I read this earlier, but forgot about it, so thanks to D-Chance for reminding me about this abomination:
But because of one of his first pieces of legislation, Democrats now have their most brazen attack line of the emerging 2010 campaign season: that Republicans are insensitive to rape victims.
The charge stems from a Franken-sponsored amendment that would prohibit the Department of Defense from contracting with companies that require employees to resolve workplace complaints — including complaints of sexual assault — through private arbitration rather than the courts.
Thirty Senate Republicans voted against the amendment, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, liberal commentators and state Democratic Party chairs have been merciless.
***But the campaign could also be detrimental for Franken, complicating his efforts to redefine himself as a low-profile pol who wants to work with Republicans to solve the nation’s problems.
“Franken’s amendment may make sense for national Democrats in laying down lines of attack heading into the 2010 campaign — but this is not what Franken needs to build a base in Minnesota,” said Larry Jacobs, an expert in state politics at the University of Minnesota. “Being a poster boy of a hard-hitting campaign against the Republican Party is the opposite of what he needs in Minnesota.”
Thirty Republicans are exposed and vulnerable with an objectively pro-rape voting record, and it is bad news for… the Democrats. We haven’t seen wankery like this since Mark Halperin claimed that McCain not knowing how many houses he owned during an economic meltdown was bad news for Obama.
You just can’t make this shit up. I’m adding the Politico to the blogs we monitor and mock category on the blogroll.
WereBear
Hmmmm. Working with Republicans. Such an elusive goal.
General Winfield Stuck
Looks like Stuart Smalley gets the last laugh. I knew all that SNL experience would pay off.
NorthernMNer
It should be noted that Franken isn’t up for re-election until 2014. Its not like the electorate is going to be bringing this to the polls in 5 years.
And as a Minnesotan, Franken (Al AND Franni) have done a lot to build relationships across the state. But of course, Politico is about web traffic, not accuracy.
kommrade reproductive vigor
‘Bout damn time. Someone needs to tell those fucks that opposite day is a game, not a business strategy.
chris
mr jacobs…you may want to re-evaluate which party is playing politics. what franken did was address a current and glaring issue, for the benefit of his constituents, which unless im mistaken, is what they are elected to do. god forbid our legislators actually, you know, legislate.
Nutella
So this Larry Jacobs guy thinks being against government-sponsored rape is unpopular in Minnesota? That’s quite a nasty insult to the people of Minnesota.
General Winfield Stuck
Unfortunately, most are from the south where white hot hatred for liberals in generally and Obama in particular is the watchword with most import. For them, defending rapists is just another word for nothing left to lose, I expect.
eric
interesting because apparently if you are a Senator from Oklahoma can you can pretty much deny most of modern biology, chemistry, cosmology, geology, and physics and it won’t hurt your reputation as a bipartisan legislator. Nope. But, you go after military contractors avoiding liabiltiy for gang rapes and kidnapping, your bipartisan bona fides are forever tarnished.
I would be amused if, in the end, this type of “article wasn’t the most toxic swill poisoning REASONED discourse.
eric
Blue Raven
Yep. Bad for Franken and the Dems. Minnesotans can’t stand seeing someone talk common sense. And they’re so quiet as a general rule. They don’t wanna be bothersome ever. It’s all the quiet Swedes and Norwegians who moved there. Their NFL team is called the Vikings as an inside joke.
Jay B.
Holy Larry Sabato that’s fucking stupid. If that’s “expert opinion” then literally ANYONE can do it. I know only a smidge about MN politics, but on the simplest of facts of basic politics he’s wrong. Franken has six years to develop a political base — which he already has and has every opportunity to increase. And being against rape is usually a political winner and hardly considered partisan. Until now, of course.
So, to sum up, a political “expert”, employed by the state, thinks that a freshman senator shouldn’t come out with anti-rape laws geared to punish out of whack mercenary forces from getting federal contract, lest he run afoul of his constituents, who, plainly, hate to see their politicians stand up against rape. And he certainly is in trouble FIVE YEARS from now because of drawing such a bold line in the sand.
sturunner
After all, what are women good for in a combat zone? . . . beside Tammy Duckworth & Rhonda Corum.
gbear
The commenters over at Politico aren’t even mock-worthy. They’re the sickest bunch of turpentine-drinking scumbags on the internets.
dmsilev
As Atrios likes to say, The Stupid, it BURNS!!!
And, as always, this is excellent news for John McCain.
-dms
jcricket
If only Democrats would just avoid calling any attention to the differences between themselves and Republicans – that would surely be the way to victory!
