Franken truth test: C-

posted at 9:35 am on October 2, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly

KSTP’s Truth Test checked Al Franken’s latest ad, accusing Norm Coleman of being in the pocket of Wall Street interests — and gives it low marks for honesty. While it accurately notes the amount of money Coleman took from Wall Street this cycle, it fails to mention that two other Democrats have taken far more from Wall Street this cycle, nor does it mention Franken’s own haul from the financial sector:

The entire exercise is a little absurd. Norm Coleman wasn’t in the Senate in the late 1990s, when Congress and the White House pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into buying up bad paper and converting it into securities. He came along years later, when Republicans in the White House and Congress had already begun asking for tighter regulation on Fannie and Freddie, and when Democrats opposed it by calling critics racists. He didn’t chair or serve as the Ranking Member of the Banking Committee and take sweetheart deals from lenders in exchange for blocking better regulation, as Chris Dodd did with his participation in the Friends of Angelo program at Countrywide.

Even where Franken gets it right, he gets it wrong. Coleman did get $2 million in contributions this cycle from Wall Street source, but those pale in comparison to Dodd and Hillary Clinton, who took millions more without even having to run for re-election in this cycle. And besides, Franken took over a half-million dollars from the same source. If Wall Street money is bad, why does Franken accept it? And if it’s not bad, then what is Franken complaining about — coming in second?

At this rate, he’ll have plenty to complain about after November 4th.

Blowback

You must be logged in to post a comment.