Sen. Al Franken-a Wellstone Democrat opens a big rally for his friend, Hillary- in NH

[riversedge]

It is really a story of friendships. I watched this rally and Hillary was on fire as was the crowd. Al did a wonderful introduction for Hillary to take the stage.
It was a bittersweet moment for me as Paul Wellstone was my Senator when I lived in MN. I remember hearing the news. I and Minneapolis were in shock--the state was. Sometime it seems like yesterday. But after my moment--I was so happy to see him up on stage with his fellow Senators rallying for Hillary.



See more of the Hillary rally at:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511160891




Hillary Clinton’s secret weapon is Bernie Sanders’ colleagues -Tammy Baldwin & Al Franken http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2016/02/hillary-clinton-al-franken-friendship … #p2





Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon Is Bernie Sanders’ Colleagues

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2016/02/hillary-clinton-al-franken-friendship

—By Tim Murphy
Sat Feb. 6, 2016 10:35 PM EST




Hillary Clinton/Flickr

Sen Al Franken (D-Minn.) opened for Hillary Clinton Saturday night in Portsmouth with one very important message: she's good enough, she's smart enough, and doggone it, she's a Paul Wellstone progressive.

Clinton's final pitch to New Hampshire voters is as much about the people she surrounds herself with as it is the former secretary of state herself. On Friday, four woman senators were there to co-opt Bernie Sanders by arguing that the "revolution" America needs is electing the first woman. Stefany Shaheen, daughter of the New Hampshire senator, warmed up the crowd in Portsmouth by name-dropping celebrity backers Lena Dunham, Gloria Steinem, Abby Wambach—proof she's not only experienced, but maybe cool. Franken was there to follow-up on a subject of intense debate over the last week—what it means to be a progressive.

"Let my clarify something: why they let a guy up here," Franken began, flanked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Gov. Maggie Hassan, and the former secretary of state. He didn't waste any time invoking the legacy of the late Minnesota senator, a progressive icon who died in a plane crash in 2002 shortly before the midterm elections:

I'm Al Franken, I'm a Senator from Minnesota, and I hold the seat that Paul Wellstone once held. And I can point to someone on this stage whom I wouldn't be senator from Minnesota , and that is Hillary Clinton. My first election was kind of close. I won by 312 votes. Hillary Clinton came twice for me, once in October and then I got a call from her the Sunday before the election, she said "I'm coming out." And we did a big rally in Duluth and got more than 312 votes at that rally, I gotta tell you. I'm a Paul Wellstone progressive. And let me tell you what that means: Paul said, "We all do better when we all do better." Now if I knew what a haiku was, I'd say that was a haiku. But evidently I'm told it isn't. But Paul knew that we all do better when we all do better.



He launched into a personal story of growing up middle-class in Minnesota. And then he returned again to why they let the guy up there.

"Sen. Shaheen, my colleague, and I, like the only other [Senate] Democrats who have endorsed in this race, have endorsed Hillary Clinton for a reason," he said. "Because this is serious stuff. This is serious stuff. This is Sherrod Brown. This is Cory Booker. This is Tammy Baldwin. We are progressives. And we know what it takes to get things done."...............

Harrell Kirstein ?@HarrellKirstein 11h11 hours ago

Crowd keeps breaking into 'Hillary!' chants at @HillaryClinton @JeanneShaheen @GovernorHassan & @alfranken event. #603forHRC #ImWithHe





Hillary for NH ?@HillaryforNH 11h11 hours ago

Anger isn't a plan. Frustration isn't a strategy.



