Senator Al Franken

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 6:58 pm

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- A state election board on Monday will announce Democrat Al Franken has defeated Republican incumbent Norm Coleman in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race, state officials told CNN Sunday

CNN

I get a small kick out of this, just a few years ago I would happen to always catch Mark Levin on the radio (conservative commentator), and one of his end/beginning commericial stints ended with \"what ever happened to Al Franken...\" making fun of his Air America run.

Well Sir, he is a Senator. How about you?

I thought my ability to laugh at anything conservative talk radio had all dried up after their 180 degree love afair with their once (and once again!) main-target John McCain took place.

Guess I was wrong.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:03 pm

He's not a Senator yet. Doesn't the MN Sec State have to certify the election? I read that's not going to happen until the anticipated lawsuit is resolved.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:37 pm

True, but I think this makes it more likely then not.

In reality, no one knows who really won, and no one ever will. The people up top know this, and it is why precident and early rulings of this nature are so important.

They want it to go away.

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:03 pm

there were SOOOO many shady things that happened during this recount and election where does one start. we really need a complete overhaul of this nations election process with a national standard. because the way its setup now it is ripe for election fraud and election fixing

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:23 pm

I agree completely, but the only people who can do that sort of thing, are the people who that sort of thing would hurt.

edit: also, I can't see A.F. going 6 months with out doing something to embaress the party. So in the end, my $ is on this being a plus for the republicans.

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:10 am

heh. Now I don't feel so bad that I live in Illinois.

AlphaDoG · Post by **AlphaDoG** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:43 am

dissent wrote:heh. Now I don't feel so bad that I live in Illinois.

LOL I STILL feel bad about living in Illinois!

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:37 am

I think with that kind of monkey business in the election process it is only fitting that they end up with a typical feces flinging monkey as senator.

He sucked at comedy, he sucked at radio host and he'll suck at anything else he does all the while thinking he's something special so he's going to fit right in as senator.

On the bright side: The democrats will probably get their filibuster proof majority and have no one to blame. There will be no \"The republicans stopped us from doing the right thing.\" excuses anymore. Lets see how the media spins that package.....

dissent · Post by **dissent** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:58 pm

Will Robinson wrote: Lets see how the media spins that package.....

AlphaDoG · Post by **AlphaDoG** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 5:43 am

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:22 am

Let's see, Bush 'won' Florida by 537 votes in 2000 and all the Repubs said that the Dems had to just accept it as the way things were going to be and any lawsuits were just frivolous and detrimental to the voting process. So that little margin result brought us President Bush for the last 8 years. Nice!

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITIC ... h.recount/

Now Al Franken officially wins by 225 votes and the sore loser Republican says that he is the victim of vote recount fraud and is suing to keep his opponent from office. GIVE ME A BREAK!

This from Coleman who said 2 days after the election and just happened to have a 725 vote lead over Franken, that Franken should waive his right to a recount and bluntly stated \"I would step back. I just think the need for the healing process is so important.\"

http://www.wikio.com/video/581322

Well, Coleman has \"LOST\" the recount, wants to now include ballots he earlier rejected during said recount and is now being a sore loser and hypocrite to boot! The Dems cry vote fraud, so tough luck, live with it. The Repubs cry vote fraud and proceed to file endless lawsuits until they win!

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:17 pm

tunnelcat wrote:...The Dems cry vote fraud, so tough luck, live with it. The Repubs cry vote fraud and proceed to file endless lawsuits until they win!

Twisted reality by tunnelcat!
The dems filed suits trying to win the repubs filed suits and won. that's what happened and it's happening again now perhaps with the roles reversed but don't try and spin it as if only the repubs sue to get results that suit them!! Legislation from the bench is the liberal way! Just look at how many propositions have passed in elections in California that the liberals then take to court so they can get a liberal court to overturn the citizens decision at the ballot box!

Heh, liberals complaining about lawsuits! Lol!

