Have You Met The Andersons-- They Know How To Beat Slimy Republicans

Would you vote for this used car dealer?

There are all these rumors that Chris Matthews is going to run, as a Democrat, against Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Senate race in 2010. I have kind of mixed feelings about him, but if he was auditioning yesterday-- and will campaign like this-- when he ripped Republican extremist Eric Cantor (R-VA) to shreds on Hardball he's certainly going to get my support.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, on the other hand, aren't running for any office. They're just a couple of Minnesotans who lost their son, Major Stuart Anderson, in Iraq. They could be the parents of anyone in America. Like half the people in Minnesota, the Andersons think Norm Coleman's got to go. Watch:



I know Norm Coleman. We were co-secretaries of our class at PS-197 in Brooklyn long before he had all those face lifts and cosmetic plastic surgeries to make himself look younger. My impression of Coleman is a lot like the Andersons'-- a yes man. He's tried to paint himself as a moderate and-- especially as election day started looming-- an independent voice. But when you examine his record... pure Bush rubber stamp. Since being elected in a fluke-- when Senator Paul Wellstone was killed in a mysterious plane crash many people attribute to Karl Rove's machinations-- Coleman has participated in 43 Iraq-related roll calls. He hasn't strayed from the Bush-Cheney line on any substantive matters. He voted with the Democrats and half the Republicans to provide humanitarian food assistance in connection with U.S. activities in Iraq on April 3, 2003 and then two years and a couple dozen rubber stamped bill later he broke with Bush over a budgetary accounting procedure.

When the tough votes come up Norm Coleman is always there for Bush and Cheney and never for folks like the Andersons. And Americans in general are starting to see McCain the same way that Minnesotans like the Andersons see Coleman. The NY Times is reporting some interesting polling data this morning that shows Americans look at John McCain as less likely to bring change and that he "is widely viewed as a 'typical Republican' who would continue or expand President Bush’s policies." And this year there is letter worse than being viewed as a "typical Republican."