Good Thursday morning Fellow Seekers,
DFL U.S. Senate candidate Mike Ciresi has been on the attack lately against his chief rival for the DFL endorsement, Al Franken, over Franken’s early support for the decision to invade Iraq. Ciresi has said that he opposed the war from the beginning.
But it is apparently the case — and the Ciresi campaign confirmed as much to me this week — that Ciresi did nothing to publicly express this opposition until he became a Senate candidate this year. Why not? I asked for some time with Ciresi to ask him that question. He declined to answer directly, but his spokester, Leslie Sandberg agreed to address the question.
Her answer had several elements: Ciresi was a private citizen and therefore had no obligation to take a public position on the war. The news media didn’t call Ciresi to ask his position. Ciresi was busy with his law practice and his charitable activities. I asked if Ciresi was claiming that he was too busy to take a public stand on the war. No, Sandberg replied, not too busy. Just busy.
I pointed out that many busy people found time to participate in anti-war protests, sign petitions, write op-eds or letters to the editor expressing their opposition to the war. One of Ciresi’s opponents in the current race, Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, was active against the war during that period. Sandberg replied: “Jack did one thing. Al did another. Mike did another.”
(Jim Cohen, a fourth DFL Senate candidate, like Ciresi, has said that he opposed the war from the beginning but has not produced any evidence that he publicly expressed that opposition.)
Sandberg mentioned other prominent Democratic attorneys whom she believed had not taken a public position on the war. I replied that those attorneys had not run for the U.S. Senate before (as Ciresi did in 2000) and were not running now. As you can see, our exchange got testy. I apologize for my share of the blame in that. Sandberg and I seemed to disagree on whether I was asking a valid question. I told her I did not find the answers truly responsive. She said it was at least a response, which was more than I got from Team Franken. That’s true.
I have also asked whether Ciresi could produce any evidence that he had opposed the war from the beginning. This week, she referred me to Congresswoman Betty McCollum, whom she said had talked to Ciresi during that period and offered to vouch for his opposition.
McCollum told me yesterday that she did recall a conversation, over wine among friends and supporters of hers, including Ciresi, in the fall of 2002. McCollum, who ultimately voted against the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, said she had already made up her mind to vote that way.
“I have to say, I felt a lot of support from that group of people, who were taking my vote very seriously, knowing it was not going to be the popular thing to do,” McCollum said.
Everyone was talking at once. and she didn’t remember who said what, McCollum said. The overall analysis included “that we had a mission to complete in Afghanistan, we needed to let the inspectors do their work, we needed to have the international community with us, and what was this guy’s big rush” (referring to Pres. Bush).
McCollum, who is supporting Ciresi’s Senate bid, did not recall any particular facts or arguments that Ciresi made against the war, but she was certain that he shared the group’s support for her vote.
Good Thursday morning Seekers,
Today, November 1st, I see that my pocket calendar has a pre-printed notation of “All Saints Day,” and also “305/60″ marking the point we are at in a calendar year that consists of 365 days.
~ Did former appointed Minnesota Senator Dean Barkley go public with his early feelings?
~ Did fairly recent MN Senate Candidate [who took deceased candidate Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone’s place] former appointed and then elected Minnesota Senator, and elected Vice-President Walter Mondale go public with his early feelings?
I do not remember an early position that former Minnesota Senator Barkley took, or former Senate Candidate Mondale in relation to the Iraq War.
I do remember some of the War in Iraq campaign issues for the last race for the seat now held by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
Early on, just about every [fellow] Vietnam Veteran that I talked with eventually asked a question similar to, “How are we going to get out of this?”
It was a very serious question; watching the nightly news makes us feel a little edgy.
For Patty Wetterling, a high profile Minnesotan that [also] ran and lost in an election, today and tomorrow may be All Saints Day, and Day of the Dead (All Souls Day). These days may be special for her in remembrance of her son Jacob who was abducted and never has been found.
I cannot remember if she went public with her opinion [or early opposition] to the War in Iraq.
Walter Mondale made clear that, like Wellstone, he would have voted against the resolution to give the President authority to go to war.
Neither Ciresi nor Franken were in Congress at the time so I don’t know what difference it makes whether they were then opposed or not or whether their opposition or support was public enough. What’s relevant is where they stand now and that they don’t leave any doubt about their present opposition.
