frank
some people seem to be surprised by al franken’s actions as freshman senator. he’s been very sharp during questioning, aggressive in pointing out ridiculous political stances (like the pro-rape block), and overall just sharp and active
i think a part of it is just how insanely lethargic by comparison the political culture is. it’s understood that things won’t change and you’ll know (and work with) these same people another 30 or so years, so it’s no time to make enemies. you come into this culture in your teens as a volunteer and live your whole life in it, and franken missed all of it.
the other reason is that people confuse characters played by an actor with the actor. franken plays confused, meek, and soft characters, when in reality the man is a stand up comic with decades of experience. if you’re a stand up comic, you must know how to control hecklers, and it’s usually by tearing them down. you take those same skills, the ability to quickly take what someone says and turn it against them in a way that shatters their ego, and put them into a committee member, and suddenly when someone makes an indefensible claim there’s now a senator calling them on it.
not that democrats will somehow manage to not fuck it up anyways. cause of franken there’s now a list of 30 republican senators who quite literally voted to facilitate the rape of US service members, but i’d be surprised if any campaign ads will run that will mention this. afterall, that might ruffle the feathers of those senators.
in any case, a short clip of franken questioning an anti-health care activist during a session on medical bankruptcies. it might not seem like much to people used to normal conversations where dumb statements are pointed out as such, but this is the land of no one ever being called on anything