Democrat Al Franken on Monday emerged on top in the US Senate recount in Minnesota, beating incumbent Republican Norm Coleman. Out of over 2.9 million votes the state’s independent canvassing board certified, the final vote margin Franken won by was 225 votes. Franken now gives the Democrats a 59 to 41 edge in the US Senate.
However as the New York Times reports, Coleman is planning to challenge the results and Franken’s seating in the Senate could be delayed for weeks or months. Funny thing when Republicans are ahead in the vote, they are always urging Democrats to give up. But when they are behind they want to continue the fight and refuse to move on.
Republicans toke a trouncing in this last election. They deserved it. They would be better off regrouping and re-evaluating their out of date positions on many issues than continuing to endlessly protest.
Funny how they are now arguing for open hearings and publication of the stimulus package proposal Obama is proposing. When they were in charge they passed legislation all the time without consulting Democrats and certainly didn’t believe in airing the actual text of what they were trying to pass in advance.
People need to realize the Republicans change to suit the circumstances only as it affects them. Fair play is only required when they are not in charge. The record is there – their moaning is hypocritical. There’s work to be done. Let’s do it and not be sidetracked by Republican tactics that only serve to delay.
Yes let’s open up the process and not be like the Republicans. But don’t be taken in by their phony hypocritical moans that they aren’t be given enough time to review what’s up. They’ve had plenty of time to push their agenda.
And let’s seat Franken. It’s time to get to work and stop being obstructionists.
