Posted on 02/04/2010 5:19:32 PM PST by jazusamo
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 wrath, 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.
“The sources said Franken was the most outspoken senator in the meeting”
Translation: Once a loud-mouthed jerk, always a loud-mouthed jerk.
Axelrod must have been thinking, “This ignorant twerp is who we cheated our asses off for in Minnesota”?
Spoiled brat children finally being told “no”
And look at their reactions
Your tagline is very appropriate for this thread!
Boy. Where's a frickin' shoe bomber when you really need one.
Hmmmm. That brings a whole new meaning to the ‘retarded’ comments.
.
Franken will be smart to stay out of Chicago.........
diaper picture always comes to mind when I see the name frankin!
Ahhh, and there it is. Ugly, stupid, disrespectful and certainly not funny.
Oooh, a hothead!
Let’s send him lots of irritating messages.
Make sure you let him know you’re not a RAT.
LOL!! I love that pic, so typical of him.
You haven’t lived until you’ve been “layed into” by the slobbering Al Franken. ROTFL!
I don’t think this loon gets it. Senators are supposed to be collegial, pensive, and well spoken. This guy sounds more like a union organizer than a US Senator.
Well said but this guy doesn’t know the meaning of collegial, pensive, and well spoken, as you say he sounds like a union thug.
Perhaps Franken has had an awakening of how business in Washington is actually conducted, compared to the Washington he was led to believe.
And he is not liking the cronieisms. Let him rip them a new one. I think it’s comical.
“Franken criticized Axelrod for the administration’s failure to provide clarity or direction”
Sounds like Franken is too stupid to think on this own. He needs some hand holding. If they had a good ideas they wouldn’t have problems.
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