# How's Al Franken's Senate bid going? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 12, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239 "2008-02-12T01:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 51
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1001 "2009-06-16T00:29:35Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The other guy was dead. … and the OTHER guy was Walter Mondale. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1002 "2009-06-16T00:56:59Z")
Coleman, the still-dead Wellstone, or Mondale – YOU make the call! And I called it for Mondale. ☹ I have no desire to see how many of my brethren voted for Wellstone, even though it takes a while for the news to get near the North Dakota and Canada borders. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1003 "2009-06-16T02:08:50Z")
If this thing drags out, could a bunch of peeved Minnesotans file suit demanding a certification on the grounds that they’re being deprived of appropriate representation in the U.S. Senate? Amy Klobuchar can’t keep doing it all on her own forever. ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1004 "2009-06-16T03:03:14Z")
Sen. Klobuchar’s patience is near it’s limit. [From MPR:](http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/polinaut/archive/2009/06/klobuchar_is_ho.shtml) > [@](#): > > “I have predicted the 4th of July, when the corn is knee high on the 4th of July,” Klobuchar said. “I’ve already predicted that it would be done when the ice melted on Lake Minnetonka. That was incorrect. And I’ve now predicted the 4th of July. And if that is incorrect I will make no more predictions. I’ll just be mad.” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1005 "2009-06-16T04:05:07Z")
“Mad”? She had best get back from D.C. soonest, her emotional reserve levels are compromised. ---
**Author:** ![MeDrewNotYou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1006 "2009-06-16T13:43:50Z")
I read the chapter in Franken’s _Lies_ again, and boy was it depressing. @dropzone- Do you know anyone that voted Wellstone rather than Mondale? If all the Wellstone votes were added to Mondale’s, would he have won the election? I get the feeling that the late senator would be a little upset that people are more concerned with personal loyalty towards him than they are with putting the best candidate in office. I got the impression that he was a guy who really cared about good government, more so than his own political fortunes or legacy. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaijon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1007 "2009-06-16T15:03:03Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > a right-wing noise machine distortion of what happened at the memorial service for that opponent to get him elected. Which part was distorted? The part where they told Dick Cheney to stay home? The part where the crowd booed the Republicans in attendance? The part where Rick Kahn called for the crowd to win the election for Wellstone, and for the Republicans to just step aside? The part where John Kerry apologized to Trent Lott for the way he was treated? Hmm. Ok then. Stay classy, Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1008 "2009-06-16T15:51:18Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > The part where the crowd booed the Republicans in attendance? I know that part’s a lie. The two right-wingers who claimed it later admitted they hadn’t been there, and Al Franken was and said it didn’t happen. I can always rely on you to spout their talking points. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaijon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1009 "2009-06-16T16:37:14Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > I know that part’s a lie. The two right-wingers who claimed it later admitted they hadn’t been there, and Al Franken was and said it didn’t happen. I can always rely on you to spout their talking points. Regardless of whether the right wingers were there, Al Franken was, and admitted that Trent Lot was booed, he just tried to minimize it. ([Reflections on the Wellstone Memorial and the King Funeral | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-franken/reflections-on-the-wellst_b_15459.html)) > [@Al Franken](#): > > We’ll never get an actual count - but I’d say about two hundred people booed Trent Lott when his face came on the Jumbotron ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1010 "2009-06-16T16:48:14Z")
I was there. There was a smattering of boos for a couple of Pubs when they were shown the Jumbotron (and for Jesse ventura too, IIRC), but it was barely noticable, and it wasn’t like that was anything orchestrated anyway. The event went on for several hours. The vast majoriy of it was completely non-political. Only one speaker, Kahn, who was Wellstone’s best friend, got really emotional and political. It was like 20 minutes of a four hour event, but the media made it seem like that was the tenor for the whole thing. Kahn also wasn’t supposed to do that. It wasn’t like the party _wanted_ him to do that. He just went off the rails. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1011 "2009-06-16T16:54:59Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > I know that part’s a lie. The two right-wingers who claimed it later admitted they hadn’t been there, and Al Franken was and said it didn’t happen. I can always rely on you to spout their talking points. This post wpould have worked just as well if you had omitted the first sentence. Let’s not hurl charges of lying at other posters. