Maybe Ed Schultz is right: the Democrats don't want Franken in the senate because they

[AlinPA]

may have the 60 votes and may actually have to do something! Their capitulation to republicans is sickening. They have totally folded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr0P-MPIKRo

[rcrush]

1. Of course not

That would mess up "the plan"

[karynnj]

2. That is garbage - and irresponsible

Why did Kerry send out an email to help Franken get money? Even in committee meetings, there have been comments on the extreme burden this places on Khobichar. The fact is that this is the process that the Constitution sets. The states give the credentials - which the Senate has the right to dispute.

[vaberella]

4. There was also the meeting between Franken, Biden and Obama. Where

Biden said he'd awaiting the time he can start working with Franken when he's seated. Basically the Big Deal Dems have Franken's back.

[vaberella]

3. We still didn't get a response yet?! n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

5. There is that

and the fact that Al is not from the 'right circles' and is not now and will not be in need of being in the Senate to make a living. He's got a gig or two. He does not have to make the same 'compromises' his needy fellow Senate Democrats think they must make.
He's just a live wire, that Al, and in the House such people are occasionally able to get a seat. But the Senate! The Senate! Great googeldy moogeldy! He's a fucking comic, a modern Vaudevillian, he's-gasp- show folk!!!!!

[Davis_X_Machina]

6. Haven't heard anything sillier in a decade. n/t

[Mnpaul]

8. I'm sure that there are quite a few that fear Franken

He doesn't need to sell out to the corporations to get elected. He is not afraid to tell the truth. When he speaks on the floor of the Senate, it will get attention across the blogosphere. They have good reason to fear Al Franken.

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. Attention across the blogosphere...

...and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.

But then, so will just the dollar.

[Mnpaul]

11. Ask Al

where a large chunk of his election funds came from.

[Occam Bandage]

15. He'll tell you "big NY/CA fundraisers", if he's honest.

Please tell me you don't actually believe that Al Franken didn't slurp at the same trough establishment Dems always use to fund themselves. Al Franken wouldn't have even won the primary if he hadn't effectively forced everyone else out by charging in with millions of out-of-state dollars and volunteers. The only people who ran against him were a self-financed egomaniac lawyer and an ultra-left college professor who didn't have a single campaign office outside of St. Paul. And the professor got nearly 40% of the delegates in the only round of balloting.

Al bought the primary race. If he had stayed a coastal author/radio personality, and let the DFL nominate a Minnesotan DFLer, Norm Coleman would have gotten his ass kicked by the twenty or so points the last Repuke Senate candidate lost by, and we'd have our representation by now.

[Mnpaul]

22. BS

In my county about 90 people showed up to caucus for Klobuchar. 487 showed up to caucus for Al. His campaign was run by Minnesotans. The DFL did nominate a Minnesotan DFLer. If someone else would have run they would have been buried by all the out of state money that came from the CofC an other RW groups.

[Occam Bandage]

24. Yep. Al's out-of-state money bought him a huge primary GOTV machine.

Nobody else could compete with his machine. Interestingly, as it turned out, if anyone had actually run against him, they would have beaten him anyway; after his "jokes" were made public, he only got 60% of the delegate votes at the caucus--and he didn't even have a serious challenger. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer was the only person still on the ballot, and he was a fringer with 1% name recognition.

And no, it is not the case that anyone else would have been buried. Klobuchar didn't have Al's enormous out-of-state money machine, and she beat Kennedy (who was a comparable candidate to Coleman, in a similar year) by twenty fucking points. Franken ran badly behind the generic Dem challenger throughout the entire race. In my R+1 district, I heard the same thing over and over again: for Obama, don't like Coleman, but can't vote for Franken.

If we had run a Minnesotan DFLer, we would have won outright. Instead, we let a lewd, novice out-of-state Hollywood-establishment Democrat financed with out-of-state money steamroll our primary process, and we ended up fighting Coleman to a dead heat in a year all our internal models showed Norm losing by ten points.

There's no way you can claim that Franken was a strong candidate, or that he built his campaign in Minnesota. He didn't. He built his campaign on the coasts, and then moved it to Minnesota. I hope his model of politics doesn't catch on here; I liked it better when we got to decide who we wanted to run. It was disappointing the way his out-of-state money kept everyone but the fringers and the egomaniacs off the ballot.

[Mnpaul]

27. All you have to do is look at his campaign appearances

He busted his butt to win in Mn. He reached out to the people. If you look at his campaign map he hit almost every county. All his campaign events were packed. Some had to move to larger venues. He was selected by Minnesotans. He did not just get 60% of the delegate votes. They stopped counting at 60%. The only reason Klobuchar won is because she ran against a loser like Kennedy who did miserably in the debates. Kennedy was no comparrison to Coleman. None at all. Klobuchar got a walk, no competition at all.

[crikkett]

33. Even refills here are $1.09

[karynnj]

21. You are setting some high expectations

The fact is that there were others who were elected without corporate support. Several have not taken PAC money - did AL?

[Mnpaul]

23. Franken took 3%

Actblue was his largest contributor at $68,382
http://www.opensecrets.org/races/contrib.php?cycle=2008&id=MNS1

[Occam Bandage]

25. So the answer is, "yes, Al Franken took PAC money."

There were many Democrats who decided not to take PAC money last year.

[Mnpaul]

28. They would be stupid to turn down money

from Actblue or the unions.

