# Al Franken for Minnesota Senator........



## zogman (Mar 20, 2002)

The Real Al Franken

NewsMax Staff
Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007

Comedian Al Franken did his final radio show on Air America on Wednesday and announced that he's seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota.

Now that Franken has tossed his hat in the ring, reporters around the country can expect some juicy quotes from the candidate-to-be. Franken is known, among other things, for making outrageous remarks:

# Said Karl Rove and Lewis Libby should be "executed"
# Said Rush Limbaugh was a "big fat idiot"
# Stated that the founder of Air America was a "crook"

Franken also threatened to sue author Peter Schweizer who wrote about Franken's hypocrisy on hiring minorities.

Franken is also known for some contempible behavior, notably his admission that he misled and tried to trick then-Attorney General John Ashcroft into confiding his pre-marriage sexual history to Franken for a book, going so far as to write to Ashcroft on letterhead from Harvard University's Shorenstein Center for Press and Politics at the Kennedy School of Government, where Franken was a fellow for one term.

"Don't be afraid to share a moment when you were tempted to have sex, but were able to overcome your urges," wrote Franken, adding, "Did a young woman ever think you were homosexual?"

Franken also famously declared war on the New York Post because reporter Vincent Morris wrote that Franken had "body-slammed a demonstrator to the ground after the man tried to shout down" presidential candidate Howard Dean.

The erstwhile talker denied the report, saying he only held the man for authorities, but he did body slam what he called the "right-wing echo chamber" for reporting Morris' story.

Campaign Quotables?

NewsMax also uncovered some other comments the 55-year-old former "Saturday Night Live" performer has made over the years: "The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They're about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover."

- Franken's book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them"

"Here's a tool I think we should consider keeping on the table - torture." - Franken quoted in the book "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy" by Peter Schweizer.

"When you encounter seemingly good advice that contradicts other seemingly good advice, ignore them both."

- Franken's book "Oh, the Things I Know"

"No child left behind is the most ironically named piece of legislation since the 1942 Japanese Family Leave Act."

- speech at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2003

"There's no liberal echo chamber in this country. There's a right-wing echo chamber. I want to create a countervailing echo chamber."

- interview with the Chicago Tribune

"In 1945 Frank Sinatra, Danny Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Fanny Brice, and Danny Kaye all performed. This year it's me. We do live in an era of diminished expectations."

- address at the 1994 White House Correspondents Dinner

"I say if you're a senator and you've got a drinking problem that's got you in trouble, don't use it as an excuse. Come out like a man and say I've done some things I'm not proud of . . . and then simply leave it up to the people of Massachusetts."

- White House Correspondents Dinner

Other remarks from the man who wants to be a U.S. senator:

# "I'm a comedian first and foremost, which some people think that doesn't give me the right to do what I'm doing."

# "The point is that there is tremendous hypocrisy among the Christian right. And I think that Christian voters should start looking at global warming and extreme poverty as a religious issue that speaks to the culture of life."

# "If Kerry and Bush supporters can put aside their differences for a day to compete, well then so can Bill O'Reilly and I."

# "When the president during the campaign said he was against nation building, I didn't realize he meant our nation."

# Newt Gingrich "is the most unpopular politician in America. His favorable rating is only four points higher than the Unabomber."

# "When you confront the right-wing media about their reporting, all they do is they get mad."

# "It's easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world."

# Speaking about the launch of Air America, Franken said: "The guy who ran it at first misled pretty much everybody about how much capital we had. He said we had enough to go three years without making money, and we had enough to go three weeks."

# "I do personal attacks only on people who specialize in personal attacks."

:eyeroll: uke:


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## jgat (Oct 27, 2006)

He's not good enough
He's not smart enough
And gosh darnit, I HATE HIM!


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

If MN could just ex-patriate Minneapolis into Wisconsin or Iowa it'd be a whole new state. You know not one vote for Franken would come outside of the MLPS metro area.


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## Old Hunter (Mar 8, 2002)

Is this guy a native to Minnesota or even a long time resident or a carpet bagger ?


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## BigDaddy (Mar 4, 2002)

Al Franken was born in New Jersey, but moved to Minnesota at the age of four. I own two of his books, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them and Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot. They are both excellent.

Franken is intelligent and an astute political observer. I love the fact that he is running for the Senate. He would be excellent.

Folks need to realize that he is a comedian and an expert in the art of satire. Therefore, pulling out quotes from his interviews or books is not a fair means of finding his true views on the issues. Was he kidding or making a joke when he stated or wrote some of the quotes in this thread, or does he truly condone the use of torture?

Franken has three major challenges: A) Since he is widely viewed as a comedian and satirist, will need to make people take him seriously, B) He will need to clearly identify his real positions on issues due to his use of satire in the past, and C) Minnesota still remembers that last celebrity that they elected to a government office (Ventura).

And yes, Rush Limbaugh *is* a big, fat idio.


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## Gohon (Feb 14, 2005)

:lol: That's really funny. Want to find out just what a fake and liar Frankin is? Just go to this site http://www.frankenlies.com/ and click on either of his books and read the lies he wrote in them. But then what would one expect from a sick twisted mind. If it were me I'd ask for a refund on both books.


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## DecoyDummy (May 25, 2005)

All I can really say about Franken and his thinking is this:

"Air America" failed to generate an audience, and I believe the reason for that is simply, most of the folks who vote for his type of thinking don't really think ...

They vote by the seat of their pants and with pure emotion ...

They have little to no interest in learning the facts.

Hence, Franken could easily win the election after failing to find an audience to listen to his thoughts.


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## Whistler31 (Feb 1, 2007)

So many things I would like to say about this guy and his kind but I don't have enough room here. For these communists to have taken the name Air America for their Network name is a slap in the faces of all those brave souls like my late father that spent years fighting the cold war and communism make me want to puke!

Here is the REAL AMERICA not the one Al Franken wants you to remember.
http://www.air-america.org


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

You mean Rush Limbaugh isn't a big fat idiot???? k:


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

He isn't fat :wink: but sometimes hes full of it


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## ryanps18 (Jun 23, 2006)

KEN W said:


> You mean Rush Limbaugh isn't a big fat idiot???? k:


Rush Limbaugh is not running for office. And no Rush is not an idiot he is one of the smartest figures in media.


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## ryanps18 (Jun 23, 2006)

> Folks need to realize that he is a comedian and an expert in the art of satire. Therefore, pulling out quotes from his interviews or books is not a fair means of finding his true views on the issues. Was he kidding or making a joke when he stated or wrote some of the quotes in this thread, or does he truly condone the use of torture?


Are you kdding me? Why don't you talk him into moving to ND and running there. I am not sure a failed talk radio host is really experienced enough to be a senator. [/quote


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