When Congressman Joe Wilson shouted out "You Lie!" during one of President Obama's speeches earlier this year, Fox News ran cover for him and helped turn him into a right wing hero. When Senator Al Franken followed Senate procedure and told Joe Lieberman that his time was up, they tear him to shreds, making crass, childish and personal insults. Video and more from Media Matters:

During the December 18 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, and Brian Kilmeade repeatedly attacked Sen. Al Franken -- calling him "uncivil," a "newbie," and "an angry clown" -- for denying Sen. Joe Lieberman extra speaking time on the Senate floor. The Fox & Friends hosts ignored that, in fact, Franken, Lieberman, and Majority Leader Harry Reid all stated on December 17 that Franken was following Reid's orders not to grant any speech extensions.

But Franken, Reid, Lieberman say Franken was following request not to grant extensions

Franken: "I really just had no choice." Minnesota Public Radio reported on December 17 that "Franken says Majority leader Harry Reid ordered all senators who presided today to keep speeches to their ten minute limits and not grant any extensions" for senators of either party:

Franken says he wasn't trying to slight Lieberman and in fact supports the amendment to the health care bill Lieberman was discussing. Read on...

The right loves a good nontroversy. Senator John McCain was so outraged by the incident that he couldn't hold back that nasty temper of his, calling it unprecedented and outrageous. As it turns out, he was completely off the mark and out of line. In fact, he's done the same exact thing himself.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (865)

PLAYS: (5447)

December 14, 2009 C-SPAN

From Think Progress--Franken: Republicans ‘haven’t read the bill and are not very familiar with it.’:

This afternoon, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) openly challenged Sen. John Thune (R-SD)’s claim that the Senate health care bill does not offer benefits until 2014. “We are entitled to our own opinions; we are not entitled to our own facts,” Franken asserted. “Benefits kick in right away.” He concluded:

I stand here day after day after day and hear my colleagues, my good friends from the other side, say things that are not based on fact. […]

Senator Thune did say that none of the benefits started next year. He just, I guess, hasn’t read the bill. .. I do find that many of my colleagues who I’m very friendly with, haven’t read the bill and are not very familiar with it.

And The Politico--Al Franken feuds with GOP's No. 4:

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) sparred sharply on the Senate floor Monday evening, a departure from the usually dormant speeches in the august chamber.

Franken said he was struck by a speech in which he said Thune had refused to highlight when benefits to the health care bill would kick in and instead emphasized the negative parts of the bill.

Continue reading...

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (72)

PLAYS: (328)

December 07, 2009 C-SPAN

Sen. Al Franken speaks out in opposition to the Nelson Amendment on the Senate floor.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (777)

PLAYS: (28686)

December 01, 2009 C-SPAN

Senator Franken on the floor of the Senate as the Health Care debate begins.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (85)

PLAYS: (349)

Sen. Al Franken explained why he supports the Senate health care bill.

Franken: From 2000 to 2007 American families saw their premiums almost double. During that same time, we saw more than six million more Americans became uninsured. And during that same time, insurance company profits rose 428 percent--428 percent. That’s all you need to know, that's all you need to know to understand why we have to pass this bill. 482 percent in 8 years. No wonder they’re fighting this bill. Of course they don’t want to be subject to antitrust laws. They’re making outrageous profits by gouging American families. Make no mistake, that’s what this is about.

Franken went on to explain which provisions of the bill would kick in immediately and reform the current system and that he hoped to try to improve the bill through the amendment process. You're going to have a huge uphill battle there Senator.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (68)

PLAYS: (175)

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (77)

PLAYS: (243)

November 18, 2009 C-SPAN Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing
Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice

From Air America's blog--Al Franken Takes On Eric Holder Over Rape Kit Backlogs:

But Franken, staying true to his welcome focus on women's issues, asked Holder what Justice is doing about the immense backlog of untested rape kits, which can often yield DNA evidence that allows the police and prosecutors to close cases. Congress provided money under the Debbie Smith Rape Kit Backlog Reduction Act in 2004 and 2008 to reduce those backlogs, but there is no reliable database of how many rape kits haven't been tested and major backlogs remain in many errors.

And from Sen. Franken--Remarks By Sen. Franken to the Innocence Project:

The work of the Innocence Project has already led to 245 post-conviction DNA exonerations. And in four out of every ten of those exonerated, DNA testing identified the actual perpetrator.

When you consider that you’ve only looked at a small subset of all of the cases out there, the conclusion is pretty clear: there are innocent people in prison and on death row, and guilty people walking the streets.

The former should weigh heavy on our conscience. Both should be a cause for concern… and action.

Some people think efforts to exonerate the wrongly convicted are somehow soft on crime. I think it’s just the opposite – your efforts are not just morally right, they’re tactically smart – they help us ensure that innocent people are not wrongly incarcerated while the actual perpetrators walk free to commit more crimes.

There’s a lot of debate in progressive circles about what has changed under the Obama administration, and what hasn’t. But one thing has certainly changed: We have a government that believes in science once again.

Believing in science means acting on what the science tells you.

So what does the science tell us when it comes to crime?

Well, this February, the National Academy of Sciences released their comprehensive, two-year review of forensic science in use throughout American crime labs.

They concluded, and I’m quoting:

“Many forensic tests… have never been exposed to stringent scientific scrutiny. With the exception of nuclear DNA analysis… no forensic method has been rigorously shown to have the capacity to consistently, and with a high degree of certainty, demonstrate a connection between evidence and a specific individual or source.”

I participated in the hearing where those findings were released, and as we questioned witnesses, what became clear is that there have been many false convictions based on improper, or at best ineffective, forensic techniques.

And that tells us we need to reassess how our criminal justice system does business.

Continue reading...

Heather: As Megan Carpenter noted Sen. Franken pressed A.G. Eric Holder about the number of non-violent offenders incarcerated in America every year and stayed true to form with caring about women's issues. Everyone from Minnesota should be very proud to have Al Franken as their Senator with the good work he's doing.

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (1145)

PLAYS: (5481)

October 01, 2009 C-SPAN

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player!

DOWNLOADS: (2279)

PLAYS: (10276)

[YouTube] h/t Political Carnival

A profile in yesterday's Minnesota Star Tribune on how Al Franken is handling the endless delay before he's seated in the U.S. Senate.

"A lot of people ask me and Franni [his wife], 'Are you OK?'" Franken said, his face crumpling into a caricature of someone inquiring after one's health. "As life's challenges go, this is pretty low on the totem pole. Our kids are OK, we're not in danger of losing our home to foreclosure. We're fine."

Statements such as this from the always execrable Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on the continued obstruction from the GOP would tend to give one pause.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn is threatening “World War III” if Democrats try to seat Al Franken in the Senate before Norm Coleman can pursue his case through the federal courts.

Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledges that a federal challenge to November’s elections could take “years” to resolve. But he’s adamant that Coleman deserves that chance — even if it means Minnesota is short a senator for the duration.

As it stands now, the Minnesota Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case brought by the Coleman campaign to overturn the recount result sometime in June.

Ann Coulter and SENATOR Al Franken discuss which historical figure they would want to be. (h/t Media Bloodhound)

Open thread (except for transsexual jokes, which will be deleted as usual, why do you waste your time?) below...