Dem Senator Al Franken doesn't like the question asked by conservative journalist Jason Matera, so he does what gangsters do. He roughs the journalist up. Franken has a history of physical assault.
Franken was "elected" in a Minnesota Senate race decided by 312 votes. On election day, 1099 felons voted, obviously not of their own inspiration, with 177 of them actually later convicted of voter fraud and 66 awaiting trial as of last August.
Obviously, all of the felons voted Democrat (felons are one of the Dems most reliable constituencies), so Franken won his election by fraud.
Franken gave the Dems the 60th vote in the Senate, without which Obamacare would not have passed.
I repeat: the deciding vote on Obamacare was cast by a "senator" who was not actually elected by his constituents, but obtained his seat by documented voter fraud.
Overt voter fraud that radically changes our nation's healthcare. Presidential and State Department lies about Benghazi to mislead the public before an election. Justice Department intimidation of journalists who won't cooperate in the Obama pre-election media campaign. IRS intimidation and interference to cripple the President's political opponents in the run-up to an election.
I wouldn't have asked this question a few years ago-- it's a dangerous question-- but it's unavoidable now.
To what extent is our government, as currently constituted, legitimate?
Felons who have done their time should be allowed to vote, if for no other reason than recidivism rates go down for those felons who have their civil rights restored. As it is now, only one in five felons vote because many mistakenly believe they are not eligible.
ReplyDeleteThere are only 12 states that permanently ban felons from voting, and you can bet that in those states controlled by Republicans they won’t be voting any time soon. Republicans always fight to suppress the number of voters, because the more people that vote, the worse they do.
-KW
Let's stick to the topic. Was Franken legitimately elected?
DeleteRepublicans don't think felons who have done time should have the right to vote. Unless felons are their own.
DeleteHoo
I too think that felons should be allowed to vote, but that's a policy for each state to decide. I don't believe for a moment that Democrats support the enfranchisement of felons because of a basic sense of fairness, but because they've run the numbers and they know that felons are a sure bet. Rapists, murderers, kidnappers, and the like are loyal Democrats.
DeleteIf Minnesota doesn't allow felons to vote, then those who did vote for Franken are illegitimate, and Franken's election is a sham. Period. We can argue about what the law should be, but the people of Minnesota have already decided what the law is.
Joey
Hoo, did Republicans mount some kind of campaign to reinstate the franchise of Chuck Colson and only Chuck Colson? I don't get your point. Are you simply pointing out that somewhere in the whole wide world there's a felon whose voter registration has an "R" on it?
DeleteChuck Holder was one of the villains in the political scandal known as Watergate, which was really quite minor compared to the combined scandals of the Obama Administration. I don't expect anyone to go to jail from this administration because they are professional stonewallers and the press doesn't seem as eager to hold their golden boy accountable.
Joey
given that fascists are socialists
ReplyDeleteOnly in the minds of insane people.
As it happens, felons who have served their time, including parole, can legally vote in MN. The link refers to cases of potential voter fraud. So the felon voting issue is a red herring (or most likely an expression of ignorance), easily dismissible. But I can understand why electing TV comedian to the US Senate - however that got done - would be an embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteEgnor's question is an interesting one, though, if only because Barack Obama got 100% of the vote in several districts of the battleground state of Ohio. Of course, Saddam Hussein was able to do that in 2002. The Iraqi press attributed Saddam's electoral achievement to "the love that the Iraqis have for him". Perhaps the same thing was going on in Cleveland.
Troy,
ReplyDeleteHere's a short rebuttal. I don't know why I'm doing this, since the topic is the illegitimacy of senator Al Franken, for which you obviously don't have a answer, hence your resorting to "Bush did worse!" and profanity. But I'm feeling generous, so here we go.
There was no stolen election. Al Gore and the Democrats attempted to steal it for themselves and failed, then spent the next eight years having a collective hissy fit. Bush never lost a vote count. When you never lose a vote count, you can't possibly "steal" an election. It's called winning.
9/11 was awful but he didn't do it, al-Qaeda did. There were intelligence failures, sure, but it makes more sense to look at the previous administration that had been in charge for eight years than the one that had been in charge for eight months. See Gorelick Wall.
Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan was an illegal war of aggression. It isn't true that Bush and Bush alone started them. He got congressional authorization in both cases. In the case of Afghanistan, it was 534-1. In the case of Iraq, he also go Obama's vice president, and his first and second secretaries of state to sign off on it. Obama himself said that he doesn't know how he would have voted had he been in the Senate. Thankfully for his career, he wasn't.
Homeland security may be your best point so far. Bush installed yet, sure, but Obama nurtured it into a monster. TSA didn't sexually assault passengers during the Bush years; that was Obama. Obama extended Patriot Act. It was the Obama Administration that wouldn't not rule out droning Americans on American soil. Obama signed into law the NDAA which allows him to detain indefinitely citizens he determines to be a risk. Obama is a civil liberties nightmare, which you would realize if you were a true civil libertarian and not a hack.
Guantanamo Bay? Nothing wrong with it, and wait--isn't it still open five years after Obama promised to close it? Yeah.
The roots of the economic crisis are deep. Have a look at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For that you will have to blame Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. Obama supported the bailouts of Wall Street and the auto manufacturers. That was a joint Bush-Obama effort. They're both wrong.
Joey
The premise was bullshit to begin with. As discovered by the intrepid admiral, a prior felony conviction does not stop one from voting in Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteHoo
The premise was not bullshit. Your response was.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDelete"To what extent is our government, as currently constituted, legitimate?"
