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“You really can’t start a transition until you’ve been elected president.” Those words of advice were offered to George W. Bush on TV Nov. 28, 2000, two weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bush v. Gore made Bush president, and seven weeks before Inauguration Day 2001. The advice came from Al Franken — who today announced a chief of staff for his U.S. Senate office in Washington, D.C., and last week named the director of his office in Minnesota. Video after the jump.
By expert estimation, Franken is himself six weeks away from being seated in the Senate. It’s a full month before the Minnesota Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case of Norm Coleman vs. Al Franken. A ruling in Coleman’s appeal of their 2008 U.S. Senate election may take weeks more. After a statewide hand recount and a seven-week election-contest trial, Franken holds a 312-vote margin of victory over Coleman.
Here’s a clip including Franken’s free transition advice for Bush on Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect” TV show. The discussion starts at the 7:00 mark, with the exchange between Franken and conservative Los Angeles radio host Al Rantel (paritally transcribed below) starting at the 8:00 mark.
RANTEL: A third of the time’s gone while this guy (Franken) and his friends try to steal the election from Bush.
FRANKEN: I will not let that stand. But go ahead, and then we’ll …
RANTEL: For Bush it’s harder than for Gore…
FRANKEN: His father has picked the cabinet.
RANTEL: That’s not true. For Gore, he’s got a Democratic bureaucracy already in place by Clinton. …
FRANKEN: OK, the point is you really can’t start a transition until you’ve been elected president.
RANTEL: Well, I think he has been elected president.
FRANKEN: I know you think that, but he hasn’t. And you guys would like everyone to think it.
RANTEL: What would you have said, if Gore would have been certified by Florida on Sunday night –
FRANKEN: By his campaign manager? By his campaign vice president?
RANTEL: No, by the counties that reported the numbers. What would you have said?
FRANKEN: I would have said: Recount the votes.
RANTEL: Oh, you would not have. If Gore had been elected you would say recount the votes?
FRANKEN: I would have taken up Bush on the statewide recount.
MAHER (interrupting): What about the lie that I was just talking about? The lie that you have to rush to appoint a cabinet when of course they don’t.
RANTEL: Well, everybody at this point has got to go through FBI background checks. If they’re cabinet members, they’ve got to be approved by the Congress, by the Senate –
MAHER: And that takes three months?
RANTEL: Well, it’s already almost December.
MAHER: Just admit it’s a lie. I’ll give you the office. It’s just a lie.
FRANKEN (to Maher, pointing to Rantel): He and I hate each other. But you’re wrong.
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4 Comments »
Comment posted April 29, 2009 @ 3:54 pm
Of coarse the difference here is that Al has been elected (verified by a transparent and fair recount and appeal to a state three judge panel/court). As I remember, the republicans back in 2000 went to the federal Supreme Court to stop the state recount in a very close race (remember too that they were the first to file a law suit in Florida state courts to stop the recount), and the last I checked Al Gore was ahead by over a half million votes in the final vote tally.
mark, rochester
Comment posted April 29, 2009 @ 6:24 pm
The difference is, obviously, that in the example of Florida 2000 a recount was PREVENTED by the Bush partisans, a recount DuhBya would have certainly lost, along with the Electoral College and the popular vote. In Minnesota on the other hand, Coleman has lost every official count of the vote since this thing started. He has never had this thing “won” at any time. The only time he was against counting the vote was when he thought he was ahead. Once a more accurate count REVEALED that he in fact was the loser, then he started demanding recount after recount. Funny that some people don’t think it odd that Coleman was in the lead in the initial reporting, but the greater the level of scrutiny, accuracy and transparency applied, the more he falls behind. What’s up with that? Sounds like Coleman was the one benefiting from crooked counting at the outset. Good thing we still have something called “the light of day” to protect the citizens from all these sneaky goings-on.
Comment posted April 29, 2009 @ 9:08 pm
But there is no transition – Coleman is not a sitting member of the Senate and has not had a Senatorial office or staff for months. Besides, if Franken isn’t fully up-and-running by the time he is sworn in, the Republicans will be attacking him straight away for not being ready.
Comment posted April 30, 2009 @ 6:58 am
Tim beat me to it.
These are not transition hirings, these are contingent hirings. He has to be ready to serve the people of Minnesota the day he is sworn in.
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