Al Franken mansplains

Interrupts Alice Stewart like it's his show when it isn't

This exchange on CNN between Al Franken and Alice Stewart has become a chew toy on social media.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2022/09/10/scotus-kamala-harris-roberts-franken-stewart-acostanr-sot-vpx.cnn

Host Jim Acosta began the segment with a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks about what she sees as a lack of legitimacy in today’s “activist” Supreme Court.

Franken spoke first. He said of the court’s make-up, “They’ve stolen two seats. the one that Merrick Garland wasn’t given a hearing for and the one that Coney Barrett was, where she was seated a week before the election. That destroyed the legitimacy of the court.”

Alice, who is a friend, rightly noted that the vote on Garland, a Democratic nominee, was delayed in 2016 because Republicans controlled the Senate and were hoping to win the White House.

(When parties have power, their leaders usually wield it to their advantage. It’s called “politics,” not “debate club.”)

Was it unfair to not hold hearings for Garland? Arguably, but really, I’ll take the GOP method over Democrats’ character assassinations of Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas — with moldy unsubstantiated charges of personal misconduct that somehow never came up when the justices were vetted previously.

I thought maybe Al Franken had learned something about his demeanor with women over the years, but that truly hasn’t happened.

Franken interrupted Stewart 11 times.

By contrast, Stewart let Franklin talk and she let him finish his sentences.

What’s more, Stewart stuck to the topic at hand — today’s Supreme Court — but Franken was too busy trying to show the world what a talented inquisitor he is. “Tell me when this has happened before,” he repeatedly pressed Stewart.

On the Twitterverse, anonymous trolls hailed Franken as a skilled orator who destroyed the Republican strategist. They mistake talking over someone for persuasion — such is their world.

The answer to Franken’s question, by the way, is 1957, which Franken for some reason did not share. Did he even know? I guess we’ll never know. That’s at the end of Al Franken’s rabbit hole.

When Donald Trump pulled these antics, the left took umbrage at his interruptions and off-topic remarks. When Franken follows the Trump playbook, his base is in awe.

Debra J. Saunders is a fellow with the Discovery Institute. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org.