Obviously what I am about to express comes from an outside perspective. It will be, no doubt, controversial and may set of a fire storm of dissent here - but I will state it, as you seem to be interested in the free expression on your blog. Please do not mistake it as insult or seditious (as I am NOT a US citizen).
I would sadly suggest your republic has all but failed completely. The republic I refer to is the second incarnation of that concept, the 'federal republic' of the post Lincoln years. Some elements remain, not the least of which is the grass roots ideology (ie the 'patriot' movement, many of which make up the military - a critical point), but the structure has been steadily eroded for decades. In my mind the first sign of outright collapse was the use of force seen at Waco in the 1990's.
I suppose the decay had already set well in at that point, in order for such a horrific incident to occur, but that is when I first noted it.
Since then there has been a encroachment on the rights of both the citizens and the states. That is not to say the pendulum of politics had not been swinging in the centuries before, but it now seems to be stuck deep in the guts of liberty. Nor am I saying it cannot be reversed peaceably. It has been done before. But, there is an increasing effort on the part of the ideological elites to preempt any such attempt by changing the laws of the land so rapidly as to prevent any such legal and normal means of any sort of reversal or change of direction. The new form I see more closely resembles the ideals of Robespierre or St Just than that of Washington or Lincoln. All that is missing are the scaffolds.... so far.
I would not blame this effort on a single party, but rather on the individuals who rule over them. As many have said 'follow the money'.
CNTD
DeleteOn a personal note, I had occasion to travel to Ohio recently. That took me through three states (I entered through Watertown NY, near Kingston).
Not once, but FOUR times myself and the people with me (including two US forces members) passed through checkpoints WITHIN the USA. Three times on state lines, and once well within them. 'Papers please!' was the order of our trip. On one occasion (near the Pa. border of your state, Mike) we were searched and sniffer dogs sent about our vehicles by 'DHS' and 'border patrol' people (INSIDE the USA).
Keep in mind we all (but one) had military ID's and our driver was in uniform. We complied, naturally, and they were (for the most part) reasonably polite - but that does not take away the taste in my mouth. I cannot imagine what treatment normal working civilians must get, if that is what a group of NATO officers are treated to.
A taste of tyranny and security mindedness gone mad. That is coming from a professional paranoid. I flew back (civilian), and flying back was even worse. It felt more like Cuba than Mexico. It took almost 3 hours to clear the lines. And because I refused a scanner (policy, health etc) I was subjected to being felt up by a TSA agent. I know a pat down when I get one, and this was worse by orders.
It was such a hassle, that I have put in a request that any such further junket be taken by military transport.
My wife and I had been planning a trip to Florida. We wanted to drive down and spend a few weeks there with out little guy. I won't be doing that now. It is one thing when I travel with a group of men, but another entirely subjecting my toddler and my wife to such nonsense. Instead we will spend our time elsewhere until such days that this jack boot bullshit is reversed.
Mickey will just have to wait. I cannot express how much that pains me. My own road trips to the sunshine state as a boy were formative and I would have very much enjoyed beginning (and reliving) those memories with my youngest.
Again, I must reiterate, I am all for sound security. That is not what I saw. What I did see gave me shivers.
I wish you all the best in taking your nation back.
My tuppence.
Of course the premise is bullshit. Here is the part that does not compute:
ReplyDeleteFranken was "elected" in a Minnesota Senate race decided by 312 votes. On election day, 1099 felons voted, obviously not of their own inspiration, with 177 of them actually later convicted of voter fraud and 66 awaiting trial as of last August.
Obviously, all of the felons voted Democrat (felons are one of the Dems most reliable constituencies), so Franken won his election by fraud.
Hoo
Felons traditionally vote Democratic, says Christopher Uggen, a University of Minnesota sociologist, who co-authored a 2006 book, "Locked Out: Felony Disenfranchisement and American Democracy."
ReplyDelete--- Reuters
Are you disputing this?
Does this somehow make the election illegitimate? I missed that part.
ReplyDeleteHoo
yes or no will do, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThat was a yes, but so what?, you moron.
ReplyDeleteHoo
I'd be hard pressed to call Mattera a journalist, but he is quite funny. He does one thing very well. He likes to go to leftist gatherings, pretend to be one of them, and then ask them to go on camera and say what they really mean. It's amazing what they will say when they think they are speaking to a friendly audience.
ReplyDeleteTRISH
Thank you.
ReplyDelete[Minnesota Majority] found that at least 341 convicted felons [not released, probation-completed ex-felons] voted in Minneapolis's Hennepin County, the state's largest, and another 52 voted illegally in St. Paul's Ramsey County, the state's second largest. Dan McGrath, head of Minnesota Majority, says that only conclusive matches were included in the group's totals. The number of felons voting in those two counties alone exceeds Mr. Franken's victory margin.
--- WSJ (7/14/2010)
That's why, you moron.
Then go ahead and file a lawsuit or shut up.
ReplyDeleteHoo
Touchy, touchy.... :-)
ReplyDeleteI love how Hoo's claim instantly switches from "the premise that Franken was elected by fraud is bullshit, so shut up!" to "So what if he was elected by fraud? You can't stop it, so shut up!" when he's proven wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnd again we see the reality of liberal "respect" for justice and law, not to mention free speech. Is there any real doubt that the only difference between today's American leftists and the authoritarian mass-murderers of the last century's leftist regimes is one of opportunity?