Franken: ‘We will be seated. And by we, I mean me.’

[kpete]

Source: Minnesota Independent

“We will be seated,” Al Franken told a gathering of young Democrats in Minnesota today. “And by ‘we,’ I mean me.”

“When you win by 225 votes, it’s fair to say that no effort really went to waste,” Franken told the convention of MyDFL (Minnesota Young DFL) in St. Paul.

................

“It’s fair to say I wouldn’t have won this election — and I did — without you. So thank you very much. …

“You probably heard that (Norm) Coleman’s lead attorney went on talk radio and said they were going to lose – I don’t know why, but he did — and that they’ll probabably appeal to the state Supreme Court, and we are very confident that we’ll win that too and that then we will be seated. And by ‘we,’ I mean me.”

Read more: http://minnesotaindependent.com/30419/franken-mydfl-seated

[frebrd]

1. K&R n/t

[Ecumenist]

2. YAY Al!! A Rah, rah rah!!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :applause: :applause: :applause: :woohoo: :woohoo: :applause: :applause: :applause: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[tridim]

3. Al is going to be so fun to watch in the Senate.

[Dollface]

61. Time to TIVO C-Span

[pacalo]

4. Coleman's attorney thinks they'll lose because he knows it's clear that Franken won.

Coleman is abusing the court system with his political game to prolong another Democrat from being seated.

[AlbertCat]

24. Coleman is abusing the court system with his political game

I wish some "disinterested party" would bring this up...legally....

[rhett o rick]

42. The ruling class own the court system. nm

[The Second Stone]

46. there are no disinterested parties

the MSM is and has always been fully on its knees for the the Republicants.

[NewJeffCT]

55. It's also to make Franken's victory seem tainted

the longer it drags out, the more the casual observer will think, "oh, there must have been something wrong" because it took so long to seat Franken.

He's going to be one of the new whipping boys for the RW because of it. they'll use Franken's "illegitimate" election to raise funds & rally the base.

[derby378]

5. If this drags on any longer, though...

...Al may have to prepare for his reelection campaign as soon as he's sworn into the Senate. This Coleman nonsense has ground Minnesota to a halt long enough.

[Horse with no Name]

8. Can you even imagine

if a Democrat pulled these stunts?
Those breathless Presstitute Barbie and Ken dolls would NEVER shut up about the subversion of the Constitution.
As it is?
I can hardly remember the last time I heard about this...except of course, here on DU.

[lutefisk]

31. Of course they would. It would be "Day 144: The Constitution Held Hostage" on CNN...n/t

[Towlie]

35. Hold still, let me get that bug.

[lutefisk]

45. Thanks, I've been cursed with that damn bug for years.

Wait . . . it's still there!

[azmouse]

6. Hey Al! Try that once more, in English please! LOL

[Optical.Catalyst]

7. This farce has gone on long enough. Al Franken needs to be seated Today

We can sure use 59. Al Franken should be seated as the Junior Senator from Minnesota right now.

[Mithreal]

9. Not sure all the Democrats in the Senate are looking forward to that. nt

[Optical.Catalyst]

11. I'm looking forward to the 2010 elections when the Republicans will drop to only 35 Senators

Then all the Democrats in Congress can look forward to passing a real budget without the repukes messing things up.

[Mithreal]

13. All? What about the coalition of New Democrats in the Senate? nt

[Optical.Catalyst]

15. Let's get Al Franken in as a Democratic Senator first.

Al Franken as a Democratic Senator from Minnesota is an order of magnitude more preferable to Republican Norm Coleman any day of the week.

[Mithreal]

16. Yep, and I like to think he will shake things up. Cheers for Senator Franken! nt

[eleny]

10. All I can say is that he better not join those ConservaDems

But I think Al has come a very long way since he traveled closer to the middle of the road. This whole election has sharpened his leanings.

I bet he's been taking notes all the way for a book. This has to be an historic election.

[waiting for hope]

27. As a big fan of Paul Wellstone -

I seriously doubt that.

[No Elephants]

50. If the election is this close with him as a moderate, will he get re-elected if he goes much more to

the left, or is the closeness of the election due to Coleman's status as the incumbent?

Don't know.

[Jim Lane]

52. Good question - also factor in the third-party candidate

I don't know whether Barkley pulled more votes from Coleman or from Franken. Barkley and Franken were both against the Iraq War, so perhaps in a head-to-head matchup, Franken would've clobbered Coleman.

Barkley received more than 435,000 votes. I wonder how many of those 435,000 people are kicking themselves about having wasted their votes, when just one-tenth of one percent of them, by supporting one of the candidates who had a chance to win, could have decided the election.

[bluesmail]

12. At long last words from the winner. He may end up being the finest. eom

[Mithreal]

14. Hard to beat Bernie Sanders though. Settle for tie with best sense of humor award? nt

[bluestateguy]

17. This whole episoide has pushed me to favor MAJOR restrictions on abusive, junk lawsuits

Tort reform, limitations on appeals and time limits on the whole process.

Thank Nam Coleman for that.

