BS: Senator Al Franken

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: Paul Burke
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 04:45 PM

Al Franken, Al Whittle, Al Qaida, Al Jolson, Al Abama, what's the difference?

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: jacqui.c
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 04:46 PM

One more vote for the Dems in the Senate.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: Wesley S
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 04:46 PM

He's just waht the Senate needs.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 04:53 PM

Yes, about time!!

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: Emma B
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 04:59 PM

an eight month recount? I think you could have hit the nail on the head there kat :)

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 05:00 PM

Go AL!!!!! This guy is the real deal. If the whole senate was Al Frankens, shit would get done!

They did everything the could to keep a VERY good man down. I just hope he stays there for a very long time.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 05:30 PM

About time -- but the race WAS so close that a recount should have been mandatory.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: kendall
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 05:50 PM

They did do a recount and Franken won by an ever bigger margin.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 05:54 PM

Why is it that they can count the votes in one day yet takes 10 months to recount them???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 06:14 PM

Because Al is a decent, honest man. And that don't sit well with the bastards in high places.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al franken
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 06:15 PM

Partly because many of the votes they were concerned with were absentee ballots....and partly because this is Minnesota.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: michaelr
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 07:29 PM

And because the incumbent dragged it through the courts as long as he possibly could.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 07:54 PM

And the courts obliged.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 08:05 PM

Well, at least it's over!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 08:09 PM

Thank goodness, Charley. And, all hail Al Franken! What a wondeful day for the US Senate and the US people! He will be a great asset.

I know... I am a Canuck... but, I just can't help feeling joy when something so right works out right.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Ref
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 08:33 PM

He's a real progressive, which Harry Reid and his gang of corporate appeasers do not applaud. If the shoe had been on the other foot, Coleman would have been seated in January. Mrs. Senator Franken is also a very high class person, so congrats to both of them. I think you should not hold your breath waiting for a joke from Al. He's got serious business to carry out and I imagine he wants to be taken seriously.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Riginslinger
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 09:05 PM

I hope he has the ability to get serious. I think of him the way I think of David Letterman, and that's not good.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Amos
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 10:18 PM

He can be quite serious. His books are rich with insight even when he laces them with funny stuff. This is LONG overdue and a black eye on the Republican machine.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Ron Davies
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 10:24 PM

He is much closer to Obama than many other Democratic senators.   But now we will see if the Democrats can really deal with a true "big tent".   You can bet that if Obama, with 60 Democratic senators, can't get a large portion of his agenda through, he will be pilloried mercilessly. But Democrats cover a wide range of the political spectrum. And senators must reflect their constituents' views.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 11:59 PM

Hell, I hope he gets funny again.

The most disappointing thing about his campaign was that he NEVER cracked a joke. I think he must have been afraid that his reputation as a comedian would hurt him as a politician—that people wouldn't take him seriously—and so he totally suppressed his sense of humor. As a result, he was rather boring! He even hesitated when he talked, as if he was thinking of something funny to say and then censoring himself.

But he's a brilliant thinker.

Humor can be a great political tool—just look at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Paul Burke
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 01:58 AM

Wonder where the first post in the thread went?

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: kendall
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 07:32 AM

I hope the Senate can now agree on what to fight about.

I wonder what Bill O'Rielly thinks of this? Or, that fathead, Limbaugh?

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 07:56 AM

Kendall-

O'Rielly or Limbaugh "thinks"?

That would be a surprise.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: jacqui.c
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 08:02 AM

Wonder where the first post in the thread went?

Paul - I think the first two posts were by guest and so were deleted. Interesting subject anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 10:35 AM

I never cared much for Franken as a comedian....I think he works better when he is serious. Maybe he will allow himself a few 'lighter' moments now that he has the job.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: robomatic
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 11:39 AM

The aid stations in Hell are loaded from all the broken bones from all those ice skating injuries.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 12:20 PM

?? robomatic... I sort of get the oblique reference to 'Hell freezing over', but I can't make out who or what it is supposed to be a comment on.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: gnu
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 12:36 PM

Perhaps hell has frozen over?

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 04:18 PM

Naawww... Hell is in Michigan, and it is Summer there now.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: DougR
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 07:35 PM

I'm just glad he's one your yours.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: pdq
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 07:39 PM

What do you suppose Franken's first piece of legislation will be, free government-supplied LSD?

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 08:28 PM

Bobert said:

Why is it that they can count the votes in one day yet takes 10 months to recount them???

Assuming that that's a real question, Bobert, and not just the expression of justified frustration:

Partly because they have a huge organization throughout the state for the election, designed and organized with volunteers just for that one day, and only a small part of it for a very short time thereafter. No such preexisting organization for the recount. The logistics are different.

Then too, the recount is about tiny details, where the general election is painted with a broad brush, and there were of course allegations that there were mistakes in the initial count, the resolution of which could go either way, so the recount was done under a microscope, so to speak. They took great pains to lean over backwards being careful.

Then once it got into the courts, "the mills of the gods grind exceeding slow"; it's the nature of the beast. And there are times set by the rules for one party to submit something, followed by prescribed times for the opposing party, and diminishing times for the original party, and then the answering party. Then there has to be time for argument worked into the court's schedule, and a date has to be found when all the lawyers can be there, which can be difficult under the best of circumstances, let alone when one side wants to drag things out. After argument, the court has to have time (set by the rules) to research and think and write its opinion and judgment. And then of course whichever party lost on the first go-round will ask for reconsideration, and the whole process is off to the races again.

