Senate Democrats put off plans to seat Franken

[stevedeshazer]

Source: Reuters

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yielded to Republican threats and agreed on Monday not to immediately seat fellow Democrat Al Franken, whose razor-close victory in Minnesota faces legal challenges.

Senate Republicans had planned to disrupt the opening of the new Congress on Tuesday by blocking Franken's swearing-in.

And in another ugly fight, Senate Democrats vowed to block, at least for now, the seating of fellow party member Roland Burris whose appointment by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich carries a whiff of political scandal.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5045...

[Mojambo]

1. "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yielded..."

Where have I heard that before.

Fucking weak-willed prick.

[itsrobert]

5. That's his new name, "Harry Reid Yielded" n/t

n/t

[Robbien]

54. Harry Reid taking his usual marching orders from GOPer McConnell

Harry isn't yielding, he is just following his Standard Operating Procedures as dictated by the RNC.

[Tesha]

85. It ought to be his family motto: "We yield!"

Can *ANYONE* imagine how the Republicans would act
if the tables were turned? Does anyone actually believe
that they'd back down for even a nanosecond? They'd
have mobs out on the streets demanding that their
candidate(s) be seated.

Us? We yield.

Tesha

[Lucian]

2. It's time to get a Sentate Majority Leader with a backbone.

I'm tired of Harry Reid yielding to Republicans all the damn time.

[tblue]

3. Sen. Reid, seat them both and move the fuck on.

Let Blago and Coleman do what they have to do legally and let the courts weigh in when and if the time comes. When will we stop doing things because we fear the Republican backlash. They lost, now WE need to get over it.

[tularetom]

4. Once again Harry folds like a cheap suitcase.

[saigon68]

59. He should move to Manila

And become A "real" Manila folder

[izquierdista]

6. I bet by June, the Senate is Republican

If every Repub who has a half-assed idea of being a Senator threatens a sitting senator with a "legal challenge".

Why do I get the idea that if there were 95 Dems and 5 Repubs in the Senate, Harry would still be yielding?

[peacetalksforall]

7. This played out exactly the way someone on DU said it would during this past weekend.

[peacetalksforall]

10. Reid didn't want Burris, so Franken is affected.

[Occulus]

49. That person was completely castigated by Reid's defenders.

"Look at the record!!" was their bleating.

I'm looking. I'm not impressed.

[saigon68]

60. Yes bleating like a group of

SHEEP

[jberryhill]

8. We must block every Democratic Senator, Harry

Well, sure... let's block the duly elected senator from Minnesota and the duly appointed senator from Illinois.

Heck... let's not seat Begich, and bring back Ted Stevens.

Let's exhume Strom Thurmond while we're at it.

WTF is wrong with Reid?

[Politicalboi]

15. Let's take it one step further

Let's let Bush stay one more term. Harry loves Bush I hate to see them part.

[bluestateguy]

9. I'm going to pretend like I dd not read this

I'm going to bed now. When I wake up tomorrow, I expect to read about Senator Al Franken's swearing in.

[Lint Head]

11. Reid is a coward.

[CreekDog]

12. Who envisions Coleman getting seated before Franken does?

It totally would NOT surprise me.

[onehandle]

26. He's no longer a Senator. Only a turnaround in MN would make that happen. nt

[Doctor_J]

56. Actually, no. If he shows up and takes his seat, and no one complains,

then he's the senator. This is what I predict will happen.

[KamaAina]

74. Former Senator Coleman has already been booted out of his office!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[CreekDog]

67. of course you are right, i'm just expressing a sentiment that a lot of us feel about Reid

obviously it's not going to happen.

well maybe. i still worry.

[Cant trust em]

13. I was hoping this would be a link from the Onion.

Harry Reid is totally useless.

[iandhr]

14. WTF

[scytherius]

16. I give up.

Fuck the Dems. Mylast hope is Obama. I don't expecte perfection, but if he let's me down like Reid, I have the wherewithall and means to leave the U.S. and I am SO out of this nightmare. Fucking religious loonies and cowardly morons in power. FUCK HARRY REID and those that support him as Majority Leader.

[Career Prole]

17. "Paging Senator Reid's balls!" n/t

[woodsprite]

46. Kermit the Frog has bigger balls than Reid. n/t

[Harry Monroe]

78. Hell, Ann Coulter has bigger balls than Reid!!

Come to think of it, "Ann The Man" has huge balls. Her jockstrap simply overfloweth with manliness!!

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

18. .

.

[Libertas1776]

19. ...

Franken won plain and simple. Fucking Reid rolling over like usual.

[wiley]

20. WTF II?

[Sultana]

21. Reid need to resign as Majority Leader

Weak-ass SOB!

