Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Orrin hatches a thought

Let's give a Grumpy Abe Linguistic Lunacy (GALL) award to Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah Republican, who explained why he believes  the Minnesota senate race  ought not to be hurriedly decided until every legal step is taken (maybe until the  next election, the Constitution requiring two senators for every state be damned). A  5-month delay so far doesn't sound overly abrupt to me, but I don't favor an open-ended Democratic vacancy in the Senate that would benefit the GOP in filibustering President Obama's initiatives.   Isn't that why we're all here, team?

Anyway, I chose this Hatch comment for the award:  
"There are very important issues involved - constitutional issues - and I have no qualms about saying that if he can, he ought to push it all the way.  We're so sick and tired of having one set of rules for the Democrats they don't abide by, and then another set of rules for Republicans.  The Democrats didn't count the ballots the way they should and they didn't put the protections in that they should.  It was the Republicans who were better at counting ballots and doing what was right and following the law.   They don't do it on the other side as much."

(P.S.: I don't deny that Hatch and his Republican colleagues are "sick and tired" about a lot of things, mostly because they are instinctively  in denial about how the ballots were counted in Bush vs. Gore.)   

UPDATE:  The Minneapolis Tribune just reported that a tally of the uncounted ballots that had been rejected has now upped Franken's tiny lead over Coleman to more than 300.  Coleman had hoped to gain some traction with the new tally. As Don Meredith used to sing on Monday Night Football after the game appeared to be decided, Turn out the lights.  The party's over.   Want to bet that won't happen soon?  

3 comments:

Ben said...

I have been one of Coleman's biggest supporters. It is absurd that someone like Franken would ever be in the Senate. That said, I am not sure what to do now. Coleman got outhustled by Franken since the day after the election and led us to where we are today. It does not look good for Coleman obviously.

I find Franken abhorrent, but if he won the election, fair is fair and he should be seated.

chien lunatique said...

A standard tactic of the grand obstructionist party has been to use the courts in an attempt to thwart the peoples will. Rove used this approach successfully in a Supreme Court race in Alabama in the early 90's and it has been part of the GOP's bag of tricks since then. The most infamous example being the 2000 presidential elections.

As for this particular election, Franken won it last November. It is not IF he won. The court battle is an attempt by the repulsican's to retain one of their remaining assets -the Senate Filibuster. Without it the gopers know that their dream of the dismantlement of the welfare state goes down in flames.

Franken in the Senate is no more absurd than Reagan in the White House. In fact, given a choice between a comedian and a B movie actor(Bedtime for Bonzo) most rational people would prefer the former. I for one believe, the Senate could use a little levity.

What I find abhorrent is that the "county first" party continues to put it's interest before the interests of our nation. Now that is detestable.

Mencken said...

This the state that elected a pro wrestler governor.
All bets are off.

As one of Coleman's biggest supporters Ben, can we assume you sent him a check for $2,000 and went door to door for him in Eden Prairie ?

Franken can be unctuous at times but he's definitely smart enough to be of service to the state.