[Jim Lane]

29. Wrong remedy

First, none of those standard right-wing proposals would do any good in this case. The election is close enough that most judges, even those disagreeing with Coleman, would see him as having a good-faith basis for litigating it.

There needs to be a fairly lax standard for what constitutes a "frivolous" lawsuit. Lawyers have to be able to argue for novel interpretations, or even for the outright overruling of existing precedents. That's how the law progresses. It wasn't frivolous for the NAACP to press the legal case against segregated public schools, even though there was a United States Supreme Court decision () directly on point against them.

The real problem here is that Minnesota doesn't allow a Senator to be seated while any legal challenge is pending. The reform should be that, once the Canvassing Board has certified a winner (as it certified Franken on January 9), that winner can take his or her seat, at least on an interim basis. In the rate instance in which a subsequent appeal reverses the outcome, the newly anointed winner takes the seat instead.

[No Elephants]

49. I have no debate with your major points, but I do with some of the facts. Arguably,

the facts of Plessy wwere not directly on point and the SCOTUS could have distinguished Plessy, if it had chosen so to do.

Plessy involved railroad cars. When Jim Crow laws first went into efect, the railroad company had to order new cars in order to have enough cars to comply with the law (and was none too happy about having to shell out the extra money). So, Plessy involved things that were actually equal, although my guess would be that whites got the very slightly newer ones.

By the time of Brown, almost sixty years later, however, things available to African Americans, including schools, had broken down miserably. A lot of the evidence in Brown was that the schools were far from equal, be it books, physical plant, expenditures, etc. And, of course, schools for kindergarten through 12 involve very different considerations than do railroad cars. So, the SCOTUS could easily have distinguished Plessy but, bless Earl Warren and his great court, the SCOTUS chose to overrule instead.

ond, you are correct that there is n Minnesota law or regulation that EXPRESSLY provides for interim seating of an apparent winner while the recount or appeals continue. They introduced one in the Legislature during this mess, but there is not one in effect now. However, a Minnesota law does provide for "unseating" or recalling an elected official if the other candidate wins the recount. So, you can argue that provisional seating is implied. If the Governor were a Dem, I bet he or she would have certified Al on the basis of the "unseating' law alone and gotten away with it. But PawsAplenty, of course, would rather see his state do with one senator than seat Al provisionally. And, if he did, he might not ever see another cent from the RNC.

[Jim Lane]

65. Facts of Plessy and Brown

This is an interesting digression, even though it won't help Senator-elect Franken get seated (and even though Thurgood Marshall is spinning in his grave at any comparison between him and Coleman's buffoon squad of lawyers).

You're certainly correct that "separate but equal" was largely a lie. Across the South, the schools for black children were inferior. The Brown case, however, arose in Topeka, Kansas, where matters were different. Here's what the federal district court wrote in 1951, at the first stage of the case:

We have found as a fact that the physical facilities, the curricula, courses of study, qualification of and quality of teachers, as well as other educational facilities in the two sets of schools are comparable. ... It is without dispute that the prescribed courses of study are identical in all of the Topeka schools and that there is no discrimination in this respect. It is also clear in the record that the educational qualifications of the teachers in the colored schools are equal to those in the white schools and that in all other respects the educational facilities and services are comparable. ... We conclude that in the maintenance and operation of the schools there is no willful, intentional or substantial discrimination in the matters referred to above between the colored and white schools. In fact, while plaintiffs' attorneys have not abandoned this contention, they did not give it great emphasis in their presentation before the court. They relied primarily upon the contention that segregation in and of itself without more violates their rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. (from Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 98 F. Supp. 797 (D. Kan. 1951), available )

That latter contention was the one the Supreme Court unanimously accepted, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

For the Court to decide for the plaintiffs without directly overruling Plessy, as you suggest, would have required it to set aside the factual finding of the trial court -- something an appellate court would do only in rare instances.

[No Elephants]

48. Slow down. Coleman's lawsuits are not torts, nor are they the typical lawsuit, nor is he the.

typical plaintiff. The woman who goes in for an appendectomy and comes out with her appendix, but missing her ovaries is more typical, or the victim of a drunk driver.

Please do not fall for the RW bashing of lawyers. They don't like people who know the law looking over their shoulder and/or fighting for the "little guy." But, as you see, they hire plenty of their own.

[glinda]

18. Also....Reid talks about seating him April 1st

http://minnesotaindependent.com/27714/april-fools-day-is-reids-new-line-in-the-snow-for-seating-franken




:bounce: :kick: :bounce: :kick:

[sandyd921]

23. It's about time!

What's taken you so long, Harry?

[mikekohr]

54. April Fools Day?

WTF

[glinda]

63. Actually heard on the news this morning that it could be much longer. Hrumpf!

[Hippo_Tron]

19. Cause he's good enough, smart enough, and doggoneit people like him!!

[glinda]

36. Re-watching Trading Places again tonight. I only watched it before because Al was in it

and I am sure my husband is tired of me going "hey! There's Al !!!!!!!!!!" so tonight I changed it to "hey! There's our next Senator from MN. !"

[chemenger]

67. HUH??? You watched Trading Places only because Al (Franken) was in it

I watch it because I can peek at Jamie Lee's beautiful boobs (and also because it is a very good and funny movie).

