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THE BIGGER PROBLEM: I BET TEAM FRANKEN DIDN’T KNOW FRANKEN OWNED STOCK IN HALLIBURTON AND “BIG OIL” COMPANIES
By Michael B. Brodkorb | May 26, 2008
The aftershocks of the Republican Party of Minnesota’s (MN GOP) press release from Friday about Al Franken owning stock in Halliburton and numerous “big oil” companies like Exxon are still reverberating through the blogosphere.
Earlier in the week, Team Franken was trying to connect people to Halliburton and Exxon, when in fact, Franken owns stock in both companies:
“On Thursday, Franken spokeswoman Jess McIntosh said: ‘Al had a long career as a satirist. But he understands the difference between what you say as a satirist and what you do as a senator. And as a senator, Norm Coleman has disrespected the people of Minnesota by putting the Exxons and Halliburtons ahead of working families.’” Source: The Hill, May 22, 2008
Click here for the complete story.
Political commentators have suggested that Republicans and U.S. Senator Norm Coleman’s campaign know more about Franken that Team Franken:
“But the bigger problem is what it says about the professionalism of the Franken campaign.The truth is the Coleman campaign seems to know more about Franken, than the Franken campaign.” Source: Larry Jacobs, “Almanac”, April 25, 2008
The MN GOP’s press release from Friday is just another example of what Jacobs called “the bigger problem.” I don’t believe that Team Franken knew Franken owned stock in Halliburton and “big oil” companies like Exxon. Team Coleman and the MN GOP have out maneuvered Team Franken and the Democrats once again.
Topics: Uncategorized | 32 Comments »
May 26th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Charlie Quimby has done some work on this, and points out that Al has been doing some socially responsible investing, perhaps the one instance where Al seems to have anticipated political problems down the line.
Conservatives don’t like it when liberals are rich. They seem to feel we should all be required to take vows of poverty, which of course would be awfully convenient for them.
May 26th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Liberals don’t like it when their ” Do as I say, not as I do” hypocrisey is pointed out.
May 26th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I am a liberal, I own stocks, and I am a strong advocate of stock ownership as part of a well balanced investment portfolio. I also feel to criticize the companies I own, and even the ones I don’t. I don’t ExxonMobil directly as it happens, but it is a significant part of mutual funds I own. When I feel the need to criticize the way management does business, I do, and I recommend that for everyone. It’s my company, and I own it whatever terms I choose to set for myeslf.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Hiram:
Your executives at Exxon Mobil say the reason why they can’t drill for oil to make more profit for the company is because the Democrats in Congress won’t allow them to drill in places like ANWAR.
It seems like either you’re calling the executives liars or else the Democrats in Congress are wrong.
So no big debate here, are (A) the Democrats wrong or (B) are the exxon mobil excutives lying?
just one letter.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
May 26th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Franken is ruthless when it comes to taking down Republicans. THAT is what the Republicans are really afraid of, not the fact that he owns mutual funds that invest in oil companies.
When Cheney sold his stock options to Halliburton (he had pledged to donate the after-tax profits to charity in 2001 after being attacked for his assocation with the company) they were worth over 5 million dollars.
Al Franken is reported to be worth as little as 4.4 million dollars. Any attempt to say Franken is “in league” with these companies is absurd. Under the leadership of Al, Minnesotans will get representation that works for the people, and NOT for big business. Maybe, Mr. Brodkorb, you should hide under your blanket and make sure your mommy is there to comfort you while you cry. We’ll tell you when you can come out, right after Franken is elected.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I think you are creating straw men here, and I am not calling anyone a liar. I am sure under certain market conditions producing oil from ANWR is profitable, under other market conditions, it would not be. I am sure ExxonMobil executives would agree with that statement. Profitablity depends on the prevailing world price, and the cost of production and no doubt numerous other factors.
