Tex’s Daily Thought: Franken Avoids the “Mob”

Senator Franken, being an upstanding member of Congress, is spending the recess meeting with constituents and discussing the hot topic of health care. That’s commendable. Except, I noticed something quite peculiar about an email I came across this morning from Franken.

MINNESOTA – U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn) has spent his August recess traveling to over 22 towns and health care is on Minnesota’s mind. Wednesday, Franken will host two roundtable discussion on health care reform in the Twin Cities area.

“This issue will be front and center when the Senate reconvenes next month,” said Franken. “I will bring the concerns, suggestions, and personal stories of Minnesotans I have met back to Washington with me to ensure they are heard in the reform debate.”

The first roundtable will feature leaders from faith councils, nonprofit health and human services organizations, and patient, employee, and consumer advocates who want to make sure that health care reform directly improves the lives of Minnesota families and Minnesota workers…

…WHO: U.S. Sen. Al Franken; representatives from Portico Healthnet; the Children’s’ Defense Fund; the Joint Religious Legislative Council; ISAIAH; Take Action Minnesota; AFSCME; SEIU; Health Care for America Now; and Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
WHEN: 10:00am – 11:30am, Wednesday, August 26, 2009
WHERE: Wright Building
Suite 422
2233 University Ave W
St. Paul

Now Franken could say he’s taking the high ground by actually meeting with the “Brown Shirts” (I mean) his constituents unlike Reid, who’s opting out of town halls or “roundtables” for basically a mass conference call -  Reid’s in trouble come election time.

If you caught it earlier in the post, I mentioned that the email came this morning – around 9:00 in fact.

That’s right. If you’re a concerned citizen desiring to voice your opposition to – or even support for – the health care “reform” currently being debated, you had about one hour to change your plans and get off from work.

I thought, “wow, nobody’s going to show up.” Then I noted the various organizations co-sponsoring the roundtable with Franken. Surely, these groups probably got the word out to their members beforehand. Certainly SEIU, the infamous “purple shirts” known for their history of physical harassment and intimidation,will be in force as their members have been bussed to many of the town halls.

Yet, looking over the lists of organizations/special interests involved with the roundtable, it doesn’t look like there will be that much discourse occurring between those in attendance. That’ll make things easier for the “engaging” debate to influence the unemployed in attendance, since they’ll probably be the only ones who could make it to the town hall. Guess Franken figured those dependent on government are his main constituents and so respectfully didn’t host the forum in the evening when all those pesky people who work and pay taxes might interfere.

And thankfully, with the late notice to the general public and the presence of an “impartial” roundtable, the SEIU won’t have to worry about spending their time attacking patriotic citizens (“I beat him because, well, ‘he attacked America’ first by passing out “Don’t Tread on Me” flags?).

But it shouldn’t surprise us that a  Democrat Senator would offer an exclusive roundtable with groups like Health Care for America Now (ran by a former SEIU organizing director) as so much of their campaign contributions come from these special interests – thank you again, Michelle Malkin.

Now, Franken has been known to let his temper get to him at times; he most recently berated alternative energy advocate T. Boone Pickens at a Senate Democratic Policy Luncheon for having donated to “Swift Boaters for Truth” during the 2004 election…and “they” say conservatives seemed to always be stuck in the past. Maybe Franken was just worried about attempted battery charges on his part if someone like this showed up at his roundtable “discussion”.

It is quite contemptible that Senator Franken doesn’t have the respect for the citizens of the Twin Cities to host an actual town hall that is openly and considerately advertised to the public. There is an exigency for concerned citizens to let their admonitions and exhortations be heard by their elected representatives…the stakes from not implementing true, prudent reform are too high not to.

Otherwise, the importunate needs burdening the millions of uninsured, the choking costs and market limitations strangling the livelihood of the already insured, and the risk of even more generational theft oppressing our children by our government will be ignored.

Mr. Franken, if you dare call yourself the representative of all Minnesotans, then have the decent regard to listen to all Minnesotans instead of having your pockets lined with SEIU and similar organizations while returning to Washington with their special-interest agenda spewing from your mouth. Sir, as much as you are, this isn’t a joke.

Addendum: as Mirianne points out in her comment, the roundtable was not open to the public, which makes the whole situation even worse for those who may have wanted to voice their opinion to Franken. I just talked to some friends in Minnesota who confirmed that,when individuals made the effort to get off work and attend the roundtable, they were turned away; the Twin Cities forum on health care was by “invitation” only. Basically, it was a special interest pat-on-the-back for Franken. Pathetic…