MoveOn fight moves on to Minnesota Senate race
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) - The controversy over the MoveOn.org ad criticizing General David Petraeus is now taking center stage in a high profile Senate race in Minnesota.
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman ran a full page ad Tuesday in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, blasting Democratic challenger Al Franken for raising money for MoveOn.org. The ad — headlined “Ridiculous” — criticizes the Franken campaign’s response to last week’s Senate vote criticizing the group’s ad.
The Coleman ad says, “What is really ridiculous is that Al Franken helped raise money for MoveOn.org to pay for ads like the one they did smearing General Petraeus and undermining our troops in the field.”
Replying to the ad, a Franken spokesperson tells CNN, “Minnesotans want Norm Coleman to vote to end the war and bring the troops home. He won’t stand up to this president, so instead he’s taken out an ad criticizing Al for criticizing a Senate resolution that criticized MoveOn.org for taking out an ad criticizing General Petraeus. Ridiculous is exactly the right word.”
Franken and attorney Mike Ciresi are competing for the Democratic nomination to run against Coleman next fall.
- CNN's Steve Brusk and Matt Hoye
I'm a Jew and I support Moveon.org. Moveon is not anti-semetic and not anti-Israel just anti-Bush and anti-war. STOP THE LIES AND END THE WAR!!!!
If it wasn't for Sen. Wellstone's unexpected death, Coleman wouldn't even be in the Senate. Polls leading up to his death had Wellstone leading Coleman by 7 points. Coleman has tried so hard to turn Minnesota red by his lockstep with George Bush. Turn it back blue.....Minnesotans should show Sen. Coleman the door....
Ask the 101st about their general. the man who is called "liar and betrayer" even BEFORE he speaks. What are these cowards afraid of...loss of power. "Death from above" the insurgents know this much and units like the 101st or 82nd Airborne would make the cowardly like Hillary, Obama and Soros (Americans all....well not all) crap their pants to stand face to face with a true American hero, leader, defender, and giver of freedom. Remember only two have ever given their lives willingly to protect you all (good, or evil) and that is Jesus Christ and the American GI. The fact you can read this is because of men like Gen. Petraeus and those who preceded him. God bless him and protect the US from the rats called Democ"rats" They used to call themselves commies, but Demo"rats" fit some much better. Franken is a failed everything....Gopher from the love boat was a better representative than this liar. Norm Coleman believes...Franken believes only what gives him money, power and recognition he has failed to get in any other attempt he has made...we call them flops and failures....
I think that people need to get over the moveon.org senate resolution. There are far more important issues that the Senate should be looking into and voting on. I think it is ridiculous that it even made it on to the floor. Norm Coleman needs to focus on how to win the election in Minnesota based on what he has done for his constituency and it is not very much.
Al Franken is "ridiculous". He is not qualified nor sincere in his pursuit and that should be obvious to anyone who can read and think clearly. One can only hope that the fine people of Minnesota won't commit another blunder of the century, as they did with former Govenor Ventura.
Bushie fired every general that dared to even suggest that anything was not 'coming up roses. Betray us is right on the mark. He said nothing about ethnic cleansing being the reason Betray us ‘biggest' listed 'success' was a success. He ignored or glossed over the bad spots.
I find it disgusting that bush again uses the military, and that the general would let Bushie do it to him.
Hillary voted for the war. SO did a bunch of other spinelss self serving democrats.
Im getting tired of the democrats line of "we went on the intelligence they gave us at the time" The truth is the democrats voted for the war because they wouldnt of gotten reelected if they had not.
If you went back in time to the year before Iraq. All the Intelligence was already out there that Iraq was not a threat to us. Every time some one from the admin came forward in dissent. They were dismissed as being disgruntled or unpatriotic. The sheer magnitude of the stupidity of my fellow countrymen in regards to this war makes me ashamed.
People that stood up Like Senator Feinstein and congressman Ron Paul who stood up and told the truth without regard to their careers are the people who will get my vote.
