Minnesota’s long-running Senate election battle is finally over and Democrat Al Franken is the winner. The rest of us lose, big time. Rarely has a less-qualified, more cartoonish imp gained entrance to “the world’s most prestigious deliberative body,” as Senators like to refer to their base of operations. Franken makes President Obama look experienced and dignified by comparison, no doubt the greatest service he will offer to Democrats or the country. Tomorrow’s newspaper headlines should read, “The Buffoon wins!”
One wonders what Democrat flakes would say if their candidate lost because hundreds of absentee ballots — incumbent Republican Norm Coleman’s strongest area of support — were summarily thrown out. My guess is the mainstream press will gush about Franken’s victory without so much as hinting at a stolen election. But so it goes in today’s America.
Besides being a former comic and left-wing radio host in search of listeners, Franken holds credentials similar to many Democrat legislators, to wit:
“During the 2008 election, New York state officials asserted that Al Franken Inc. had failed to carry required workers’ compensation insurance for employees who assisted him with his comedy and public speaking from 2002 to 2005. Franken paid the $25,000 fine to the state of New York upon being advised his corporation was out of compliance with the state’s workers’ compensation laws,” according to the Associated Press and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.
According to the California Franchise Tax Board, Franken owes over $4,000 in taxes and fines for failure to file returns in the state for several years, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
By his own admission, Franken paid about $70,000 in back income taxes to 17 states last year.
OK, so we shouldn’t be surprised that Democrats who love to tax other people hate to give their own money to Uncle Sam. Hypocrisy is no vice in contemporary Washington D.C. However, Franken’s policy choices are cause for real concern.
Like so many on the left, he was silent when America invaded Iraq in 2003. But, when the going got tough, Frankin turned on his President and demanded that funding for the war be curtailed if no timetable for withdrawal was attached to the spending bill. Broadcasting our exit date would have been the dumbest war strategy since Nixon’s decision to periodically stop bombing Hanoi, but armchair liberals never seem to understand how the enemy thinks.
Franken blames last year’s sky-high gasoline prices on “Big Oil,” and believes we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil by ”investing in renewable energy,” according to his “Al Franken for U.S. Senate” website. Of course, punishing oil companies as Franken wants will increase foreign oil imports, eliminate Americans jobs, and increase the risk to our national security. But, regardless of the cost to country or constituents, the left loves to hate big oil.
Following the party line, Franken is a big advocate of government funded healthcare. In his own words from his campaign website: “Here’s where I stand: We need to go to universal health care.” Trillion dollar deficits now projected to last for 10 years or more will seem like frugality itself if Franken’s plan becomes reality. But hey, it’s not his money. You may read his other unenlightened ideas at www.alfranken.com.
The scariest result of Franken’s win is that the way is now clear “for President Barack Obama’s party to secure a critical 60-seat majority in the Senate,” according to Reuters. Jimmy Carter enjoyed a super-majority in the Senate, as did Lyndon Johnson. America is still reeling from Johnson’s and Carter’s boondoggle policies. If Obama is able to enact Cap and Trade, universal healthcare, a value-added tax and universal access to a college education, America’s days as the gold standard of limited government will be gone forever. Good-bye individualism, creativity, ingenuity and productivity – hello European economic stagnation.
No doubt about it, the joke’s on us.
Posted by Jerry Pomeroy in Campaign 2008, Fraud Watch