional marriage".
It’s been an open secret forever in Saint Paul and Minnesota politics; Norm and his wife have a rather unconventional marriage. Schultz is being disingenuous if he claims this is some big revelation (or, equally likely, the dim little bulb inside his thick little head hasn’t quite quite figured it out yet, and his prime directive, "blow hard first, ask questions later", is in control).
What the heck is an "unconventional marriage"?
Mitch is correct. These rumors have been out there for quite some time. Mitch does Senator Coleman a great service by working to confirm these rumors.
I work in a pretty conservative office. On most days, I am the token progressive, token liberal in the office. We talk politics a lot. We had long discussions about the Franken Playboy stuff. I posed this topic in the office yesterday, to 7 co-workers, involved at different levels of politics.
None of them had heard of any issues with Senator Coleman's marriage. None of them had any idea what an "unconventional marriage" was. One jokingly said that Senator Coleman was not gay and did not support "unconventional marriages". The other said it was purely a liberal smokescreeen. The rumor is/was not as widespread as Berg thinks.
How will this news be received in the conservative small towns that dot rural central Minnesota?
The Twin Cities media outlets and bloggers (myself included) hit Franken hard on the Playboy writings. Will these same mainstream media outlets put Norm Coleman under the same microscope? Especially after a right wing blogger blew the lid off the story?
To steal from Two Putt Tommy, this is the mother of all smokescreens.
SITD commenter's even say it's true.
PeterH Says:
June 9th, 2008 at
11:04 pm
Norm and his wife haven’t slept together in years?
Sounds like he’s got a traditional marriage.
Oh, that's satire...
Let's be consistent here. If we're going to criticize Al Franken for Playboy writings and other problems, which call into question his judgement, than we should do the same here. I have no idea what Senator Coleman's marital situation is. I don't really care either. However, I find it interesting how right wing blogs frame Coleman's marriage as an "unconventional marriage".
This US Senate race between Coleman and Franken has the potential to be the nastiest race in the nation this year. It will not be "Minnesota nice".
Do we want this race to be about issues? I'd rather it be on the issues, but I know Two Putt Tommy and I are ready for a rumble!
At the recent Minnesota GOP convention, Senator Coleman gave a rousing speech with a cute 8 point plan.
In the closing part of his speech, Coleman, the former Democrat, urged his now-fellow Republicans to do "a better job" of emphasizing the "core conservative Republican" values of individual rights, free enterprise, no taxes, protecting life "from conception to natural death" and supporting traditional marriage.
So he calls on supporting traditional marriage but lives an "unconventional marriage"?
Nice...
One of Paul Wellstone's most powerful quotes I recall (and witnessed in person) is "never separate the life you live from the words you speak."
I feel a bit of irony there, don't you?