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:32 pm

I just don’t understand how “anybody” could vote for a freak like AF.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:42 pm

I respect him for putting his $ where his mouth is.

How many conservative commentators do you see claim that, \"if a politician would just stay true to conservative..blah blah, they would get elected easily...\", \"stop abandoning conservative principles\", or \"if I ran for office I would win in a land slide\" (read: Michael Savage)...but in the end, they never have the balls to do so.

A.F. does and did.

He is a big lib, his commentary on A.M. was as a big lib, he ran for Senate as a big lib....and now, he has won as a big lib.

I would love to see Sean/Bill/Rush/Mark, etc. follow in his foot steps and try to actually change things instead of just sitting in the back of the room and throwing their spit-wads.

I guess people prefer conservatives for entertainment and liberals for governing

. (just a joke)

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:30 pm

Will Robinson wrote:Heh, liberals complaining about lawsuits! Lol!

Maybe the Republicans will lose at their own game this time. Sore losers! I hope AF wins here!

Liberal judges aren't the only ones guilty of legislating from the bench. A lot of conservative judges are guilty as well, it's an equal opportunity trait, not an 'only liberal judge' problem, so quit spreading right-wing agitprop.

I happen to like Al Franken. He's not a career politician and he's funny, except to conservatives, but they don't have a sense of humor anyway.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 7:05 pm

tunnelcat wrote:....I happen to like Al Franken. He's not a career politician and he's funny, except to conservatives, but they don't have a sense of humor anyway.

I disagree, he wasn't funny long before I knew his politics. He was the first and longest running unfunny contributor to the long slow death of Saturday Night Live.
And usually in political banter if you catch him unscripted he's so bitter and angry he makes Rush Limbaugh seem charitable and open minded by comparison!

I predict with his ego he'll embarrass the dems and they are a shameless bunch!

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:29 am

You just proved my point, conservatives have no sense of humor.

Franken IS good at what he does. SNL was the funniest during the Franken/Davis tenure from 1975-1980. All the great cast members were there at that time, Aykroyd, Belushi, Chase, Curtain, Morris, Newman, Radner and Murray and the skits they did were FUNNY. The only reason he left SNL after 1980 was because he ticked off the controversial Fred Silverman, head of NBC at the time, by mocking him in the sketch, \"A Limo for the Lame-O\". I wish I could find the video somewhere, I've never seen it. I also liked him in the TV series 'Late Line'. He did a wonderful imitation of Kissinger in one sketch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Franken

But I digress, THIS video is priceless. Check out Franken as Jagger. And yes, this looks like it's from the 1980's, so he was probably high on cocaine, which he admits to using then.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:28 pm

If you don’t like Al Franken you have no sense of humor, and you are prolly anti-semetic too.

Al Franken is a hater, that uses his “humor” as a weapon to spew his hatred and venom.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:04 pm

You don't have to like Franken to enjoy some of his humor. But if you're a conservative, a lot of his humor will hit a raw nerve, deservedly so, and you won't find it funny. So when he nails right-wing lies and BS with his jokes, then he's called a 'hater'.

When righties decry the machinations of the lefties, it's called exposing the truth in their minds. When lefties decry the machinations of the righties, they're called 'haters' and 'liers'. So given this typical frame of mind that forms the conservative mindset, they have no sense of humor.

Can you name a conservative humorist that's good?

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:25 pm

tunnelcat wrote:....

But I digress, THIS video is priceless. Check out Franken as Jagger. And yes, this looks like it's from the 1980's, so he was probably high on cocaine, which he admits to using then.

You have to be kidding me right?!?
That video was boring! Like a high school karaoke contest or something.
And since Jagger is not a conservative I guess you can't write my opinion off as Franken having hit a nerve or something.
In fact, I love Tina Fey and think she is priceless even when she goes after Palin or anyone else. Why? Because she has talent and skillz..delivery, timing, and most of all a funny premise behind the stuff she writes.

