Note: originally published on September 19, 2008. I am re-publishing this series as a resource for voters interested in Norm Coleman’s record.
Norm Coleman has run a nasty campaign, full of personal attacks, half-truths, and ridiculous claims about Al Franken.
Why would he do that? you may ask. The answer is simple:
he knows that if this campaign comes down to issues, he’ll lose. He was never elected for sharing Minnesotans’ views on the issues, and his record in Congress has not been one most Minnesotans would approve of.
Over the past few months, I’ve compiled Coleman’s floor votes on a number of different subjects. Now I bring you a summary of his worst votes. He wants to run from his record, but here it is, in black and white, for your review.
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Note: originally published on August 21, 2008. I am re-publishing this series as a resource for voters interested in Norm Coleman’s record.
Last week, I started looking through some of the voting history compiled by the good folks at
Peace Action West, which illustrates some of Norm “W” Coleman’s dangerous votes on foreign policy. Peace Action West is an organization which advocates for “broad-based civic activism to create a strong voice for peaceful and pragmatic solutions to global problems.” They developed a Congressional scorecard to highlight Congressmen’s votes on foreign policy and peace.
Norm “W” Coleman’s record is so bad, I had to split it into two weeks.
Last week, I covered his support of new nuclear weapons. Here are some more of his bad votes.
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Note: originally published on August 16, 2008. I am re-publishing this series as a resource for voters interested in Norm Coleman’s record.
As the material on CQ Weekly for this series started to run thin, I received an email from Reva Patwardhan of
Peace Action West about some of Norm “W” Coleman’s dangerous votes on foreign policy. Peace Action West is an organization which advocates for “broad-based civic activism to create a strong voice for peaceful and pragmatic solutions to global problems.” They developed a Congressional scorecard to highlight Congressmen’s votes on foreign policy and peace.
I’m sure nobody thinks Norm “W” Coleman is in favor of a peaceful foreign policy, but you’ll be surprised just how bad he is.
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Note: originally published on July 31, 2008. I am re-publishing this series as a resource for voters interested in Norm Coleman’s record.
As our coverage of Norm “W” Coleman’s out of touch record continues, it should not surprise you that, like on many other issues, Coleman has a pretty bad record on veterans’ issues. Read more below.
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NOTE: originally published August 7, 2008. I’m re-publishing this series as a resource for voters curious about Coleman’s record.
First, I need to start with an admission: I said we were going to be looking at Norm’s record on agriculture. But when I looked into it, there were not many interesting floor votes available on agricultural topics. And what’s more,
I have to admit, his record was really not terrible. In fact, I was almost feeling downright positive about Norm until I stumbled upon the 2005 Bankruptcy Overhaul bill.
The bill, with Coleman’s support, create a means test tied to the median incomes of individual states to determine whether personal bankruptcy filers were able to repay some or all of their debts. That doesn’t sound too bad. What’s mind-boggling, as always, is some of the stuff Norm voted against.
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NOTE: originally published July 24, 2008. I’m re-publishing this series as a resource for voters curious about Coleman’s record.
Did you think that transportation security was an obvious opportunity for bipartisan agreement? Did you think that only a maniac could vote against securing our planes, trains, and cargo ships?
Well, then you haven’t been following the career of Norm “W” Coleman. The following is a list of some of Coleman’s most egregious votes against securing our transportation networks:
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NOTE: originally published July 15, 2008. I’m re-publishing this series as a resource for voters curious about Coleman’s record.
Does Norm “W” Coleman hate transportation? I know, it seems unlikely. But how else do you account for some of these votes? He doesn’t seem to be objecting to the size of the transportation bill, so what’s the problem?
Maybe he just doesn’t want to spend money on transportation at all. Check out his voting record below:
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NOTE: originally published July 9, 2008. I’m re-publishing this series as a resource for voters curious about Coleman’s record.
I have to be completely honest: Norm “W” Coleman has been better on environmental issues than on certain others. That’s not to say that he’s been good, of course–just less bad. In particular,
it boggles my mind how someone can be against cleaning up toxic pollutants–especially when we ask the polluters to pay instead of the federal government.
Here are some examples of some of Coleman’s ridiculous anti-environment votes.
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NOTE: originally published July 2, 2008. I’m re-publishing this series as a resource for voters curious about Coleman’s record.
Norm “W” Coleman has such a long history of voting against education, I’ve had to narrow this post down to the most egregious. As usual, though, as the election began approaching, he started trying to appear more moderate.
That’s why we can’t just look at his record in the last year: we have to look at his whole last term to see the real Coleman.
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NOTE: originally published June 24, 2008. I’m re-publishing this series as a resource for voters curious about Coleman’s record.
As I shared
yesterday, Norm Coleman has been running toward the center, trying to fool Minnesotans into thinking he is more moderate than he really is.
He knows his positions on the issues are out of touch, and so he’s hoping the voters have short memories. So here’s a reminder of some of his most egregious votes against American workers.
2003
Coleman gets off to a rousing start by voting against investment in our workers. He voted AGAINST increasing spending in the Workforce Investment Act by $678 million.
Not content to vote just against workers, Coleman votes against both workers and businesses by voting AGAINST a motion to increase the amount businesses can deduct for equipment costs, extend federal unemployment benefits and expand eligibility for the benefits to low-wage and part-time workers.
Finally, he votes for what is effectively a pay decrease for our workers by voting AGAINST an amendment to prevent workers from losing their eligibility for overtime pay.
2004
Coleman votes a second time AGAINST an amendment that would prevent workers from losing their eligibility for overtime pay.
2005
After voting for a pay decrease, Coleman votes AGAINST a motion to increase the minimum wage to $6.25 over one year. Republicans claim this hurts small businesses, but Coleman clearly doesn’t care about them. He already voted against increasing the amount businesses can deduct in 2003. This is clearly just a mean-spirited vote against American workers.
2007
Coleman starts running toward the center and votes FOR raising the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour over two years. But, if he really believes in this, why vote against a smaller increase two years ago?
The bottom line: Norm “W” Coleman consistently voted against American workers, then tried to cover it up in 2007. Here’s a news flash, Norm: it’s too late! You’re out of touch, and it’s time you were held accountable.
During the glory days of one-party power, the GOP stuck together. Party discipline was high, and they fervently pushed President Bush’s misguided agenda through Congress. Our own Senator Norm “W” Coleman was in the forefront of Bush’s supporters, voting with his GOP colleagues nearly 95 percent of the time–even more than the GOP average.
Now, however, it’s a different story. GOP Senators–including Coleman–are pathetically trying to mislead voters into thinking they are “moderate.” Party unity has disintegrated as they each try to prove that they are in the mainstream.
Norm Coleman is no exception. In fact, he’s run away even faster than his Republican colleagues. He now votes with his own party even less often than average. But we know today’s Coleman isn’t the real Coleman. So why has he run away from his party? Because he knows Minnesotans disagree with him on the issues, and he’s desperate to be re-elected. Coleman was never elected because of his stance on the issues; he was elected because of the tragedy of Paul Wellstone’s plane crash and the public’s backlash to the now infamous memorial service.
DON’T BE FOOLED! Coleman is a far-right Republican in the mold of George W. Bush. Over the coming months, I will be exploring Coleman’s record, with one issue in the spotlight each week. I will show that, while he is sprinting toward the center now, his heart lies far to the right. He is out of touch with Minnesotans, and he needs to be held accountable for that.
Jeff Rosenberg | November 4, 2008
