Franken’s little snit fit against Lieberman; Reid moves to adjourn Senate until 12:01am; cloture vote on defense authorization to follow; McConnell: Demcare is a “literal political nightmare”
“As the Senator from Minnesota, I object.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman is on board with Demcare now, but nutroots hero Al Franken couldn’t help exercising his power as chair on the Senate floor this afternoon to deny Liebs an extra minute or two to finish some remarks this afternoon.
Call it nutroots red meat. Or blue meat.
Liebs reacts with amusement: “Really?”
Liebs’ old friend John McCain fumed at the petty behavior, calling for “comity” in the Senate chamber.
Maybe he meant “comedy:”
CSPAN vid here.
***
Update 6:20pm Eastern:
Franken’s spokesperson justified the snit fit by telling a reporter that the urgency of passing the Senate defense authorization bill meant there was not a minute to spare:
Franken’s spokeswoman, Jess McIntosh, said that the Minnesota senator wouldn’t allow Lieberman to continue because time limits were being enforced by Senate leaders rushing to finish a defense spending bill and get to the health bill.
But as I type, Harry Reid is nearly an hour late to the Senate floor to make a motion to adjourn.
Ooutrageous outrage delaying decision-making for the troops!!!
***
6:34pm Eastern: Reid shows up more than an hour later than he told other Senators to come to the floor. Apologizes and says “other business” prevented him from being on time. Moves to recess Senate until 12:01am. This will clear the way to hold the cloture vote on the defense authorization bill as early as 1 hour after the Senate convenes, so the Dems can rush into health care.
Which reminds me: Nope, still no sign of the Reid vapor bill yet.
6:55pm Eastern. Senate adjourned on 59-38 vote. Rush, rush, rush to the health care vote on a bill no one has seen yet.
After delaying motion to recess vote for an hour, Reid demagogues on terrible delays and accuses GOP of “playing political games.”
7:00pm Eastern: McConnell on the floor talking about how Demcare has become a “literal political nightmare.” And “they want to rush this bill through by Christmas?” And “here’s the most outrageous part: They want us to vote on a bill that no one outside majority leader’s conference room has seen. No one has seen it…This entire process is a complete charade.”
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Ted Kennedy Jr. Floated as Potential Candidate for Joe Lieberman’s Senate Seat
January 20, 2011 09:43 PM by Doug Powers
39 CommentsCongressional Black Caucus pushes bailout for Air America/Sharpton/Jackson crony
December 3, 2009 12:51 PM by Michelle Malkin
24 Comments
Franken-fied: Make way for (another) clown; Update: Coleman statement added
June 30, 2009 02:22 PM by Michelle Malkin
228 Comments
Sunday morning round-up
January 4, 2009 07:42 AM by Michelle Malkin
61 CommentsI see “Lizard People”
November 21, 2008 10:12 AM by Michelle Malkin
63 Comments
Categories: Al Franken,Joe Lieberman
Nice Deb
» The Organized Left Now Stalking RomneyNewsBusters.org
» Very Annoyed Matthews Rips ‘Horse’s Ass Right-Wingers’ Who Cite ‘Thrill Up My Leg,’ Calls C-SPAN Host a ‘Jackass’Nice Deb
» Uncovered Ad Shows Obama Appeared At 1996 Event Hosted By Democratic Socialists of AmericaNice Deb
» Uncovered Ad Shows Obama Appeared At 1996 Event Hosted By Democratic Socialists of AmericaNewsBusters.org
» Reuters's Freeland: 'Anorexic' Americans Think Tax Bite Too Heavy When In Fact It's Dangerously Thin
Ah, doing MN proud!
Must’ve had a flashback and thought he was in a SNL skit….not funny – just annoying people.
The people of Minnesota should be embarrassed that they gave this fool a chance to disgrace their state in a national forum.
This man is a US Senator
http://www.novatownhall.com/blog/graphics/franken_diaper.jpg
Just sayin’
Tinkles had a hissy-fit. What else is new?
What a tool.
It’s pretty sad to see Franken try so hard to convince himself that he’s important, and that his life has meaning. Belushi, Farley, Radner, Hartman…it should have been him instead of any one of them.