[karynnj]

20. That is asinine

There are many in the Senate who are far better off than Franken will ever be. Franken has made money as comedian, a talk show host and as a book writer. I also bet you will be surprised that the Franken, who will be seen at hearings and on the floor of the Senate will be serious and rarely making jokes.

[HughMoran]

26. It's always a conspiracy against that one person/place/thing that could change everything

:crazy:

Then, of course, there is that nasty little thing called reality and common sense.

[The Wizard]

37. Like Fred Thompson (NT)

[NorthCarolina]

7. Won't change anything of consequence because there are too many

DLC/New Dem and Blue Dogs in the Democratic Party. If these center-right Dem candidates were replaced by Traditional Democrats, you remember...the Liberal kind, then legislation like single payer health care would sail through with 51 votes, as would civil rights & equality issues, workers rights, cutoff of war funding, etc. Democrats need to relearn how to identify candidates AND VOTE FOR candidates that actually represent true Democratic principles, and not just center-right Conservatives that call themselves Democrats with a DLC or New Democrat or Blue Dog modifier.

[Dr Fate]

10. I think there is something to this-seating Franken weakens their "we don't have the votes" excuse.

make sit harder for the conservative Democrats to cover for each other...

This might exaplain why they are so reluctant to make an issue of this, or otherwise help him out.

[AlinPA]

16. Franken's seating also dilutes the power that the borderline Democrats have (Bayh, Landreiu,

Nelson and of course Specter, not to mention Lieberman)

[ooglymoogly]

12. I totally agree with this post.

There is a reason truth and honesty are not well represented in the Senate. Franken has proven to be such a man of truth and honesty. He will upset the well rehearsed kabuki dance that is the senate orchestrated by the powerful.

[boppers]

13. Since when did the senate have control over Minnesota courts?

This simply doesn't make any sense. Even with Franken in, they still "wouldn't have the votes" on many issues, because we aren't a lock-step party.

[AlinPA]

17. I'm not suggesting that they have any power over MN courts or that process,

only that they would rather not have him because their power would be diluted with the addition of Franken. Not every one, but the bunch of people including Nelson,Specter, Bayh, Landreiu (and Lieberman) who are siding with republicans on the health care.

[Occam Bandage]

14. That is one of the stupidest things anyone has ever said. I'm sad; Ed isn't usually such a doorknob.

[LooseWilly]

18. Heh... a wonderfully concise spot of cynicism.

They'd never admit it... but I suspect there is a skein of threads of truth in it...

[Proud Liberal Dem]

19. So now the Democrats in are in cahoots with Coleman/GOP/TPTB to keep Franken from being seated?

:wtf:

As much as I despise a lot of Democrats in the Senate right now (*cough* Evan Bayh* cough), I have a hard time believing that they are *somehow* partially responsible for Franken not being seated(because of his "awesomeness"?). I thought that there was still the Minnesota court process that had to be resolved first, right? Can Reid, et. al seat him and they're just choosing not to???? Am I missing something? :shrug:

[AlinPA]

31. I don't think he means that the Democrats are working against him in MN, rather that they

(most) don't want him to win. Franken would certainly dilute their bargaining power (people like Bayh, Nelson, Landreiu, and Lieberman)

[Proud Liberal Dem]

34. I hadn't ever gotten that impression at all from anybody anywhere

But, hey, if he will help dilute their *bargaining power* then I want him in the Senate all the more! :thumbsup:

[agentS]

29. I partially diasgree with Ed

I think he is wrong in that the Dems are keeping Franken out of the Senate to keep his vote out.

I think he and Sen Sanders are right in that the Dems are being bought out by big corporate interests. The recession/depression has hit the fundraising hard so therefore they're going to where the money is.

If you don't like your representatives, then you should primary them.
Before you can primary them, you have to change the mindset of the people where they come from.

Take my home state, Louisiana. Let's face the facts; Katrina devastated the black community there and totally shuffled the voting deck. The other issue is that the vast majority of voters there are stupid. Yes, stupid. And racist (Jena, Shreveport). But, there's just enough regular folk to there make a difference. Change enough of those minds (or wake their minds up) and you'll get a progressive senator elected. "Teh stoopid" will always vote whomever Limbaugh tells them to, but if you have enough of the regular folk on your side then it won't really matter because "teh stoopid" won't be as mobilized.

[quakerboy]

30. Naw

I like Ed, but I don't think this passes the logic test, because there's still Arlen " Now I'm a democrat who wont vote democratic" Specter and Joe "I'm here to steal your kittens" Lieberman to hang the "we don't have 60" excuse on.

[saltpoint]

32. If somebody had called me up and asked

me to be the lone arbiter in the Franken-Coleman race, Al would have been seated before Santa packed his sleigh.

Turns out, though, the phone didn't ring.

It appears to me that Franken has the most votes, and that the process for challenge to the outcome is just about wrapped up. Maybe next week we get the ruling. I'm hoping and thinking it will favor Franken and serve to give Coleman the boot. It would make official what Minnesota voters, albeit by a narrow margin, decided last November.

It could be that Ed said what he said to cattle-prod Democrats in the 111th Congress to be more fierce in asserting a more people-directed agenda and to establish a line in the sand for the various GOP nutbags in both chambers.

[democracy1st]

35. kick

[mzmolly]

36. A bit off topic, but man I'm so glad Daschle is not in the cabinet.

I think Ed has many valid points.