One of the benefits of having a satirist like Minnesota’s Al Franken in the Senate is that, unlike most of the chamber’s stodgy old people, he’s capable of making a serious point using humor — in general, the best way to make a point, aside from a good pie-ing, in certain situations. For example. Today Franken was on the Senate floor, discussing the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling. It’s true, he admitted, that in August at least, the federal government would have the money to make its debt payments and send out checks for Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. But what about, you know, all the other things the federal government would no longer be able to fund? Things like, say, counterterrorism agents and border guards?
Franken’s SNL moment on the Senate floor [Hot Dish Politics/Star Tribune]