Come on folks. He’s at least as good a Senator as the Obamessiah is a president.
Franken knew as he was doing it that he was out of line. You can tell he was conflicted between doing the petty nutroots thing and doing what is tradition in the chamber.
How the hell is the most junior senator the body the chair?
Minnesota’s finest, ja, shoor, ya betcha.
Senator Franken is pretty objectionable.
I don’t care for Frankin, but all he did was follow the rules and object to a procedure, much like Coburn did yesterday.
If they ask for 10 minutes, they should get 10 minutes. If they need more, they should ask for more. This whole idea that they each let the other one “slide” on the rules isn’t comity, it’s a slippery slope that keeps feeding their mentality of entitlement.
Bravo for Coburn & bravo for Frankin. (never thought I would type THAT sentence.)
This moronic jackass should be sufficient cause for a dozen of those Democrat senators to change their Party affiliation. When you wallow with pigs you will smell like pigs.
Al Franken … as chair on the Senate floor…
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my freaking God.
As an absolutely fabulous female, I voice my objection to that stinking prepuce called ‘Franken’.
We see here some of the most highly compensated fools the world has ever seen. All of them.
Uh…. he did ask for more. Did you miss that part? It is standard practice to allow Senators a moment to conclude their thoughts. That is done to prevent the chair from stifling debate they don’t agree with while favoring Senators on “their side”.
Class is something Franken couldn’t recognize even if he found some stuffed up his own butt and pulled it out with his ‘other hand’. .
This is exactly why we should have stayed a pure “Republic”..
i’m a big enough (_*_) to cheat my way into the senate, in the great tradition of democrats from new jersey to new york to washington, and petty enough to not let that lieberman jerk talk. i am the clown of the senate.
Which means the states’ legislatures would have elected senators, not the voters directly. I doubt the more radical clowns could have gotten into the Senate that way, including Frankensenator.
Yes, less than a tad bit gracious on the part of Sen Franken.
Senators are supposed to like the sound of their own voices, and they have allowed each other to wax on. Maybe this will change. What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
After midnight he’s gonna let it all hang out.
Cheapens the body doesn’t it? My first thought after he was declared winner.
A freaking joke.
They should be use to it after the reps they send to Washington, no different than the Marxist fools we Orygunians send. Example Senator Merkely stating the preamble of the Constitution as the intend to “provide for a common defense, promote the general welfare..”. this was not the intent to take from one prosperous person and giving these earnings to another…another liberal dickweed.
Venturing dangerously close to off topic, I met a person who used to live next to Al Franken. This was back in the ’80′s, and I asked “Oh, what is he like?”
That person said Franken was one of the meanest people he had ever known.
Can anyone tell me when the House and Senate last actually deliberated on legislation? It seems to be so long ago, my memory fails me.
I’m not surprised at all. Franken has long had reputation for pettiness.
Franken is a clown, and just proved it.
Consider this: after the last election, Lieberman owes the Democrat party nothing, and is under no obligation to go along in lockstep with the party just because Reid says so.
Given that, if Franken had a brain (no evidence for that as yet), he wouldn’t be trying to tick off Lieberman when every single vote is so critical to their dismantling of health care in America. Clearly, he hasn’t the brain power to realize this.
It seems they saved the wrong part after Franken’s bris. The people of Minnesota must be so proud.
Franken has been practicing this line over and over again in front of his mirror, and finally got to use it!
MN voted for the commodian and hopefully are regretting it although I wouldn’t bet on that one…what a joke…less qualified for office than dear leader…
John McCain – senator for over 20+ years. that’s part of the PROBLEM too!
Wooo Hooo Freaky Franken! He’s MY Senator from Minnesota. I am so proud of my fellow deranged MN liberal voting citizens for bringing his wise and intuitive style of dictatorship to the Senate floor. I will stitch him a Starkist Tuna outfit so he can say “Sorry Charlie” to every Senator and MN constituent he cuts off in mid sentence.
It interferes with lunch.
