Duel in the Scum (With Apologies to David O. Selznick

A lot has been made about the recent Senate duel between Senators Thune and Franken. This, me-bucks, is my take. First of all, I want it made clear that I have virtually no use for Senator Thune. At least from what I can gather, the fellow is a bible-thumper who 1) doesn't particularly like gays and 2) thinks that the earth is some 5-6 thousand years old. And, yes, he technically WAS lying in the Senate chamber that day. There clearly ARE components of the Democratic health-care bill that DO kick in immediately..............................................................................................But, I'm also telling you here. Mr. Franken himself was peddling a fair amount of bull-crap. This, in that, while, yes, there are in fact 17-18 programs starting immediately, it also must be stated that, together, these programs amount to but a mere ten billion dollars - a fair amount of money, yes, but coming out of a trillion dollar bill, that's only one percent. And, being that Mr. Thune ultimately did amend his comments from "all" to "99%", a strong case could be made that, on this occasion anyway, Mr. Franken was the far bigger stooge................................................................................................P.S. I must also confess that I am slightly torn here; a bible-thumping stooge/lunatic versus a mean-spirited dufus/freak. The age of enlightenment - not exactly. I mean, I don't know about you, folks, but I'm not exactly feeling all that proud about the Senate these days. Not by a lengthy shot.