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Candidate Franken

By Lindsay Beyerstein, AlterNet. Posted September 14, 2006.


Gearing up for a possible Minnesota state senate run, Al Franken is changing his image from provocateur to politico. Will he still call Rush Limbaugh a big fat idiot?
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Al Franken is on a mission. The "Saturday Night Live" alumnus has been subjecting the American right to scorn and mockery for years, first as a political satirist and more recently as a talk radio host. Now, Franken is seriously considering a Senate run in 2008 and promoting a new film about his political coming of age.

"God Spoke," the new documentary by Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus, tracks Franken's unlikely evolution. Its title is a dig at Rush Limbaugh, who proclaims to millions of dittoheads nationwide that he has "talent on loan from God."

The filmmakers began following Franken in September 2003 during the runup to the presidential election. Over the next two years, they captured Franken as he feuded with Bill O'Reilly, helped launch Air America Radio and entertained U.S. troops in Iraq. You can tell Franken's mission is going well because Bill O'Reilly gets more unhinged every time he hears Franken's name. But surprised and disappointed by John Kerry's defeat in 2004, Franken begins to feel the pull of a new vocation -- to challenge the junior senator from Minnesota, Republican Norm Coleman. (He has not officially declared his candidacy.)

In "God Spoke," Franken usually appears in sweats and sneakers (even when pitching Air America to key investors), but he wore a tie to our interview, albeit a loosened and slightly wrinkled one. He seemed subdued compared to the onscreen Al who crashes the Newsweek party at the Republican National Convention and delivers his Kissinger impression to Henry Kissinger.

Franken speaks candidly about his hopes and apprehensions. He wants to carry on the progressive legacy of his friend, the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, who was killed in a plane crash just days before he was to face down Coleman in the 2002 midterms. Franken was at Wellstone's memorial service and was enraged by the way the event was misrepresented by the right-wing media and cynically exploited by the Coleman campaign. He exposed these distortions in a scathing chapter of his 2003 bestseller, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them."

Ben Wikler, one of Franken's collaborators on this book, says the Wellstone chapter wasn't written with political aspirations in mind. However, Franken's takedown captured the imagination of a lot of Minnesotans. Democrats in the state were looking for payback and a lot of people thought "Senator Franken" had a nice ring to it. Franken thought so too. He recently moved back to Minnesota and started the Midwest Values PAC.

Franken knows he will face a bitter campaign if he decides to challenge Coleman. The right-wing noise machine is already gearing up for a potential Franken run. Franken puts the question to himself bluntly: "Can I do this? Is it worth ruining my life?" He seems acutely aware that if he enters the fray, he will have to tone down his offbeat, sometimes bawdy sense of humor. You can't call Rush Limbaugh a big fat idiot on the campaign trail.

Franken spoke to AlterNet last week in Manhattan.

LINDSAY BEYERSTEIN: What kinds of things, if you could accomplish X, Y, and Z, would make it worthwhile for you to run?

AL FRANKEN: Moving toward universal health care. If Democrats take the House, someone should introduce a bill on the first day covering every kid in the country. I don't know how you vote against that. If you go around Minnesota and you talk to people about kids who are developmentally challenged, money has been cut off for that by the Bush administration and the Republican administration in Minnesota. Yet, they're spending more money on prisons.

This is the kind of thing where if you can make a difference in those people's lives you're really making a difference. It's not about you. ... Other developed countries have universal health care, and they do it cheaper and they have better results. And we're not that much dumber than other countries. We can do this.

Renewable energy. Look into the long-term: Why are you taking money out of kids with developmental problems and putting it into prisons? That's really short-term thinking.

Trying to improve our democracy by publicly funded elections. There's all kinds of things that need to be done. Respecting science again. I would like to do a law where no political appointee can change the language of a scientific report without getting the scientists who made the report to sign off on the language change. That's a law I'd propose on the first day, I think. Have a foreign policy that makes sense, that builds on our working with the rest of world instead.


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Lindsay Beyerstein is a New York writer blogging at majikthise.typepad.com

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View:
Candidate Franken
Posted by: Thundergod on Sep 14, 2006 12:59 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Please go for it!

