The Franken vs. Lieberman Smackdown: A New Trend?
(For the fiscal hawks and historians in the audience, the linked page from that early fifties newspaper includes another story about the federal deficit. President Eisenhower is quoted as being sadly resigned to the fact that “an increase in the 275-billion dollar national debt ceiling” was “inescapable.” Talk about your blasts from the past. We don’t call them the “happy days” for nothing.)
Coming back to the present day, while Al Franken’s two-word outburst may seem rather milquetoast in comparison to battles of the past, it still demonstrated what can best be described as a rookie mistake. On his television show the next morning, Joe Scarborough had a warning for Senator Franken. He described the Senate floor as a “pretty small boat” that you have to paddle around in, and predicted that Franken’s own treatment there in the future may wind up being handled with something less gentle than kid gloves.
To be fair, Harry Reid provided some cover for Al’s outburst, saying that he demanded strict adherence to the imposed time limits, but a few of his colleagues were quick to decry the ill-considered moment of contrarian snubbing. Unfortunately, one of them was John McCain, who declared that he had “never seen anything like it.” The criticism certainly seems easy to justify, but McCain apparently forgot that he had employed the same two-word smackdown on Senator Mark Dayton (also, coincidentally enough, from Minnesota) back in 2002 during the Iraq war debate.
The Senate was always intended to be the more deliberative of the two chambers, where heated rhetoric could be cooled and populist rushing to folly might be tempered. New members typically keep their heads down and take some time to learn the ropes. One good example of this was Hillary Clinton, who packed her bags for the show in 2000 and was rarely heard from again until she launched her failed presidential bid. While some might argue that she had little interest in the job to begin with, she at least merits some restrained praise for not overly roiling the waters.
Few serious analysts envision Franken running for the presidency, so his first and only government job may well turn out to be the pinnacle of his political career. Assuming he plans on sticking around for more than one term, Al will need plenty of friends on both sides of the aisle if he hopes to get anything done. (That scoffing sound you hear in the background comes from people who fail to realize that if the good people of Minnesota choose to replace Franken it will likely be with either Jon Gosselin or that woman who crashed the White House dinner party.)
Still, I fear that we have yet to see the end of this trend. Comity is replaced by comedy in those hallowed halls, and sonorous debate may yet give way to hurled epithets and folding chairs. Sentimental observers may long for good old days which never really existed, but one thing is for sure. CSPAN’s ratings should be trending upward as the entertainment quotient rises, and they could certainly use the viewers.
Mr. Lieberman is a good but weak person. Republicans should stop hoping for him to save our bacon(no pun intended). He is mocked by the liberal base but he always goes back to them when it counts. Democrats should never be in charge of anything important.
Something is terribly wrong when a character like Al Franken
can end up in power , in a chairmanship position , with a gavel in his hand.
We are watching and have taken note.
You know, I must be one of the few people who believes we need more of the British-style House of Commons in the Senate than what we have now. The Senators standing up there, from both sides of the aisle, seem more bored than passionate about anything. I really think we need more of that famous incident from 1856, when Senator Preston Brooks from South Carolina hit Senator Charles Sumner over the head with a cane over the issue of slavery. Now THERE were guys who were really passionate about something! Today, one Senator does not receive an extra two minutes to debate and you’d think a duel had taken place on the Senate floor. I say bring back the days of the cane! If you really believe in what you are saying, be willing to stand up to any verbal attack, any political insult, and tell people in no uncertain terms why you think your opponent is full of junk. It makes no sense to maintain this artificial sense of civility when, deep down, you want to tell the other jerk what you really think of them. People see this for what it is, a lie, so why play into it? Take a stand and be willing to back it up with your life, if necessary. Anything less than that shows that you’re just another political hack willing to say anything to hold on to your job.
This is even better than hilarious.
A huge blob of mealy mouthed know-it-all blow hards; every last one of which have told the American people to shove their concerns where the sun doesn’t shine, are all indignant and upset that one of their own sniped at another.
Elections Results 2008. Garbage in garbage out, we won, you trash, get used to it.