I have never thought the oil companies were all that enthusiastic about ANWR oil. It would be expensive to produce and there is no guarantee there is all that much there. ANWR mostly serves as a political excuse for blaming Democrats and environmentalists for high oil prices.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
I have never thought the oil companies were all that enthusiastic about ANWR oil.
Then you’re ignorant of the subject.
“According to the Department of Interior’s 1987 resource evaluation of ANWR’s Coastal Plain, there is a 95% chance that a ’super field’ with 500 million barrels would be discovered.”
http://www.anwr.org/Background/How-much-oil-is-in-ANWR.php
I’ll take their word over the word of a libral’.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I have found the website:
“Across the Great Divide:How can people disagree and still build a decent world? American Crosscut”
http://greatdivide.typepad.com to be an interesting website on the recent subject of oil and Franken’s mutual funds.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
“Al has been doing some socially responsible investing…”
What a load of crap! Socially reaponsible investing? Doesn’t that just mean giving your money to liberal nonprofits and taking the tax write-off? Just like the word “green”, “socially responsible” is just another way for lefties to pat themselves on the back for being such good people. Bravo! Just don’t pull any muscles in your shoulder while doing so.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
It sounds like John F. Not Kerry would perhaps get some green ideas from reading some of Horst Rechelbacher.
May 26th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Socially responsible investing, which as you can probably tell I am not a big fan of as such, means something quite different. Check out Charlie Quimby’s blog entry on this.
May 26th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Why would the oil companies wanna drill in ANWR if they are making record profits each quarter? You guys think that the oil companies give a shit we are paying 4 dollars a gallon for gas? why would they want to lower the price of oil per barrel. you guys are jokers, seriously. is big oil really fighting for the little guy?
laughable man,
May 26th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Anyone who has mutual funds knows that they generally include an index of companies in a variety of sectors. There are socially responsible funds you can buy – that screen using various criteria. The Tax and Work comp issues are legitimate stories. This one isn’t.
May 26th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Eva – Let me see if I get this. Someone who spends her time stalking Michele Bachmann because of her conservative Christian beliefs and regularly blogs on an anti-Bachmann site, is telling us what is legitimate or not? Please, go back to your hate site.
May 26th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Eva Young is writing about mutual funds, tax & comp issues, and socially responsible funds.
Cash N. Carey is writing about social issues, following another’s blogging, and directing someone to return to their hate site.
[The two weren't struck by lightning. That's the way it happens sometimes.]
May 26th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Walter Hanson,
RINO Norm Coleman didn’t vote in favor of drilling either. In fact he made a big deal about voting against it.
May 26th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Yoni, try this out for a test. Open up ANWR for drilling and see if anyone applies. If you are correct nobody will.
However, I think you would quickly find that you were wrong and every company would have a bid in.
Oil Companies only make money by selling thier products. If they don’t have any product to sell they don’t make money.
May 26th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I don’t see what the big deal is, drilling in ANWR, but I also question how beneficially it would be to our bottom line. Would it really impact the price of oil and consumer goods?
doubtful.
May 26th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I blog about Michele Bachmann to expose her public record as a nut, a liar and a bigot. The blog has exposed that conclusively. That has nothing to do with Christianity. I am critical of people who hide behind christianity to justify marginalizing unpopular minorities.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
>>>I don’t see what the big deal is, drilling in ANWR, but I also question how beneficially it would be to our bottom line. Would it really impact the price of oil and consumer goods?
The logical extension of this line of “reasoning” is that we shouldn’t drill for any oil. Why try to lower the price at all? Right? Why drill anywhere? I mean, sure the price may come down a few cents and if we’re really lucky a buck or two, (Note: PRICE DROPS), but is it worth it?
The answer, from a rationalist, as well as from both a micro and macroeconomic perspective, is very simply ‘yes.’ Lower cost is lower cost. More oil on the market = lower prices. Are you seriously arguing against doing what is necessary by the laws of supply and demand to lower prices? Why? What right do you have to tell me to pay more for gas?
