Recently in Al Franken Category

Senator Al Franken following the Rule Of Law, once a favorite topic of conservative Republicans.



Granted, they are parliamentary rules. Still, rules are rules.

Also of note; this is making the Legacy Media pages. Senator Franken is making a name for himself.

First, the Republicans shot themselves in the foot with their pro-rape vote. Then, thinking they were being clever, instead opened the door to forcing a strong, well-written public option for the health care reform bill.

Honestly, do these guys have a complete lack of intelligence? I mean, they gave Senator Franken a wide open door, and of course he stepped through.

Seems that the 30 pro-rape Republicans are whining about being called pro-rape Republicans because they voted against Al Franken's amendment which would prevent companies from getting federal contracts if they force their employees to use arbitration to settle sexual harassment, abuse, and discrimination cases instead of the courts. You know, denying them their constitutional rights.

Honestly, I am not going to feel sorry for them. These are the same group of Republicans that made no effort to rebuke the statement when one Senator called Al a clown.

Damn, he rocks!

Damn, I guess the Republicans didn't want to be out done:

U.S. Sen. James Inhofe dug himself in deeper Tuesday trying to explain why he called Al Franken "the clown from Minnesota" last week: "He kind of looked like a clown when I was talking to him."

Hat Tip: MN Independent

Some of you may disagree with me. Oh, hell, most of you may disagree with me. But, as God (or to whomever HP you profess faith) is my witness, this is the sign of decline of conservatism for the next 30 to 40 years.

 

It brought tears to my eyes at the same time as I chuckled in happiness.

Oh great. Now comes the next stage; arguing over the wording of today's release of the ruling on Franken/Coleman.

Particular sentence to be argued over:

For all of the foregoing reasons, we affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under Minn. 32 Stat. § 204C.40 (2008) to receive the certificate of election as United States Senator from the State of Minnesota.

Oh yeah. We are going to hear all sorts of rationalization and intellectualizing over the meaning of entitled.

Update: I guess Norm didn't want to get into a debate over definitions.

It's 5 PM and I've heard not a peep about Norm's court challenge to the recount.

Well, now I have. Next week, then.

When I was reading the many posts and articles about the court decision stating Al Franken won the senate election last year, one thought went through my mind; Governor Pawlenty will not certify the election as the law stipulates.

Now, imagine my surprise when I came across this t-shirt at DownWithTyranny!

Mind know, it's not definite that Coleman will file an appeal with the Minnesota State Supreme Court. He hasn't as of this posting. However, should the court refuse to hear the appeal, it's time for the Governor to certify the election. Should he refuse, than he no longer has the best interest of Minnesota citizens in mind; he is thinking only of his position in the Republican party and a run for president.

If that is the case, then hell yes! it's time for a recall.

Politico

Erickson, the Coleman campaign spokesman, said Monday that the senator has raised $25 million -- only a small portion of which came from online contributions -- since Nov. 4 to pay for his bills during the hand recount. That should be enough to keep the lawyers paid and the litigation brewing.

"I want to do all I can to help him," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who said he had maxed out his donations to Coleman.

It's all they know how to do. We already have seen their inability to actually govern.

Hat tip: Minnesota Independent.

Welcome Dusty Rice to Eastern Blogstonia. I got to meet Dusty once. He was part of the Al Franken senate campaign. That was the day I embarrassed myself when I thought Al was referring to his movie "Stuart Saves His Family" when in fact he was referring to "When A Man Loves A Woman." I managed to wipe the egg off my face and have a good talk with Dusty and the rest of the team. Of course, he was quick to make the talk off the record. It was fine by me, because I really didn't want to write about the egg on face incident.

The one, of course, I just mentioned. Doh!

Star Tribune

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The judges in the Minnesota Senate trial have denied a request from Norm Coleman that they reconsider a ruling unfavorable to his case.

Last week, the judges eliminated from consideration about a dozen categories of rejected absentee ballots. That limited the number of votes Coleman, a Republican, might be able to get counted as he tries to overtake Democrat Al Franken's 225-vote lead.

You're getting more and more pathetic. Desperation just doesn't look good on you, my fellow ex-stoner.

You are an ex-stoner, right? With the stupidity you've put on display, one wonders, you know.

I've had this post from FiveThirtyEight.com in a tab for a couple of hours now. I just don't know what to think about it. My first response was; "Are you kidding?" With Coleman's numbers in the polls sinking due to his legal wrangling, this seems the worse possible strategy. Then, with his past lip service to deficit reduction and limiting government spending, to now push for a new election is in direct contradiction to those claims. Hypocricy is not selling these days.

