Franken warns liberal activists: Conservatives are miserable but motivated

Sunday, July 25, 2010
By Kerry Picket, Washington Times

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat and Senator Al Franken, Minnesota Democrat, addressed Netroots Nation activists on Saturday highlighting Congressional Democratic accomplishments while reminding audience members the Democrats no longer have a 60 vote filibuster proof majority in the Senate. They also stressed the enthusiasm of grassroots conservatives who want to roll back recently passed left wing legislation like health care reform.

"We upset the apple cart over the past two years and conservatives are now miserable, and that means they are more motivated and they don’t just want to win elections, they want to prove that everything I said about the strength of our movement is wrong and that the success has been a fluke of history," said Senator Franken.

Fully aware of predictions for midterm election losses on the Democrat side, liberals know that the vibe from the most active in their online base is similar to that of conservatives' in 2006. Fearful of complacency and frustration from their own, the Left is figuring how best to combat a newly motivated conservative movement.

"Remember how we felt five years ago when Republicans were talking about a permanent majority? Well they look at the strength of the new progressive movement and it makes them feel the same way we did. They look at how we proved them wrong, and they’re just as motivated to stop our momentum, as we were to stop theirs five years ago. You can tell they’re motivated, because they’re spending boatloads of money," he said. AUDIO http://media.washtimes.com/media/audio/ ... vative.mp3

Earlier in the day, Senator Reid went through a list of Democratic legislative victories. He pointed to the health care bill, signed by the president in March, as something he wanted to expand upon.

“I wish we had the public option, but we’re going to have the public option. It’s a just a question of when,â€