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1012 "2009-06-16T17:12:59Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#): > > @dropzone- Do you know anyone that voted Wellstone rather than Mondale? If all the Wellstone votes were added to Mondale’s, would he have won the election? Yes, a whole lot – many of the absentee votes. It was only 10 days before the election, and most of the absentee ballots had already been mailed in. You could request another one be mailed to you, fill it out, and mail it back, but it was hard to do that in time. And quite impossible, if you were a soldier serving overseas, etc. And the Republican Secretary of State, Mary Kiffmeyer, ruled that absentee ballots for Wellstone would not count, but ones for Coleman would be counted. (She was a friend of Katherine Harris, the SoS of Florida 2000, and had even had her up here for a fundraising event, so this surprised nobody.) But even so, this would not have changed the results. Coleman got 49,000 more votes than Mondale, Wellstone absentee votes were only about 12,000. The real spoiler in that race was the Independence party candidate, who got 45,000 votes. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1013 "2009-06-16T17:14:38Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > This post wpould have worked just as well if you had omitted the first sentence. > Let’s not hurl charges of lying at other posters. > > [/Moderating] Sorry, didn’t mean it like that. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1014 "2009-06-16T17:17:09Z")
No! I gasp with horror, clutch my pearls and faint dead away! Oh, those wretched partisan lefties! And after all the nice things tighty rightys said about Wellstone! You remember, how much they respected his stand against corporate war profiteering, how they rushed to support his patriotism. Well, no, neither do I, but wouldn’t it be pretty to think so? ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1015 "2009-06-16T18:14:02Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > … and the OTHER guy was Walter Mondale. Do not underestimate this. I voted for Coleman because when Coleman, in his debate with Mondale, pushed Mondale about the marriage penalty. Mondale replied: “I don’t believe in tax cuts for the rich” Huh? WTF? That completely idiotic answer, combined with his mannerisms turned me off Mondale. Older folk then me refused to vote for Mondale because if his association (to them) with the 70’s…Foreign policy fiascos, oil embargo, high unemployment etc. Some of them even said that it might be unfair…but they couldn’t vote for him because of the association. Coleman slammed Mondale in the debate…Mondale was defenseless. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1016 "2009-06-16T18:15:46Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#): > > I read the chapter in Franken’s _Lies_ again, and boy was it depressing. > > @dropzone- Do you know anyone that voted Wellstone rather than Mondale? If all the Wellstone votes were added to Mondale’s, would he have won the election? > I get the feeling that the late senator would be a little upset that people are more concerned with personal loyalty towards him than they are with putting the best candidate in office. I got the impression that he was a guy who really cared about good government, more so than his own political fortunes or legacy. I am one who voted for Wellstone every time. I even helped his campaign by volunteering. I did not vote for Mondale. While I didn’t agree with Wellstone on many things…Wellstone was a good man. He did what he thought was right and acted on it. He seemed incorruptable…and because of that I always voted for him. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1017 "2009-06-16T23:47:56Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > Which part was distorted? The part where they told Dick Cheney to stay home? The part where the crowd booed the Republicans in attendance? The part where Rick Kahn called for the crowd to win the election for Wellstone, and for the Republicans to just step aside? The part where John Kerry apologized to Trent Lott for the way he was treated? Hmm. Ok then. Stay classy, Democrats. :mad: :mad: :mad: If you want the Straight Dope on Wellstone’s funeral, go to [_Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right,_](http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Lying-Liars-Tell-Them/dp/0525947647) by Al Franken (Penguin Group 2003), Chapter 25: “‘This Was _Not_ a Memorial to Paul Wellstone’: A Case Study in Right-Wing Lies”: > [@](#): > > The crowd at the event, which had been billed as a celebration of the lives of the deceased, had a raucous energy. From where I was sitting, it all seemed just incredibly natural and human, the way grieving people often jump between crying and laughing. A group of Indians did some tribal drumming. A Soul band called “Sounds of Blackness” as dignitaries filed in. When the crowd saw Clinton on the Jumbotron, they went nuts. Same for Hilary, for Gore, and for Mondale, who was replacing Wellstone on the ballot. When Trent Lott’s face appeared on the screen, a few people booed. It seemed like good-natured ribbing. Lott broke out in a grin and waved. > > \ > > One of the eight eulogies that night, given by Wellstone’s best friend Rick Kahn, ended with a political call to arms that went over the top. . .. > > The trouble began when Kahn put too fine a point on