NBC’s worst nightmare came true Thursday — the other, non-Conan nightmare — when a former NBC on-air talent/producer turned senator went off on network and Comcast suits during a Senate hearing about the proposed merger of the two media behemoths.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) wasn’t buying promises being spewed by execs of the network and the country’s largest cable provider that the deal will be good for you and me.

“You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t trust these promises, and that is from experience in this business,” said Franken, a member of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights.

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Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn) called on Friday for Senate Democrats to commit to passing amendments to its health care legislation through the process of reconciliation — so that the House can then pass legislation of its own.

In a call organized by the pro-reform group Health Care for America Now, the Minnesota Democrat laid out what he called a “pledge and pass” strategy for getting a bill into law.

“If we in the Senate pledge to fix those top priorities right away through reconciliation… the House of Representatives should pass the Senate bill. The exact details of this process need to be worked out by the leadership and the president.”

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Washington, D.C. — This week, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) joined 16 of their colleagues to call on U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to take immediate steps to utilize TARP funding to stabilize community banks and improve credit availability for small businesses.

“The American economy won’t recover until our small businesses recover,” said Sen. Klobuchar. “Small businesses are the engines that drive job creation in this country. Opening up credit and expanding into new markets will spur economic growth and strengthen our economy.”

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I have been disappointed by politicians far more often than I care to admit. From Bill Clinton to Jesse Ventura to even George W. Bush — who managed to do far worse than my meager expectations to him — candidates have been elected to office only to become feckless, spineless, worthless representatives, far more concerned about their own political well-being than the people they represent. See also most of Congress.

What redeems my faith in the system is the fact that every so often, a politician comes along who actually exceeds my expectations, who comports themself the way we expect a politician to — without fear of losing, with more of a focus on the people they represent than the next election. The late, great Sen. Paul Wellstone, DFL-Minn., was one of those politicians. He ran a spirited campaign and talked a good show, but once elected he backed up his words with actions. He walked the talk.

And now, the man who holds his seat in the Senate is doing the same thing.

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Shortly after Barack Obama addressed a Senate Democratic caucus meeting and urged them to push health care reform forward, two of the chamber’s most progressive members took the president’s closest adviser aside and asked him why the White House wasn’t doing more to help.

Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Bernie Sanders (I-V.T.) both asked pointed health-care-related questions to senior adviser David Axelrod following Obama’s speech, multiple sources tell the Huffington Post. The gist of their concern was that the administration has not shown enough leadership to get legislation passed through Congress in the wake of the party’s defeat in the Massachusetts Senate election. Franken went first, saying “he really needed to know if the White House was going to lead,” according to one Democratic aide.

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Speaking at a Judiciary Committee hearing on the proposed merger between NBC and Comcast this afternoon, former NBC employee Sen. Al Franken said he doesn’t “trust” promises the companies are making based on his “experience in this business.”

The primary concern lawmakers voiced with the merger Thursday was that if a cable provider owns the network, it may incentivize them to raise the price of NBC programming to the detriment of all rival providers. Company heads have pledged this will not happen.

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Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) may not be an expert on antitrust law, but the showbiz veteran knows a thing about NBC Universal. And from his experience, there is little reason to trust NBC will keep any promises involving its proposed $30 billion merger with Comcast.

“I worked for NBC for many years,” said the former Saturday Night Live star. “And what I know from my previous career has given me reason to be concerned—let me rephrase that, very concerned—about the potential merger of Comcast and NBC Universal.”

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Sen. Al Franken said he doesn’t trust the promises made by the CEOs of Comcast and NBC Universal “from my experience in this business.”

Franken (D-Minn.), a member of the Senate Antitrust subcommittee, said his previous career “has given me reason to be very concerned about this potential merger.”

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Washington, D.C. – On the heels of a new report showing that the toxic metal cadmium is being used in children’s jewelry sold in stores across the nation, U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Al Franken (D-MN) today (Thursday, Feb. 4) announced that they have introduced legislation that will define cadmium as a banned hazardous substance which will get cadmium out of children’s jewelry once and for all.

The report shows that cadmium is being used by Chinese manufacturers who are producing children’s jewelry that is being sold in the United States

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Doesn’t look like comedian turned senator Al Franken is planning a return to NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” anytime soon.

In his opening remarks about the proposed Comcast-NBC deal at a hearing held by the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, Franken (D-Minn.) ripped into the deal and the risks it could present to not only consumers but media competition as well.

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