Good Riddance, Norm Coleman

'Al Franken, a satirist known for his biting political humor, is headed to the U.S. Senate, the survivor of an epic legal struggle that opponent Norm Coleman finally conceded he couldn't win.' [Strib link]

IOW: Sensible adults agree: As a comedian, Al Franken went too far.

During the intraDFL contest last year, I enjoyed exposing people claiming to be offended by Franken who, upon the gentlest cross-examination, admitted they weren't offended a bit. They'd published 'I'm offended by Al Franken' but then tell me that saying I'm offended by Al Franken is a universally-understood elite-mediaspeak shorthand for I might be able to respect a person who claimed to be offended by Al Franken, even though I'm not. So when they'd publish I'm offended by Al Franken and then tell me that in fact they weren't--by their lights, I was being a hyperliteralist nag.

That Strib writer [ironically--five writers blended into one, third person, objective POV] might alternatively be asserting a bold, ultraconservative dogmatism--but you know that worldview could never be accepted in such a paper. Or could 'the writer' be offering an intimacy-building 'comic roast' 'dig' 'at' Franken, perhaps hinting--with deniability--at the oddity, that the generally DFL-preferring paper had endorsed Coleman over Franken?

And spare a thought for those of us for whom biting contains no pejorative, will you?

Same article:

Conceding defeat outside his St. Paul home shortly after the court ruling, Coleman sidestepped questions about whether he would turn his attention to running for governor in 2010. "We'll talk about the future in short order," he said.

How could he have said we'll in that answer? Norm of course means that 'in supreme public-spiritedness and ego-transcendence', he 'works as a coequal with the team members' who serve at his pleasure. Coleman is suggesting that--when electing him--the public is gaining access to a true group brain. Coleman leaks his chilling, corporatist consciousness gambit liberally:

Asked when he would talk about his plans, he replied, "Soon. I presume sometime -- we'll get through July 4 -- sometime next week, I presume, I'll be talking a little bit about what the future is." [Star Tribune] And what talisman will Coleman be employing, in this ceremony?

But seriously--when A-List State Politician says that to WurzerCentral, it's time that politician sought a new profession.