There is very little to respect in either the House or the Senate, and I, for one, would like to suggest that each candidate, before he or she runs for office, have to take an I.Q test. Lets make that the next “big reveal”. This small group of people have the power, if not the judgement, to make life or death decisions for us and actually, none of us knows if they even have the mental capacity to handle the job. So, pass out the forms, and sharpen the pencils!
You mean garbage won?
Franken is a moron!
Pedrosito: Yes, garbage won, losers are trashed, so it is, life in the big city, get used to it.
You read it Pedro! GIGO is what the man said.
Loved the Franken smack down. Loved the McCain bewildered objection. Loved the audio of McCain doing EXACTLY the same thing to Dayton (as mentioned). Loved O’Reilly “reporting” the smack down without mentioning McCain’s guilt. (Primarily because Franken smacked down O’Reilly in his book, and when O’Reilly sued, the judge literally laughed O’Reilly and his Fox Snooze lawyers out of court saying their suit was, “Wholly without merit.”)
This was no “rookie mistake.” It was a bitch slap – well deserved and well delivered.
Hey, Minnesota, are you proud of sending a monkey who escaped the zoo to represent you in the Senate? For shame, people.
Senator Charles Sumner: Now that was a smack-down. Franken v Lieberman is nothing.
I thought the people in the Midwest were a little more staid, thoughtful – and yes, possibly brighter than the rest of us.
I guess not.
#5 Joe: No less than the distinguished Senator Mark Pryor (D, AR) stated that “you don’t have to pass an IQ test to be in the U.S. Senate”, in an exchange between him and Bill Maher, at which point Pryor lost the discussion. Check it out on YouTube. Pryor couldn’t (or wouldn’t) articulate his personal religious beliefs. I have often wondered what is the collective IQ of these people who, as you say, have life/death decision-making authority over us. I wouldn’t trust most of ‘em to make decisions affecting my dog!
Franken has already proven himself unworthy of being in the public arena with his book about Rush Limbaugh (“A Big Fat Idiot”) by the fact that he is uncapable of having a dialogue without resorting to name-calling, the last refuge of the intellectually vacuous.
FIRE CONGRESS 2010!
Blame Minnesota voters (real or imagined) and ACORN operatives for putting Franken in office. None of his nonsense should be a surprise.
“The Senate was always intended to be the more deliberative of the two chambers, where heated rhetoric could be cooled and populist rushing to folly might be tempered. ”
I beg to differ: the Senate, as created by the Fore Fathers, was intended to be manned by the appointed representatives of the several States whose job it was to be to ensure that the central (or Federal) government didn’t encroach on the prerogatives and jurisdictions of the States, with the Federal role defined (and LIMITED) by the Constitution. States’ rights, y’know?
Nice try, though.
We all knew that Senator Al Franken would behave like he did in his tasteless SNL skits. The only difference between him and the former Governor Ventura (Jesse) is it took over two years before the former governor started to act like he was doing comedy. The loss for Minnesota is integrity. So very sad.
When it comes to scum like Al Franken one yearns for a return to earlier days when he would have to back up his insults on the duelling ground. If he could get his wobbly legs to propel himself out there. His second would have to bring an ample supply of Depends, too.
Oct 10, 2002… McCain did the same thing to Sens. Dayton and Byrd.
Lets not pretend like this is something new, its not becoming.
If I recall, there was a time in the 19th century when one Senator nearly killed another Senator on the Senate Floor. Yes, there is quite a fraying at the edges today–but let’s hold off judgment until they at least start throwing physical objects at each other. And Jim Bunning retired? Could have been exciting.
As a minnesotan who is helpless to stop the democrats from placing angry clown al franken in national office, I will point out that he did receive far less than 50% of the votes in a three candidate contest, and he initially lost until liberals running the election process “corrected” a number of alleged arithmetic and clerical errors while our local courts dealt with missing ballots and all manner of election process ineptitude.
He ran against a new york liberal, Norm Coleman, who had been purchasing votes with government spending for some years under the partisan designation “republican”. I voted for the third party candidate, but most were forced to choose between a childish and rude liberal and a slick and polite one.
Mr. Shaw:
“But when you move these same officials to the floor of the upper chamber a nearly miraculous transformation takes place.They refer to each other in glowing terms such as “distinguished senator” and “esteemed colleague.””
What is missing from your observation is that the genesis of the Senate’s courtly manners stems from the time in American history when dueling was an accepted, and even popular method of gentlemen settling disputes.
You were scrupulously polite in your political discussions, or you were a very good shot with a dueling pistol…and even then.
I believe it was Andrew Jackson who carried an opponent’s bullet in him until the day he died.
I, for one, think that a return to the practice of duelling among our legislators might benefit our republic greatly.
It would certainly be more seemly than this rush to the media to stir the masses up into a hyper bitch-fest.
And it might raise some badly needed revenue from the PPV proceeds.
This is obviously a very bad play about Alice and wonderland…Franken the ugly king has too damned much power for anyone, questionably elected at that!!
Lieberman is a wiener. A nice guy, but a wiener.
Too bad Franken’s next election is so far out…We need to start on finding a candidate to run against him. He’s an ugly little man that really never amounted to much. Now he has his Napoleon complex in full swing. Little dog with a big bark. Needs a muzzle, or a boot.
23. Carol b.:
“really never amounted to much.”
Harvard grad. Successful comedian. Actor. best-selling author. Proud father of two successful kids. Married for 33 years. U. S Senator. Granted, he’s not a thrice divorced oxycontin addict, but then, who is?
So, what exactly have you “amounted to” in your life that allows you to judge Mr. Franken?
Oh yeah, and he did this:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/21/obama-franken/
Now, let’s talk about who was hanging out with who, let’s talk about sweetheart deals, let’s talk about character and supporting our troops and standing up for what’s right in the prior administration, shall we?
Spavined little monkey.
Clown King, now a clown Prince. Whatever is tolerated you can be sure there will be more of it. I like the idea of dueling pistols at high noon on c-span. That won’t happen and it’s too bad. Words mean something, so does honor and character, at least they used to. Now these things are in short supply. The recompence it seems will come later at a much steeper price. The National idea that one can say whatever they want without owning up to the content of the words is like buying fools gold. One day we’ll all wake up broke with a huge debt to pay off.
We don’t need more lying fool politicians but because we tolerate them we’re going to get more of them and suffer the consequences.
You lie! You all lie!
Al Franken…seriously..?
Dennis Hastert and his buddies, GOP and DEMO, are laundering Millions through terrorist groups, and your discussing Al Franken.
Dont complain about the state of affairs when you cant pull the wool off your own eyes.
Even a “New York liberal ” Republican is preferable to Al Franken who is not even a good comic. One wonders about the mental ability of Minnesotans. IQ tests should be a part of voter registration.
What you people never understand is that this sort of pearl clutching drama is exactly what makes teabagging unpopular. I think any one can make up their mind after having watched this; its a nothing story, except for the girlish shrieking of apparently emotionally fragile men. A Senator later came on to note that the same thing had happened earlier and no one had complained. Try again, losers.
Now and Then:
Best selling author? Of what? A book of name-calling? Did he even write it himself?
Harvard grad? Shows that they’ll let anyone in these days–or even back then! Wonder who his folks had to bribe to get him in.
Successful comedian? Right, that’s just what we need in a US Senator. Note that you stopped short of calling him a successful radio talk show host. We know how successful Air America was, don’t we, and who had to come to its rescue and the questionable manner in which that was done too, don’t we?
Let’s talk about sweetheart deals? Let’s talk about who stole the election.
I met Al Franken once and I can tell you he’s just as big an asshole one-on-one as he is as a US Senator.
32. sestamibi:
“Best selling author?” YES.
Harvard grad? YES
Successful comedian? Right, that’s just what we need in a US Senator: BEDTIME FOR BONZO.
“Stole the election.” IT’S ONLY STOLE WHEN YOU LOSE.
I met Al Franken once: AS DID I AND FOUND HIM CHARMING AND FUNNY.
Don’t be bitter. It’s unseemly, speaks to low self esteem.
Happy Christmerries.
If you’re looking for someone to blame for Sen. Al Franken, look no further than Norm Coleman.
Coleman holds the dubious distinction of losing to a pro wrestler for governor and a comedy writer for senator.
I hear Coleman’s thinking of running for governor again. Prince could probably beat him.
As time goes by, people will begin to realize that over 300 million lives are being ruined by a paltry 300-400 people. It’s not difficult to push back.