Besides – what is the risk? None.
The caribou will be fine in that inhospitable, barren wasteland. This is not going to affect one animal, and even if it did, humans are more important. People need energy to survive. Get over it.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:03 am
It’s fun to watch the liberals squirm not that their own “chickens are coming home to roost.”
Democrats have decimated domestic energy production. Democrats, for years, have pitched higher taxes on energy to lower consumption of energy. Now that the higher prices they’ve advocated and which their policies have delivered are here, they’re running around like hapless victims.
Meanwhile, the no talent ass clown, Al Franken, who has spent a great deal of time demonizing those who own oil companies and *gasp* Haliburton, in fact owns oil companies and *gas* Haliburton.
What a fucking joke. There is no greater gang of hypocrits, assholes and liars than today’s Democrat Party. Nothing but a bunch of dishonest, socialist bastards. Every one of them.
Eva, are you out of your gourd? You calling anyone a bigot is a shining example of the hypocrisy of the Left.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Eva “DumpsterQueen” Young and Angry Al have a lot in common.
Al barks like a dog when he works out; DQ never works out, but she barks at the moon.
Al uses “satire” to make an ass of himself in public; DQ couldn’t spell satire if her life depended on it, but she does love a good asshat dance.
Al’s dream is to become Norm Coleman’s stalking horse; DQ has made her dreams come true by being acknowledged as Representative Michele Bachmann’s official cyber-stalker.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:49 am
WHO CARES if anyone owns stock in halliburton.
are they a company that sells illicit drugs to kids? no. are they a company that beats up midgets and drives over old ladies in the crosswalks? no.
they’re a legal business, and they don’t do anything illegal. they’re just hated because they make money.
i think everyone should aspire to be as successful as they are.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:36 am
So, zeeb. You are of the opinion that Al should just STFU.
Welcome to the world.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:46 am
The bottom line on this story is that Franken is a hypocrite for using Halliburton and ExxonMobil as a vehicle to bash Coleman while owning shares of those same companies.
There are enough ways for a high net worth individual (like Franken) to make sure his investments are “socially responsible”. There are money mgmt firms and individual stock brokers who can provide you with this advice AS WELL AS monitor your accounts to make sure they remain “socially responsible”.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Conservatives don’t like it when liberals are rich.
Ha! Best line ever! How about this, though, to be truthful: Liberals don’t like it when anyone else is rich.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:28 am
What a dim-wit campaign operation the Franken team has. Stunningly bad.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Good Lt.
from your post, you are under the impression that oil companies care that prices would be lowered, which they don’t. if they were concerned about it, they would not be making record profits each quarter.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Here we are, 162 days from election day, and while we know a whole lot about what scares Norm Coleman about Al Franken, we know hardly anything about why Norm thinks he deserves a second shot at the job. He has announced his candidacy. He is in the race.
Why won’t Norm talk about his record? Why does he have to resort to letting Michael be his filth merchant?
Seems to me, the incumbents apprehension to talk about his own track record is a sign that he is still to closely aligned to Bush to even pretend he has his own opinions, so he is hoping that no one notices that he hasn’t done a damn thing for this state.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Yoni, the Oil Companies are exactly the same as any other company. They are in business to make a profit. I won’t pretend to know how they make profits and like you I don’t think they care about the price as long as they make a profit.
I even believe that they would charge us more if they felt that they would make the same or a greater profit. I am glad they make profits, because, without those profits we would not have the products they deliver.
The Oil Companies aren’t evil, they aren’t saints, they are just Capitalists. Thank the Lord for Capitalists.
May 27th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Leroy Norm isn’t running against anyone yet. Why waste time and money until he has an opponent?
May 27th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
MBB: “Team Coleman and the MN GOP have out maneuvered Team Franken and the Democrats once again.”
—————-
I wonder if Team Ventura and the Independents are planning any maneuvers.