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By Molly Ivins $9.72
By Celia Chazelle (Editor), Simon Doubleday (Editor), Felice Lifshitz (Editor), Amy G. Remensnyder (Editor)
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 Illustration by Mr. Fish
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By Chris Hedges — The journalists, pundits and academics who sold us the Iraq War remain firmly ensconced in their positions of privilege and power, and these self-defined liberals stand ready to sell us out again.
Posted on Mar 31, 2013
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A look at the day’s political happenings, including why House Republicans now want to ignore the debt ceiling and Michelle Obama’s epic reaction to John Boehner.
Posted on Jan 22, 2013
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 Wikimedia Commons
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Though they couldn’t stop the freedom-crushing National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 from becoming law, Truthdig salutes the efforts of the members of the U.S. Congress who took a stand against the NDAA in the final round of voting this week.
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By Joe Conason — Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., is disturbed by the monopolistic power of the ratings agencies—and still determined to curb their abuses, as he tried to do last year with an amendment to the Dodd-Frank banking reform bill.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The battle for the Midwest is transforming American politics. Issues of class inequality and union influence, long dormant, have come back to life.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — “We’re broke.” You can practically break a search engine if you start looking around the Internet for those words. Just one problem: We’re not broke.
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 Flickr / cursedthing
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Speaking to a Netroots gathering, the Minnesota senator called net neutrality the “free speech issue of our time” and condemned the FCC’s decision to “create essentially two Internets.” Franken also said of the FCC-approved union of Comcast and NBC, “I hate this merger” ... (more)
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 Wikimedia Commons / Jonathunder
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It may seem as though the Federal Communications Commission might be onto something with the set of guidelines its members will probably approve Tuesday, but do these rules actually add up to what Sen. Al Franken and other skeptics are calling “fake net neutrality”?
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Objection-raising robot Sen. Jim Bunning sure had his day, and his night, on Friday, what with his single-handed stymieing of the proposed extension of health care and unemployment benefits for out-of-work Americans. But, as he pointed out near the end of Friday’s jousting session on the Senate floor, it’s not as if he wasn’t inconvenienced himself.
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 bennelson.senate.gov
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It could be a long and snowy weekend on Capitol Hill for our sparring U.S. senators, who were busy antagonizing each other and making various accusations and threats Friday as they wrestled over the health care bill. The Democrats’ lone holdout, Sen. Ben Nelson, was the subject of a woo-in conducted by his peers ... (continued)
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 Wikimedia Commons / Jonathunder
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Perhaps reflecting a frustration among Democrats over Joe Lieberman’s role in shaping the Senate’s health care proposal, Sen. Al Franken nipped in the bud the Connecticut senator’s discussion of amendments to the bill Thursday. Updated: Now with video!
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If ever there were magic words guaranteed to provoke instant fury in America’s far-right ranks (besides “Nobel Peace Prize”), they might sound a little like “Al Franken.” The comedian-turned-senator’s recent proposal—related to the rights of rape victims who are employees of government contractors—met with some baffling resistance from Republicans in Congress.
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 hollywoodgrind.com
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After the likes of Ronald Reagan, Sonny Bono and Al Franken, Alec Baldwin’s (still tentative) musings about taking up the celebrity-politician mantle carry a certain sense of dramatic inevitability. The “30 Rock” star may play a Republican on TV but leans to the left in his offscreen life.
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Following his arrival on Capitol Hill on Monday, Al Franken downplayed his status as the winner of the 60th Democratic seat in the U.S. Senate and emphasized what his Minnesota constituents need their “second senator” to accomplish.
Posted on Jul 6, 2009
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 AP photo / Jim Mone
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So, Al Franken officially will become a senator next week, but given his long and bitter battle with rival Norm Coleman, not to mention his pronounced unpopularity among Republicans, it’s not entirely surprising that a Rasmussen Reports national poll released Thursday registered substantial voter displeasure at the prospect of Franken’s arrival on Capitol Hill.
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 commons.wikimedia.org / Jonathunder
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At long last, the Minnesota Supreme Court has declared Al Franken the victor in the state’s remarkably tight and seemingly endless U.S. Senate race. The comedian-turned-politician won the almost eight-month-long battle against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman, who conceded Tuesday, by 312 votes, giving the Democrats a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate to add to their comfortable advantage in the House.
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 Flickr / Mykl Roventine
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It’s been nearly eight months since Minnesotans went to the polls and they still don’t know who one of their senators is. Norm Coleman trails Al Franken by 312 votes and the case is now in the hands of Minnesota’s Supreme Court, if only it could be bothered to rule.
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 coleman.senate.gov
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While he’s enduring his umpteenth go-round with arch-rival Al Franken over Minnesota’s now-vacant Senate seat, Norm Coleman has found himself some gainful employment to keep him busy.
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 Flickr / aflcio2008
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After recounting 2.4 million ballots cast in the state’s U.S. Senate election, Minnesota officials are ready to name Al Franken the winner by a mere 225 votes. Franken’s rival, Sen. Norm Coleman, will likely fight the decision in the state Supreme Court. His campaign manager, meanwhile, is calling for a do-over. Updates after the jump.
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 realcities.com
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Having suggested that fellow Minnesotan Al Franken should concede defeat earlier in the week, Norm Coleman was keeping mum by Friday afternoon, when it was discovered that Franken was trailing his Republican rival for the U.S. Senate by only 238 votes.
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 AP photo / Jim Mone
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A couple of months ago, Al Franken’s U.S. Senate bid might have seemed like a long shot, even when it came to politics as (un)usual in his quirky home state of Minnesota. Now, victory may be within reach for the former “SNL” star in his race against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman.
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 nationalexpositor.com
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It would have made for quite a political smackdown, but former Minnesota governor and one-time WWF wrestler Jesse Ventura has nixed rumors that he will take on Al Franken and Norm Coleman as a senatorial candidate. Of course, if God intervenes, “The Body” might change his mind.
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 AP photo / Jim Mone
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Al Franken’s career arc has taken an unconventional turn: The comedian has nailed down the Minnesota Democrats’ endorsement for the U.S. Senate, following in former Gov. Jesse Ventura’s footsteps as a performer-turned-politician in the Midwestern state. Starting out in comedy may serve Franken well in Congress, where knowing how to work a tough crowd just might come in handy.
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Mark Green, the new president of Air America, tells Truthdig why it didn’t work, what he’s going to do to fix it and what you can expect in the future from America’s largest progressive radio network. Pictured above, Al Franken, who was an Air America host.
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In anticipation of Al Franken’s Senate run, Arianna Huffington cheekily posted a slew of video clips from mid-1990s era “Politically Incorrect,” in which the two of them—then ideological opponents—sparred over politics while in bed. Watch them here.
Posted on Feb 15, 2007
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Longtime comedian and “Air America” host Al Franken has made it official: He’s running for the Senate in 2008. In this video he tells Minnesotans they have a right to be skeptical of his candidacy. (AP article here)
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 realcities.com
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Al Franken, the comedian, actor, author and radio host, will seek another title to add to his résumé: United States senator. According to multiple sources, Franken has finally decided to challenge conservative Republican Norm Coleman after years of debating the possibility.
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