Cornyn Indicates GOPers Will Resist Seating Al Franken In The Senate

[babylonsister]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/cornyn_indicates_senate_gop_wi.php

Cornyn Indicates Senate GOP Will Resist Seating Al Franken
By Eric Kleefeld - December 30, 2008, 2:58PM


It now looks like the Senate GOP could end up trying to block the seating of Al Franken, assuming he is declared the winner next week in the Minnesota recount. NRSC chairman John Cornyn put out a statement accusing the Franken campaign of falsely declaring victory, and denouncing the idea of provisionally seating him while the expected legal dispute of the election is resolved:

"Al Franken is falsely declaring victory based on an artificial lead created on the back of the double counting of ballots. His campaign's actions in the last several days on the issues of rejected absentee ballots are creating additional chaos and disorder in the Minnesota recount. Those actions, coupled with the recent comments by Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who suggests seating someone even if there is an election contest, are unprecedented. Minnesotans will not accept a recount in which some votes are counted twice, and I expect the Senate would have a problem seating a candidate who has not duly won an election."

It needs to be pointed out that that there are multiple falsehoods in this statement. First, the Franken campaign has not declared victory, instead only expressing a very high degree of confidence that they will win. The statement also blames Franken for "creating additional chaos and disorder" on the issue of rejected absentee ballots, when by all appearances it's the Coleman campaign that is offering a cherry-picked list of ballots they want counted.

And finally, Cornyn alleges that it is "unprecedented" to seat someone while an election is still being disputed. As recently as 2007, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) was seated without prejudice by the majority-Democratic House while his election was being contested, and in 1997 the majority-Republican Senate provisionally seated Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) after her GOP opponent alleged irregularities in her very narrow win.

[SoCalDem]

1. LET them... they are the minority & Al's got plenty of FIGHT in him

What needs to happen in a case like this, is to have a RUN-OFF with just the two of them..

No one wants to lose, but I think either would accept their fate in a one-on-one race re-vote.

and in the long run , it might be cheaper too..

[rfranklin]

20. No, counting the votes is what's right...

How could another election be cheaper?

[SoCalDem]

22. Counting votes is the corect thing to do, but even when all the votes are counted

there will be disputes over the votes that were EXCLUDED from the counted ones..and those will always be the votes that coulda-woulda-shoulda been counted and that would have been the ones to have reversed the election.. This is the stuff that makes lawyers rich..and no court case ever really "settles" it.
I really hope Al prevails and is seated, but when lawyers 7 courts get involved, all bets are off..:(

[DJ13]

2. So he's willing to admit that Bush wasnt the President after the 2000 election?

Same circumstances isnt it?

[Robbien]

3. GOPers really know how to be the party in the minority

When in the minority Dems just sat there while GOPers were free to run the show and shuttle the Dems into the basement.

Minority GOPers use every single trick to throw tantrums while effectively stopping all business in Congress.

[cyclezealot]

4. Coleman's the one who is trying to get only selected

falsely rejected absentee ballots counted.. Time to get in touch with the Senate Rules committee (Chair Diane Feinstein.) and demand Franken be seated. That is , if the state declares him the winner.

[peacetalksforall]

5. If I remember correctly, Normie made the announcement that he had won - quite a few weeks ago.

[KansDem]

16. That's their M.O. for stolen elections...

Declare you are the winner before all the ballots are counted. Then bitch and moan about the Dems when your opposition wants a full recount. Oh, and have the media spout 24/7 that you are the winner while wondering "why is the other candidate such a poor loser?"

It worked in 2000, but not this time...

[peacetalksforall]

19. And ... Dems didn't have to say they wanted a recount - a recount was MN law. But, Normie moaned &

the RNC made it look like the Dems were not good losers because there was going to be a recount. Manipulative, as usual.

