Al Franken forgets Democrats are supposed to be jelly-spined cowards

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Someone, fetch the fainting couches. No one (including the media) seems to know what to do with this Sen. Franken character.

Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats.

Five sources who were in the room tell POLITICO that Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration’s failure to provide clarity or direction on health care and the other big bills it wants Congress to enact.

The sources said Franken was the most outspoken senator in the meeting, which followed President Barack Obama’s question-and-answer session with Senate Democrats at the Newseum on Wednesday. But they also said the Minnesotan wasn’t the only angry Democrat in the room.

Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats.

Five sources who were in the room tell POLITICO that Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration’s failure to provide clarity or direction on health care and the other big bills it wants Congress to enact.

[snip]

Franken — a comedian turned liberal talk show host — vowed to keep a relatively low profile when he arrived in the Senate over the summer after a protracted legal battle with former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman. But he has developed a reputation among his colleagues as one of the more aggressive personalities on the Hill.

Last November, after Tennessee Republican Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander authored an op-ed in a local paper defending their opposition to a Franken amendment, Franken confronted both men on the floor — and grew particularly irritated with Corker.

He lashed out at Corker and a staff member in a follow-up meeting about the matter, several people said. Franken also clashed with South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in GOP leadership, last month in a scathing speech during the health care debate, and staffers have reported other run-ins.

What a ravenous beast!

What Politico fails to mention is that the Franken amendment would have required defense contractors to allow their employees access to U.S. courts in cases of rape or sexual assault. Corker opposed this amendment, and for whatever reason, that really cheesed off Franken. Imagine, a politician who feels angry at the idea of defense contractors exploiting rape victims.

As for Thune, Franken made the extremely rookie mistake of pointing out when one of his colleagues was making stuff up as he went along. ”We are entitled to our own opinions. We’re not entitled to our own facts,” said the irrational polemic.

This kind of stuff is called a “double standard.” When a Republican displays this level of enthusiasm for their ideologies, it’s called moxie, or “being a maverick.” When John McCain screams ”Fuck you!” at Sen. Cornyn (a breach of protocol far beyond anything Franken is being accused of,) the media laughs, shakes their heads, and says, “Well, that’s just McCain being McCain.” Republicans are manly men, and manly men sometimes get hot under the collar during moments of spirited debate.

Democrats, on the other hands, are not permitted that level of passion. Or perhaps, it’s so unusual to witness a fiery display from Democrats that the event truly shocks the media, and they reflexively label it “an unruly outburst.” Afterall, these are Democrats, for God’s sake. What else could it possibly be?

Grayson is another good example of this. Back in September, the Congressman landed in hot water for saying the Republican health care plan is “don’t get sick,” and if you do get sick, “die quickly.” When demands for an apology disseminated from the Village, Grayson teabagged (the old-fashion definition) his opponents and responded, “I would like to apologize. I would like to apologize to the dead.”  Fun facts: Grayson also called Cheney a “vampire” and Fox News the “enemy of America.”

Unsurprisingly, no one (the Republicans and the media included) seems to know what to do with Grayson. He doesn’t speak the poll-tested “looking forward, not backward” lingo of the president. He talks like a liberal. Franken talks like a liberal. What’s worse, they seem proud to be liberals – an alien concept to Democrats, who built their careers acting like Republicans, and mainstream media, which is largely owned by the corporations that enjoy Democrats acting like Republicans.

It behooves most Democrats, Republicans, and media to portray politicians like Franken and Grayson as hysterical, fringe lunatics lest this liberalism thing spread like the plague it is.