...But doggoneit, I still don't like him.
Will Rogers is credited with saying, "Politicians are the funniest people you'll ever meet. When they make a joke, it becomes a law, and when they pass a law, it's a joke."
Sometimes a joke becomes a Senator. I'm referring, of course, to one Al Franken, the newly (and finally) elected Senator from the great state of Minasoder (you know it as 'Minnesota'). Best known for his "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley" bit on Saturday Night Live, you'll recall that Mr. Franken lost his Senatorial race to Norm Coleman last November. The final tally was close, which prompted several recounts. Mysteriously, each time the votes were recounted, Mr. Franken wound up with more and more votes.
This, to me, was awfully (and I do mean 'awfully') similar Christine Gregoire's election to the State of Washington's governorship in 2004. Same deal there - sore loser (Gregoire) gets a recount; suspicious votes miraculously appear from undocumentable sources (read: dead people, 'found' ballots from car trunks, etc.); sore loser becomes winner and calls previous winner a sore loser. In this case, Gregoire still lost the election even after the recount, but challenged the results again, garnering a victory margin (129 votes) smaller than the margin previously held by her challenger, Dino Rossi (261 votes). Yet somehow, her 129 vote challenged and recounted victory was more legitimate in her eyes than the two prior victories by Rossi, as she called for Rossi to concede and respect the will of the people.
On to the point...
Senator Franken immediately put his Harvard education and position of power to fruitless use during the hearing for Supreme Court hopeful, Sonia Sotomayor. Finally getting his moment in the spotlight, Mr. Franken held nothing back in his thorough evaluation of Sotomayor's judicial qualifications. Franken wanted to know if Sotomayor knew the name of the one case that fictitious television lawyer Perry Mason lost. Everyone enjoyed a big laugh, of course. Laughter is an appropriate response to comedians and clowns alike.
I'm sure Sotomayor appreciated the softball. I'm sure the citizens of Minnesota are more confident than ever that they are well represented in D.C.
C'mon - Perry Mason? Lightweight! Here's a question for the distinguished junior Senator from Minnesota. Do you remember the name of that pathetic movie from 1995 starring, you?
Yeah, me neither. I started watching it, really. But truth be told, it was one just two movies I've had to send back to Netflix without finishing during the past five years.
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