After leaving SNL, he became a writer. He was definitely liberal, but came across as a smartass. His books were really humor, and could not be taken seriously. Then he started campaigning. He got to the issues, and all of a sudden he looked like a political contender. I was pleased to see him win his seat, just as much for the fact that he was number 60 as the fact that it gave him a chance to prove his critics wrong. And that is exactly what he did.....
Franken had a way of connecting with the people. When McCain was getting booed by his own constituents, Franken had a way of calming them down and having a civilized conversation with them. Look at how quickly he was able to disarm this heated situation:
He had a talent for playing the "new guy in the Senate/I don't know how things work around here" role. He knew how to lay back and play dumb and set the trap for the person he was questioning. Check out this clip of him questioning a Justice Department official on the constitutionality of the Patriot Act. Let's just say, the Judicial committee is a nightmare spot for him to be in if you're a Republican:
He is a Patriot, and truly cares for the American people. His first attempt at introducing a bill was an attachment on this year's most recent defense spending bill. His attachment was a stipulation that said that we withhold defense contracts from companies or contractors who make their employees sign paperwork as part of their employment agreement that states that if anything tragic happens to them while they are on the job or under employment, they are not allowed to sue the contractor. Rachel Maddow called it the "If you get gang raped on the job, you can't sue us clause". Sounds fair. It was actually introduced due to the story of a female contractor that was drugged and gang raped on her fourth day on the job by her own coworkers. After attempting to reach outside sources for medical help and to reach family members in the States, her employer KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, locked her in a shipping container and shipped her back to the U.S. Shockingly, 3/4 of the Republican Senators voting on this addendum voted NO! Here is video of Franken introducing the bill:
He's not afraid to just come out and bitch slap someone when he feels it necessary. Case in point, this testimony earlier this month regarding health care reform. The person being questioned was testifying that health care reform would result in a rise in bankruptcies from catastrophic medical expenses. Here is Senator Franken's line of questioning to follow. Absolutely brilliant:
And lastly, the man is brilliant. He has been doing this as a party trick for years, but it still shows his level of intelligence. When 50% of American adults cannot find the State of New York on a U.S. map, he should score in the upper 5 percentile of American minds to be able to do this and talk simultaneously:
So, in my opinion, is "Franken in 2016" a possibility? At this point, I don't see any other option for the Democratic party.
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