If Jason Mattera’s meeting with Tom Harkin made one feel momentarily sorry for the outfoxed Senator, one has to have some grudging admiration for Al Franken in this hilarious sequence. Unlike Harkin and most other members of Congress who mutter platitudes when challenged by a constituent with a camera, Franken gets angry — and lets Jason know it.  Alyssa Cordova of the Claire Boothe Luce Institute must have had a tough time keeping up with Jason, Franken, and the two Franken aides that kept throwing themselves between the two until Franken got annoyed with them as well.  Franken wanted to play, and Jason was happy to let him do so:

Franken spent enough time in New York to learn how to deal with Brooklyn speed-talkers, so the “You won’t let me finish” complaint, while accurate in the beginning of this exchange, hardly amounts to a defense. When Jason finally does slow his delivery, all Franken can do is complain about the question rather than answer it. Heck, Jason forgot to ask Franken whether he would buy a copy of his new book, Obama Zombies: How the Liberal Machine Brainwashed My Generation. Franken’s a big fan of political polemics, after all, having written a few himself.

At least Franken provides some fireworks for Mattera. The last match screamed for a referee to call a TKO.