When Senator Al Franken (D-MN) this week denied Senator Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) request for more time to make his points on health care reform, he was blasted by Fox news who called him an "angry comedian" and berated him for mistreating the "kind" senator from Connecticut. Conservative blogger Ann Althouse called it a "dick move," and columnist and Fox News correspondent Michelle Malkin railed against "Franken's little snit fit."
Franken's move instantly hit Senator John McCain's (R-AZ) concern trigger and, speaking right after Lieberman, he seemed outraged as he remarked, "I've been around here twenty-some years, first time I've seen a member denied a minute or two to finish his remarks. And I must say that I don't know what's happening here in this body, but I think it's wrong."
Well, it seems Senator McCain may have had a bit of a memory lapse. As Faiz Shakir of Think Progresspoints out, in October of 2002, McCain refused to grant just 30 seconds of extra time during the Iraq war debate to former Senator Mark Dayton (D-MN).
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow last night featured a segment with video, and the transcript from CSPAN's archives that doesn't show us John McCain denying another senator time to finish making a point during an important debate because mysteriously, the CSPAN video, Maddow explains "It, it...it just goes to black." The audio and the video just inexplicably go blank. Luckily, as Maddow points out, we still know exactly what happens thanks to the transcripts.
An interesting aside: at about seven minutes into the Maddow Show video there is footage of an ailing 92-year old Senator Byrd being wheeled into the Senate for a procedural vote, and the Republicans applauding him for being there. Byrd however, wasn't pleased with having to be out of bed at that hour and begins to blast the GOP members crying "Shame. Shame."
The following YouTube video is footage from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show that originally aired on Fri., Dec. 18, 2009:
Watch:
