commentaries

I feel that the entire article speaks to the lack of value of the National Journals rankings.

Was this story about Kline and Franken or just Kline? Why did the author not tell us of Frankens extremism in the senate?

These kinds of ratings are manufactured news.

There are two problems with this kind of story. First, this kind of rating system tells you much more about the raters and their priorities. In this case, the only time I ever hear of the National Journal is when they rate something or someone. The other problem is this is a classic example of a very bad journalistic habit, the coverage of the work product of one journalist as news by another journalist.

connie: "Why did the author not tell us of Frankens extremism in the senate?" Apparently you didn't read the article. While Franken's views are far from extreme, the article said that the Nation Journal (speaking of extremist) ranked "its most liberal and most conservative members of the U.S. Senate. Minnesota Democrat Al Franken tied for third most liberal."

Don't know much about Representative Kline--we down here in The Southland have the "honor" of being represented by Tim Walz. Owatonnabill has heard Kline speak and he is about as inspirational as wallpaper paste. Franken? Well, the kindest thing one can say about Weird Al is that he hasn't been quite the embarrassment to Minnesota that many of us had feared when he was elected.

guessagain: Read the article again. 4-5 paragraphs about Kline. 1 sentence about Franken. And yes, he is a far left politician.

Franken is a wildly popular elected official. Paulsen and Kline would never challenge him. Take that to the bank.

Franken is a thoughtful, hardworking Senator who looks out for the best interests of Americans and Minnesotans. As opposed to too many Senators who are looking out for the interests of the wealthy and powerful. Thank you, Senator Franken, I look forward to re-electing you.

Absolutely--need a story on someone ranking most socialist legislators in Washington. Al F is flitting around the edges of this group.