Al Franken: can a talk radio host make it in politics? the answer is clearly, yes!

Can a comedian and the bane of the right-wing talk radio be the first Senator elected from the ranks of talk radio?

Al Franken, of Saturday Night Live, Air America Radio, the USO, and Stuart Smalley's altar ego might just be that guy.

(Rush Limbaugh, The Big Fat Idiot, whose arrest record and multiple marriages would prevent him from being elected to anything, would roll over in his grave if he were dead. Billo Reilly, another sworn enemy would blow out those little colonic gaskets he just had replaced, and have to start wearing pull-ups again if Franken's elected. Neither of these men have uttered Franken's name in 10 years).

Franken resigned from AAR in February to run against the bland former neocon Norm Coleman for his Minnesota Senate seat. No East coast elitist- Franken grew up in Minnesota, and moved back to Minneapolis in 2005.

This is the state that elected the muscle-bound, adenoidal buffoon, Governor Jesse Ventura. A Jewish, Harvard-educated comedian may not be that much of a stretch for this electorate.

But the comedian is "deadly serious," about the election, and although they may be laughing, nobody's laughing him off. He's got a sharp primary opponent, who's no push-over: he's Mike Ciresi, who like Christine Gregoire led the fight for his state against Big Tobacco back in the '90's.

To win the primary, he needs Democratic activists to endorse him at the state convention in June. Both he and Ciresi say they won't run in the September primary without the party endorsement. Franken's probably got the activists lined up- the netroots are solid behind him.

According to a recent AP piece, Republicans are scouring Franken's every word of the last 25 years for outrageous or inappropriate remarks he's made in his line of work.

They're not difficult to find: like when he referred recently to Coleman as "one of the administration's leading butt-boys," or his prediction to David Letterman that White House aides Karl Rove and Scooter Libby would be executed.

So far, his jokes haven't impressed Minnesotans as being anything other than funny- Franken draws large crowds and has raised money with ease.

He recently told a group: "Most people get the joke, except for the people who are invested in not getting the joke. Because to not get a joke means they would have to give up the right to their indignation."

Franken calls Coleman "Bush's lapdog," wants a deadline for withdrawal from Iraq;  universal health care and renewable-energy incentives.

He's gotten Hollywood bucks from such as Rosie O'Donnell, Bill Maher, Dan Aykroyd, Robin Williams, Ed Norton, Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jason Alexander, Larry David, Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner, even conservative TV guy Ben Stein chipped in $1,000. Franken has nearly $2 million, while Coleman still has over $3 million. Ciresi has only $750,000

Coleman charges Franken with depending on out-of-state money from big Hollywood donors.

Franken says Coleman draws his financial support from corporate interests who don't represent Minnesota.

"It's all pharmaceutical, coal and oil companies," he says. "How many oil or coal companies are there in Minnesota? There aren't any."

Franken has the celebrity, and the ability to raise money, but it's still a tough race. He trailed Coleman by 22 points in an independent Mason-Dixon poll conducted in May.

2008 will be hard for any Republican, though- especially for Coleman who deserted the Democratic Party in 1996, and stuck with the unpopular Bush a little too long after the popular tide turned. These days he's a born-again progressive, sponsoring environmental legislation and using words like "awesome."

Minnesota Democrats- and Franken in particular- despise Coleman not only because he flipped parties, when the Dems were down, but also because he ran a very nasty campaign after liberal icon, and close Franken friend Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash 11 days before the 2002 election.

Read the description of that porqueria in Franken's excellent, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. There's more than a little pay-back's-a-bitch in this campaign.

Comments

[Duffman]

"can a talk radio host make it in politics?"

Suuuure, ya betcha! [Hey, Ronald Reagan made it, didn't he?]

Good luck Al, go get 'em! :o)

[Andrew]

Dave Ross bitched about Lindsay Lohan coverage in his commentary, as so many others complained about Paris Hilton jail coverage. Quit with the insulting notion that celebrity worship was invented yesterday. Thanks!

[sparky]

I heard Al on Ed Shultz yesterday..he sounded great. He said that if he is elected, he sees no reason to abandon his sense of humor..it would make for very entertaining committee meetings.
He is very passionate about serving his country..I think he would be great at it.

[sparky]

"Alberto Gonzales is saying, basically, there are problems of which he cannot speak, for which he is responsible yet not to blame, and that he is the only one who can clean up the mess that he can neither confirm or deny exists. Let me try to put this in schoolyard terms, if I may: He has smelt it, and while he cannot confirm that he in fact also dealt it, he refuses to deny it on the grounds that it might incriminate him for supplying it."
---Jon Stewart
-

"Sean Hannity knows that there is no greater threat to America today than Bill Clinton 15 years ago."
---Stephen Colbert
-

[anomolos]

Al Franken is a talk show host? I had no idea.

[joanie]

My guy . . . talkin' about Franken, my guy!