Sentient Puddle
@top:
Did Franken explicitly state, as he came into office, that he would attempt to redefine himself as a low-profile pol who wants to work with Republicans, or is this just Politico making shit up?
dmsilev
I guess I’m not really seeing how this is a liability for Franken. What, is his opponent five years hence going to run attack ads about how “Al Franken introduced a bill to protect rape victims from large companies. Don’t the large companies deserve protection as well?” ?
-dms
Why oh why
Yeah because he didn’t write a book called ‘Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right’ before getting elected in the first place…
NorthernMNer
@Sentient Puddle:
He said no such thing. In fact, he ran a campaign very similar in tone to Paul Wellstone’s Senate campaign in the 90’s.
Just Some Fuckhead
Damn Franken to hell for so naively undercutting his own goals like this. We need to change the Democratic party mascot from the jackass to the wile e coyote.
JenJen
Love that you added Politico to the mocking blogroll. You should see those guys lining up to say stupid shit on “Morning Joe” every weekday. Or, rather, don’t, because that show tends to sour one’s mood for the rest of the day.
But really, Politico guys (and I do mean guys, it’s like the New York Post over there) are as horrible to political journalism and the nation’s well-being as “Crossfire” was. And yeah, Jon Stewart put it better than I can.
gf120581
Thank you for reminding me of that Mark Halperin Epic Moment in Wankerdom. Seriously, how the f__k did he come to that reasoning? Did he read some blogs and not realize the line “This is good news for John McCain!” is meant in sarcasm?
jcricket
Is anyone, behind the scenes, advising Dems to follow Obama’s lead in terms of campaigning? Don’t back down, generally don’t engage with concern-trolling nonsense peddlers, keep your eyes on the prize, etc.
I know, there are some career Democrats who actually themselves are the concern trolls, but people like Franken, Tester, Herseth, etc. should no more listen to these fools than they would the KKK.
People like Politico, and Republicans have attention spans the length of a gnat’s, so you stand up to them a little, ignore them a little, they fold/go away. Or if they don’t, they overreach so quickly that it’s obvious to 70-80% of the population. And we can’t reach the other 20-30% anyway (crazification factor), so let’s stop trying.
flounder
I hope the Republicans start running ads tomorrow against Franken and hammer him every single day until the election…in 2014. Sounds like a nice way to funnel a billion dollars away from the wingnuts.
Keith
@gf120581:
Here you go. (in summary, he theorized that it somehow opened the door for Ayers and Rezko to become pivotal issues)
Ailuridae
Y’all should google Manu Ranu + Franken and read through his “articles” starting back at the election last year. He’s Franken’s own personal concern troll.
If Franken is more than a one-term Senator it’ll be based around the following things:
1. Constituent Service
2. Competence
3. Furthering the excellent work he does with the military.
ice9
Jacobs was pretty savvy and direct during the campaign (and it was a long one.) But that was a wankery statement, no doubt. Coleman did a pretty good job making everybody dislike both of them; I heard lots of fairly typical moderate-democrats say they disliked both candidates. Franken’s biggest problem in MN was a third-party candidate; without that he would have won going away in 08, though coattails added some. But Minnesotans are now more approving of him, because he’s proving to be what political folks knew all along–smart, tough, involved. Still egotistical–he’ll need to be friendlier and more open with the regular folks (like Wellstone was). He’d win today against most everybody except maybe Tim Pawlenty. I’ll bet he’ll win going away in five years.
ice9
CalD
Once again, many thanks again for reading the Politico (so I don’t have to).
Yikes.
Mike in NC
Shocked. Shocked I tell you!
+ 3 and it’s not Friday night yet
Church Lady
The Politico is duly concerned.
Mark S.
I don’t understand what the big deal is. We all know President McCain will veto this impudent legislation and we can get back to the important business of invading some more countries. And to accomplish these goals, we need our defense contractors to have the peace of mind that they are not going to be hauled into court to defend themselves from some frivolous gang rape charges. It’s the least we can do, after all the sacrifices our contractors have made.
God bless America, and the beacon of truth that is Politico.
kommrade reproductive vigor
@dmsilev: We are talking about a group that gave us “They call it pollution, we call it life,” so I will pass on that bet.
I wondered that, but then I decided any pol who didn’t take copious of notes during that campaign must be kind of a putz.
benr
The rape vote needs to be highlighted repeatedly for the next, oh, 4 or 5 years.
Clear evidence that Republicans are anti-morality.