And then some new motion can be filed by the foot-dragging party (Coleman), and all of the above may have to be done again.

Then an appeal to an appellate court, and ditto, ditto, ditto ad nauseam. And when Coleman lost there, he could and did appeal to the State Supreme Court, and you guessed it, the whole merry-go-round under the rules has to go on again.

The delay was only minimally caused by the actual recounting.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 08:34 PM

Something that puzzles me: Once the Court found that Franken had been properly elected back in November, what happens with the Senator's salary he would have been entitled to had there not been the recount and lawsuits, which were found without merit? Does he get backpay, so to speak? Or does the salary only run from the time he's sworn in at the Senate in Washington and he takes his seat?

I can just hear the arguments that could be made on both sides of that, if it were merely a matter of equity. But I'm sure there's a statute or a rule of the Senate that sets it all out.

Does anybody know?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: SharonA
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 09:11 PM

Hmmmm... I don't know the answer to your question, Uncle Dave, but I have a similar one: Does he get to vote retroactively, so to speak? In other words, can he enter a vote on each of the bills, motions, etc., in the Senate over the last 5-plus months on which he was denied a voice because of the meritless lawsuits?

Anyway, hooray for Senator Franken! Long may he serve!

Now if only Jesse Ventura would run for the other Senate seat... :-) :-) :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Riginslinger
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 10:02 PM

Sharon - I've always been a fan of Jesse Ventura. An honest politician is so refreshing.

                  I wonder if the junior senator were to change his name to Frank Allen if maybe...

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: SharonA
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 10:57 PM

LOL, Rig!

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: robomatic
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 05:46 PM

They should do away with the National Prayer Breakfast and replace it with Daily Affirmations a la Stuart Smalley:

"I'm good enough-
And I'm smart enough-

-To serve in the U S Senate!"

I guess the Al Franken decade is beginning after all, just a little bit later than he first announced

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: gnu
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 07:00 PM

Comedy writer, comedian, actor, pundit, author... the guy is just so honest and smart.

AND he has balls!

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 07:06 PM

The real news in this issue is that The dems, by this single seat, now have the power to prevent the fillibuster ( which is a disgrace anyway) and allow much needed legislation through.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 07:22 PM

Way too much has been made of the 60 votes. Getting all 60 on ANY issues would be hard.






(Oh my...the temptation to start individual threads on senators like Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK).)(and several more dumb-as-post disgraces)

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Riginslinger
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 09:40 PM

Bernie Sanders and the traitor, Joe Lieberman, are indepenants. One shouldn't lose sight of that.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: DougR
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 10:13 PM

Gnu: I totally agree with your first sentence in your post of June 30, 2009, at 5:00 PM.

That does not, of course, apply to your last sentence in that post. We already have enough comedians in the US Senate.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Bill D
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 11:03 PM

Bernie Sanders is pretty far left, but he seems to be VERY bright and totally honest and dedicated to doing what is right, as far as he sees it. He 'favors' a single-payer health care system, but is quite aware he will not get that, so he is working to help Obama get the 'public option' worked out.

Lieberman is 'independent' so he can slither back & forth depending on whose favor he wants to curry at the moment.

(Doug...as far as I can tell, Franken has given up being a comedian and is speaking seriously about being a good senator...but the jibe is hard to pass up, huh?)

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Riginslinger
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 11:59 PM

Bill - I've always like Bernie Sanders. And I agree he is totally honest. That's refreshing.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: fumblefingers
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 12:13 AM

The election judges kept finding votes and they were all for Al.
When they found enough to win, they stopped counting. One is reminded of Landslide Lyndon.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Greg F.
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 10:17 AM

Doug think's HE'S a comedian, Bill. But that's not the came thing as a clown.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: DougR
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 05:34 PM

Well, Bill, I must admit that a sure way for me to gag would be to try in all seriousness to say the "Senator" part of Senator Franken. Especially considering the way the got the senate seat.

Greg F.: I wasn't trying to be funny,old friend, when I said I agreed with Gnu's first sentence. Perhaps you didn't read it. Gnu wrote, "Go Al!!!! This guy is the real deal! (Now this is the part I mean)..."If the whole senate was Al Frankens, SHIT (my emphasis)would get done!

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: gnu
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 05:54 PM

Damn right, Doug... "Alsss" would get a lot of shit done and done quick and right... like shit should be getting done, rather than the fucking over of the poor that has been taking place at a very long and slow pace for so many years.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: Greg F.
Date: 04 Jul 09 - 09:08 AM

Especially considering the way the[sic] got the senate seat.

He got it by winning an open election fair & square, Douggie-Boy.

However, I can see how that might annoy someone of your intelligence & sensibilities.

Subject: RE: BS: Senator Al Franken
From: artbrooks
Date: 04 Jul 09 - 10:15 AM

Well, it seems to me that Senator Franken has no more or less inherent gag appeal than President Reagan, Governor Schwarzenegger or Congressman/Mayor Bono, all actors elected on the Republican ticket. Franken is, at least as far as his published issues statements are concerned, perhaps a bit to the left of Obama, which puts him squarely in the center of the Democratic spectrum.

BTW, anyone who really thinks that the Democrats now have a "supermajority" and will be able to invoke cloture on any filibusters that the Republicans care to run, is sadly deluded and knows nothing about the realities of American politics. There is no such thing as a "party line", although the Republicans come closer to enforcing one these days.