Al Franken On The Verge Of Potentially Beating Norm Coleman In Minnesota Senate Race

First, I think it would be funny if Al Franken was to somehow manage to defeat incumbent Norm Coleman in the United States Senate race in Minnesota (a race that is in a recount). It appears Franken is in good position to win, but nothing is chiseled into stone at this point. But, that has not stopped some Republicans from becoming panicked over the possibility of the loss. Huffington Post writer Sam Stein quotes this message from the Republican National Lawyer Association:

“As you may know, the precinct recount phase of the Minnesota Senate race was won by Sen. Norm Coleman on Election Day,” reads the petition. “But Al Franken still won’t concede. Instead, Franken raised millions of dollars from liberals in New York and Hollywood to fight a “legal” battle to undo the will of the voters. He even got the Minnesota Supreme Court to order canvassing boards to consider about 1600 previously rejected and questionable ballots. Now, Republican Norm Coleman has until December 31st to fight against Franken’s liberal legal team to keep his Senate seat. RNLA and Norm Coleman are fighting for every vote — literally!”

This cracks me up for several reasons. The biggest thing that gets me is what seems to be a contradiction with respect to wanting to have “every vote” counted. It seems that those who would defend Coleman only want every Republican/pro-Coleman vote counted. The message accuses Franken of wanting “to undo the will of the voters.” The next sentence says “he even got the Minnesota Supreme Court to order canvassing boards to consider 1600 previously rejected and questionable ballots.” So, apparently, the will of the voter does not count with these 1600 ballots since too many of them might be pro-Franken. The last sentence ends with “RNLA and Norm Coleman are fighting for every vote — literally!” That is a flat lie.

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/22/gop-group-in-panic-over-p_n_152894.html

Sarah Palin Just Won’t Go Away

Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin reminds me of the Friday the 13th movie series. The series just went on and on … long after we were all ready to turn the page in favor of something new, fresh and of greater substance. Don’t get me wrong, I like the first few Friday the 13th movies, but it went downhill in a hurry. Gov. Palin continues to claim that the McCain campaign blew it by holding her back and not allowing her to go out and do more interviews. Of course, judging by her performances with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric (Palin was brutally bad), Team McCain easily made the right decision. John McCain made some bad decisions (chief of which was picking Palin), but he was wise enough to realize she had no chance in real interviews, particular early on. She was ill-equipped to be vice president, and perhaps even more disturbing was how ill-equipped she was to do simple interviews with questioners who were not hardcore right wingers (Fox News). If Palin (who bungled a question about the duties of the vice president, could not name significant U.S. Supreme Court cases beyond Roe v. Wade and could not or would not even name some of the newspapers she supposedly reads) had it her way, I am sure she would simply have gone on Fox News for those puff-piece segments with Greta Van Susteren, who had a bizarre fascination/obsession with the Alaska governor and the Palin family, or Sean Hannity, who is from the extremist wing of the Republican Party. Maybe Bill O’Reilly, another right winger, would have thrown a few more tough questions than Hannity or Van Susteren, but in the end he is still a conservative and would have been kissing her feet after 10 or 15 minutes. Palin is positioning herself for a potential run/loss in 2012 for the presidency, but if 2008 is any example of what she has to offer than she could end up as a political version of the turkey that was slaughtered in back of her during that one television interview.

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/22/palin-mccains-biggest-mis_n_152857.html