‘Mornin’, puppers!

If Cornyn and the Washington republicans fight on this after Minnesota courts settle the issue, I’m thinking it could have a really negative effect on prospects for the GOP in Minnesota. So go ahead, Cornyn. I know how much everyone fears Al Franken, but it’d be nice to have Cornyn and his ilk throwing their five year-old temper tantrums as we move into the Minnesota gubernatorial race. And that could help get rid of Bachmann and Kline and maybe even Paulsen. So yeah, just keep fighting to keep Franken out of the Senate.

Exactly. This is going to trash Pawlenty’s chances of remaining governor — and since he hasn’t a prayer in hell of getting on the 2012 presidential ticket, his political career is effectively over.

I don’t know. You have to remember, the election was legitmately close. 50% wanted Coleman to win and will not be awfully upset if he fights to the bitter end. I predict the next election will be very close as well, with the GOP nominee screaming “We wuz robbed!” at every event.

But I do think this shows the next step. The GOP in the senate, if united, can keep Frankin from being seated for quite awhile. Enough time to perhaps protect some of the GOPs friends in the bailouts.

GOP election prospects won’t be impacted much if they block Frankin. Their election prospects depend solely on how successful ObamaCo has been in two years. With Frankin out, they can obstruct more.

Boxturtle (Though I’m sure the GOP has only America’s Best Interests At Heart)

First of all, I keep wondering what it will take for the American people to wake up and realize that today’s politicians do what they do to stay in the public eye of celeebrity and collect a check. Doing anything of value or merit for the people they represent is way down on their list of priorities…if it is there at all.

Secondly, what the hell is John Cornyn doing messing around with MN politics? He can’t even do what we need to have him do here in TX!

fyi – Cornyn is Chair of RNC Senate ReElection Comm

and I have some slightly used bluster for our Senator:

Bring It On !

Coleman is Patricia Krenwinkeling to Cornyn’s Tex Watsoning.

crikey! my 6 above is to fellow Texan HIVANH @ 5

p.s. am sure it has been covered in PW’s stirling reportage on this, but who is paying for all the lawyers ? RNC ? aren’t they gonna need some of that money for um, other pursuits some time soon ?

Hiya Cbl!

mornin’ Scooter baby ! – ’bout to head over to work – see you in btw shifts xoxox

here’s perris, ever the pesimist;

I’d like to see him try. Whaddya gonna do, John, bleed on me?

the democrats are pure yellow, afraid for any showdown what so ever so all we can really do is cross our fingers and hope they seat frankin

ps, his statement sets the stage for the republican who is charged with certifying to say;

“we’re gonna wait till all challenges are exhausted”

It’s a very interesting question: Who’s paying the lawyers? All kinda of potential election violations and incestious relationships in there.

Boxturtle (I’m sure the RNC has carefully kept their hands clean, however)

The thing is, this really screws over the Republican Party of Minnesota. It hurts Pawlenty’s re-elect if he does the RNC’s bidding here — and that means we can finally get a Democrat in the governor’s mansion after two decades without one. And that means that when it comes time for Minnesota to cough up a Congressional District in the wake of the 2010 census, a Democratic governor will be picking the CD to be axed — which means Bachmann can kiss her seat goodbye.

Amazing how “states’ rights” are soooooo important to the repubs.

Until they’re not.

the democrats are pure yellow

And remember as well Reid got punk’d thoroughly by the clownish combination of Blago & Burris.

Don’t bet against the GOP if they choose to fight. Reid lost to amatures, the GOPer senators are pros.

Boxturtle (Never underestimate an enemy. Especially a desperate one)

Perris: Let ‘em try it. Right now, as I just noted, they’re forcing Tim Pawlenty into a really nasty corner. If he continues to do the RNC’s bidding in the vain hope of being allowed onto the 2012 presidential ticket, he’s gonna be irrevocably pissing off his former law partner — aka Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson — as well as the rest of the state of Minnesota. Which means he can kiss his governorship goodbye next year — and that means that when it comes time for Minnesota to lose a CD after the 2010 census, it’s going to be a Democratic governor deciding which CD gets axed.

You have to understand state politics and law here. Neither the Coleman camp nor the RNC does — and their main bulwark, Pawlenty, is buckling as he slowly, painfully realizes that he has no political future if he doesn’t sign the cert when Eric Magnuson tells him to sign it.

I heard rumors yesterday Coleman is looking at running for governor again (he lost the first time). The theory goes that, before the final decision is in on his former senate career, Coleman will turn on his weaselly contrition and ”sadly end” his pursuit so he can pretend that he could have won if only some [insert random excuse] would have been possible. This is how he’d burnish his image and leave open the notion he was cheated, riding that to becoming governor.

I laugh at this notion because I don’t see how Coleman has any political future anywhere, let alone in Minnesota. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see him try.

PiPress blog says maybe, maybe, maybe by May. Is that where the month got its name?!

Ah, jeez, raise the puke shields.

I hope you’re right. But with a 50/50 split for senator, that tells me that the GOP is certainly in the running IF they can field someone halfway decent. As an outsider, I’ve no idea if such a person exists.