[Cronopio]

22. Complicity, not cowardice. Complicity, not cowardice. Complicity, not cowardice.

It's my mantric response when it comes to Senator Reid.

[endlessfugue]

28. I agree OE...

This happens so often it can no longer be considered a weakness. They all have the taint of torture, war crimes, spying, economic meltdown. They were all working the system together and still are.

Its the Wealthy Privileged Party...theres only one.

peace

EF

[Laelth]

53. Welcome to DU!

-Laelth

[tucsonlib]

23. WHY Are The Dems Still Playing Nicey Nice?

Oooooo....the Big Bad Repugs might try to block the ceremony! Why don't the Dems call their bluff? At worst, the losers will only succeed in looking once again like the whiners they are.
Grow a spine, Reid!

[EFerrari]

24. Harry Reid, miserable failure. n/t

[RFKHumphreyObama]

25. This is painful to watch

It is like having the keystone cops in charge of the Democratic senate leadership. He's even worse than Daschle and that's saying something.

[onehandle]

27. Look, I'm as eager as anyone to see Franken seated, but this is not about Reid.

It's about the whiny ass GOP and Franken needing a final sheet of paper from MN.

Franken's time will come and at that time we will have our celebration.

[no_hypocrisy]

29. Conversely, Norm Coleman no longer has access to his Senate chambers.

[Betty]

30. as always, the dems assume the position.

if they had a 99-1 majority, they would still fold every time. Fucking useless wastes of oxygen.

[harun]

33. I think they would still be afraid of the Republicans if it was 100-0

They shouldn't be afraid of them if it was one Dem and 99 Repukes.

[Odin2005]

31. Spinless &%#@*&^!!!

[Doctor_J]

32. I predicted on Friday or so that that seat will eventually be taken by

Coleman. I was roundly criticized for that prediction. I stand by it.

[timmymoff]

34. reid's never learns

If he had any brains he would seat Al Franken and then claim any court proceedings would damage the legitimacy of the Franken win, did he manage to learn nothing from bush v. gore?

[onehandle]

35. My money is on Franken. nt

[chelsea0011]

36. Frankin has beed declared the winner Senator Reid. Act like you are in charge!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

37. I am really starting to Loathe Sen Reid .....my god he is a wussy

[2Design]

38. time for harry and pelosi to go n/t

[2Design]

39. this is so wrong and a bad way to start - reid obvously is not able to lead n/t

[hadrons]

40. Sorry, I'm with Reid on this .....

The election in Mn. still isn't OFFICALLY sorted out yet, so why give the Repukes a free grandstanding moment ... besides, its not like Franken is pulling a Roland Burris.

Reid already kicked Coleman out, so Sen. Al is going to happen

[ogneopasno]

42. Franken's been certified by the board of elections. That's official.

[hadrons]

43. Franken isn't going to be in Washington anyway, see link:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0109/Reid_Colem...

C'mon, not all the i's have been dotted and t's crossed ... this is venting over nothing.

Besides, if Reid refuses to seat Burris over the lack of a signed certified statement from the Lt. Gov what the fuck does he say about seating Franken without one from the Mn. Gov???

And Franken just got 42% of the vote, so why rub the noses of those who voted for Normy is quickly.

[high density]

48. So do we not seat people who have been elected because of threats of GOP grandstanding?

We've seen Democrats cower and defer endlessly to the GOP, but this takes it to a whole new level. Reid's flapping all over the place like a moron.

[hadrons]

52. Doesn't Franken being in Mn. tell you something???

There are legal options Franken has to counter from the Coleman assholes, he has to be in Mn. anyway!!!

Once the REPUBLICAN Gov. in Mn. signs off the results (which he will have to) then the swearing in will happen ... jeez, are there so many people pissed off by the delay of a swearing in of someone who ISN'T PHYICALLY THERE in the chamber he's being swore into???

Don't you think Franken is OK with this as he might want to be there when it happens???

[high density]

55. He can change the "physically there" thing in about two hours by jumping on a plane

That's not an obstacle. There is no need for more delays.

[Wetzelbill]

73. Do you honestly think that McConnell or in the past Frist

or the whole GOP senate delegation would do the same if the shoe was on the other foot? They'd sit Coleman and cry and shriek and howl about trial lawyers etc etc etc etc until everybody paying attention thought the person suing was doing something illegal and unjustly carrying on for no reason and the establishment press and talking heads would start calling for Franken's head.

[ogneopasno]

41. For fuck's sake, LET them "disrupt the opening of Congress!" How on earth do they think that would

look?

