« Max Blumenthal: If Neda Was a Palestinian, Nobody Would Give A Damn | Home | On Health Care: GOP is Out of Touch with Reality »
Could It Really Be Over?
The Minnesota Supreme Court today ruled that Al Franken was the winner of the November senate election. Could it really be over? What's your favorite moment from the six months-plus drama? Use this thread to discuss the story.
Advertisement
That every major court decisions was one by me, Al Franken.
June 30, 2009 3:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aaaaargh! Wrong "won!"
Weren't we going to get to edit this stuff someday?
June 30, 2009 3:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Al Franken endorses McCain-Pailn.
Don't believe it? Check out this photo.
I've been waiting a long time for this! Oink!!!
June 30, 2009 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
has Pawlenty scheduled a press conference yet?
June 30, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
This news, plus a user-friendly interactive map to be created by TPM linking market-dominant health insurance companies and the policy positions of their congressional payees, is Excellent News!!!, for opponents of robust health care reform.
June 30, 2009 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have always loved Al Franken . . .
http://tinyurl.com/lmbqjb
June 30, 2009 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The dat after the election, with Coleman ahead by 215 vote. Norm suggested that Franken should "save the taxpayers money" and concede.
Wow a rare case of a hypocritical Repub!
June 30, 2009 3:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
SCOTUS has wrapped up for the summer, won't be open until fall. Could Coleman drag this out to October?
OTOH: A 60-seat majority doesn't mean much in this year's Conserva Dem era.
June 30, 2009 3:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
They are coming back Sept. 9th to rehear arguments on the H Clinton movie made by David Bosse (art vs campaign ad).
June 30, 2009 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Too many conservative Democrats in the Senate.
"the torpor among fellow Democrats...we see a parade of aged satraps from the vast, windy places stepping forward to tell us what is off the table...every week, huffing and puffing and harrumphing..."
Harper's MagazineBarack Hoover Obama
June 30, 2009 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well this is probably bigger than MJ's death. Now I am waiting for Snowe and Collins to withdraw from the GOP and become Independents joining the Dem Caucus.
June 30, 2009 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can only hope.
June 30, 2009 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
In 2008, not a single Republican won their seats, incumbent or not in New England. Snowe and Collins would be wise to make the jump soon, or they will lose their seats. There is nothing encouraging about what the right wing is doing at all.
Over the past few years they dictated what the nation would feel. Now, they can no longer dictate and they have no clue how the nation feells. Of course, it's hard because they really do not care how the nation feels. They just want to push their agenda of privitizing everything so law and order cannot repress their profit obsessesed behaviors.
June 30, 2009 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
A song for Norm Coleman...turn out the lights the parties over!!!
Congrats Senator Elect Al Franken!!! I am sure that isn't quite over but it is over all but for the shouting.
As an aside...now that the D's will have their 60 votes in the Senate what will be the excuse(s) for not passing legislation now? Well we can find out soon enough but for now...
CONGRATS AL FRANKEN!!!
June 30, 2009 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Question for the more knowledgeable: What is the difference between SCOMN stating that Franken is eligible for a certificate of election, and them ordering Pawlenty to sign it?
June 30, 2009 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
One difference is that Pawlenty would not be in contempt of court for refusing to sign the certificate, whereas if he were ordered he potentially could be.
I don't think Pawlenty was a party in the litigation, and, at least in most places, courts can't order people to do things unless the people are first made parties to a case.
June 30, 2009 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. No writ of mandamus, no Pawlenty signature on the certificate. Ball in Harry's court, where for the first time he has one. Don't blow this one, Harry.
SEAT AL FRANKEN (if only provisionally).
June 30, 2009 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
the ruling says franken is entitled to the certificate, not just 'eligible'.
IF pawlenty saw some reason to not give franken the certificate of election, franken would have to make his case against pawlenty.
but since the MSC ruling says franken is entitled to the certificate, the only reason for pawlenty to disregard that would be if coleman had decided to make a federal case. since coleman conceded i don't see any basis/logic (even by the standards of republican wingnuttiness - which i don't think apply) for not issuing the certificate.
June 30, 2009 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hopefully this fiasco is over. I would be more thrilled if I thought it were going to make a difference in the way Congress legislates. But, I fear the conservative (please don't call them moderate) blue dogs will side with republicans on vital issues and even with 60 nominal Democrats nothing really important will be passed.
June 30, 2009 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it will make a difference. It limits the GOP's ability even to threaten a filibuster and it will give that much more political cover to a couple of the blue dogs, at least. We'll have to see.
June 30, 2009 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm waiting for Norm Coleman's tantrum. or did I miss it? nah, it couldn't be over with yet.
June 30, 2009 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh and as to my favorite moment about all of this...today with this news!!! Being unanimous basically closes any remaining avenues for Coleman...fini!!!
