Let me start out by saying, Minnesota is a great state

[JimL]

I have traveled there many times on business and was always overwhelmed by the friendly people.  At one time or another I have been to practically every major city in this country on business and have to say that I have rarely enjoyed mixing with the locals more than in Minnesota.  I happened to be on business in Edina,MN just before Christmas a few years back and had to do Christmas shopping at the Mall of America.  I can honestly say that this was the first and only time I have ever been to a mall during Christmas shopping season and people were not pushing and shoving in the mall and honking their horns and giving folks "the finger" in the crowded parking lot.  It left a great impression.

Then along comes Al Franken....and I'm left scratching my head in disbelief.  

Granted the people of the great state of Minnesota are not exactly timid about electing someone "unorthodox" into public office, Jesse Ventura is proof of that...but Jesse Ventura had actually "done something" prior to serving as governor.  He was a member of the Navy Underwater Demolotion Team (now known as Navy Seals) and a successful career in wrestling (don't laugh at least this trumps an unsuccessful career as a comedian)!

I think we all will agree that the far right and far left were not going to deviate from their parties chosen candidate, however I am trying to understand what happened in the middle?

Have you ever been to a party where the consummate joker decides that things aren't quite lively enough, and decides to parlay that plate of Enchiladas he had earlier in the day coupled with that 12 pack of beer into a "flame throwing exhibition"?  As soon as he pulls out the Bic lighter and bends over you know the "unholy" experience you are about to witness.

Somehow I have to feel that the "middle of the road" voters in the great state of Minnesota walked into the voting booths last November, pulled out their Bic lighter and collectively shouted "Hey everybody!  Watch this!"

Just my humble opinion....I could be wrong.

[Davemn]

I live in MN. Great place to live but the politics are strange. I thought we learned our lesson when we had Jesse, I guess not.

[T.P.]

We have the right and the left with there hands in our pockets and neither side wanted to work with Jesse. guess we will give anyone a try.

[Bladedog]

I guess we have no room to talk about governors here in "Cah-LEE-for-nya"....

[f6john]

To me it says volumes about the quality of people voters have to select from and the frustration they feel when whomever they sent to Washington are ineffective or worse. It also speaks to the value of name recognition in politics. We seem to get the same crap shoved down our throats no matter who we send. All they really look at are polls,then they select the polling numbers that best match their motives and tell us "see this is what the majority wants". Reagan was a surprise to me but I doubt that Franken will be.

[JimL]

If he would have run against anybody but Norm Coleman he would have likely lost.

I have to confess that I don't know that much about Coleman other than he is a conservative in a historically liberal state.  I don't know if it was so much Coleman's policies/voting record as it was the general anti-war sentiment that all Republicans were being "lynched" with at the polls.  I can understand what happened, however I'm still surprised that folks went so far out of their way to voice their displeasure by putting Franken in the Senate.

On another topic...

Farther I just noticed your location on your profile..."State of Jefferson",  I am guessing that this is in reference to the long debated desire to secede northern California and southern Oregon into the 51st state...now we know who the true rebel and trouble maker is on this forum!!  That being said, since California needs the money; now may be a good time to offer up a few dollars to further your goal of secession!

[MP]

I believe Franken has about a 25% approval rating in MN right now!  What a start!
The main two reasons he won are:

1.  Throw out the Republicans
2.  There was a third party, even more conservative candidate than Norm Coleman, who is middle of the road.  The conservatives voted for the third party candidate, so the vote was split among those two, while Franken got all the liberal vote. Thus winning, but barely.  If Coleman had gotten all the repubs votes, he would have won handily.

Notice how the dems did not come out all over for Franken?  Even they are embarressed by him.  Wait until he is in a while, and starts feeling free to speak his mind.  It will make Obamas and Bidens verbal gaffs disappear???

And why did the media jump all over Bush for his verbal gaffs, but hardly even mention Obamas and Bidens screw ups?  Any BIAS, anyone?

MP

[Strong Eagle]

And why did the media jump all over Bush for his verbal gaffs, but hardly even mention Obamas and Bidens screw ups?  Any BIAS, anyone?

MP

OK... name me a few Obama verbal gaffes, please.

[Serk]

And why did the media jump all over Bush for his verbal gaffs, but hardly even mention Obamas and Bidens screw ups?  Any BIAS, anyone?

MP

OK... name me a few Obama verbal gaffes, please.

http://tinyurl.com/ndgfr3

 

[3fan4life]

And why did the media jump all over Bush for his verbal gaffs, but hardly even mention Obamas and Bidens screw ups?  Any BIAS, anyone?

MP

OK... name me a few Obama verbal gaffes, please.

"It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go".

I'm sure that there are others and positive that there will be more in the future.

He's not the "New Messiah" and he isn't "Perfect".

He's Only Human....

and no amount of Kool Aid will change that. 

[Strong Eagle]

Oh yeh, man!  Just like Bush! (not!)

"So this is a mistake -- probably not the first one I'm going to be making in this office, but what I'm absolutely committed to doing is fixing it.”

Excuse me, Mr. President, but somethin’ ain’t right with that statement. Don’t you mean “probably not the last one I’m going to me making in this office” or at least “not the first one I made in this office”?

I looked at a bunch of the links... nothing can possible compare to Bush.

[hubcapsc]

http://tinyurl.com/ndgfr3

I never saw that before 

-Mike "lmgtfy" 

[Serk]

Oh yeh, man!  Just like Bush! (not!)

"So this is a mistake -- probably not the first one I'm going to be making in this office, but what I'm absolutely committed to doing is fixing it.”

Excuse me, Mr. President, but somethin’ ain’t right with that statement. Don’t you mean “probably not the last one I’m going to me making in this office” or at least “not the first one I made in this office”?

I looked at a bunch of the links... nothing can possible compare to Bush.

Don't misunderestimate me, Bush was a comic goldmine, but give obama time, he's only had a few months! 

[JimL]

Don't misunderestimate me, Bush was a comic goldmine!  

I have to admit that Bush's verbal "faux pas" were hilarious indeed, and somehow I suspect that in his youth he was probably the guy I referred to earlier, as the one entertaining his buddies with a Bic lighter after the enchiladas and beer.  

I also suspect that Eagle is correct that Obama will never come close to some of the gaffes that Bush had, since he is an extremely well rehearsed and calculated individual that has a gift for public speaking (the ever present teleprompter doesn't hurt either).  Furthermore Bill Clinton never had a problem with speaking gaffes either, and as much as I hate to say it, was probably far more gifted intellectually than either Bush or Obama (he had no need for a teleprompter since he had a photographic memory as evidenced by the 20 minutes during the State of the Union when the teleprompter died....an no one in the crowd or TV audience knew about it).

But at the end of the day, I felt safer having George Bush covering my back than either of the other two.