I'm serious...

You would be a great!

Godspeed to you my dear friend and brother!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Candidate Franken Posted by: Gaudd
ring
Posted by: rsaxto on Sep 14, 2006 1:02 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Senator Franken has a really nice ring to it but whether it can happen in reality depends a lot on what happens between now and 2008. We'll just have to wait.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

US Senate, you mean!
Posted by: activist kaza on Sep 14, 2006 3:41 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
AlterNet, you're great but really need to employ another editor...

This headline got me, because I thought, as many political junkies might, that Al was actually prepared to run for the "menial job" of State Senator...maybe as an apprenticeship to the US Senate.

His aspirations for the latter haven't been a secret for a long time. But you ought to fix the headline...

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Al Franken, a Fence Straddler!
Posted by: nobuko on Sep 14, 2006 4:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I've listen to Al Franken on Air America, and quite frankly, can't stand his dribbling butt! He reminds me of some of the Dems thats in the Senate now, "cave in, and blow with the wind!" I would place Al Franken in the category of Joe LIEberman, Hillary Clinton, and Biden! If we're going to run individuals for the Senate and the House, we NEED MORE individuals like Conyers, Russ Fiengold, and Dennis Kuchinich! We don't need more Hillary's and Biden's!

Al to me is a weakling, and SCARED to make waves and really tell it like it is! Its why America is in Deep Doo Doo today; too may of then GOING ALONG, TO GET ALONG! Do that at home, NOT in our Government thats suppose to be PROTECTING the Environment and the American People!

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» RE: Al Franken, a Fence Straddler! Posted by: Conservasaurus
Al's My Guy!
Posted by: Tom Degan on Sep 14, 2006 4:56 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
No one in this country is better qualified to take the seat once occupied by Paul Wellstone than Al Franken. When I think of Frankenstein's Monster in that position for the last four years, it makes me ill. Al is our generation's Will Rogers. Think about that: Comedian, Film Actor, Author, Opinion Maker - Who but Rogers and Franken better fit those categories?

One hundred years from now, I believe that they'll still be studying the writings of Al Franken in civics classes. Sure he takes alot of abuse from the forces of darkness. The political prophets always do, don't they? Some are actually saying that electing a comedian to the senate will degrade that illustrious body. Oh, PAH-LEEEZ! That allegation is too stupid to even dignify with a comment. Al Franken's presence would only uplift what is obviously a thoroughly degraded body already. Twenty-six years ago the American people sent a feeble-minded, failed "B" movie actor by the name of Ronald Reagan to the White House! Trust me on this one: I think the senate will survive Al Franken quite handily!

Al, if, per chance, you happen to read this, I have my fingers crossed and my hands folded for you. Good luck, pal!

Pray for peace.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
"The Rant" by Tom Degan

By the way, if you haven't yet read Al's book, "The Truth With Jokes", by all means read it! It is a real page turner and the best political book to come out this year.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Al's My Guy! Posted by: davidbdr
» RE: Al's My Guy! Posted by: Tom Degan
» RE: Al's My Guy! Posted by: sidewinder
» RE: Al's My Guy! Posted by: bornxeyed
» RE: Al's My Guy! Posted by: Tom Degan
» RE: Al's My Guy! Posted by: willymack
» RE: Al's My Guy! Posted by: sidewinder
» RE: Al's My Guy! Posted by: lively56
» To lively56 Posted by: Tom Degan
» RE: Nothing to this link but rhetoric Posted by: doinaheckuvajob
Do It!
Posted by: NoPCZone on Sep 14, 2006 6:21 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I like Al Franken and think he should run, this being the official Al Franken Decadeā„¢, but take issue with the reference to the Wellstone service.

That service was broadcast unedited on TV and was used for vitriolic political purposes-- Norm Coleman didn't have to do much to get mileage out of it. Coleman is in the Senate by default because the Dems in Minnesota couldn't come up with anything better than Fritz Mondale.

