Wesley Snipes’ New Cellmate: Al Franken?

Many of you have probably already heard that Al Franken has fallen a bit behind in paying his taxes. But don’t worry, its not his fault. It is all his accountant’s fault. Yeah, somehow he missed paying that $70,000 in taxes in 17 different states. And it also slipped his mind (the accountant, not Franken) to file the $25,000 for Worker’s Compensation insurance. I don’t know about you, but I can see how that could slip his mind. Ok, so let me get my tongue out of my cheek, and take a look at this a bit more.

It is interesting to me that Franken, a Democrat, running against a notably “so-so” republican in a notably democrat leaning state was already having problems with gaining a lead. He was running “neck in neck” with Norm Coleman, according to this article from the Politico. Franken has always been very outspoken against conservatism, and actually made quite a bit of money by calling Rush Limbaugh a “big fat Idiot.” Even in the midst of this scandal, the Franken Camp is trying to act as if they have no worries. One of the Franken Camp Operatives had this to say:

“It’s the kind of story you want to have come out in April. Not every day is smooth sailing,” said the operative. “It’s obviously a bump in the road, but if they handle it right, they can get past it.”

Commentary from the Politico followed up with this:

While the actual infraction may be far from a killer, the campaign’s slow handling of the matter has raised questions about Franken’s readiness for the scrutiny of a statewide Senate race.

This is not a campaign killer? This is a guy that is going against his opponent, blasting him for standing with President Bush on things like the Iraq War. This article references the “close relationship” between Coleman (the Republican Candidate, if you are keeping up) and President Bush. I would suppose that the criticism extends to the financial plans of Bush and the Democrat blasted tax cuts.

I always find some irony in Democrats not paying their taxes. They push and push for tax increases (and we will get those raises if a Democrat is elected president), and yet they try to avoid paying their own taxes. Anyone who thinks this accountant for Franken acted on his own, without instructions from Franken himself is just insane! He was trying to make sure that Franken didn’t pay any more taxes than he absolutely had to. If they really believed that taxes should be raised, they wouldn’t do so much shuffling to hide their money. If the Republican candidates would take full advantage of these type of gifts, they would be much more successful in defeating their Democrat counterparts. This should be the death knell to Franken’s campaign, but it won’t be.

Another thing I found interesting in this Politico article was the way in which spoke of Franken as the candidate. He doesn’t really sound like he is “in charge”, but rather is nothing more than a puppet in his own campaign.

The Franken campaign has restricted media access to him. And until he actually paid the back taxes, Franken did not directly respond to reporters’ questions about the mounting controversy, instead relying on surrogates.

“He’s being kept under wraps because he isn’t terribly disciplined in the way he deals with reporters. He gets in their face, gets angry with them, gets aggressive with them, so he’s trying to keep a distance from reporters so he doesn’t mess with them,” said Schier.

How is this man going to be able to be a Senator in a state where he has to work with others, and interact with the public if he can’t even give an interview. He is being kept from talking by his “handlers” because he can’t control himself? That is exactly the type of person that we need in the senate. I guess he will fit in on that side of the aisle!

I find the response of the Democrats to this story humorous. When the Republican candidate (Coleman) came out blasting Franken for his actions, it elicited this response:

“Norm Coleman is a weak senator with a weak record who will do anything to take the focus of the race off of him, but at the end of the day, nothing here changes the fundamental dynamics of the race,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Matt Miller.

What exactly are the Republicans supposed to do? Sit back, and ignore the criminal activity of the Democratic candidates. This once again shows the duplicity in the Democratic party. It is as if they are not even concerned about hiding the double standard! I think the republicans need to blast away even more–they shouldn’t let these type of things slide by, virtually unnoticed. This is a campaign issue, and it should be fully exploited!

As a final note, I find it interesting that some of the Democrats are saying this is nothing more than a “hiccup” in the Franken campaign, and he will roll right on past it, while others are pretty sure this opens the door for other candidates.  Mike Ciresi, a Democrat who had dropped out of the race, is not ruling out the possibility of getting back in the race.  Democratic operatives claim this is highly unlikely, but with their wholesale support of Franken, there isn’t much more they could say.  There is certainly enough of an uproar in Franken’s campaign to cause him and his supporters some discomfort.  I hope it is enough to finally put him out of the race so that the rest of us don’t have to hear about him any more!

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