:)
June 30, 2009 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Al Franken decade has finally arrived.
Congrats, sir!
June 30, 2009 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Coleman has already said that he may go the Federal Court route. Apparently the Republican approach is to drag things out in the courts so that a final decision won't be made until it is time for the next election. Why not? They already elected a President by court order.Why not filibuster control of the Senate?
June 30, 2009 3:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's good enough, he's smart enough, and darn it - a razor-thin plurality likes him.
June 30, 2009 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Coleman has refused access to "The Uptake" for his presser. I just heard it on "The Uptake".
June 30, 2009 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
stay classy norm!
June 30, 2009 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not getting my hopes up until Coleman concedes. If I had to bet, I'd bet on a federal appeal. Don't forget, little Normie is a Republican't.
June 30, 2009 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
My favorite moment will come when Bill O'Reilly has to say "MINNESOTA SENATOR AL FRANKEN"
(can I recommend that the "day in a hundred seconds" be a continuous loop of Bill doing just that?)
June 30, 2009 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
IT'S OVER!!!!!
June 30, 2009 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
COLEMAN CONCEDES
June 30, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Senator Al Franken! Sweet!
THIS IS...
June 30, 2009 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
YES!!!! IT'S OVER!!!!!
June 30, 2009 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Coleman is accepting the loss. This is my favorite moment!
June 30, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
THIS
June 30, 2009 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
IS
June 30, 2009 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
EXCELLENT!!!!!!
June 30, 2009 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
NEWS
June 30, 2009 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
FOR
June 30, 2009 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
LORNE MICHAELS!!!
June 30, 2009 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
NEWS
June 30, 2009 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
FOR
June 30, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
THE PARTY OF
June 30, 2009 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
FRANNIE!!!
June 30, 2009 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
MARK SANFORD!
ANother day, another series of combustible statements from Sparkin' Mark, and whoops! It'll get buried in the Franken situation. . .
June 30, 2009 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
BILL O'REILLY!!!!
June 30, 2009 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
ERIC KLEEFELD!!!!
June 30, 2009 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Could this end up being the biggest ratings Bill O'Reilly ever gets?
(I'm really tempted to record the show, just to see him say "SENATOR Al Franken. God will that be sweet)
June 30, 2009 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just checked O'Reilly's "news site". The topic of Franken is not on the list of news stories for this evening. Drudge has no mention of Coleman's concession, just that the court decided in Franken's favor. Drudge is instead bringing us the late-breaking news flash with four large color pictures of Obama with the lead "Obama's Evil Eye".
For the rest of us, a day for a happy dance!
June 30, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
My favorite moment was explaining to my son, while watching the end of "Trading Places" that the guy who was the train cargo guy was the new Senator from Minnesota.
June 30, 2009 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
HA HA Coleman - you're not just a loser, now you're a quitter, too!
June 30, 2009 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
NO MORE QUIMBY!
NO MORE QUIMBY!
NO MORE QUIMBY!
NO MORE QUIMBY!
NO MORE QUIMBY!
NO MORE QUIMBY!
NO MORE QUIMBY!
NO MORE QUIMBY!
NO MORE QUIMBY!
NO MORE QUIMBY!
June 30, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
My favorite moment is the victory today, because it represents the culmination Franken's tenacity. He didn't cower to the Republican bullies, (as many Democrats do). He remember the past (Bush-Gore) and was adamant that it not be repeated. Franken certainly has earned his Senate seat and I look forward to seeing his tenacity in action in the Senate.
Congratulations (at last) Senator Franken!
Oh and ba-bye Norm. Don't let the door hit you in the arse and all that good stuff . . . .
June 30, 2009 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
It will be nice to have another liberal in the Senate, especially one who is liberal and tenacious enough to take up where Paul Wellstone left off.
June 30, 2009 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Apropos of little, here is Al Franken, in his Harvard Class Day Address, 2002:
Since those first glory days of Saturday Night Live, I've had my successes and I've had my failures, and I have to tell you, the successes have been more fun. But what has sustained me through all of it were the people closest to me: my parents, my wife, and my kids.
I have been married for twenty-six years. And I honestly believe I love my wife more right now than I did on our wedding day. But I know for sure that I love her more now than I did fifteen years ago, when we couldn't stand each other.
Every marriage goes through a difficult phase. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying to you, lying to themselves, or is married to someone really fabulous.
But we were lucky. My wife shaped up, and we stayed together. And I'm proud to say that I think I have two very "together" kids. This is despite the fact that my son spends hours a day playing a video game called Grand Theft Auto III, in which the object is to pick up a prostitute in a stolen car and rape and murder her.
June 30, 2009 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone else notice that CNN didn't cover the Coleman press conference? In the lead-up they made no on-air references to the possible end of the race.