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» RE: Do It! Posted by: SisterMoon
» RE: Do It! Posted by: NoPCZone
» RE: Do It! Posted by: Lindsay Beyerstein
Franken??
Posted by: Conservasaurus on Sep 14, 2006 10:08 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
funny guy, not sure of his political abilities..oh, and Rush is a big fat idiot - wish he would become a liberal!

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Go Franken!
Posted by: Krusty Geezer on Sep 14, 2006 10:38 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"Will he still call Rush Limbaugh a big fat (drug-addled) idiot?"

If he did, he really would be breaking the mould. Imagine, a politician that actually told the truth!? - Mind you it'll probably freak out the electorate.

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» RE: Go Franken! Posted by: Doubtom
run Al,run!
Posted by: bannelee on Sep 14, 2006 11:46 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We need you!! Someone to call the liars out would be SO refreshing!! Think how fun C-SPAN would be!!!

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Garrison Keiler
Posted by: albrechtkrausse on Sep 14, 2006 1:03 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
(I might has spelled his name wrong.) Another hilarious Minnesotan who looks homely (unlike Franken though he is funny and is talented.) Franken had a couple good gigs but for the most part is boring and not funny. Both look odd and that could be a plus for his constituency. Unfortunately he lost his shirt on AirAmerica (the radio not the CIA-sponsored heroin/weapons summgling outfit) and isn't going to get paid by them.

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AL FRANKEN FOR CONGRESS!!
Posted by: AlohaTerry on Sep 14, 2006 1:52 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
YOU GO, BIG AL!! I'D SURE TRUST YOU OVER THE GREEDY SLEAZY SYNCOPATHETIC NO-SHOWS/ LOBBYIST FODDER BOOT-LICKIN COWARDS IN THERE NOW!!

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Big "Fat" Idiot
Posted by: Gravitas on Sep 14, 2006 2:31 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Rush is an idiot, but his weight should have nothing to do with it! I am not being oversensitive either!

1) Substitute any other group and it would be unacceptable.

2) The left while embracing sensitivity in language and diversity is just as bad as anyone else when it comes to fat bashing. I actually know fat people who don't go to progressive boards because of insensitive comments and the assumption that fat people don't read those kind of boards because of the stereotypes.
3) I was a bit turned off by him when he started making fun of Monica Lewinsky's rear. Monica is completely within the range of an average size women and bashing that body style is misogyny!

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I think Wellstone's plane accident was NO accident!
Posted by: MEL810 on Sep 14, 2006 7:32 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Paul Wellstone was the one reliably liberal Senator and a sure bet for re-election in liberal Minnesota. His death was the tipping point for the Senate to go Republican.
Why hasn't anyone looked into this possibility?
I wouldn't put anything and I mean anything, including murder of a US Senator and his family, past some of the Neo-Con cabal.

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Yeah Al be a man!
Posted by: popsicle67 on Sep 14, 2006 9:13 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I would love to see Al Franken run for office so an ordinary joe like me might have the chance to ask him just where the hell he got those dumbass glasses of his and why he chooses to pick on people because of their weight. He couldn't poor piss out of a boot with instructions on the heel which qualifies him for a party nomination at least. He also can't screw up the state any more than it is already given the fact that democrats are still waiting for Wellstone to get back from his trip.

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You're good enough, you're smart enough...
Posted by: JesseBC on Sep 14, 2006 10:17 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...but please don't run for the US Senate.

I'm a Minnesotan, a huge fan of Al Franken, and completely opposed to his Senate run.

The voters will not be voting for Al Franken; they'll be voting for Stuart Smalley, for Franken's name-recognition and lovability as a performer, not his capability as a leader.

Voters should not be fans.

It's easy to see a Franken Senate run as a disingenuous attempt to inject some pep into his career, but I really don't think that's the case. I think he genuinely believes that he can change the face of American politics and that Minnesota is the place to start because Minnesotans tend to display the kind of old-school liberal decency that Franken has always promoted.

But an entertainer in politics is bound to be an ideologue because their popularity as a entertainer relies on conveying a particular persona. Franken is funny BECAUSE he's an ideologue. Sure, I mostly agree with his ideology, but that's not the point. We already have far too many ideologues in Washington, that's the problem. We need rational, educated, skilled negotiators.