what the crowd had to do to keep Paul’s legacy alive. “'We can redeem the promise of his life if you help us win this election for Paul Wellstone!” Huge cheers. He repeated variations of this several times, and the crowd stayed right with him. I could see how someone watching on TV might find this blatantly political battle cry just a bit too partisan for a memorial service. > > \ > > By one estimate, at least 630,000 people in Minnesota watched at least part of the memorial on TV. Reasonable people of goodwill were genuinely offended. And to people who only saw the ten-second clips that were later repeated and repeated on TV, it looked like Kahn and the crowd were being foot-stompingly partisan – that Wellstone’s death was being used for political gain. > > But Kahn’s speech was also full of phrases like “[our] hearts are now shattered” and “tonight we are filled to overflowing with grief and sorrow.” This speech was coming from someone who was crushed by the deaths of his best friend, his best friend’s wife, his best friend’s daughter, and three other very close friends. Yeah, it had some inappropriate moments. But I assumed people would understand, and cut the man a little slack. The next day the Republican Noise Machine cranked into action. Vin Weber called the event a “complete, total, absolute sham,” and that dishonest and despicable meme was fertilized and sown throughout the media. Kellyanned Fitzpatrick Conway claimed that the audience was instructed by a screen when to cheer and when to jeer, like a game show audience. (Not true – but there was a monitor for closed captioning for the hearing impaired. Would you expect less at a leading liberal’s funeral?) Rush Limbaugh claimed the mourners of one of the most beloved politicians in Minnesota history were a “planted audience” and “bused in the by AFL-CIO.” Neither statement had a shred of truth in it. 20,000 mourners attended – much more than the organizers expected; the stadium was only built to hold 16,000. The booing of Trent Lott was embellished into an orchestrated mass demonstration of anti-Pub hate. Christopher Caldwell wrote in _The Weekly Standard_ that viewers “turned on television to watch a solemn commemoration and found a rally devoted to a politics that was twisted, pagan, childish, inhumane, and even totalitarian beyond their word nightmares.” The liars just kept repeating their damned shameless arrogant lies until they became the common wisdom. Og damn them all! May their hemorrhoids resist surgery! May their tongues swell and their genitals wither! May the fleas of a thousand camels infest their pubes! :mad: :mad: :mad: ---
**Author:** ![MeDrewNotYou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1018 "2009-06-18T00:42:28Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > I am one who voted for Wellstone every time. I even helped his campaign by volunteering. > > I did not vote for Mondale. > > While I didn’t agree with Wellstone on many things…Wellstone was a good man. He did what he thought was right and acted on it. He seemed incorruptable…and because of that I always voted for him. I can live with that. A little Mondale stupidity (the tax cuts thing _is_ pretty funny) I can stomach, but that he crossed some line for some people and that’s fine. My gripe was more with the people who voted for Wellstone even after his death (absentees aside, thanks t-bonham). If you liked Wellstone and thought that Mondale wasn’t an acceptable replacement, vote Coleman or the independent. If they aren’t acceptable, write-in someone who is. A protest vote shouldn’t be used on someone who obviously isn’t able to take office. I have the same exasperation for people who write-in Mickey Mouse, or God forbid, Lizard Men. Sure “all politicians are the same,” but at least put in your own damn name! ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1019 "2009-06-18T01:19:51Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#): > > I have the same exasperation for people who write-in Mickey Mouse, or God forbid, Lizard Men. Sure “all politicians are the same,” but at least put in your own damn name! It can be worse, in Ecuador in 1967 A foot powder was elected mayor. > **[Was a Mayoral Election Won by a Foot Powder?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/political-podiatry/)** > > Was a mayoral election in Ecuador won by a foot powder? > [@](#): > > QUITO, Ecuador, July 17; Controversy is raging here because a foot powder named Pulvapies was elected mayor of a town of 4000. > > A foot deodorant firm decided during recent municipal election campaigns to use the slogan: “Vote for any candidate, but if you want well-being and hygiene, vote for Pulvapies.” > > On the eve of the election, the company distributed a leaflet the same size and color as official voting papers, saying: “For Mayor: Honorable Pulvapies.” > > When the votes were counted, the coastal town of Picoaza had elected Pulvapies mayor, and voters in other municipalities had marked their ballots for it. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239/1020 "2009-06-18T01:56:00Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > It can be worse, in Ecuador in 1967 A foot powder was elected mayor. Bah, that’s par for the course for us. Once, we had three different people acting as President of the country simultaneously. 🆒 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239.md?page=50) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-al-frankens-senate-bid-going/437239.md?page=52)