[AndrewP]

44. Here Senator Reid....... Here, pussy pussy pussy.

[bdamomma]

45. oh crap, we need a new majority leader.

crap we got ourselves a new president, but no backbone in the Congress. This stuff gets me angry, this crap has got to stop.

[high density]

47. What a limp dick Harry Reid is

He's good for absolutely nothing.

[Jester Messiah]

62. I hereby dub him "bull teats." [nt]

[mirrera]

50. Wow, what about when our Dem in Fla was missing 16000 votes?

Her Republican opponent was seated and never challenged by Dem leadership. Is this all a scam to keep the Dems away from the magic 60 so they are not accountable? Why else would they not seat Burris who is legal whether they like it or not.

Snatching defeat from victory, thanks Harry.

Edited for speling

[DeepModem Mom]

51. WTF! nt

[Politicub]

57. The GOP must have some great dirt on key dems

that they gathered with all of the Patriot Act powers that they were granted. If not that, I don't think there is a good explanation of why the majority party is so scared to act with boldness.

[ananda]

58. Reid must go NOW!

What a wimpy asshole.

[glitch]

61. The State of Minnesota should sue Reid and the Senate or at least withold all monies

No Taxation Without Representation.

edit: and so should The State of Illinois.

[LynneSin]

66. Then they should sue the GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA - not Reid

The Board of Electorates signed off on it. Do you think Norm Coleman's buddy Tim Pawlenty is going to sign off on this without letting Coleman have a fight.

We're blaming the wrong person here.

[geardaddy]

68. I agree, LynneSin

Timmy the Tool is complicit in this.

[MsLeopard]

63. Harry Reid has got to go!!!!!!!

I'm so sick of his consistent lack of spine I could scream. We need to get him out of there - he's not a leader, he's a problem.

[ryanmuegge]

64. The Republicrats want an excuse to run on in 2010 and 2012.

"We didn't have a big enough majority, so we couldn't do anything."

They know that no matter how big of a majority they have, nothing can be done (at least nothing that they are willing to do, like seriously reevaluate trade policy) to improve this economy in four years. They are going to make sure they stay as far away from 60 as possible. In reality, everybody in Washington is absolutely corrupt to the core, and they care nothing about anything other than making the elite even richer. That applies to the "Democrats" as well. They only care about staying on the government welfare rolls and keeping that awesome tax payer-subsidized health care plan. None are interested in public service.

[quakerboy]

65. But at least he will fight Burris to the bitter end, right?

fuck

[Mnpaul]

69. Do it tomorrow

Normy has a press conference at 3 pm today. He will concede.

[ColesCountyDem]

70. Right this way to the train wreck, Sen. Reid!

Hollywood couldn't have scripted a better farce than the one you're creating!

[Wetzelbill]

71. Harry Reid, he knows when to fold 'em.... and that's pretty much it nt

[w4rma]

72. Too many belligerent posters want to fight over nothing. Patience.

Both of these situations will be handled much better if some people learn patience.

[LoZoccolo]

75. I actually think he should have fought this one.

Normally I don't side with the hot-headed activists, but this one I think had the potential to make the Republicans look bad. I kinda don't care because Franken will be seated anyways, but he could have taken advantage of the fact that the Republicans would look like sore losers.

[ColesCountyDem]

77. Burris is going to be seated, too, so why not kill 2 birds with one stone?

[Harry Monroe]

76. Impeach Reid Now!!

[mzmolly]

79. Reid

should have let the Republicans tantrum like the whining hypocrites they are.

[FunMe]

80. Why do we have republiCONs like Reid in the DEMOCRATIC party?

What the heck do we have TRAITORS to the US and our Democratic Party "leading" or pretending to "lead"?

We need to get rid of these DINOs ... NOW!

Reid
Pelosi
Feinstein
Rockefeller

And the list goes on.

ENOUGH with the DINOs - get rid of them from "leadership" positions!

[frylock]

81. senate dems are the biggest bunch of pussies on the face of the earth..

why bother voting for these poltroons anymore?! can someone seriously fucking answer that?

[tom_paine]

82. 100% agreement. n/t

[provis99]

83. Al Franken for Senate Majority Leader

at least Franken knows how to scrap and fight, unlike Harry "Thank you sir may I have another one" Reid.

[Lost4words]

87. Darn Correct! nm

[MiniMe]

84. Coleman tried to stop the recount, thus stopping the vote counting

Now he wants to make sure that every vote is counted.

What changed? he didn't want them to be counted when he was ahead. Now that he is behind, he wants to "find" Coleman votes.

[Lost4words]

86. No signs of a spine are showing yet for the Democratic Senate!

Harry Reid finally stands up to the President,........ "elect",..... Reid " I dont work for Obama"

8643