Boxturtle (Your understanding of Mn politics is much better than mine, so your opinion makes me hopeful)

Maybe it is spring. Maybe it is not.

I think that Franken owes Normie a big ole thank-you in that he (Franken) at least will not have to be sworn in by Dick Cheney, as were the other frosh Senators.

ok – maybe just a limited thank-you.

If I remember correctly, Paul Wellstone wasn’t a big favorite the first time and he’d have just completed his third term if … oh, you know.

Correction: it wasn’t a 50/50 split. We had a third candidate who got 15% of the vote. That’s a pretty big chunk of independent voters who could potentially be disinclined to vote for GOP candidates (assuming they all would normally) if the party seems hell-bent on not respecting elections.

If the race was run today would Coleman have 50% of the votes after the good citizens have witnessed his shit stirring abilities?

Never underestimate Reid’s ability to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. And please be careful who you connect my name to! *g*

first-the sheeple wake up? Never going to happen. The propaganda put out by the rethug party will ensure that the credulous sheeple will remain asleep forever.

second- corny thinks that if he plays his cards right as leader of the rethug senate election cmte and picks up a couple of seats in 2010 then he will have party cred to start his run to be president(just guessing on this) in 2012. Am suddenly getting monthly E-mails and mailing telling me what a great senator he is and has been for 6 years-never got any mailings or E-mails in the last 6 years from him-(I live in SA) So, I believe that he is attempting to pile up cred with the rethug base so he can start his run next year for 2012. What do you think? Am I off base on this?

My thinking is that Fanrkin gets his papers signed without any hassle as soon as the ruling is issued. The MN GOP washes their hands of it (ther than to say We Wuz Robbed) and the fight moves to the senate. Wherein the GOP uses the arcane rules of that place to continue the delay.

And the person we’d expect to resolve that is Harry Reid.

Boxturtle (How long they can keep Harry scrambled is anyone’s guess)

I would hope that all this obstructionism could serve to screw up chances for any number of idiots in upcoming Minnesota races. However, I tend never to underestimate the stupidity of the voting public. After all, they did elect Bachmann in that state. Maybe the voters were hoping for the economic stimulus that would come to their state with the increased inflow of tinfoil hats.

Did you know that there were folks pressing for that very thing, i.e., a do-over? Including the venerable (and reliably conservative-partisan St. Paul newspaper).

Here’s what I want to see. I want to see the day that Al Franken walks into the Senate chamber to be seated. Every minute of it. And then, if he’s given the opportunity, I want to hear what he will say to his colleagues and to the nation.

“A not very funny thing happened to me on the way to the Senate….”

Argh! How in the world could I have been following PW’s posts and not known that?!?!

Boxturtle (Grabs Dunce cap and heads for the stool in the corner)

Harry Reid makes Gomer Pyle look like Einstein.

When Franken *is* sworn in, can he invite guests?

Like, maybe….. Satan Rush Limbaugh?

Thing is, the Dems are already gearing up to use the nuclear option to get the budget passed. The GOP’s stonewalling Franken is just more impetus to do so.

You need to remember that MN CD6 is a fiercely conservative district. Conservative and just a tetch dim. Ergo, Michele Bachmann, the Great White Hopeless.

There is so much precedent for obstructing the certified winner of an election John. Just put on your best General Custer outfit, collect your nitwit army, and ride out.

Dean Barkley’s 15% is an interesting piece. Some of it was anti-candidate (folks who didn’t like Coleman or Franken), but some of it was genuine pro-Barkley. Unclear (to me) where that piece of the pie would go in a (please god) hypothetical do-over.

Don’t you think, given Al’s history of speaking sharply and snarkily to power, that Reid might be just as reluctant to seat Senator Al as the Repugs?

Yeah, yeah, it’s only supposed to be used — by Democrats, anyway — in “extraordinary circumstances”.

I think they should use even on the question of whether to have Coffee black or with Sugar and Cream. This Nuke option needs to be shoved down the throats of the Repukes for all they have done to fuck up the country. Use once, twice, three times and use it every time they open their collective potty mouths!

as I did when we were a minority, I will stand against the “nuclear option”

It would be interesting to see how this mess would affect a new election (purely for intellectual curiosity). Would more Minnesotans turn out? How would their outrage/ disgust with Coleman’s delaying sore-loser-ism and taxpayer cost run-up affect their vote?

On the other hand, nice armbands.

Sheesh I guess all the Pups are busy DIGGING in their Gardens and are forgetting to Digg The Lake! Come on Pups DIGG this great Update/Post by PW!

Never thought of that, but it’s a distinct possibility. And Reid is probably not the only one. What a bunch of hacks and clowns.

O/T. Looks like we might have a TARP hearing coming up in a few:

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/…..284987-102

LOL

IMO, part of the problem here in the minds of many (most?) voters is the old lesser of evils. The contrast could not be more stark. Coleman is slithery slick with the charm gig but is a typically lousy senator. Franken turns people off with his abrasive lack of charm, but he would be a top-notch senator for MN. In a runoff, people would really have to choose their poison. But it feels to me as though things would tilt (not overwhelmingly, but tilt nonetheless) in Franken’s favor. Swedes are not fond of scofflaws.

