P-Do at the Strib must be getting frustrated that Al Franken keeps getting hit for his past. I myself am getting annoyed, but that’s a different story. Doyle took it upon herself to play judge and jury in the great ad wars of 2008.

A recurring theme of the ad war in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race has been the claim of Sen. Norm Coleman and his allies that Democratic challenger Al Franken didn’t pay taxes. 

It has been an element of at least five different television commercials since July. The most recent appeared this week: “Then there’s the $70,000 in unpaid taxes …” says an announcer along with the written message, “Franken pays $70,000 back taxes, penalties.”

An ad earlier this month announced, “He’s already been caught not paying taxes in 17 states.”

And in July, an ad featuring three bowlers included the remark, “We’ve read all this stuff about Al Franken, you know, not paying taxes …” How do the ads stand up to an audit?

The phrases accurately describe Franken’s tax problem only in the most literal sense. They’re misleading for what they don’t say and the implication they leave.

And Al Franken, the Democrats, and the media attacks that are spurred by DFL talking points don’t leave any implication of negativity towards Coleman when based in lala land, do they Pat?

I’m sorry, but it is pretty amazing to see Doyle go down this road. Look, we all know there is bias in the media. Heck, most honest journalists admit they are died in the wool lefties. Some do a decent job being objective, but others just can’t help but tear apart anything remotely outside the world of liberal ideology.

If you have read the Strib’s Editorial and letter’s page more than one time, you know they bleed DFL blue. But to see them go to this preemptive level of trying to put Coleman and the GOP in the FEC penalty box is pretty pathetic. We know Al Franken is in trouble. A good number of us with in Coleman’s base think he may be too, but we don’t think so because of what Al Franken and the Democrats told the media to regurgitate.

It ain’t because he’s voted with Bush ninety-some percent of the time. We’re probably more worried when Norm was in that 10% side of the equation. I’ll tell ya, there’s not a whole lot of requests for Coleman signs when we’re out there pounding rebar.

I think there’s worry because there is those “issues” with some issues and his base, but we’re also worried because he’s not telling non-party loyal people why they should vote for him. The Democrats have made mountains out of mole hills when it comes to Coleman’s record and domicile decisions in DC.

Has the media done anything so brash as to say that the DFL was lying about the situation, or blowing out of proportion? Not that I remember. Nope, a Democrat talkingpoint gets floated on the very pages of the Strib and allowed to float around in the ethers as factual. ‘Coleman’s sweetheart lodging deal…’ blah blah blah. As usual, the media can’t possibly believe the Democrat attacks are off base or “misleading”. They just print them.

But I will say this to Coleman and the GOP.

Not that they listen to me, but I did try to tell them that they should have kept their powder dry in regards to Franken. The media is going into their full court press to hamper any chances of Republican wins in November. The election is too close to let GOP’s message to get through with out counter propaganda.

Coleman shouldn’t have gone after Franken prior to the DFL endorsement. I think the right should have waited for this moment in the election to go after Franken’s record, when all voters were really engaged and paying attention to bring up the tax stuff and the crass living he made, that he now calls ’satire’.

Since Franken has had months to deal with it, the media has galvanized their counter defenses for the Democrats, and 3 out of every 5 ads on local TV are now political ads regurgitating things people read as over and done with in the paper, no one really buys too much into it.

You should have kept your powder dry. You should have launched this attack now, not months ago. Granted Franken’s past is a target rich opportunity. But you’ve given the media too much time to circle the wagons around their pal Al and raise doubts, as Lopez does with this puff piece, that you’re blowing it all out of proportion.

If the media behavior of the 2006 US Senate election in defense of Amy Klobuchar at every single drop of the hat didn’t teach you anything, maybe the people running the GOP message (and party for that matter) machine aren’t ready for prime time.

Al Franken could be caught in bed with a kilo of coke, a donkey, and it could be broadwaved on YouTube from sea to shining sea, but the local media would accuse the GOP of invasion of privacy.

So to Norm, his campaign and the GOP folks involved that may have bothered to read this far:

Now is the time in your campaign for you to talk about you. You need to talk about specific meaningful accomplishments that you have “gotten done” while in the US Senate. Sure I see some ads on it, but they are in the minority of what you’re putting out there. You also need to talk about your goals for a second term.

What else will you do for Minnesota? Be a leader. Act like a US Senator who is confident about your role and importance in DC who can use his expertise and experience in public service in a unique way for the benefit of Minnesota.

If you do that and then people see the real Al Franken, that guy who swears, spews hate toward anyone who doesn’t share his rigid liberal ideology, and yes has a problem paying his taxes properly, then the voters will see the stark contrast between you and him. Then they will realize what a lot of us already know. Al Franken is a joke, but it is no laughing matter.

I’d like to think that if you had taken my advice long ago, maybe this race wouldn’t even be close. Maybe we wouldn’t be sweating out the chance that you could lose to Al Franken. Even with the local media firmly in the back pocket of the Democrats, you had the advantage. I hope it isn’t too late. I don’t really want Al Franken to be my US Senator.

I think it is about time for Norm Coleman to talk a little more about United States Senator Norm Coleman and his plan for a second term.

I don’t mean this as an attack, although I know the usual folks down in the GOP powerbroker’s club will see it that way. Nope, this is advice from me (and scores of other people I deal with on a daily basis in the grassroots of this party) to you. We’re the boots on the ground with our finger of the pulse at the street level. High priced ad gurus, and all the strategists in the world can’t given you the real time reconnaissance that we can.

Correction: In my rush to get this up this morning, I had originally attributed the story to Pat Lopez. My apologies. It was actually Pat Doyle.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am and is filed under 2008, A-Klo, Coleman vs Franken, Know Thy Enemy, MN US Senate, MNGOP Reform, Minnesota, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.