When I look over the whole history of the recount, it seems as if Norm is making decisions that hurt him more than help him. It's as if he's hell bent on ensuring his loss is verified and certified. But than, desperation will often result in grasping for straws. In all fairness, Al Franken's team did also show a propensity of making frivolous challenges. However, it would seem they were more willing to withdraw more challenges at the end.

In an interesting turn of events, Mark Ambinder at The Atlantic suggests Coleman could still win it, then in a surprising twist of rhetoric, suggests the Democrats (Al Franken) might request a new election. Of course, this is with the unspoken assumption Norm and his legal team are experienced practitioners of the subtle art of judicial manipulation and subterfuge. If that were the case, the recount would now be in Norm's favor. But it's not.

Once again, the facts are Norm is behind by 225 votes. Any experience at judicial manipulation and subterfuge would not have allowed this fact to be in existence. So, despite Mr. Ambinder's fear (or hope?) of a Norm win, I think we are simply seeing the grasping of straws by a desperate man who's only true desire is to remain in power. 

Act to Blue MN has less than $100 to go to reach it's goal of $2000. I have to have some readers willing to give as little as $5. Today is the last day of this quarter. Help us to put Minnesota Democrats into congress. Give to Al Franken, Ashwin Madia, Elwyn Tinklenberg, Steve Sarvi.

Red to Blue MN has just a bit more to go to hit the $2000 goal by Monday. I am asking what few readers I have to go and think about $10, $20, or more, to the worthy Democrats this ActBlue site supports. They all would be fine addictions to congress, and would keep their focus on the people they represent, not the corporations that bribe them with large donation.

Red To Blue MN

Every single Republican in Minnesota's congressional delegation is up for reelection this cycle and each seat is a prime pick-up opportunity for the DFL. With a lot of hard work, we can send a delegation to Washington in 2009 that is 100% committed to bringing Minnesotans the change they deserve.

Congratulations to Al for getting endorsed by the Progressive Patriots Fund.

What's this? I am linking to a second post of Atrios in as many days? I really must be sick. Anyway, he's once again made a relevant point.

I attended the Meet Al Franken event at the Levee Cafe in Hastings. It was well attended. All seats were filled and there were people sitting in chairs along one of the side walls and at the back of the room. Oh, and I tried to take pictures, but the lighting was bad, and I just did not get any good shots.

Although this is a long post, it falls far short of communicating every aspect of my experience. And a quick personal disclosure; at present I do not work for any one candidate, nor do I volunteer-as of yet. That being said, I have to say, I was impressed. Al was very present. As in you knew he was listening to you when you talked to him.

Well, maybe I should not speak for others. But I most definitely walked away believing he heard me. I also feel somewhat embarrassed. When he mentioned he'd written a couple of movies about recovery, I was only aware of Stuart Saves His Family.

What I didn't know, and only found out by visiting his web site after coming home from the event, was that he also wrote the screen play for "When A Man Loves A Woman." I've been using that movie in my job for years. So, now that I've wipe the egg off my face, let me get on with the night.

His speech to the crowd was good. It hit all the important issues. Each received a solid round of applause. But it is not the substance that was important. Well, it's important, but it's not what stood out for me. However, I'll get to that later.

He was tired, I could see that. Especially during his speech. As a public speaker of sorts myself, I could recognize the moments when his brain out paced his mouth. There's that little extra dramatic pause while searching back to the next part of the speech. But they were few and far between, and always occurring at a time when a dramatic pause was helpful.

You can always tell when a speaker is really tired. They start to drift into the William Shatner school of dramatic pause. You know, pauses so big Shatner and his belly could easily walk through them.

Anyway, being tired did not put Al off his game. He avoided the curse of Shatner speak. He spoke from memory, without the use of notes, and did so in a loose, comfortable manner, despite appearing tired. He held the crowd. There were occasional distractions when people arrived from downstairs, talking loudly, but the crowd did not get pulled away. I did, but I was at the back of the room, close to the stairs. Oh, and I suffer from a mild form of ADD, so it's a given I'll be distracted. However, I regained quickly, and never saw others looking back at the distractions.

But, as I said earlier, the content of his speech was really not the highlight of the night. It was how well he interacted with the crowd both before and after his speech. Any trace of exhaustion vanished. He owned that room. What was most impressive was just how well he listened. And I do not mean nodding his head, saying yes, making the right expressions and responding with generalities. I mean he actually made an effort to understand what you were telling him.

When I went up to shake his hand and explain the harsh realities of health insurance, even within the health care industry, I misspoke at the same time the crowd noise momentarily crescendoed. Instead of just acting like he understood and move on to the next person, he asked me to re-state what I said, until he understood.

And that, more than anything, is what can win him the election. After seven years of not being listened to, Al is listening.