Count Every Vote...For ME...

Al Franken is a one of those smarmy pseudo-smarties that really bugs me.

I'll be up front about that. I generally find the way he presents his arguments to be offensive and deliberately demeaning to those he opposes. He uses the excuse of being a comedian to pardon him for when he is truly repulsive. It is fitting that he was the premier face of Air America, the home of the offensively dismissive liberal talk-show hosts; he set the tone for a group of people who have done their best to ensure that, in the national debate for the future of our nation, one side of the debate is perceived as completely preposterous. The Left has managed, with the help of people like Franken and his ilk, to paint the Right as so ridiculously criminal, stupid, superstitious, greedy, etc, that I find it hard to see how we can hope to have a civil discourse in the high halls of leadership.

I say all that, fully recognizing that the Republicans have done their level best to fail the nation too. We have our gas bags, our own versions of Franken. Our vices are different, but they do exist.

However...the hypocrisy of a man who spent most of the last 8 years whining about a "stolen" election, whose campaign mantra was that every vote be counted so that every vote would count, and now who wants to see the very questionable recount stand and to push through his own personal victory amidst controversy at least comparable to the circumstances of 8 years ago...well, if he turns out to be the next Democrat Senator, all I can say is that the outlook just got a little dimmer for reasonable debate in our nation.

Democrats should denounce Franken's pre-emptive claims to victory. If they really believed all the crap they spewed over Bush's victory in 2000, they should insist on a better process and a slow, meticulous recount, with real accountability. But they won't...because it's always been a political game.