[Dinger]

I Can't Wait To Have Al As "My" Senator!!!

I live in Wisconsin, but I support Al all the way!!!

[stevedeshazer]

20. This makes me hungry...

...for a 59 vote Senate bloc....

[acmavm]

21. But WHEN will he be seated is the question. This has taken far longer

than it should. But I suppose if the situation were reversed I would say drag it out until the bitter end.

Too damn bad our side didn't have some of this spunk in 2004.

[burning rain]

22. Good to see he's keeping a sense of humor amidst all this crap...

poking fun at the royal "we." Congressional Republicans, bitter and humorless, are breaking out in hives at the thought of him taking his seat; they may start running around on all fours when he finally does so.

I can't imagine Sonny Bono sitting with these mirthless meatheads. Now there was a warm, funny guy even though his politics were wrong, wrong, wrong. Damn shame he had that run-in with a tree.

[Va Lefty]

25. Hell Yes!!!

:headbang:

[EFerrari]

26. K&R

[jimlup]

28. The courts should blast Coleman for wasting Minnosota's time!

What a total hypocritical jackass!

[tclambert]

30. Al has been waiting to be seated for sooo long,

. . . his feet are just killing him.
. . . the movie is half over.
. . . his dinner is getting cold.
. . . he has learned to sleep standing up.

[mckara]

32. It's About Time!!!!!!!!!!

I'm tired donating to his 2008 election campaign!

[InvisibleTouch]

33. Give the man his seat already.

Gods, what a circus. Courtesy of the rethugs. There's hypocrisy for you!

[xchrom]

34. +35

[Duke Newcombe]

37. FAIL Party, your table is ready...

enjoy your meal of crow, Mr. Coleman...

the endgame starts...

[mvd]

38. Great! Now let the drumbeat start in Congress

Time for Reid to be a leader. They will be missing a big opportunity if they don't seat him after the MN Supreme Court decides and they let it go to federal court first.

[hyphenate]

39. I have to wonder

if Coleman has committed political suicide with this shit he's been pulling. Al had promised Minnesota that he would try to keep the memory of Paul Wellstone alive in his campaign, instead of allowing that asshole Coleman to continue to degrade it any further. I think he's done remarkably well, but I know the pockets of too many pugs who are desperate to keep the Democrats from attaining their goals.

[underpants]

40. SENATOR.... AL.... FRANKEN!!!!!!!!!!!

[Piewhacket]

41. Youre 59! Youre 59! Go AL!

[goforit]

43. Remind me never to move too Minnesota. A state that can not resolve this should

not have a seat at all.

[mac56]

44. Speaking as a Minnesotan -

feel free to stay just exactly where you are.

[lutefisk]

47. Yeah, well your weather sucks.

Wait a minute... I live in Wisconsin.

Never mind.

[MrsMatt]

60. plus one!

[PBS Poll-435]

51. LOLz

Minnesota has election laws that are the envy of the rest of the country.

Yeah, Norm has stalled his defeat a little bit... But his defeat will be fully adjudicated.



Senator Al Franken!

:loveya:

[myrna minx]

53. We Minnesotans have a sound election system with checks and balances in place.

Coleman was exhausting every avenue set by our laws, but it's obvious that he was trying to run out the clock. We have very wonderful people here, so perhaps you should stay where you are.

[rhett o rick]

57. Yeah you best not move, they already have enough trouble makers with Coleman. nm

[cooolandrew]

56. What an outstandig fighter. n/t

[rhett o rick]

58. Is the DLC or DNC or other Senators helping Sen Franken? I think there are a lot

of Senators that could care less if he gets seated.

[rocktivity]

59. This is the first public statement he's made on the matter

which I consider to be most encouraging.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[libodem]

62. I'm a huge fan of his politics

Thank God he had the stones to wait this one out. I think the Coleman Crew thought they could just wear him down and that he'd give up and quit. Al's no quitter! Yee Haaa! Go-Nad-Go! (for the stones)

[GreenTea]

64. Franken better get tough cuz Harry "no balls" Reid isn't going to help - Republicans threaten Reid

and he cowers - If the minority republicans merely scowl or sneer at the Dem Majority "leader", old Harry runs for cover...

This is the kind of Dem leader the republicans wanted and probably maneuvered to get (with people like Lieberman then a Dem & the conservative 12 or 14 democrats we now see speaking against Obama).

But Franken has proved he's a tough guy and can fight back at every cheating republican lies, distortions, smears & bullshit tricks!

It will be a pleasure to have a fighter for the Dems in the senate and well Franken should be, after all it was the seat the great Paul Wellstone served so brilliantly before he was murdered by the warmongers.

[asdjrocky]

66. I can not wait to see him on the Span. nt

[TDGoddard]

68. This could go on for years

Republicans are now saying it will take "years" before Norm Coleman's court case is settled.

The story: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/03/30/cornyn_says_coleman_challenge_could_take_years.html

[RalphieD]

69. Finally Minnesota will have sanity

Franken will stop the madness.

[Vidar]

70. Congratulations Mr. Senator.