I have heard some outrageous S**T from the right, but since when is Move-On.org anti-semetic and anti-Israel? Even for the now-desperate Repubicans, that is a major stretch!
Moveon.ORG screwed up with the Petraus ad, but as is true with anyone or any group, IT DOES NOT NEGATE ANY GOOD PREVIOUSLY ACCOMPLISHED.
Let's all see who is right...at the next election... haha
idiot.......
Norm Coleman is but another of the Republican Lemmmings who have marched over the cliff, as instructed, with Bush-Cheney and Company. They've collected salaries for almost 7 years and have not done their job. Coleman should know by now that we Minnesotans do not reward that kind of work "ethic."
Al Franken is an arrogant simpleton. He truly believes that a career of criticizing people who actually DO things entitles him to a position of power. Unfortunately many democrats think the same thing.
Mr. Barnes from WV:
Been in the military? Orders come from above. Always have, always will. Who's the Commander-in-Chief? Think the good general is that much of a maverick that he paints his own picture without his orders from the civilian leadership? Bah...
Ask the 101st about their general. the man who is called "liar and betrayer" even BEFORE he speaks. What are these cowards afraid of…loss of power. "Death from above" the insurgents know this much and units like the 101st or 82nd Airborne would make the cowardly like Hillary, Obama and Soros (Americans all….well not all) crap their pants to stand face to face with a true American hero, leader, defender, and giver of Freedom. Remember only two have ever given their lives willingly to protect you all (good, or evil) and that is Jesus Christ and the American GI. The fact you can read this is because of men like Gen. Petraeus and those who preceded him. God bless him and protect the US from the rats called Democ"rats" They used to call themselves commies, but Demo"rats" fit some much better. Franken is a failed everything….Gopher from the love boat was a better representative than this liar. Norm Coleman believes…Franken believes only what gives him money, power and recognition he has failed to get in any other attempt he has made…we call them flops and failures….
Giver of Freedom?!?!?!?! Are you Shiite-ing me?!?!?! No one can give someone else Freedom. It has to be earned through hard work and self sacrifice. But you are too busy drinking the Koolaid to realize how silly you sound. I weep for you.
I am surprised they havent been branded terrosits yet. I bet if they were out of the middle east thats exactly what these right wingers would be pushing on FOX, never fair, never balanced.
Well, everything was going smooth till moveon.org started that ad. Bottom line, it has hurt democrats and did give momentum to the republicans. Also, in the last few weeks there is a big shift going on Iraq and it is not getting bad. This general has turned the corner and senator coleman has done the right thing. Having said that, Senator Coleman is in trouble because he is below 50% in approval rating. Any incumbent below 50%, has a very tough race. But in the other side, he did not get elected with a land slide and he might still win lot of city votes again because of his stature as former mayor.
What Minnestoans should be looking at is the voting record of Norm Coleman as well as the positon that Al Franken has taken.
There are some other questions that people have to ask about Norm Coleman; has he served the state well in the Senate? Beyond his "Franken and Moveon.org" ad, does he have anything positive for him or other notable concerns about Franken? Now on to Franken, do his positions reflect many people in Minnesota? If the ad connecting him to Moveon.org is relevant, did he have any connection with the actual ad?
Things to think about for those who live in Minnesota. Remember, just because someone worked with a group before doesn't mean that the person continues to agree with all of the actions after that.
Moveon.Org apologized and had to remove antisemitic statements from their website. Here is excerpts from a letter sent by Eli Pariser to the Anti-Defamation league,
"Dear Mr. Pariser:
We have received complaints that anti-Semitic messages have been posted on the Action Forum under the auspices of MoveOn.org. Some of the examples are "media owning Jewish pigs," referring to Senator Joseph Lieberman as "Jew Lieberman," "Zionazis," and "why are the Jews so Jew-y?"
Moveon.Org didn't think it was a problem until the Anti-Defamation league made a stink about it.
It must have been an "oversight" by Moveon.Org!?
Al Franken – keep contributing to this wonderful organization! They do so much good (eyes rolling).