Norm Coleman's convention speech, full-throttle Norm-speak
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) accepted the Republican endorsement to run for reelection for the US Senate. In his speech he hit upon all the Republican talking points, attacking Democrats on the same old, tired points Republicans have been using since I was a kid. Then he painted his vision of how he'd repair all the damage he and the Republicans have caused over the last five and a half years and, in a moment of Zen, compared his wife to the annual butter sculpture at the State Fair. Here are some key excerpts from his speech:
When the 35 W bridge fell down or flood waters poured into Roseau or Browns Valley or Rushford, people don’t need an ideologue or a divider: they need someone who can make government work for them.
(Star Tribune)
Norm has done a good job of helping Minnesotans get their passports expedited, helping parents adopt a child from a foreign country, helping provide funding to rebuild a certain bridge in Minneapolis that Republican neglected and ignored until it collapsed. However, Norm is a Senator you can count on for the minor things. For the things that any Senator should do regardless. On the major issues, Iraq, healthcare, subprime home foreclosures and oversight of the worst administration in the history of the United States, Norm has been a collaborator, an enabler and a stooge.
You can find out more about his stances on the aforementioned issues at the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter.
Norm did recognize the reality that the Republicans have done tremendous damage to the US:
People are really hurting all around us. Gas prices break our family budgets. Foreclosures are at an all time high. The cost of health care and higher education are getting beyond reach. And debt loads for student loans and real estate with depressed values are putting so many families on the brink. But we have to tell them what Churchill told his people, “When you are going through hell, keep going.”
We have to be straight with the American people.
(Star Tribune)
The chances of Norm being straight with the American people are about as high as Barak Obama conceding the Democratic Presidential nomination to Hillary. But what about Norm's plan for repairing the damage he and the Republicans have caused over the last five and a half years that he has been in the Senate? This is where Norm unleashes the most purest Norm-speakTM.
1. We must grow jobs by cutting taxes, getting capital into the marketplace and unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit of America. The 2003 tax cuts must be made permanent.
Jobs are our best health care access provider, retirement provider, community builder and human dignity creator. Jobs grow when we get government off people’s backs and allow job creators to keep the rewards of the risks they take.
2. We must cut wasteful Washington spending. On the Permanent Investigations Subcommittee I have uncovered more than $14 billion in waste and fraud. Government credit cards will no longer be used to pay for custom made suits and online dating services. And government contractors will not be able to take the taxpayers money with one hand and skip out on their tax
obligations with the other.
3. We must end our addiction to foreign oil. We need to overcome environmental extremists who force us to leave a generation of coal in the ground and stonewall new nuclear facilities left and right. They are using fear, not sound science.
There are some problems, in this country, that are too big for one party to solve. Energy independence is one of them. The Democrats pass an energy bill with renewables and conservation- but not a drop of increased production. That’s simply wrong when gas is close to $4 a gallon.
It’s absurd that China can now drill closer to our shores than Americans can. We need to do deep water offshore drilling.
America needs more nuclear power and we should begin right here: Minnesota should lift its nuclear power expansion moratorium now. And we need to press full speed ahead on renewable fuels like cellulosic ethanol, hydrogen fuel cells, new battery and hybrid technology, coal sequestration, and farmer-owned wind production.
4. We must make progress toward providing Health care for all Americans. But we must do it without bureaucrats coming between our doctors and our families. We don’t want to lose our coverage when we change jobs. We want choice, portability and control of our health care decisions. And we can only do that by restoring a genuine health care marketplace that empowers
consumers, focuses on prevention and rewards wellness rather than sickness.
5. We must win the global economic competition. I will not surrender the new century to India and China: we must compete
and we must prevail. Protectionism won’t work. Free and fair trade makes Minnesota a winner - and, in a fair fight, I believe we will win every time. Americans just need a level playing field. That means we must hold the Chinese to their WTO obligations.
We must open markets for our products. And, we must not become an island to ourselves. We will win the global economic competition because we are smarter, more creative, more innovative and economically and politically more free and robust than anywhere else in the world.
I am for laying out an American welcome mat to the best and brightest in the world. If any international student who earns a graduate degree in science, math, engineering and technology wants to stay here and help us grow jobs, I’d staple a green card to their diploma.