You said Franken is good at what he does...I agree there...he is really good at sucking.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:15 pm

You are wrong tc, I enjoy a lot of political satire, from both sides. The thing about AF is that he does not engage in political satire, which is finding the humor in politics and making light of it, what AF does instead is furthering his particular brand of political agenda, in the guise of humor. And then uses the excuse that someone has no humor if they don’t find him funny.

Two examples of political satire would be The Daily Show & The Colbert Report, both of which I find funny.

And then, how do you explain the fact that I enjoy many other liberal comics?

A conservative that views “any” mainstream entertainment such as TV or movies, has to tolerate a great deal of bashing, simply to enjoy any sort of show. So it’s no wonder that a person might not find AF funny, seeing how lame his particular stuff is.

“Can you name a conservative humorist that's good?”

That’s the wrong question to ask. Because very few true conservative entertainers make it thru the filter that is Hollywood. Hell, even most of the so called conservative humor seen on TV such as “American Dad” is actually written by liberals.

So I will ask again, in case you missed it…How do you explain the fact that I enjoy other liberal comics?

EDIT: One of my favorite comedy writers is the guy who created the Simpsons, and that guy (Matt Groening) is just about as liberal as it gets…Because he is *GASP* actually funny.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 4:23 pm

So you have selective humor tastes. Not all polictical humor has to be friendly satire. Frankin's 'satire' is far more edgy and biting than that of Stewart, who tends to be more mellow. Liberals have had to put up with listening to Limbaugh and O'Reilly hate radio propaganda over the years, so if liberals quit being wussies and take off the gloves, I'm all for it. Conservatives are just as free to throw some biting humor at the expense of liberals, if they could do any, so they should just quit WHINING about being on the receiving end for a change. Suck it up boys, liberals get bashed all the time by conservatives and Franken has every right to use humor as his political weapon. Come to think of it, I don't know of any conservative comedians. Can anybody think of one?

As for the Franken/Jagger video, I posted it because I thought that Franken did a really good Jagger imitation, not because it was funny.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 4:48 pm

I dunno, I think most of the Blue Collar guys are pretty funny, and I think all are conservative. However their political jokes are few and far between.

(Ron White: Pretty funny)

But the pure conservative \"commedy\" just fails big time.
(Half hour news hour, Biggest fail ever)

I mean seriously, a laugh track?

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:18 pm

“Liberals have had to put up with listening to Limbaugh and O'Reilly hate radio propaganda over the years”

Yea, with guns to their heads…

Lol, liberals don’t have to listen to Conservative talk radio, and I sure could choose not to watch entertainment produced by liberals, but there would be very little left to choose from.

And yea, I have selective humor buds…Duh…I have been watching Comedy Central’s stand up month, and anybody that finds “every” comic funny, either has had a frontal lobotomy, or needs a frontal lobotomy.

And thank you for using the term “hate radio propaganda” you have proved my point.

“When righties decry the machinations of the lefties, it's called exposing the truth in their minds. When lefties decry the machinations of the righties, they're called 'haters' and 'liers'.”

Dakatsu · Post by **Dakatsu** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:49 pm

Gooberman wrote:But the pure conservative "commedy" just fails big time.
(Half hour news hour, Biggest fail ever)

I mean seriously, a laugh track?

QFT

AlphaDoG · Post by **AlphaDoG** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:08 pm

Even worse \"Huckabee!\" It's modeled after the daytime talk shows, but with even more suck.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:23 am

I could start naming conservative leaning comics, starting with Bill Cosby, but why should any of them risk their careers by doing political jokes in a liberal dominated industry.

And, I guess if I think about it long enough, I’ll figure out how this relates to Al Franken being a freak.

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:31 am

Gooberman wrote:But the pure conservative "commedy" just fails big time.
(Half hour news hour, Biggest fail ever)

I mean seriously, a laugh track?

actually the biggest fail ever was Air America. even with Soro's billions its still flopped hard

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:36 am

So I guess what it all boils down to, the Senate will now have its very own court jester.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:41 pm

woodchip wrote:So I guess what it all boils down to, the Senate will now have its very own court jester.

