Grow A Pair! Senator Al Franken To The White House

Run time: 06:13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oslw7OIPsEo   Posted on YouTube: February 06, 2010 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: February 06, 2010 By DU Member: democracy1st Views on DU: 1871

 
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February 05, 2010 MSNBC Keith Olbermann


Al Franken lays into David Axelrod over health care bill




Sen. Al Franken ripped into White House senior adviser David Axelrod this week during a tense, closed-door session with Senate Democrats.


Five sources who were in the room tell POLITICO that Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration’s failure to provide clarity or direction on health care and the other big bills it wants Congress to enact.


The sources said Franken was the most outspoken senator in the meeting, which followed President Barack Obama’s question-and-answer session with Senate Democrats at the Newseum on Wednesday. But they also said the Minnesotan wasn’t the only angry Democrat in the room.


“There was a lot of frustration in there,” said a Democratic senator who declined to be identified.


“People were hot,” another Democratic senator said.


Democratic senators are frustrated that the White House hasn’t done more to win over the public on health care reform and other aspects of its ambitious agenda — and angry that, in the wake of Scott Brown’s win in the Massachusetts Senate race, the White House hasn’t done more to chart a course for getting a health care bill to the president’s desk.


In his public session with the senators Wednesday, Obama urged them to “finish the job” on health care but did not lay out a path for doing so. That uncertainty appeared to trigger Franken’s anger, and the sources in the room said he laid out his concerns much more directly than any senator did in the earlier public session.


The private session was set up in a panel format, with Axelrod joined at the front of the room by Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine and Democratic strategist Paul Begala.


A Democratic source said that Franken directed his criticism solely at Axelrod.


“It was all about leadership and health care and what the plan was going to be,” the source said.


Franken — a comedian turned liberal talk show host — vowed to keep a relatively low profile when he arrived in the Senate over the summer after a protracted legal battle with former GOP Sen. Norm Coleman. But he has developed a reputation among his colleagues as one of the more aggressive personalities on the Hill.


Last November, after Tennessee Republican Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander authored an op-ed in a local paper defending their opposition to a Franken amendment, Franken confronted both men on the floor — and grew particularly irritated with Corker.


He lashed out at Corker and a staff member in a follow-up meeting about the matter, several people said. Franken also clashed with South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in GOP leadership, last month in a scathing speech during the health care debate, and staffers have reported other run-ins.


The White House, the Democratic National Committee and Franken’s office all declined to speak on the record about Wednesday’s session. Begala did not respond to a request for comment.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32561.html#ixzz0ej1rGmCr

translation: he likes to talk out of both sides of his mouth at the same time. So afraid of offending anyone that he pleases no one. Take a stand, Mr. President. Then put all of your political might behind that stance.

The American people have spoken. You know where they stand on health care reform. There's no need for further dialogue with the American people. The majority want Medicare for all. It's the special interests and the GOP that don't want that. Why do you care so much about their opinion when it's THE PEOPLE who elected you to do their business? Fuck the GOP. Fuck the special interest groups. Do what right FOR THE PEOPLE, Mr. President.