This man is ethical, entertaining, smart, intellectual, curious, kind, caring, confident, humble and sexy. Got it?

Still laughing at the Colbert quote, thanks Sparky.

[Duffman]

My guy . . . talkin' about Franken duffman, my guy!

Why, THANKS joanie.

[Duffman]

Nothin you can say can take me away from my guy...my guy
Nothin you can do, cause I'm stuck like glue to my guy...my guy..

Who did it and when?

[The Big E]

BW,

Thanks for your post on the MN-SEN race. For anyone who's interested, I'm covering the race as best I can. I have a comparison of the candidates plus interviews. Furthermore, I have a thing called the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter. I've been tracking everything Norm says and does since last December. Check it out at:

Norm Coleman Weasel Meter

[sparky]

Big E, you should let the Franken campaign know you have that...it is excellent!!

[joanie]

I bookmarked you Big E. Thanks.

Mary Wells mid(?) 60s You've mastered the fine art of googling duffo.

[Duffman]

Mary Wells mid(?) 60s You've mastered the fine art of googling duffo.

Indeed, '64 to be precise. Congrats, you win a free beer at DL (see merci to collect)! ;o)

[pugetsound]

Being a crazy conservative, we have always attempted to control information and free-speech. Our hero's such as Giuliani and Condi Rice will ensure we continue.

[Duffman]

Hey PS, Whaaaaz Up! Haven't seen you around lately?...or have we (possibly under another moniker?)
Any way, nice to see you back. Anomolos has pretty much been kickin butt around here since you've been away. Not many can keep up with his logic and reasoning. :o)

[Duffman]

Notice my infatuation with Right wingnuts today (everyday?). I'd love for Anomolos to kick my butt around sometime. His logic and reasoning make me go a big floppy one.

By the way, PS - sorry for getting stuck in "my guy" mode. I blame Anomolos

;o)

[Duffman]

Duffman at 07:04 is an imposter.
Sad!

[PugetSound]

"Being a crazy conservative, we have always attempted to control information and free-speech. Our hero's such as Giuliani and Condi Rice will ensure we continue.

Posted by: pugetsound | July 28, 2007 at 05:05 PM"

Well, well, well. I stay away for awhile and look what I find.
All I can say is that someone is posting under my handle. Oh well, it's tiresome but I can see that someone is having fun with it. Enjoy. The one who knows for sure is Blam who has my ISP that I work under.

[marquand]

Condi Rice has certainly blown her chance for historical greatness being a mouthpiece for the Chimpanzee presidency. She was an academic who never got to grow into her job.

[sparky]

Maybe not historical greatness but she will land on her feet and get a cushy position with some big oil company...she already has an oil tanker named after her.

[Franz]

I am shocked to read some of these comments. I don't consider myself any type of ultra-conservative, but some of the hatred and name-calling on here really make me want to turn on the right-leaning talk radio shows.

Al Franken wants to run on

1. Universal Health Care? Anyone who would vote for him already has free health care; it's called Medicaid and it is not free to you and I, our payroll taxes pay for it

2. A deadline for pulling out of Iraq? We all want to get out, but we have a job to do now that we are in it - talk to someone who has seen the good that we have done for the citizens of Iraq, true, we need to get out of there - but again, we are there so that the region does not fall to Islamic rule

3. Renewable sources of energy? Amen, we need to reduce our dependency on foreign oil

Al Franken is not funny, nor is he diplomatic, nor is he very well-spoken, but I do think that he wants to help people. I think that if he gets into politics, that it will swallow him up and spit him out when he realizes what a cesspool it is. He should stick to being a political satirist. Please note that I prefaced nearly everything that I said with "I think" so that you will see that I am just a humble, family-value loving conservative who accidentally wandered onto this hate-filled site.

[sparky]

Yeah, especially the poster who wrote this the other day:

"If any woman ever breathed a word I'll make her pay so dearly that she'll wish she'd never been born. I'll rake her through the mud, bring up things in her life and make her so miserable that she'll be destroyed. And besides, she wouldn't be able to afford the lawyers I can or endure it financially as long as I can. And nobody would believe her, it'd be her word against mine and who are they going to believe? Me or some unstable woman making outrageous accusations. They'd see her as some psycho, someone unstable. Besides, I'd never make the mistake of picking unstable crazy girls like that."

and:

"Look at Al Franken, one day he's going to get a knock on his door and life as he's known it will change forever. That day will happen, trust me."

Oh, wait. Those were both said by Fox Noise Guy Bill O'Reilly.

My bad.

[KS]

Franken has about as much chance to win in MN as Cindy Sheehan has to beat Nancy Pelosi in CA. Franken wasn't bad as a comedian on SNL, but has been corrupted by the far left and the platform of his campaign has the foundation made of Jello. :)

[coiler]

Sounds like Bill'O sound bytes...

[KS]

Not even sure that Franken will be able to win the Democratic primary in MN.