Franken seems to have forgotten how much influence he has as an entertainer and, since he's so good at it, he ought to stay there.

It's nothing personal. I wouldn't have wanted Paul Wellstone writing for SNL either.

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Breath of fresh air
Posted by: cinattra on Sep 15, 2006 5:23 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It would be cool if Al Franken ran if for nothing else than I know the campaign will be memorable and will not lack for media coverage. I'm sure he'd be a breath of fresh air next to the already bought and paid for incumbent. He'd be a breath of fresh air next to the already bought and paid for dems that are afraid to stand up for the people they are supposed to represent as well.

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Debates
Posted by: YogiBear on Sep 15, 2006 1:54 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
See if Al can arrange it so he debates Norm MacDonald instead of Norm Coleman. That would be great.

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perfectly qualified??
Posted by: dikaiosyne on Sep 16, 2006 1:12 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Al Franken on his face would seem to be perfectly qualified to run for the Senate seat in Minnesota as a Democrat. He is a failed comedian and a failed talk show host and should do perfectly well as a failure as a Senator. The fact that he is not very bright as well as a failure should make him a rising star among the left wing kooks that want to create a ever growing welfare state just as long as there is NO WAR. Of course these lefties would only enjoy the fruits of the welfare state as long as the Islamo-fascists allow them to keep their heads...... which shouldn't be very long considering their inability to even protect themselves.

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What have we learned so far?
Posted by: doinaheckuvajob on Sep 16, 2006 11:20 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We have learned that Franken should not run because he is an entertainer. Never mind that the Republicans have been running and winning elections with actors for quite some time. But of course that never worked for them.

We've learned he's a failure... Best selling books, top rated radio talk show, famous Saturday Night Live actor/writer/comic, critically acclaimed Stuart Smalley film, even a gig on the mainstream Army road show for our soldiers. A total failure, yep them's the facts.

Then we've learned he's too bipartisan and too much like Lieberman. Hmm... he's on Air America and that's pretty partisan, and he endorsed Lamont, and he minces no words when it comes to Bush and all of his proposals. Yep, them's the facts again. And some of this advice about him being not a liberal enough Dem comes from Greens-- no conflict of interest there, they're objective observers.

We have learned he's not Paul Wellstone, and I for one am damn angry at him for daring to run for that seat without having an operation that includes putting some of Wellstone's DNA into Al's body.

Yes, we've learned a lot from the comments section today, where disinterested folks with facts offer up their opinions as facts without a trace of other agendas handy.

I'm never voting for Franken if he runs, because he's a not funny, failed, bipartisan, Lieberman Democrat who's a comedian not a politician who had a couple of gigs once that were ok but should not be paid attention to now.

Now I know how to think about Franken, and how some folks in the comments section avidly support alternet.org's progressive media leftist echo chamber to rival the Right and help create a liberal majority. The support here is bringing tears of love to my eyes, and I can't see anymore as a result, I can't see Al Franken anymore.

I can't see him anymore because I am laughing my head off at how ridiculous the things are people will say, and how funny Al is at debunking crap with a quick quip, which would make him quite formidable in a campaign, and awesome in the Senate.

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Grammar
Posted by: wackjobbery on Sep 18, 2006 9:07 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
There's all kinds of things that need to be done ...

No. There are all kinds of things that need to be done.

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Al Franken in his own words
Posted by: doinaheckuvajob on Sep 18, 2006 4:02 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Here's a link to a whole bunch of free videos on YouTube of Al Franken in his own words.

Some people here have claimed that Franken is pro-Iraq war, a 'DLC sponsored bum', and other rhetoric. Saying things does not make it so. Find out for yourself where he really stands based on the evidence, the facts, by clicking on the links.

Perhaps some of you will really be disgusted at how easy it is for people to say things they make up out of thin air to discredit other people. That's why the evidence and facts are so important. It's also easy, to claim, like Joe McCarthy, that you have a bunch of evidence to discredit someone, yet you never produce it, or what you produce is laughably trite and not what you claim it to be.

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