[RB TexLa]

6. They are just wanting to join the Senate Democrats in not seating Democrats

:banghead:

[gratuitous]

7. I'd like to see him try . . . and, of course, fail

First, if Franken is certified as the winner by the Minnesota Secretary of State, he will be seated by a heueueuge majority of the Senate. NOBODY (and that includes Cornyn, he's just grandstanding) is going to want to set up the Senate as the final arbiter of state elections for Senator all over the country. There are just too many opportunities for mischief that will damage the Senate's credibility even more than it already is.

Second, there are indeed plenty of precedents for seating a certified winner while the sore loser kept pursuing hopeless legal challenges. The alternative is that you could stop anyone from being seated for any office as long as the loser kept filing bogus challenges. The process has to stop somewhere, otherwise what would be the point of elections? Just ask the Senate who it wants to seat in any race, and save all the trouble and expense of all these messy elections.

Third, isn't Norm Coleman's advice for Al Franken on election night good enough for Norm Coleman?

[NOW tense]

8. Cornyn proves he is still a Douchebag

[ladjf]

13. He's in the top 10 "douche bags". nt

[VP505]

9. As usual , Cornyn,

following the GOP SOP lies and twists what Coleman is doing into accusing Franken of it. Soooo predictable but what will be interesting is how they plan to block a legally elected Senator from being seated without the help of some "activist judge" the kind that they are always whining about.

[HelenWheels]

10. Fightin' Al

I love Al and just donated again to help him with funding all the lawyers he has to have. Even if you don't like Al you have to admire his fighting spirit. At least he didn't fold like Kerry.

[RC]

27. That's good he didn't fold. We need fighters to deal with the criminals on both sides of the aisle.

I want my country back.

[jgraz]

11. The Dems should resist seating John Cornyn.

[Marr]

12. I wish Mr. Cornyn would just move on©, but

I think it's actually more likely that Reid will immediately capitulate.

[Rosco T.]

14. What is thin crap about..

"Minnesotans will not accept a recount in which some votes are counted twice"

I keep hearing this bovine stuff about 'counting ballots twice'

[Botany]

15. I hope they do try to block Al .... one more step in turning their party into ....

..... a minority party that will not matter.

BTW do they really want to talk about voting problems?

[ixion]

17. because rethugs have complete and utter contempt for democracy

and only like to 'seat' their fellow swine when they've rigged the election. :grr:

[bullimiami]

18. i seriously hate these republican bastards. they care nothing about electoral results.

they stole 2 elections for bush and destroyed the country and any honor this government once had.

they should go to hell.

[MiniMe]

21. So then Cornyn would agree that ALL of the rejected ballots should be counted

That is nice to know. I agree, count all of them or none of them, not a selected few.


Yeah, like Cornyn would really say that.

[jimshoes]

23. Republikkkans are the sorest losers

ever. Aside from being losers to begin with.

[drm604]

24. What is this stuff about the "double counting" of ballots.

What is he basing that claim on?

[Bjorn Against]

26. There are 133 ballots marked as originals without a duplicate...

Coleman claims that these 133 ballots MAY have been counted twice, there is however no evidence that they actually were counted twice. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that these ballots should be counted and the Coleman campaign will have to bring the issue to court and prove that these ballots were double counted if he wants them rejected, but he has no proof of that so he is unlikely to succeed in court.

[damntexdem]

25. Don't expect consistency from Cornyn -- other than consistent nonsene.

[babylonsister]

28. I loathe him and was disgusted when I learned he was elected again. nt

[wildbilln864]

29. ttgpwy! nt

:hi:

[spanone]

30. their species learns nothing from failure...i have no respect for the thug party whatsoever

[HughMoran]

31. Good

Republicans are to blame for their own problems - this would be another prime example of their lack of integrity.

[robinlynne]

32. it says will resist "PROVISIONALLY SEATING HIM" while the votes are counted, er decided.. No big

deal. Very different from the title, which looks like will no SEAT him!
Of course they LOVE go seat their own kind without counting votes... (San Diego, Florida...)