Republicans move to steal another election
It’s disappointing to see it happening again. Al Franken is locked in a court battle with losing Republican Senator Norm Coleman for a US Senate seat in Minnesota. CNN’s political ticker reports that the Coleman campaign has sued to stop the recount.
Sound familiar?
Despite the fact that Norm Coleman stated, while he was in the lead, of course, that he would in fact concede if he was in Franken’s position. Well guess what, Norm? You’re in his position.
So this thing is going to drag on and on. The kicker is that even once the Secretary of State has certified the results, they’re not official until the Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty signs off on it; something that is not likely “until all legal battles are exhausted.” So the Republicans will hold the senate seat hostage until they can manipulate the legal system in their favor… oh… I dunno like in 2000.
And you’ve got nitwits like Republican Senator John Coryn (from Texas, of course) threatening a filibuster of seating Franken if Pawlenty hasn’t christened it with his almighty pen.
Unfortunately, Franken is somewhat akin to Hillary Clinton and is demonized in an irrational fashion by those typically loaded with faux outrage and very little knowledge of issues. You know, the kind of people who are more inclined to follow Hollywood gossip than political issues and those that are so enraptured with their own religion and insecurity that they fail to look beyond the little bubble they live in. What are these people called again? Oh yeah, I remember: “Republicans”.
Franken would no doubt be a great Senator. I’ve got three of his books on the bookcase behind me and they’re humorous, of course, but also pretty thoughtful and incredibly pragmatic. We need more people like Franken in the Congress, not fewer. We need to throw out all of these ideologues and install representatives who make government work for people instead of trying to legislate what you do in your bedroom.
But, alas, I have little faith in our system such that it won’t be manipulated by the Grand Ol’ Party yet again.