Don't you think they could use one? They're all so, hmmmmmmmmm, BORING! Maybe he'll spice things up a bit. Wouldn't hurt.

Spidey, until Air America Radio came along, just about ALL talk radio personalities out there were the right-wing biased, especially Limbaugh and O'Reilly. They don't include the boatload of local right-wing personalities all around the country. Also, until very recently, Air America Radio couldn't be heard by our troops overseas. All they got to hear was Limbaugh. Bias in the Military maybe?

I also forgot to mention some other prominent right-wingers with voices in the media like Ann Coulter, Mike Savage, Glenn Beck, Dick Morris and Drudge (not all on radio). When they constantly call people that are left leaning or liberal, or even left of center types 'communists, anti-American, America-hating, President-hating, unpatriotic, Godless and baby killers', I consider it downright poisonous. If conservatives want the privilege of throwing invectives around, they need to get some backbone when it's thrown back at them by the liberals.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:09 pm

Are you inferring that I don’t have a backbone because I don’t like Al Franken?

And, maybe the mainstream media should stop marginalizing the moderate Conservative voices, forcing the loudmouths to the top. People like Rush are the direct result of the mainstream media’s attempt to control the entire political dialog.

And I beg to differ on your point about conservatives and talk radio, here in Philly the liberals had total control of all the prime time slots, until Rush changed that by effecting their bottom lines.

If liberals want to avoid the opinions of conservatives all they have to do is avoid one news channel, a few radio shows and a few other misc. programs, for conservatives to do the same thing would give two choices…

1. Avoid most all media. Or…
2. Settle for watching reruns of Laurence Welk.

When you can tune in a show on mainstream media that is the conservative equivalent of Lil’ Bush, we can have a discussion where you have the right to complain…mmmmkay.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:45 am

Actually TC I listen to Rush a fair amount and I don't hear him using the rhetoric you describe. Neither does Shawn. Ann Coulter may be a different story.

Back to Al Frankenstein. Listening to a talking head on Fox News this morning, Franken may not be assured victory. Coleman's lawyers are disputing the recounting where such anomalies as some precincts showing more votes than registered voters and ballots being run thru the machine twice as reasons to investigate the count.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:16 pm

Yea, I thought this was a little weird…the last thing I had heard on The News Hour about the recount was, near the end the results were just about the same as the first count, With Coleman having something like a 225 vote lead, then I hear Franken wins by 200 votes. He somehow got a 400 plus turnaround with very few votes yet to be counted.

Strange indeed.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:49 pm

woodchip, Rush uses his famous term 'feminazi' ALL the time and I find it insulting and patronizing but since this a a free country, he can spew it all he wants. He just needs to quit whining when others on the left sometimes use vile terms describing his beloved conservatives.

Spidey, I didn't imply you don't have any backbone for not liking Franken. You can dislike him all you want and it's your right. All I'm getting at is the conservative media discourse that's become so vile at times that liberals really need some 'back at ya' at the national level. Obviously at the local level there is a lot of variation around the country concerning the conservative/liberal slant. Here in Oregon, there used to be very few 'liberals' pontificating on the airwaves to counter Rush and Bill, including our own Lars Larson, a local conservative, who by the way, I sometimes agree with, so I was glad to hear Air America come on air here. I still think the national TV news media leans more to the right. Most of these personalities are paid millions, are glorified talking heads, not journalists, have to tow the corporate line in their reporting and tend to be conservative in their thinking.

We'll see what happens with Franken. I don't put much stock in reports that come out of FOX News.

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:35 am

tunnelcat wrote:woodchip, Rush uses his famous term 'feminazi' ALL the time and I find it insulting and patronizing but since this a a free country, he can spew it all he wants. He just needs to quit whining when others on the left sometimes use vile terms describing his beloved conservatives.

