WASHINGTON – Minnesota Sen. Al Franken has a message for out of touch Democrats.
“We gotta stop riding in limousines,” Franken said during an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
The answer was in response to a question from panelist Eddie Glaude Jr. asking Franken how Democrats could change the perception of their party following a disappointing string of losses in recent special elections.
“How do you change the view that the Democrats are just simply limousine Democrats, that the party is in the hands of Wall Street?” Glaude asked Franken.
The term “limousine Democrats” or “limousine liberal” is defined by Urban Dictionary as a “derogatory term used to describe a rich liberal who considers oneself a champion of the poor and downtrodden, but lives a lifestyle of wealth and luxury.”
Earlier in the interview, Franken tried to paint himself as a typical middle class American. When asked what Democrats need to do in order to avoid more election losses, Franken drew on his upbringing.
“We gotta be Democrats, we gotta talk about what we are for,” Franken said. “I grew up in the 50s. My dad didn’t graduate high school. We grew up in two bedroom, one bath house, and I felt like the luckiest kid in the world. Because I was. I was growing up middle class, at the height of the middle class in America. Every kid felt like they could do whatever they want. You could take a gamble on yourself. I don’t think kids feel that way anymore.”
While growing up, Franken’s home life may have been that of a typical middle class American, he did attend an affluent private school. As Alpha News previously uncovered, Franken was a math and science whiz as a boy. As he approached secondary school years, his parents wanted to find a better school for their gifted student. Franken ended up attending and graduating from Blake, one of the most exclusive private schools in the Minneapolis area, where the tuition for upperclassmen is currently $29,025 per year.
Returning to the “limousine liberal” problem, Glaude seemed unsatisfied by Franken’s blunt answer. Once the laughter had subsided, Glaude turned his attention back to the line of questioning.
“But there’s a presumption, right? There’s no difference that makes a difference here, that the corporate wing of the Democratic party is no different than corporate Republicans, right? How do you make that substantive distinction?” Glaude asked.
Franken skirted around the question, instead turning it back to Medicaid cuts and the latest healthcare proposal, which Franken calls a tax cut in disguise.
“If you’re talking about limousines, how about the top 400 people in terms of tax cuts here,” said Franken. “The amount of money they’ll get in tax cuts would pay for Medicaid for 750,000 people.”
Franken followed up by claiming cutting 750,000 from Medicaid would cause 1,000-2,000 people to die citing a survey from the New England Journal of Medicine.
“This is worse than mean. It is cruel,” Franken said.
Watch the full interview below:
