Franken Teams Up With Republican Senator
When Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) was originally running for Senate, a lot of people doubted that he would be able to effectively reach across the other side of the aisle and work with Republicans. But, as we can see from his first major initiative, he's already getting a start on that.
In the last few days, Franken announced a proposal to fund service dogs for disabled veterans. And it turns out, from a press release his office put out yesterday, that his main co-sponsor is a Republican Senator, Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
Franken really has come a long way since 2003, when he wrote Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. "But, you know what, I don't want to get into a whole partisan politics thing here," he wrote at the time. "Not in this book, anyway. We'll leave that for my next book, I F------ Hate Those Right-Wing Motherf-----s!, due out in October 2004."
Josh
Matt
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Brian
I never expected anything different from Al. He's always had several Republican friends and if you listened to his radio show for any length of time, it was apparent that he wasn't going to have a hard time working with them. Besides, he has Paul Wellstone's example to look to and it was typical for Paul to find common ground with Republicans on meaningful issues. For example, he teamed with Pete Domenici on the mental health parity act.
The Republicans who thought Franken was going to come in and start hurling grenades at them are in for a shock. Not that he's going to give ground to nutjobs like Inhofe and DeMint when they're completely detached from reality, but I think he can draw some support from Republicans on important issues and come out with a win-win.
July 23, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Al is impressive in that he seems to have sincerely reached across the aisle for the greater could, unlike the BS political ploy reach around that Lindsay Graham professed yesterday with regards to Sotomayer.
July 23, 2009 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Al should be applauded, and so should Isakson. This is what the they should be doing. Find things we all can agree on and begin to build common ground. Next thing you know, you don't hate the guy across the aisle so much, because you know from real experience that he cares about Veterans, Children's healthcare, etc., just like you do....
Kudos to both of these men for understanding why they were sent to Washington.
July 23, 2009 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agree with Dorn and Chimpale. Here's hoping the good Senator Isakson isn't later forced to apologize to Rush Limbaugh...
July 23, 2009 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's true, Rush would have Veterans stumbling blindly into traffic rather than agree with a "librul".
July 23, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm. Stemper, you have a talent for anticipating TPM DC's next post.
July 23, 2009 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Personally, I think defeating an incumbant Republican (especially a major douche bag) and having the cajones to stand up to said douche bag through some pretty ridiculous and lengthy litigation was the ultimate dig.
It also showed that Al was serious about becoming a senator and doing what is right for the people of his state and this country.
Well done, Al.
July 23, 2009 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
AL'S POLITICAL FUTURE MAY WELL PROVE TO BE BE EVEN MORE INTERESTING AND MAY I ADD "ENTERTAINING' THAN HIS STELLAR COMEDY CAREER. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIM WHEN HE GETS WARMED UP. WHICH I THINK WILL BE SOON. CHARLESHENRY
July 23, 2009 9:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please stop YELLING.
July 23, 2009 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
It always puzzled me that so many people expected Franken to be unreasonable. His books calling out jackasses like Rush, BillO, Coulter et all were just calling a spade a spade besides just being funny and were not unresonable at all. The man has always taken every opportunity to praise good deeds done by individual Republicans. The problem is that there just aren't that many opportunities presented for such praise. It's like Paul's uncle in Hard Days Night. The only nice thing anyone could think to say about him was that he was clean.
July 24, 2009 5:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why would anyone realistically think that Al Franken would be the Democratic equivalent of Saxby Chambliss or Jim DeMint? A regular feature of his show on Air America was a bona fide dialogue with a deluded (i.e., Republican) long-term friend. Theoretically, at least, one introduces legislation with the hopes of getting it enacted. And after all, just because someone is a Republican senator, that doesn't inherently mean that s/he is hypocritical about supporting the troops. (Supporting defense contractors, of course, goes without saying.)
July 24, 2009 7:43 AM | Reply | Permalink