Republicans are desperate to keep Al Franken out of the Senate. How desperate? Threatening “World War III” desperate:

Texas Sen. John Cornyn is threatening “World War III” if Democrats try to seat Al Franken in the Senate before Norm Coleman can pursue his case through the federal courts. Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, acknowledges that a federal challenge to November’s elections could take “years” to resolve. But he’s adamant that Coleman deserves that chance — even if it means Minnesota is short a senator for the duration. A three-judge panel is expected to rule any day now on legal challenges to the November election.

This is beyond appalling. The Senator from Texas wants to keep the people of Minnesota from being fully represented. The GOP leaders want to delay this as long as possible. They’re using every legal trick in the book, which is almost funny since the Republicans are always bashing what they deem to be frivolous lawsuits. The GOP’s reason has nothing to do with fairness or counting the votes. It’s about political power:

Without Franken in the Senate, the Democrats hold a 58-41 vote advantage over the GOP; getting to 59-41 sooner rather than later would make it easier to move President Barack Obama’s agenda through Congress.

That’s it in a nutshell. Someone needs to ask Senator Cornyn just what “World War III” means?