palance-coleman1Norm Coleman cleaned up a line from the movie “City Slickers” in his keynote speech to a far-right audience Thursday. He recited a scene as a segue to his theme for Republican renewal: in a word, “accountability.” Ironically, the four-letter word he censored for the benefit of the conservative-values crowd is one that could yet get him in trouble. Videos after the jump (listen for the lessons: “Nobody likes a hypocrite” and “We need to compete … in the ethernet”). 

Here are the first YouTube videos to emerge from Coleman’s trip to St. Louis Thursday for the Conservative Heartland Leadership Conference.

In this one, a sympathetic videographer catches up with Coleman in the ballroom for a quick interview. Coleman — whose campaign Website left donors’ personal financial data exposed earlier this year — says the key for Republicans is to compete “in the ethernet”:

Coleman delivers his “City Slickers” dialogue in this clip from his keynote speech (the “hypocrite” line is at the end):

And here’s the scene from “City Slickers” Coleman tried to replicate:

Coleman’s telling has Billy Crystal asking Jack Palance, “What’s the meaning of life?” Palance, playing the character Curly, holds up one finger. “Your finger?” asks Crystal. “No,” replies Palance. “One thing. Do that and your life will make sense.”

Palance’s actual line: “One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shit.”

Coleman might have simply been mixed up — in an op-ed this year, he misattributed a saying to Hubert Humphrey.

Either way, the line he dropped has a certain resonance with the most incriminating line attributed to his friend and benefactor Nasser Kazeminy in pending civil suits that allege Kazeminy funneled cash to Coleman: “United States Senators don’t make shit.”

Note: Minnesota Public Radio has audio of Coleman’s remarks to reporters Thursday.