There was a time when I considered Al Franken to be among a select group of politicians I could look to for bold, informed leadership on many progressive issues.

Notice the past tense.

Why has Franken lost my favor? These two items should suffice:

1) Franken is among those who voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – which many think authorizes the military to detain U.S. citizens at home without due process. (While Franken gets credit for voting for the Udall Amendment, which would have stricken this from NDAA, Franken proceeded to vote for NDAA with the provision still standing.)

2) Franken is a co-sponsor to the odious PROTECT IP Act, which would give the Department of Justice the authority to "force search engines, browsers, and service providers to block users' access to websites that have been accused of copyright infringement – without even giving them a day in court." This from a man who has been a primary champion of net neutrality.

Which leads me to ask, "What happened?"

If you'd like to ask Mr. Franken himself, feel free to email him.

And if you think he's worthy of defending on these matters, please, I'm all ears.



------------------------------------

Follow me on Twitter @David_EHG

------------------------------------