Franken is a grade-A Sody

Al Franken did two things today that earned the Senator from Sody some love from the Sconz.

First, he introduced his foot to the ass of John Thune, who, studliness aside, is a tool.

More importantly, in a bizarre break from Senate custom, Sen. Al Franken, who was serving as presiding officer during afternoon debate on health care, did not grant Sen. Joe Liebermann an extra minute to finish his speech. The C-SPAN addicts among you likely know that the Senate functions largely on an informal “unanimous consent” tradition, which speeds up business and gets some of the more mundane, uncontroversial issues (resolutions honoring high school water polo teams etc) out of the way.

Franken, a newbie, shut down Lieberman’s request for “just an extra moment.” The Straight Talk Express came out against Franken’s move.

Feingold defends “racism”

In case you haven’t been listening to talk radio lately, Sonia Sotomayor is a racist! As Pat Buchanan pointed out, she is a member of “La Raza,” a Latino organization whose stated goal is to work against poverty and discrimination. As Pat could probably tell you himself, Adolf Hitler was a warrior against poverty himself.

Republicans knew that in order to have a political case against Sotomayor, they’d have to have something besides abortion. Americans may be pro-life by identification, but that does not mean they are anti-Roe (By the way, Roe herself, now a prominent anti-abortion activist, was arrested today at the confirmation hearing along with a bunch of other loud pro-life protesters). Here’s the statement that expanded the opposition past the 700 Club constitutency:

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.

Between tough questions on executive power and second amendment rights, Russ Feingold came to Sotomayor’s defense for her now infamous statement that has got the right in a hissy-fit about the downfall of white civilization.

Feingold said Monday that opponents who have seized upon that line are taking her comments out of context. He said the hundreds of opinions she has written suggest she takes a “cautious and careful approach” to the law.
He notes Sotomayor closed that speech by saying she constantly re-evaluates her assumptions and perspectives.

Interesting how both Minnesota and Wisconsin have two senators on the Judiciary Committee. While Feingold and Kohl are not particularly surprising – Kohl has a lot of seniority and Feingold is incredibly knowledgeable of the law. However, both of Minnesota’s seats are held by very junior senators – Amy Klobucher and Al Franken. It’s frankly surprising that Franken got a seat on such a coveted committee so late in the game. OK, maybe judiciary isn’t as popular as appropriations or foreign policy, but it is a great way to get guaranteed spotlight time, especially considering how many spots on the Supreme Court will open up during Obama’s term.

Al Franken, the better “carpetbagger”

The Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Al Franken’s election in last November’s U.S. Senate race. After eight months of what, in all fairness, were probably lawsuits that any candidate would have pursued, Norm Coleman can finally throw in the towel and return to…probably not Minnesota.

Anybody who’s ever bothered to listen to Coleman will probably find it strange that a Minnesota senator would have a thick Brooklyn accent. Indeed, Coleman was a carpetbagger, and in more ways than one. He is also the former Democratic mayor of St. Paul, who conveniently decided to become a Republican in 1996.

Coleman was about as bad as any Republican is expected to be. He was a lackey for the Bush administration from the moment the former president convinced him to run against then-Sen. Paul Wellstone. He only defected from the administration’s Iraq policy in 2007, when Bush’s approval ratings had hit rock-bottom and he was gearing up for a re-election battle. He supported Bush on stem-cell research, gay marriage, and even switched his position on the ANWR to appease party leadership. Perhaps most comical was his statement on marijuana, for which he was an advocate as a college student:

“The health problems that may occur from this highly addictive drug include short-term memory loss, anxiety, respiratory illness and a risk of lung cancer that far exceeds that of tobacco products.” Interestingly, no study has ever determined the last allegation, in fact, quite the opposite has been suggested by medical experts.

It was fitting that Coleman won election after the popular liberal icon died in a plane crash – it was simply the tip of the iceberg of a career defined by opportunism. Is Al Franken the most qualified Minnesotan to occupy that senate seat? Probably not, although Ben Stein seems to think so. However, Franken will nevertheless be a welcome change to the years of endless political calculation by Coleman.

Nevertheless, the media is overblowing the importance of the “60 seats” the Democrats now have after Arlen Specter’s defection and Franken’s election. There is no such thing as a filibuster-proof majority unless a party leader can rest assured that he has 60 votes on ANY given issue. This is certainly not the case if you look at the Senate caucus. As expected, there are a variety of competing domestic interests. They affect tax policy, agriculture, energy, the environment etc. Then there are Democrats who are simply too conservative – they come from conservative areas and feel politically obligated to defect from the party line on certain issues, especially relating to social policy – gun control, gay rights, etc. Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska, for instance, is easily more conservative than several Republicans (although the number of moderate Republicans is down to about two now).

Although there are a lot of votes that are practically party-line, the vast majority will include a few defections from each side.