Geez, I just woke up from this awful nightmare! A Marxist had been elected President, loser Al Franken was elected Senator of Massachusetts, a communist who thinks George Bush bombed us on 9-11 was advising the President, the terrorists behind 9-11 were being given the same constitutional rights as US citizens and criminal civilian trials in NYC, and the democrats who had control of the Congress had tripled the deficit to 1.4 trillion dollars, and were about to pass legislation on a $2.5 trillion government takeover of our health care system with 96% of the Congress not having even read the bill! Wow, what a freaky dream.
Well, Al Franken is a professional clown.
.
Well, Jim Emerson says he worked with him once and that’s supposed to make Franken all right. How dare we think different!
Yikes. Saying “Bravo” to the deplorable Franken is just a BIT much, don’t you think? Good heavens.
It is common courtesy in the Senate for the members, from one party to the other, to let each other have an extra minute to round out their comments. This is just standard operating procedure.
Franken is new to the Senate. He’d better hope that he never EVER has to use an extra 60 seconds to finish any comments on the Senate floor.
Still trying to figure out how Frankenturd gets elected in the first place. Twin Cities certainly leans left, but the rest of the state elected Pawlenty, a pretty solid guy.
The only thing I can figure is people there are either thumbing their noses saying the whole system is absurd, so lets elect a clown…or flipping the bird and saying f you.
Either way, who in their right mind – or with a shred of conscience could vote for this charicature? I’m confused.
I apologize for going off-topic, but I received this e-mail today and I can’t resist passing it along…
To All My Democrat Friends:Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
To My Republican Friends:Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Living in Minnesota and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Al Freakin Franken stole the election, I do not dare write what I think of him or what I’d like to see happen to him. I would get banned. Suffice it to say, he is a bad bad person. Now, if the republicans take over the majority in 2010, you will see the true Al Franken come out…angry, nasty, snarly, profane, childish, etc. He has held it in so far because he has the majority on his side. Once he is crossed, watch out.
Nice shot.
Q: Per the Constitution, who should have been sitting in the seat Franken sat in today?
…and these nitwits want us to believe the Senate is such a distinguished body of statesmen.
A: Joe Biden, the President of the Senate
Yeah. Talk about ironic that this clown now wants to follow the rules.
I hope he does, and soon, and he gets cut off in the same way.
It would be quite a spectacle to see him freak out on whoever was chairing the Senate that day.
My first thought EXACTLY!
Couldn’t anybody find him? Or did they not want to?
Send in the clowns…
You mean, this clown?
http://tiny.cc/2eO8a
Forget it, Swede.
It’s Liberaltown.
And so with clowns like this as our leaders the great republic sinks into dust of history. Shame and curse you Senator’s for what you are doing.
sOOOOO, What is going on out there?
I wonder what the chances are to IMPEACH this president out of office…….in 2010?
Yeah …
Count on old Frankenstein to go nutty whoopieee – it’s all in his lust for attention.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Anyone with a working brain can see this is nothing more than a money/power grab to build up the Donks’ coffers to finance campaigns in 2010. They will need LOTS of money to beat back the Tea Partiers, and that will likely not be enough.
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
It’s not really likely they did. Do you really think this guy is so squeaky clean he’s above stuffing ballot boxes?
RWR
http://www.rightwingrocker.com
Rich…Can’t Franken speak for herself?
As one banned from Hot Air (my daily must-read and overall favorite news blog, BTW)…I assert that vote fraud should be considered treasonous behavior…and it should be punished accordingly. Al Franken and many other Dumbocrats have been elected by means of this kind of fraud. Our Republic is completely meaningless is we continue to allow fraudulent elections!
How in HE!! did this clown get a chair position as a freshman senator? That’s what has me agape!
When I have suggested folks settle down a bit on this health care thing and back away from we are instantly becoming Communist but INSTEAD thank God for the way this whole matter is illuminating the left for all to see, NOW is that position a little easier to get on board with?
The left are killing themselves. Franken silencing Joe Liberman? Wow. Imagine 3 months ago someone would have said, “Just wait for it. Even Franken is going down because of this health care thing…” who would of thunk it?
