Attacking Al

Steve Benen seems a bit confused about the right's alpha strike on Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) (typing that still makes me giggle) and why they are bothering to attack the guy.

Attacking Franken last year -- you know, during the campaign -- made sense. Far-right Republicans didn't want to see Minnesotans vote for him, so it stands to reason they would encourage voters not to.

But therein lies the point. The election's over, and Franken won. Glenn Beck has spent several days this week saying Franken doesn't belong in the Senate. I completely disagree, but either way, isn't that an argument to be raised in the October before the election, not the July after it?

Not if your goal is to de-legitimize Al Franken's election, everything he does, and by extent everything he votes on. The right is pushing the "Franken stole the election" meme hard, and will continue to not treat him as an actual United States Senator. It makes it easier to level brutal broadsides at the guy, much like the Right is currently doing with Barack Obama.

Standard GOP operating procedure: de-legitimize your opponent, then de-humanize them. The Right's plan is clearly to act like there are still 99 senators in the Senate.