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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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Coleman touches on key issues in city visit CAMPAIGN 2008 Associate Editor Sen. Norm Coleman on Tuesday, in a wide-ranging interview, termed the surge in Iraq a tremendous success, suggested formation of a Social Security commission with real political teeth and issued a spirited defense of his living arrangements, which have come under fire this campaign year.
The first-term Republican senator spoke with members of the Brainerd Dispatch editorial board Tuesday after meeting with diners at the Front Street Cafe in Brainerd.
Coleman said Gen. David Petraeus and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have successfully transformed the military situation in Iraq. While he said fault could be found with intelligence estimates and reconstruction efforts, the military is defeating al-Qaeda in Iraq.
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Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., talked Tuesday to the Brainerd residents at a campaign meet-and-greet at the Front Street Cafe. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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Coleman said he believes U.S. forces in Iraq will be drawn down next year but it must be done safely and with the assurance that there will continue to be stability in the area. The surge, he maintained has provided the opportunity to end sectarian violence.
And while many of the political benchmarks have been met by the Iraqi government there is still much work to be done.
"Politics, by its very nature ... it's not easy. It's not clean."
Turning his attention to Social Security's financial woes, Coleman said the longer the U.S. waits to fix the problem the worse it will become. He has been open to some sort of Social Security personal accounts but said the politics of Social Security have become so deadly that political reality calls for allowing a commission to devise a fix that can only be countered by a "super majority" vote in Congress.
"Give me a bipartisan solution," he said. "You've got to get beyond that (the political sensitivities)."
He suggested using the military's Base Realignment and Closure process, which was designed to take the politics out of base closures, as a model for Social Security reform.
Young people he talks to assume there will be nothing left for them when they're ready to draw Social Security and the demographics of the situation support their belief, Coleman said.
"I'm an action guy," he said. "I'm results-oriented ... rather than debate this for another 20 years."
He defended his renting of a one bedroom, Washington, D.C., apartment for $600 a month as comparable to what other lawmakers are paying and said it was being rented from a friend not a lobbyist.
The perception that he is doing something wrong is being played by his opponents for political purposes, he said.
"I suggest what I pay is more than market value," he said. "I would love for the Ethics Committee to take a look at that."
He said he has invited reporters to inspect his apartment and said he's been more forthcoming about his living arrangements than his opponent, Democratic-endorsed Al Franken, has been about his tax problems.
"To argue it was 'my accountant that did it,' that's a credibility issue," Coleman said.
Coleman also criticized Franken for jokes he had made in the past regarding rape and jokes about the Catholic church and pedophiles and for overly harsh criticism of Republicans.
Coleman said that Franken's humor contains anger and vitriol and would not work well in the Senate.
"It's humor that tears down," he said, referring to his opponent as the "ultimate flame thrower."
The former mayor of St. Paul also touched on several other subjects.
FARM BILL - Coleman described the 2008 farm bill as a great bill that provides a reasonable safety net for providers. While Sen. John McCain, his party's nominee, opposed the bill, Coleman said the Arizona senator is a good listener.
IRAQ - As oil prices rise he said Iraqis should be paying for their own reconstruction.
ECONOMY - Although he didn't want to point fingers he suggested that perhaps, the Federal Reserve and ratings agencies were "asleep at the wheel" in the subprime mortgage crisis.
"These are the most difficult economic times I've seen in my 30 years of public service," Coleman said.
HOUSING - The senator said there is a clear need for more stringent oversight over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac agencies, suggesting that since they receive government backing perhaps their employees should receive government level salaries.
PAWLENTY - Coleman said he had no idea who McCain would pick as his vice presidential choice but noted Gov. Tim Pawlenty would be a great choice because they're comfortable together and Pawlenty wouldn't do him any harm.
"If your vice president (choice) is in the news 10 days before the election, you have a problem," Coleman said.
MIKE O'ROURKE may be reached at mike.orourke@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5860.
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