POORLY TIMED ATTACKS…. I can’t relate to the right’s hatred of Sen.-Elect Al Franken (D-Minn.), but it’s hard not to notice the conservative vitriol toward the Senate’s newest member in the wake of this week’s ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Various Fox News personalities are livid about Franken’s win. Limbaugh is enraged. Even one of Franken’s Republican colleagues, Sen. James Inhofe (R) of Oklahoma, is going after Franken before he even steps foot on the chamber floor.
With the criticism continuing yesterday, Mori Dinauer raised a good point.
Even stranger than Republican actors-turned-politicians criticizing Al Franken for being an actor-turned-politician is why they’re making this argument now. It didn’t work during the election. It didn’t bear on the recount and court challenges. It’s not going to change the fact that Franken’s going to be sworn in on Tuesday. Oh, and there’s the fact that he’s probably wonkier than most members of the Senate in the first place.
Attacking Franken last year — you know, during the campaign — made sense. Far-right Republicans didn’t want to see Minnesotans vote for him, so it stands to reason they would encourage voters not to.
But therein lies the point. The election’s over, and Franken won. Glenn Beck has spent several days this week saying Franken doesn’t belong in the Senate. I completely disagree, but either way, isn’t that an argument to be raised in the October before the election, not the July after it?
