Oh Norman... Norman, Norman, Norman... What The Hell Happened To You ???

[WillyT]

Norman Bertram "Norm" Coleman Jr. (born August 17, 1949) is a former United States senator from Minnesota pending the outcome of litigation to resolve the recount of the 2008 election. Coleman was elected in 2002, serving in the 108th, 109th, and 110th Congresses. He also served as the mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1994 to 2002. Previously a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), Coleman switched to the Republican Party in 1996.

...

Coleman was born in New York to Beverly and Norman Bertram Coleman, Sr. He was a graduate of James Madison High School in. Brooklyn and Hofstra University on Long Island. New York Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, attended high school with Coleman; Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are both graduates of the same high school. During his time at college, Coleman was an active member of the 1960s counterculture, he celebrated his 20th birthday at the Woodstock Festival, and was allegedly a marijuana user.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_Coleman

Psst... Hey Norm...

Um... When Dylan wrote "Blowin In The Wind", he wasn't suggesting you become a political opportunist.

I'm pretty sure on that one.

:shrug:

[polichick]

1. Really Norm - come back to the light!

[Captain Hilts]

2. A lot of conservatives learned to hate govt. in the 60s. nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

15. He switched to GOP in *1996*.

I don't think that's quite it. He supported the IRAQ catastrophe, didn't he? Wasn't that primarily a "big government" operation?

[tabasco]

18. Hahahahahahahaha!

You've been duped if you believe so-called conservatives "hate government."

That's their big lie that the dittoheads slurp up.

They love big government that serves corporations, not the people.

[jobycom]

3. Marijuana has different effects on different people, you know.

Some it just makes talk real slow and eat shrimp-flavored potato sticks, some it sends into psychotic rages and schizophrenic breakdowns, and others it turns into shallow opportunists with no core values and a skulking resemblance to a dumbed-down Thomas Hayden Church.

So be careful out there!

[Uncle Joe]

14. He probably didn't even inhale.

I believe having no core values, he would've been too afraid to smoke it or just say no, he just wanted to fit in with the in-crowd of that time, either in the best case because he just wanted to belong or as a more cynical motivation because he saw future power there.

That would be consistent with his modus operandi. of later switching parties after the Republicans had already taken control of the Congress for the first time in decades, Coleman saw power blowing in that direction and followed it with all the courage of a puppy.

Today, he's exhibiting the same amount of "courage and integrity" by trying to overrule the will of the people as that of Bush the Least.

[spanone]

4. bad acid

[WillyT]

6. LOL !!!

They warned 'em over the PA system!!!

"Don't eat the Brown Acid!"

Norm... were you listening?

:shrug:

[leftyclimber]

5. He ate the brown acid.

[WillyT]

7. Great Minds...

:toast:

[Smarmie Doofus]

16. Which was "not specifically too good." nt

[Canuckistanian]

8. Hard to believe that Coleman and Bernie Sanders went to the same school

I wonder what happened to Coleman in 1996 that changed him so much?

Going from DFL to Republican is a HUGE jump, ideologically. I could understand if it were Oklahoma or Florida, where Blue Dogs predominate.

[ihavenobias]

13. Good question. n/t

[mitchum]

9. He was a Boomer who was playing "what's happening now"

When that was cool that was what Norm was all about
when being a conservative pig became all the rage, that's what Norm became all about.

Unfortunately, it's a pretty typical story

[WillyT]

11. Yep... For Some, The 60's Was About Fad And Fashion...

for others, Philosophy.

:shrug:

[Canuckistanian]

10. Interesting quote from his college days...

In college, Coleman was a liberal Democrat and was actively involved in the anti-war movement of the early 1970s. He ran for student senate and opined in the school newspaper that his fellow students should vote for him because he knew that "these conservative kids don't fuck or get high like we do (purity, you know)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_Coleman

I'm surprised it hasn't been edited out by his rabid supporters....

[cali]

12. Coleman was the type of scuzzy pig who leaned left and hippyish

because it was the cool thing to do and because it was a way to 'get chicks'.

[spanone]

17. bet norm smoked lots of pot in school

[pink-o]

19. David Horror-witz and Ben Stein were also big lefties in college...

...just weird what happens to some of these Jewish boys! (Don't flame me: I'm one of those Jewish girls!)

[mitchum]

21. That's where the ranks of the original neocons came from

see also: Irving Kristol, Norman Podhertz, Midge Dector

[Bonn1997]

20. You want something a MILLION TIMES more surprising?

Senator Dick Shelby was a Democratic Congressman in the '90s.