Jeanne Shaheen ?@JeanneShaheen 11h11 hours ago

So excited to get out the vote with @Maggie_Hassan and @alfranken for @HillaryClinton in Portsmouth! #HillaryinNH





Harrell Kirstein ?@HarrellKirstein 10h10 hours ago

PACKED house for @HillaryClinton, @JeanneShaheen, @GovernorHassan & @alfranken in Portsmouth tonight #nhpolitics



Tweet
Hillary Clinton’s secret weapon is Bernie Sanders’ colleagues -Tammy Baldwin & Al Franken http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2016/02/hillary-clinton-al-franken-friendship … #p2



Edit to add:




Gina Sillitti ?@gina_sillitti 35m35 minutes ago

Love Al Franken! #HillaryinNH #ImWithHer

[Cha]

1. Fantastic post, rivers~ Thank you, Senator Franken!

"Let my clarify something: why they let a guy up here," Franken began, flanked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Gov. Maggie Hassan, and the former secretary of state. He didn't waste any time invoking the legacy of the late Minnesota senator, a progressive icon who died in a plane crash in 2002 shortly before the midterm elections:

I'm Al Franken, I'm a Senator from Minnesota, and I hold the seat that Paul Wellstone once held. And I can point to someone on this stage whom I wouldn't be senator from Minnesota , and that is Hillary Clinton. My first election was kind of close. I won by 312 votes. Hillary Clinton came twice for me, once in October and then I got a call from her the Sunday before the election, she said "I'm coming out." And we did a big rally in Duluth and got more than 312 votes at that rally, I gotta tell you. I'm a Paul Wellstone progressive. And let me tell you what that means: Paul said, "We all do better when we all do better." Now if I knew what a haiku was, I'd say that was a haiku. But evidently I'm told it isn't. But Paul knew that we all do better when we all do better.

[riversedge]

8. Thanks to all the Senators

[Cha]

9. Yes!

[quickesst]

2. K&R.....

n/t

[riversedge]

3. I added a pic of Al on stage to the OP

[Alfresco]

4. :-)

[livetohike]

5. K&R

[Lucinda]

6. knr

[GusBob]

7. Yay, just yay

I love Sen Franken . I can hear his voice in those quotes.

Great article

[Floridanow]

10. More important is Baldwin.

She is a classic liberal and don't try to hide it. I am disappointed with Warren and think her behavior will come back to haunt her.

[PeaceNikki]

13. Tammy Baldwin is one of my heroes.

Tammy and I had a happy cry together during the Wisconsin uprising. I adore her.

[TTUBatfan2008]

25. Warren's behavior?

She believes strongly in fighting the financial corruption in our political system. Hillary is part of that system whether you like it or not. She flip-flopped on the bankruptcy bill that Warren was so adamantly against and I don't think Warren has forgotten it.

[BlueMTexpat]

26. You might want to check your facts about

Hillary's actions w/r/t the Bankruptcy bill.

I don't believe that they are what you think they are.

[TTUBatfan2008]

27. Please correct me then...here's a very recent link...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/us/politics/the-vote-for-bankruptcy-reform-that-haunts-hillary-clinton.html?_r=0

I don't see anything in there that contradicts what I said. Hillary was against the bill before she was for it. She expressed regret later. So she admits to the flip-flop.

[BlueMTexpat]

29. Why don't you read this OP?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1164913

Is changing one's mind a weakness only when it is Hillary who does it?

[TTUBatfan2008]

30. No, it is a weakness...

of politicians who repeatedly do it. Hillary is one of them. So is Kerry. So is Obama. So is Biden. The list goes on and on. Hell, the Clintons were praised for their ability to triangulate. It was seen as a great skill for all the Beltway media types. But to people who care about consistency, it's a problem.

[BlueMTexpat]

31. Facts change, situations change,

environments change, people change.

The only thing that is consistent is change. And that is all I will say on this topic. You can continue, but it will be without me.

[BlueMTexpat]

28. I personally think that Elizabeth Warren

is between a rock and a heard place. I have some sympathy for her, but she put herself there. Only she can get herself out of it with any integrity left.

She was one of many women Senators who urged Hillary to run for President in 2016. I know for a fact that Hillary really did not want to run and it took a LOT of convincing, despite what all too many Sanders supporters believe. Elizabeth should have followed through and endorsed Hillary's candidacy at the beginning. That would have been both the right thing and the courageous thing to do. She chose not to.

