A good old fashioned political feud seems to have broken out between Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. The back and forth started when the media revealed that Franken had devoted a chapter in a memoir, which he entitled with a becoming lack of modesty, “Giant of the Senate,” in which he ruminates on how much he hates Ted Cruz. Cruz, for his part, was unamused and suggested that Franken was trying to increase book sales.
‘I hate Ted Cruz’
Franken kicked off the tit for tat when he revealed how much he hates Ted Cruz. To be sure, hatred of the senator from Texas is widespread in the Senate, at least until Cruz decided to become conciliatory after losing his race for the presidency. But only Franken has gone on the record for venting his hate. He suggests that he has been given permission to break senatorial comity because Cruz once accused Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of telling lies on the floor of the Senate.
‘Obnoxious and insulting.'
Cruz, for his part, has termed what Franken has to say about him as “obnoxious and insulting.” The senator from Texas went on to suggest that Franken was trying to increase book sales by preying on the disdain that liberal readers have for him.
If so, Franken may be succeeding. As of this writing, the book is doing well in prepublication sales on Amazon.com.
Who is really a ‘giant of the Senate?’
Franken, it should be noted, started his career as one of the most unfunny cast members in the history of Saturday Night Live. He went on to delve into political commentary with such books as “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot” and “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.” He was elected to the Senate in 2008 in a contest that featured dodgy vote counting, though he was reelected by ten points in 2014. Franken has recently declined to run for president in 2020, much to the disappointment of all political pundits. His Senate career has been decidedly undistinguished.
Cruz, by contrast, is a Harvard-educated lawyer who has argued cases before the Supreme Court successfully. He was elected to the Senate in 2012 in a come from behind win against an establishment supported, Republican candidate. During his first four years in the Senate, Cruz made waves and enemies as a voice for the opposition against President Barack Obama on such issues as Obamacare and immigration. He might have been elected president of the United States had it not been for Donald Trump. Cruz is currently settling down to a longer than expected Senate career, crafting and passing legislation, though another run for the presidency in the future is certainly possible.