6. We must protect our environment; it’s our heritage as Minnesotans and Republicans. My greatest enjoyment is the hours I spend fishing on pristine Lake Ada in North Central Minnesota. It’s where my five year old- who is now my 22 year old- and I learned to enjoy and appreciate the great outdoors of Minnesota. I want my grandkids to enjoy it as much as Jake and I do.
Republicans began our system of national parks and created the EPA. In our environmental stewardship we must, as Reagan said, “plant shade trees we ourselves will never sit under.” And we can do it without sacrificing job growth and understanding that farmers are good stewards of the land they want to pass on to their kids.
7. We will secure our borders. National sovereignty begins and ends with border security. Period.
And finally 8. I am for peace through strength. First, we will never ask the UN for a permission slip to defend our national interests. And toward that end, we must be strong for our cherished ally Israel. And we must make sure that Iran never obtains nuclear weapons.
(Star Tribune)
Here's my analysis:
1. Making the Bush tax cuts permanent
Jobs are our best health care access provider, retirement provider, community builder and human dignity creator. Jobs grow when we get government off people’s backs and allow job creators to keep the rewards of the risks they take.
Yup. A lot of good that is going to do for the 95% of the population who aren't filthy rich. Trickle-down economics, "voodoo economics" as Bush the 41st once called Reagan's economic plans during the 1980 campaign, simply doesn't work. Tax breaks for the wealthy only help the wealthy and never stimulate economic growth. Look at the current economy. We're in a recession because of George Bush and Norm Coleman's failed economic policies.
2. Oversight
Oi. Norm is to oversight what Nero was to Roman firefighting. While Norm claims he uncovered $14B in wasteful spending, pallets of greenbacks went missing in Iraq. Contractors fleeced our government with no-bid contracts. For every million Norm brags he has saved taxpayers, the Bush Administration has wasted billions. As Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Norm only investigated something if they fell under the following three conditions:
- When it is someone or some institution that conservatives hate. Norm relentlessly pursued corruption in the United Nations Iraq Oil for Food program.
- The second circumstance is when conservatives have thrown one of their own under the bus to avoid answering bigger questions. Heckuva Job Brownie is the perfect example.
- The third circumstance is oversight where conservatives will not be targeted or in any way harmed. For example, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction’s (SIGIR) oversight of U.S. efforts in Iraq.
BTW, SIGIR (Norm's shining example of oversight in Iraq) is corrupt, too. Here is the list of things that Norm failed to investigate as Chair of the PSI:
- Intel reports on WMD's
- Dispersal of the Iraqi Army
- NSA's secret wiretapping program
- Cronyism in appointments in Provisional Govt
- Torture at Abu Ghraib
- No bid contracts
- Billions of dollars of State Department cash disappearing in Iraq
- Corruption among contracting companies in Iraq
- Poorly constructed facilities built by contractors
- Contaminated water drunk and used by troops
- Abuses committed by contracting companies in Iraq
- Production problems for MRAP vehicles
- Wrong or not enough armor for troops and their vehicles
- Death of Pat Tillman
- Lies surrounding abduction and rescue of Jessica Lynch
- Overcharges among contracting companies in Iraq
- Guantanamo
3. Addiction to foreign oil
There are some problems, in this country, that are too big for one party to solve. Energy independence is one of them. The Democrats pass an energy bill with renewables and conservation- but not a drop of increased production. That’s simply wrong when gas is close to $4 a gallon.
While its undoubtedly true that the US is addicted to foreign oil, Norm is addicted to campaign contributions from Big Oil. While prices at the pumps are sky-rocketing, Big Oil's profits are too. Norm has worked hard in the Senate to protect their interests and when Norm talks about alternative energy, he means he wants to help out his buddies in the coal and nuclear industries.
Norm is a big fan of clean coal, aka coal gasification. Coal gasification would cause more CO2 emissions into the atmosphere than the problem it seeks to solve. Plus, he wants to help out the coal industry who fill his campaign war chest. Norm loves him some nuclear energy, too. They love him back with large campaign donations.
When it comes to actually ending our addiction to foreign oil, Norm's voting record tells a different story:
- Norm voted against the 2009 budget bill in the Senate that would have invested $8.45B in cleaner energy, $3.5B more than Bush's budget including $2.7B to create jobs in a green economy. SCR70 was the vote for 2009 Budget Resolution (warning, pdf).
- In 2006 Nom voted against funding cellulosic ethanol, extending renewable energy production and clean energy bonds. The amendment failed 42-46.
- In 2005, Norm voted against reducing foreign oil imports by 40%.
Finally, Norm has absolutely no understanding of the concept of peak oil. We cannot simply drill our way out of our energy crisis. We need renewable energy solutions like wind, solar and wave technologies combined with conservation. These concepts simply do not register in Norm's brain.
4. Healthcare
While Norm is so concerned about having government bureaucrats making choices about our healthcare, he has no problems with the insurance companies and HMOs making massive profits by denying people the care they deserve. Of course, the health insurance and HMOs are also filling Norm's campaign coffers.
Norm has had an election year conversion to healthcare reform. Polling has told him this issue matters to Minnesotans so he's talking about it a lot. He's held many forums on the topic. But Norm is all talk and no action. Norm wants the marketplace to fix the problem. The marketplace IS the problem. When corporate bureaucrats make decisions about our healthcare and profit by denying coverage, we all lose. Except Norm. Senators get universal single payer healthcare for the rest of their lives.
By the way, Norm has no solution for the 50,000,000 Americans without health insurance.
5. Fair trade and economic competitiveness
and we must prevail. Protectionism won’t work. Free and fair trade makes Minnesota a winner - and, in a fair fight, I believe we will win every time. Americans just need a level playing field. That means we must hold the Chinese to their WTO obligations.
We must win? That'd be great, Norm. Economic competitiveness is a meaningless concept when it comes out of a Republican's mouth. America has the most efficient businesses on the planet. They have cut waste to simply survive. The problem is that under Republican economic policy, they have found it cheaper to export American jobs to place where they can pay a fraction of what they'd pay an American.
Protectionism is another meaningless concept when uttered by a Republican. They want to prevent excessive taxes and tariffs on products that American companies have made overseas after firing Americans and replacing them with cheaper foreign subcontractors working in substandard conditions. How about protecting American jobs, Norm? How about tariffs on any American company that has exported an American job only to import that formerly American product back into the US?
6. Environment
Republicans began our system of national parks and created the EPA. In our environmental stewardship we must, as Reagan said, “plant shade trees we ourselves will never sit under.” And we can do it without sacrificing job growth and understanding that farmers are good stewards of the land they want to pass on to their kids.
Norm always equates protecting the environment to losing jobs. That is until he became concerned about his reelection chances and voted twice last year for a bill that increased fuel efficiency standards. Norm simply doesn't see the economic possibilities in building the green technology jobs here in Minnesota and exporting it to everyone else. He's stuck with a party which many members still deny the existence of global climate change.
Furthermore, with all the campaign contributions from Big Oil, Big Coal and the Nuclear Lobby, who do you think he'll be representing in the Senate? His voting record speaks for itself.
7. Immigration
Norm has to perform complex political gymnastics on this issue. On the one hand, he needs to appease the racist elements in the Republican Party who want all illegal immigrants rounded up and deported. They also want a wall built across the US-Mexico border. The possibility of this happening now that adults control the Congress are nil, but these knuckle-draggers don't like Norm -- they don't trust him. They worry that he's going to grant the illegal immigrants amnesty. On the other hand, Norm doesn't want to sound like a Republican extremist to the vast majority of Minnesotans who rank this issue at the bottom of most lists. There are a few more important issues we need to deal with before this one.
Does Norm really want to build a wall across the entire US-Mexico border? You can interpret his terse comments in his speech to mean that. There's a waste of our tax dollars.
As for securing the non-Mexican borders, Norm and the Republicans have failed miserably. Our ports are not secure. The recommendations of the 9/11 Commission have been ignored.
8. Defense through preemptive strikes
Peace through strength, Norm? No, you have been a cheerleader for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. You bought into and promoted the Bush Administration's lies. You still believe in the doctrine of preemptive strike. Now you want to attack Iran with whatever excuse is handy. You need to be held accountable for your unquestioning support of the Bush Administration. You still repeat their talking points.
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