That and the “censure” for Lindsey Graham from his own party for “working with” Democrats. And Olympia Snowe is considered a traitor to her party for one freakin’ vote. A committee vote.
Clear evidence that Republicans are against bipartisanship.
Go tell it on the mountain. Rinse. Repeat.
SGEW
Honestly, you shouldn’t even bother monitoring them. I mean, we all know exactly what they’re going to say anyway – what does it benefit you to confirm your suspicions of their inevitable disingenuity?
After all, you can always rely on Wonkette to mock them as needed. What more do you need?
[On the other hand – did everyone hear about Plouffe’s confession that it was Obama’s team that planted the “$400 Haircut” story with Politico? Don’t know how I feel about that.]
TenguPhule
Hilarity Ensues, GOP “Health Plan” covers elective abortions!
Eh, it’s Politico but still had me chuckling.
BP in MN
I’ve taken classes from Larry Jacobs. He knows his stuff on a research level, but he drinks far too deeply from the conventional wisdom and faux-contrarianism wells in his off-the-cuff analyses. Plus, he does love getting quoted, so I think a certain amount of the stupid things he says are just him saying something when he hasn’t really thought about it much but just can’t turn down a chance to see his name in a story.
Atlliberal
THE REPUBLICANS HAVE NO INTEREST IN SOLVING THE NATION’S PROBLEMS!
That is all.
forked tongue
Hi, I’m Al Franken, and if elected as your Senator, my highest priority will be to find common ground with Republicans who protect rapists.
Mark S.
@forked tongue:
That ad would give David Broder his first erection since 1969.
Bhall35
I, like many others, only wonder what took so long to add them to the “blogs we mock” category.
asiangrrlMN
BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT!
And, BULLSHIT!
Fuck you, Larry Jacobs. My admiration for Senator Al Franken grows by leaps and bounds, and this amendment is one reason why.
I am a MN voter, and I stand by this statement.
andy
I wouldn’t be so sure of that- TPaw’s being known as Governor BridgeFail was bad enough, but now a new moniker, Governor Gutshot, may be gaining some currency…
Batocchio
Damn, that’s some stupid analysis, perhaps fishing for a headline. Minnesotans tend to like effectiveness and honesty (also eccentricity). After finally being sworn in, Franken spoke about getting down to business, learning, etc. He purposely didn’t want to seek the limelight early on. That doesn’t mean he can’t handle it, or that Minnesotans would punish him if it came his way unbidden. I’m guessing defending rapists upsets many more people.
Jeff Fecke
Larry Jacobs is usually better than that; seriously, I don’t even know what the GOP is arguing here. Frankly, as a Minnesotan, a DFLer, and Franken-skeptic, I can say that my state’s junior senator has really won me over in his time in office precisely because he’s using his time in office to address real problems, like, say, rape. I always liked Franken as a guy, and thought he was running for the right reasons, but I’m happy to say he’s behaving like the model of a slightly-higher-than-normal-profile junior senator. I barely voted for him in 2008. I’ll be working hard for him in 2014. I suppose that’s good for the Republicans, because everything always is.
someguy
I think you’re being too hard on the Republicans for being “objectively pro-rape,” John. I don’t think they are big fans of raping women, if anything they seem to be much more into men. They are only fans of it because it keeps women subjugated. If you’re willing to suggest a better way, I’m sure Michael Steele would be willing to listen to you. But be careful about approaching him – as he explained over the weekend, rooms full of white Republicans already find him really scary.
On the merits, I don’t think there should be arbitration or administrative settlements of discrimination claims. I think they should all be forced into the courts. I don’t trust unaccountable administrative bodies to settle these complaints fairly.
chrome agnomen
i missed the part in the story where it mentioned how franken forced those reps to veto against the bill.
chrome agnomen
i missed the part in the story where it mentioned how franken forced those reps to vote against the bill.
techno
@Jeff Fecke:
Larry Jacobs is NOT usually better than this. He is utterly clueless and as a Minnesota taxpayer, I question why we should keeps such a drooling idiot on the public payrolls.
Franken just barely won in a state that gave Obama a substantial victory. I believe the message for the political “scientists” would be that Franken has to be much more partisan to win over the 350,000+ plus DFL voters who wouldn’t vote for him because he is perceived as being just another Republican-lite, warmongering, DNC “Democrat.”
Will
I will say that the Democrats proved their well-honed ability to turn lemonade into lemons with this one. They get every fucking Republican to vote objectively pro-rape, and then what happens? It’s leaked that the White House and Pentagon were against the Franken amendment, too. Unfuckingbelievable. Wake the fuck up, Rahm.