By not doing so, she has given encouragement to Bernie supporters who believe that because she has a lot of the same concerns as Bernie that she supports HIM and are with them, even though she has endorsed no one. In fact, they gleefully post anything that Elizabeth has ever said that might possibly be inferred as a criticism of Hillary.

The truth now is that no one knows where Elizabeth stands. Insofar as Hillary is concerned, it doesn't really matter any more, and many of us don't care. Thirteen of the 14 women Senators are backing Hillary Clinton. This means that Elizabeth has now isolated herself from her women Senate colleagues. Those colleagues are exactly the ones she needs to further her own agenda. Certainly she will need their support if she ever herself decides to run for the Presidency. Her own non-support of a woman candidate that she urged to run for the office will certainly be remembered.

But because she is such a hero to most Bernie supporters, Elizabeth risks losing her credibility altogether with the self-styled "progressives" who back him if she endorses Hillary. The backlash against PP and other organizations will seem like mere child's play in comparison.

I have no doubt but that Elizabeth will wholeheartedly support whoever the Dem candidate is. But by her non-action when it really counts, Elizabeth has shown that she may not have the strength or judgment to stand up to the scrutiny of a national election, IMO. That, to me, is the most tragic thing of all because I have been a great admirer so far.

[mcar]

11. Great report, great photos

[George II]

12. Thanks for the great pictures.....no doubt someone will call HIM an "establishment Democrat"!

[chervilant]

14. Good thing it's a small venue,

so the crowd doesn't look too sparse.

[Gene Debs]

18. I was just thinking that. That wide shot of the whole "packed room" looks like just the line

to use the bathroom at a Sanders rally.

[riversedge]

19. You folks are beyond the silly season.

[SidDithers]

15. DU rec...nt

Sid

[PeaceNikki]

16. Such powerful and meaningful endorsements!

Yay!

[Bluenorthwest]

17. Exactly, Wellstone voted for DOMA and she's of that branch.

Al quotes Wellstone 'we all do better when we all do better' but that sort of verbiage is contradicted by votes to prevent some from having equal standing under the law. If you vote for DOMA you are saying 'you people are not part of the we that does better when we all do better'.
So that is why I support the candidate who had enough smarts and empathy to vote no on DOMA, to be an actual progressive who includes everyone, not just those deemed worthy by religious authorities.

[Fearless]

24. Funny huh.

[bigtree]

20. Franken: Progressives in the Senate "know what it takes to get things done'

Brian Fallon ?@brianefallon 15h15 hours ago
Franken: Progressives in the Senate "know what it takes to get things done. That's why we are supporting Hillary"

[dragonfly301]

21. So Franken bestows the Wellstone mantle

on Hillary, which is not his to give. Bernie actually won a Wellstone Award given by the Wellstone Institute. That seems to embody this whole campaign - one is authentic and one makes for a nice optic.

[CentralMass]

34. I know. What a joke.

[Persondem]

22. Great post. Nice pics. Thank you!! K & R nt

[Punkingal]

23. Wellstone democrat? Nope.

[CentralMass]

32. Regarding Senator Wellstone

Here are some quotes attributed to the late great Senator.

Paul Wellstone/Quotes:

"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak."

"Politics isn't about big money or power games; it's about the improvement of people's lives."

"The people of this country, not special interest big money, should be the source of all political power."

"The first task in teaching is to bring to consciousness what the students already believe by virtue of their personal experiences about themselves and society."

"Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning.
Sometimes, the only realists are the dreamers."Wellstone was also a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_liberalism_in_the_United_States

A party who's idualism is Social Liberalism.

I would argue the the late Senator would probably align with the Senator from Vermont in this race.

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/27/this_was_bernie_before_bernie_remembering_the_heroic_late_senator_paul_wellstone_13_years_after_the_plane_crash/

[LW1977]

33. K&R