During the presser CNN went live to the Apollo Theater, with more breaking news about all the people there. Then they moved on to talk about Sanford.
Anyone know when CNN first let their viewers in on the news. Note that this was during The Situation Room.
June 30, 2009 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's get him to Washington A.S.A.P!
June 30, 2009 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Awesome News!!! Go Al!!!
June 30, 2009 5:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is needed, as I explained at length in a post on TPMDC, w/Franken in the Senate now, is, AND URGENTLY SOON, is a bill (a supplemental stimulus bill or whatever you want to formulate it as) that will provide the money (and more, hopefully) for state & local governments that was cut out of the original stimulus package to get some "moderate" GOP votes. This bill -- aimed at making these monies available mainly before summer is out -- could also address other emergency financial needs like on foreclosure
This is what a progressive economic populist politics looks like.
I don't know, but Nathan Newman would, whether there have been significant efforts to draw up such a measure in anticipation of Franken being seated, but I sure don't know of any
June 30, 2009 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Franken's committees will be HELP, (Health, Ed, Labor & Pensions), Judiciary, Indian Affairs, and Aging.
I suspect the first time he will be featured will be during the Sotomayor hearings, where he will be last in line to ask questions. -- well he will be featured when Biden swears him in, but now that is more or less a formality.
I think what we may see, with Franken seated, is that things will speed up a bit, because on many things Republicans will no longer be able to waft the flag of filibuster on every issue. Stalling will be much less in fashion. This will be vital as Health Care and Energy Policy hits the Senate Floor. Expect to see Franken active on card check if they bring it to the floor this fall after they do Health and Energy. He'll also be a good vote for the remainder of Obama's appropriations bills -- those bills being BO's real change agenda via the Budget. Those bills need to be done by October.
The next big bill in order will be regulation of the Finance Industry.
I also expect that Franken's vote will unstick some of Obama's appointments. That is where the 60 votes for cloture can have real importance right now.
July 1, 2009 1:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
My take on this is that it's over, except that it's never really over.
Note: Coleman has just received permission to use his contributions to pay his legal bills pertaining to the Deep Marine lawsuit, related to one of his monied friends sending $75k to Laurie Coleman for insurance work she appears not to have done. He will need that money.
Note 2: With Sandford apparently out of the 2012 picture, Pawlenty may benefit presidentially from looking all statesmanlike and bi-partisan as he signs the paperwork. We'll need to keep an eye on that.
So barring some kind of bizarre T-Paw about-face, Al goes to the senate, but it's never really over, overall.
Still, it's a victory, a chance to take a breath, to high-five Eric, and thank Josh for giving a young writer the chance to plow through the muck for the bones of this story and lay it out there. The episodes and comments were a roller-coaster ride, in a good, discussive, educational-for-everyone way, the way it's supposed to be!
July 1, 2009 1:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
In the midst of my own depression years ago, I was given Franken's book: Rush Limbaugh is a big fat liar.
That really was my introduction to him after SNL of course. I mean who could forget the line:
AND ME, I'M AL FRANKEN.
He grew up in a primarily Jewish community in this state known as St. Louis Park. The same as Friedman. My racist friends called it St. Jewish park.
I read that book and I went nuts. He grabs some Harvard students and researches a book. He is sick and tired of the lies being perpetrated on the radio and on TV.
I read his next two books, follow him when I can on the radio. I know he is working with Wellstone, campaigning with him. Paul Wellstone is a hero in Minnesota. A God. No kidding.
And WE LOSE WELLSTONE. I am devastated and there is not time to recount how the repubs twisted his funeral and how Coleman won.
Then Coleman, who has the opportunity to be Harry S. Truman; to research and hold hearings on the graft in the w administration and the hand outs to cheney's company............
Nothing, He does nothing but rubber stamp the entire debacle.
The state of Minnesota, the Humphreys, the McCarthy's, the Frazers, the Mondales, and, alas, Paul Wellstone.
And of all people, Al steps up to the plate. Gives up his radio show. two and a half years ago.
Puts his money and his time and his career on the line.
To many of us in Minnesota (certainly not all) Al is our hero. And we feel that he will demonstrate what a good liberal can do for our state and our country.
THE END
July 1, 2009 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Al Franken is much more than an SNL guy. One of the brightest minds in America, and he spent years on radio and writing books, opposing Now-Proven-Wrong GOP mouths like Limbaugh and O'Reilly.
Coleman's lawsuit resulted in more votes added to Franken than himself. The judges told him explicitly there were no irregularities in the tally. You see, it's all about Norm and not the people of MN, whom he denied 2 votes in the Senate for months now with these desperate challenges.
- Balkingpoints.com
July 2, 2009 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink