Ugh

There are so many things wrong with this I don’t even know where to begin. Go ahead. I dare you to read it without getting at least slightly ill.

“Coleman Says 'God Wants Me to Serve'

While Al Franken remains fairly elusive, Norm Coleman is keeping a high profile these days as his court challenge of the Minnesota U.S. Senate recount plods along.

Coleman is adept, somewhat too adept, his critics might say, at skillfully tailoring his message to his audience, and that skill set was on full display Friday.

On Friday, Coleman made the media rounds with radio interviews that included conservative nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mike Gallagher. Gallagher, an unyielding fiscal and religious conservative, who hosts one of the Top 10 rated talk shows in the country, has been an outspoken critic of the Congressional stimulus legislation. When Gallagher asked Coleman what he thought of the stimulus bill, Coleman replied that he would not sign it. Coleman did not, however, offer any thoughts as to whether a stimulus bill of some kind would be a good thing for the country and the state of Minnesota (no doubt because Gallagher, and perhaps a large share of his 4 million weekly listeners, is opposed to any sort of government ‘bailout’ - of industries or state governments).

When asked about the recount and how it is affecting him personally, Coleman said he starts every day with a prayer and that he knows “God wants me to serve.” Coleman did later temper those rather immodest remarks by adding that he “is not indispensable” and that others can serve as well. Coleman closed the interview with an appeal to Gallagher’s listeners for contributions to his campaign website.

Also on Friday, Coleman talked to Tom Crann at Minnesota Public Radio, and tweaked his message for a listening audience that is decidedly more liberal than that of Gallagher's. First, Coleman discussed his desire to serve without mention of God’s will. With more humble prose he stated, “I’ve been blessed to serve. I want to continue to serve.”

With regards to the bailout, Coleman reiterated his opposition to the current legislation: “I do not support the package in its present form.” But when asked if he could vote for a stimulus package, Coleman admitted, “I agree there needs to be one.”

Coleman also stated to MPR that the court in his recount challenge was being “very fair” and it that he has a “great deal of confidence” in the panel. He also acknowledged that if the absentee ballot and double-counting of ballots issues are addressed, and Franken has more votes at the end of the process, then Franken will be the Senator. On Gallagher’s show, however, Coleman made no mention of the possibility that Franken could emerge as the ultimate victor and did not contradict Gallagher's characterization that the election process to date in Minnesota has been a 'joke.'”

And we wonder why we’re called Ugly Americans.

Whether or not Coleman is a religious fanatic in earnest is unknown by me, but I have two thoughts running through my mind. #1: If he is indeed fanatical enough to actually believe that he knows the will of an almighty being, I don’t want him anywhere near politics. Remember George W.’s response to what his foreign policy was? Yeah. The answer was, “God.” That worked really, really well for our nation didn’t it? Let’s elect more religious fanatics!! We haven’t quite hit rock bottom yet! Let’s keep going! #2: If the guy isn’t a religious fanatic and he’s merely putting it on for the sake of the almost extinct overly zealous far religious right dinosaurs, that’s just plain frightening. Dude…did you not see the outcome of the presidential election in November? Your ideals and political beliefs got voted out. Maybe you were just too busy concentrating on the election in Minnesota, which three months later, still hasn’t been decided.

This brings us to another embarrassing reason why other countries hate us. We (and by “we” I mean the blowhards that were in charge of this country for the past eight years and plum wore out their flag waving arms) keep touting ourselves as the Greatest Country on Earth and yet we have such an incredibly flawed system, we still don’t know the winner of an election that took place three months ago. It’s not even laughable. It’s pathetic. I was so sure that after the Bush/Gore debacle that there would be a huge outcry in this country to modify and better our election system, but here we are again. We have so much technology at our fingertips and yet can’t devise a way to cast a vote and to accurately have that vote counted.

Then there’s the issue of the current stimulus package. He wants to be a “good” Republican and tow the party line and be against it “in its current form” but admits that there needs to be one. Asshole. Maybe he needs to take a lesson from, dare I say it, Sarah Palin who is one of his beloved fellow party-ers who has been going around Washington trying to make sure that when the stimulus package does go through, that her state gets its share. Interesting how so many of the Republican governors are wanting a part of that stimulus package. It’s the Repugs on The Hill who really aren’t affected much by the joblessness and foreclosure disasters in the states they represent who seem to be the ones digging in their well-shod heels against the bill.

This Minnesota race is such a disgrace. Franken, the comedian, ought to be declared the winner if for no other reason than he could make us laugh about this whole thing when it’s all over. If Coleman wins, everyone will be laughing at us, but not because he’s funny.