Dugg. And that reminds me. I have jalapenos and cucumbers to get in the ground.

The other thing is that Franken has (wisely, IMO) kept a very low profile during all of this. He is spending much of his time in D.C., learning the ropes, while Normie does his Heathcliff-brooding-on-the-moors thingie in a MN courtroom.

What happens with the Kazeminy lawsuit and investigation could have a definite impact on things going forward.

Hard to be Heathcliff when you have a Leno chin. :)

No kidding!!

Total OT, but MinnPost’s Eric Black (casualty of Star Tribune implosion) is doing great follow on the Seymour Hersh revelations about Cheney assassination squads. Latest update here.

Just a friendly reminder that CD6 isn’t ALL fiercely conservative. As one who lives in the much more reality-based southern end of her highly gerrymandered district, I hope to reassure non-CD6ers that we’re not ALL bats**t crazy!!!! And we have decent DFL state reps and senator to prove it, swept out in ‘06. :)

I just hope PW’s very good analysis that Stoopid Cornyn’s huffing & puffing may hurt MN GOPers, thereby resulting in the (political) end to Bachmann.

And fwiw, talking to other folks, Coleman hasn’t done himself any favors with this nonsense, including among those who voted for him.

Great choices!! This is my week to get things going in my garden! From tomatoes to potatoes, peppers(of course the hot ones) zucchini, yellow squash, pole beans, peas just to name a few!

Speaking of boats, methinks the good citizens of Moorhead and Clay County are none too thrilled with having only one Senator right now. Cornyn and Limbaugh would do well not to mention much less set foot in the area these days.

They’re likely to find the boat anchors wrapped around their metaphorical necks as they are airlifted with the other one-ton sandbags and dumped into the icy dark waters of the rampagin’ Red River.

All of which, you know, is a metaphorical image, because as we ND and Minnesotans know well, riff-raff such as Cornyn and Limbaugh would never be found in these parts anyway.

I’ve been thinking the same thing, watching Sen. Amy out there in her yellow slicker.

Hopefully others are putting this 2 + 2 together, as well — that it’s all whiny Norm’s fault we’re short a senator during a major natural emergency.

Mea culpa. Generalizations are almost always dangerous. I live in CD2, so things are similar here, though I think the Dems are gaining strength overall. We need a strong, strong candidate to run against Kline. I literally wept when CD6 voted in Bachmann. A little verklempt, you might say. Can you get her out of there?

Prairie, looks like you’re getting a dump o’snow today. How’s that factor in to the coming week?

Continuing to do my part! ;)

It’s a tough district, with the hard-core fundie types up nort’. (Generalizing, of course!) Dumpbachmann.blogspot.com has done an amazing job of documenting her nonsense, including shining light on the negligence of Twin Cities TradMed in NOT covering it adequately. Too many “normal” republicans think she’s just conservative, not crazy, as a result.

One of the things DumpBachmann uncovered was a national fundie group (Susan B. Anthony something, IIRC — highly offended by the use of that name for their purposes!) that mobilized a national GOTV effort into the CD6 households.

That and an “independent” candidate who wasn’t even endorsed by the Independence party swung it away from Tinklenberg. Sad, indeed.

MN, with its “independent” affinity, definitely needs some version of Instant Runoff Voting — Franken & Tink, IMO, would have been elected outright had we had it.

The bigger concern is wave action from winds. Don’t know how that’ll go. We’re getting the blizzard here in the tall timber this morning too. Traveling restricted to cyberhighways.

Now if someone could just tell that pissed-off robin in the crab apple tree and the blue heron that just lifted off the shoreline and headed for open water that they should’ve stayed south another week or two….

Hey, I’m also in southern Washington County. Can’t believe Bachmann got reelected, although the lunatic fringe by St. Cloud will always vote republican, no matter how crazy. Bachmann’s not going anywhere, I’m afraid, until CD6 is either eliminated or redrawn. It was created specifically as a breeding ground for movement republicans.

I guess the only solace is that there’s no future after CD6, those who are elected are too out of step with the rest of Minnesota. Anyone remember Mark Kennedy, Bachmann’s predecessor? No, of course not. Klobuchar buried him.

Excellent point, neighbor! Karma’s a b**ch. I loved watching Kennedy go down in flames. He was a tool in a very special class, right there with Whiny Norm. Heh.

Imagine Billo getting a call, asking him to hold for Senator Franken…

Where is Molly when someone needs to point out loudly and with humor what an embarrassment this “good looking son…b” is to TX. Holy Moly what a jerk. You were right as always, Molly, and we miss you.

Phoenix Woman wrote:

Whaddya gonna do, John, bleed on me?

LOL !!

I want to hear what he will say to his colleagues and to the nation.

“A not very funny thing happened to me on the way to the Senate….”

Is this the right forum for that joke? Heh.

watching Sen. Amy out there in her yellow slicker.

Maybe Al should join her so they can get used to working together.

and the blue heron that just lifted off the shoreline and headed for open water that they should’ve stayed south another week or two….

We’ll take the blue heron. They’re beautiful. But, I don’t know that they like our mountains (in WV) very much.