Coleman reserves the right to amend or retract any previous statements

Once again Sen. Norm Coleman has insisted on his right to talk out of both sides of his mouth. Norm holds no position that he will not change if the political breezes change. This time Norm was for the Wall St. bail-out before he was against it. The DFL Party sent out a press release today to highlight his Norm-speak^TM.

Coleman said work could continue on the plan to ensure safeguards are in place, but that expedience was critical. He recalled a conversation he had with an acquaintance about the situation. ‘He told me that we have our quarterbacks in there — (Treasury Secretary) Henry Paulson and (Federal Reserve Chairman Ben) Bernanke — and they’re calling the play. And we have to run the play,’ Coleman said. ‘We’re all there, the folks in the huddle and we’re working with them on the play. But we have to run the play.’”
[Morris Sun Times, 9/24/08]

Back when the Republican leadership was going to deliver the votes in the House, when the bail-out for Wall St. looked a sure thing, Norm was a cheerleader. Of course, once the deal collapsed because the Republican House members were covering their butts with their constituents, he sang a different tune:

Republican Norm Coleman said these changes, and the strict oversight written into the bill, convinced him that voting yes was the right thing to do.

"That's why I'm willing to cast a vote for this," he says. "If I thought this was simply business as usual, I wouldn't cast this vote. The original package, to me, was not acceptable," Coleman said.

The original Bush administration plan called for the Treasury to have total control over the bailout with no oversight by Congress. Coleman said he couldn't support it.
(MPR)

Norm is brave as a bunny. He stood up well after the fact voicing his opposition once it became clear he should have opposed it in the first place. After all Norm is the tallest dwarf ... sharpest spoon in the knife drawer ... the greatest Republican Champion of Oversight ever. We expect no less from him.

DFL Party Chair Brian Melendez had this to say:

“Senator Coleman has been caught in yet another lie. A day after he voted to approve $700 billion in taxpayer money to clean up the mess that he and his sponsors helped make on Wall Street, Norm Coleman is claiming that he opposed the original proposal, though his statements in the past week show instead that he supported it.

“The truth is that Senator Coleman supported George W. Bush every step of the way in the bailout, just as he has for the last six years. Norm Coleman still doesn’t get it: the Bush administration’s failed economic policies caused this crisis. And Coleman’s lock-step support of those policies has Minnesotans ready to fire him. I see why he wants to distance himself from his record, but the facts speak for themselves.
(DFL Press Release email)