Here!
A public U.S. Senator (Larry Craig)from Idaho, uses a public lavatory (bathroom, washroom, restroom) stall at MSP airport for a private action, and it seems that all of the public knows about it.
A private citizen (Mike Ciresi) who formerly ran in the process, as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and is running again.
A private citizen (Jim Cohen) who is running in the process, as a candidate for the U.S. Senate for the first time.
A semi-private citizen (Al Franken) who has some public celebrity status, and who is a candidate for the U.S. Senate for the first time.
Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer “who was active against the war during that period.” [That’s one way to put it.]
I think that sometimes the more public people, want some of their actions to be less public and less scrutinized.
I think that one has to have a desire for the truth, and that there is an essential link between truth and freedom.
Unfortunately, my observation is that people who seem to desire truth and freedom are called “liberals” and are somehow disqualified for serving in public office.
Regardless of whether Franken was a private citizen or not, his support of the Iraq war–well into 2005–demonstrates appalling judgment. Even more appalling is Franken’s response to other acts of aggression: as Israel bombed Lebanon’s civilians, killing well over 1000, all Franken could say was that Israel had a right to defend itself. We don’t need anymore AIPAC shils in Congress.
The reason its important to look at the candidates prior positions on the war is that past behavior is a strong indicator of future behavior. Al Franken demonstrated astonishingly bad judgment in supporting the war and (until recently) supporting the ongoing occupation. Its also an issue with Franken because he has not been honest about his positions.
As far as Ciresi goes, he doesn’t get a lot of points for saying he was against the Iraq war at the beginning because he didn’t speak out. I don’t think its a question of believing him - contrary to what Franken says, there was a lot of evidence to suggest there were no WMDs and a lot of people did oppose going to war. The criticism (and its a valid one) is that he did nothing to try to stop the war he opposed. But that criticism pales in comparison to the criticism Franken deserves for supporting (not just voting to authorize the president, mind you) starting a war with a country that did not attack us and posed no threat to us.
“the candidates prior positions on the war is that past behavior is a strong indicator of future behavior.”
So George Bush was elected on a platform of “no regime change” ….
As one who believed going to war against a tyrant
>who actively supported terrorists in Palestine with large monetary awards,
>who provided shelter to at least one prominent Al Qaida member,
>who mercilessly exterminated large portions of his population,
>who regularly took “pot shots” at the US airmen charged with monitoring him after the gulf war,
>who monitored the every move of the inspectors charged with seeing to it that he complied with his agreement to get rid of weapons of mass destruction and ultimately kicked them out of his country,
>who apparently successfully convinced not only the president, not only the congress, but even the world that he was hiding forbidden weapons and/or the capability of producing them,
was the right thing to do, and who continues to be convinced of that,
this discussion has a whole different significance.
So, should we be at war with North Korea?
Saudi Arabia?
etcetcetc …..
There are a lot of deserving candidates.
I think that the statement that Ciresi has been attacking Franken over his support for the Iraq War is misleading. Ciresi’s criticism has actually been of Franken’s stated reason for backing the war, which is in his book — that he was afraid. Someone who makes such a momentous decision on the basis of fear does not seem like a good choice to be making policy for the nation, nor do they seem like a person who would have the grit and courage to be the candidate in a Senate campaign that will undoubtably be made into a brutal battle by Coleman and the Republicans.
Pk, your analogy is not really on point. The the fact that Bush lied about his foreign policy plans during the 2000 campaign doesn’t really disprove my point. Actually, to some extent it backs it up, as Bush lied then and continued to lie throughout his presidency. Bush was also a failure at pretty much everything he did in his life, and not surprisingly, has been a spectactular failure as a president.
So, you’re saying that we should look at the sum of a person’s record, not just one detail.
No, I am saying past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior.
I see where you are going, and its to try to isolate Franken’s war support as “one detail.” First of all, that’s a pretty big detail.
Second, its not just Franken’s initial war support. Its his ongoing war support. Its his refusal until very recently to join other Democrats in supporting withdrawal. Its his dishonesty in explaining his positions. So its not just one detail; Al Franken has showed horrible judgment, poor reasoning, and outright dishonesty over and over and over again over a period of years. I don’t know why anyone would think he would not demostrate the same bad judgment as a Senator (not that he could ever get elected).