Its a great day to be an American.
You have to forgive Franken, he sits in a soiled diaper all day.
I’m not holding out much hope that a vote on this atrocious, phantom bill can be delayed into 2010, but, if it can be delayed, maybe, just maybe, enough Congressmen and women fearful of not being reelected will either vote against it or push to get it pigeonholed.
Just what all is in this defense authorization bill these days that they are demanding an immediate vote on? There’s something toxic in it as well, but I can’t remember at the moment. With a Democrat controlled kingdom, everything should be regarded as toxic.
I would like to ask for Unanamous consent on a motion to introduce an Amendment, calling for Al Franken to go fornicate himself…..
Franken is such a Dork!!!
A tad off subject here but – here is something from a guy named Allen West in Florida. I remember him from the interrogation incident the libs had such a snit over.
“If you’re here to shrink away from the duties, there’s a door. Get out,” West said. “But if you’re here to stand up – to get your musket, to fix your bayonet, to charge into the ranks – you’re my brother and sister in this fight.”
This man has it right.
The only news I see here is one liberal attacking another liberal. We should encourage this, the more they fight and bicker the less harm they do to the country.
IF YOU THINK THE LONG KNIVES ARE OUT FOR LIEBERMAN (I), WAIT TIL THEY GET THE NAGS AFTER NELSON OVER THE ABORTION ISSUE HANGUP.
Whatever happened to that rumor that Nelson was being threatened with the closing of that base in Nebr.? Glenn Beck had a story on it. I missed Glenn’s show last night. Did he mention it? Or was that all a false rumor?
I heard Fred Grandy say this morning that the must junior senator gets stuck in the chair. The more senior senators have more important things to do. It’s a real crap job and Franken does it well.
On December 18th, 2009 at 2:15 am, chilloutyo said:
Ditto, on all counts!
On December 18th, 2009 at 7:52 am, DagneyT said:
The same way Barack Obama sat in that chair position as a fresman senator.
Read my post President of the Senate to better understand.
What really bothers me is that from Jan 2007 – Jan 2009 there should have been a Republican (VP Dick Cheney) sitting in this chair, not a Demonrat.
But Cheney, by failing to perform his Constitutional duties as President of the Senate, let the Demonrats run the show.
Al Franken isn’t fit to shine Joe Lieberman’s shoes, in all ways.
Age, experience, character.
Takes a lot of nerve.
Unfortunately, it turns out, after more research, that what Sen Franken did to Sen Lieberman had happened earlier in the day to Sen Cornyn by Sen Bevich.
And, Sen McCain had done the same thing to then Sen Dayton during the Iraq war debate.
Moreover, what happened to the people who were complaining about Sen Sanders withdrawing his bill was a violation of the rules. If you are a stickler for rules, then you should have no problem with Sen Franken following the ten minute rule.
Yep, everyone has their own agenda, but is it too much to ask that everyone be consistent? Either you are for the rules, or not. If you take someone to task for not following the rules (Sen Sanders) then how could you take someone to task for actually following the rules (Sen Franken), especially knowing that what Sen Franken did had already happen earlier in the day.
zyzzyg, the problem you’re having is that you are expecting intellectual integrity and it doesn’t exist in extreme partisan blogs such as this one.
Franken is a good little senator who follows his master’s orders well. Reid will undoubtedly have words of praise for him and maybe a doggie treat too.
I cannot entirely disagree with you, though sometimes my expectations are met.
And, I will say this blog has only deleted one of my posts, while another more left leaning blog has deleted many more of my posts.
Like it or not, in both blogs, it is what it is.
Thank you for noticing.
Oooh,imjustsaying, that’s rich. A liberal commenting about intellectual integrity. You dems haven’t demonstrated that on a single one of the liberal blogs. And, if you think Ms. Malkin’s blog is an EXTREME PARTISAN blog, why are you posting here? Extreme Partisianship was invented by Democrats and they have used it as a whip to beat everyone else into submission. Liberals’ favorite expression is “bipartisanship”–something THEY NEVER do. Same goes for you zyzzyg…why do you post your liberal comments on this blog?