“I would rather he had been here and it was still his seat, you know? That’s what I really wish.”
— Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), in answer to a supporter who asked him what Sen. Paul Wellstone would have said after listening to one of Franken’s first speeches as a senator. Wellstone was killed in a [...]

My, what a difference a year — and actually being in the position instead of just talking out of your ass — makes.

“I just congratulated Al Franken on his victory. I told him it’s the best job he’ll ever have representing Minnesota in the United States Senate. The Supreme Court has spoken, I will respect its decision, and abide by its results.”
— former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), finally doing the right thing and conceding the 2008 [...]

Today’s the day in Minnesota: we might have a new Democratic Senator in Al Franken. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s Arjun Jaikumar is live blogging and twittering from inside the courtroom where Sen. Norm Coleman’s challenge of a ruling favorable to Franken is being heard. Tune in for what appears to be some good stuff [...]

In case you missed it. Amazing.
Note to McCain: drop the evil grimace when being sarcastic.

MSNBC reports that both George Bush and Dick Cheney have canceled their appearances at the Republican National Convention because of the likelihood that hurricane Gustav would be coming ashore on the Gulf Coast near New Orleans on Monday at around the same time they were scheduled to speak in St. Paul.
The White House [...]

Somebody was bound to come up with a mechanism of choosing a presidential candidate for people who are too stoopid to understand the issues or too disengaged to learn about the candidates but who still, for some reason, feel compelled to vote. Oh, and to make it really simple for those MySpace fools, it’s Web-based, [...]

Rightwing big thinker Charles Krauthammer trashes Reagan’s 11th Commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans,” by picking at the weakness of the GOP’s ‘08 field — and then speaks ill of Reagan too, for good measure:
Major grumbling among conservatives about the Republican field. So many candidates, so many flaws. Rudy Giuliani, [...]

New York Times columnist Gail Collins perfectly captures the conventional wisdom about Mike Huckabee in today’s edition:
Why would the family values crowd prefer a batshit crazy adulterating New Yorker, a Hollywood actor/abortion lobbyist or a Mormon to one of their own?
Like Bill Clinton, Huckabee was born in a town called Hope and became a pretty [...]

‘To be or not to be.’
Co-editor Trish is all in a dither these days over the state of Democratic politics in Florida. Since her ballot would not be counted in Florida’s (in the eyes of the national Democratic Party — illegal) Jan. 29 vote, she says she’s not sure she’ll even vote in the presidential [...]