Spidey, I didn't imply you don't have any backbone for not liking Franken. You can dislike him all you want and it's your right. All I'm getting at is the conservative media discourse that's become so vile at times that liberals really need some 'back at ya' at the national level. Obviously at the local level there is a lot of variation around the country concerning the conservative/liberal slant. Here in Oregon, there used to be very few 'liberals' pontificating on the airwaves to counter Rush and Bill, including our own Lars Larson, a local conservative, who by the way, I sometimes agree with, so I was glad to hear Air America come on air here. I still think the national TV news media leans more to the right. Most of these personalities are paid millions, are glorified talking heads, not journalists, have to tow the corporate line in their reporting and tend to be conservative in their thinking.

We'll see what happens with Franken. I don't put much stock in reports that come out of FOX News.

TC, it doesnt surprise me that you lean left living in Portland. Portland is just San Fran North the 2nd most liberal city in the country. I also live here in Oregon. Oregon City to be precise. so I know what I talk about. Duper also lives here in Beaverton and I know he will agree with me about Portland's liberal leanings.
The reason why you will not hear many left leaning radio stations is because they all suck and very few people want to hear what they have to say. radio is big business they are in it to make $$$ and if liberal talk radio made them money you can be damn sure believe that's all they would be broadcasting. hell even George Soros with his billions couldn't keep Air America afloat. that says alot. so to counter what the MAJORITY of Americans want to listen to, what do the liberal members of congress do. the "fairness" doctrine

what bvllsh!t.

as for you believing that National TV new leans to the right your in the minority. pols taken indicate the CLEAR left leaning bias in the news reporting so maybe you should re-examine your stance on that issue

Americans See Liberal Media Bias on TV News

By a 39% to 20% margin, American adults believe that the three major broadcast networks deliver news with a bias in favor of liberals. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 25% believe that ABC, CBS, and NBC deliver the news without any bias.

Similar results are found for CNN and National Public Radio (NPR). By a margin of 33% to 16%, Americans say that CNN has a liberal bias. The nation’s adults say the same about NPR by a 27% to 14% margin.

There is one major exception to the belief that media outlets have a liberal bias—Fox News. Thirty-one percent (31%) of Americans say it has a bias that favors conservatives while 15% say it has a liberal bias.

When it comes to delivering news without bias, 37% believe NPR accomplishes that goal. Thirty-six percent (36%) say the same for Fox and 32% believe it’s true of CNN. As noted earlier, just 25% believe the major broadcast networks deliver news in an unbiased manner. Results for other media outlets will be released over the next week.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... on_tv_news

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:02 am

So if the mainstream news media leans to the left, couldn't your below arguments be used verbatum to explain why? Just replace "listen/hear" with "watch." It seems like you are having your cake and eating it too.

CUDA wrote:The reason why you will not hear many left leaning radio stations is because they all suck and very few people want to hear what they have to say. radio is big business they are in it to make $$$ and if liberal talk radio made them money you can be damn sure believe that's all they would be broadcasting. hell even George Soros with his billions couldn't keep Air America afloat. that says alot. so to counter what the MAJORITY of Americans want to listen to, what do the liberal members of congress do. the "fairness" doctrine what bvllsh!t.

CUDA · Post by **CUDA** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:42 am

Gooberman wrote:So if the mainstream news media leans to the left, couldn't your below arguments be used verbatum to explain why? Just replace "listen/hear" with "watch." It seems like you are having your cake and eating it too.

CUDA wrote:The reason why you will not hear many left leaning radio stations is because they all suck and very few people want to hear what they have to say. radio is big business they are in it to make $$$ and if liberal talk radio made them money you can be damn sure believe that's all they would be broadcasting. hell even George Soros with his billions couldn't keep Air America afloat. that says alot. so to counter what the MAJORITY of Americans want to listen to, what do the liberal members of congress do. the "fairness" doctrine what bvllsh!t.

That would be true UNTIL you look at the ratings and find that Fox news which leans to the right has the highest news viewership ratings, while MSNBC the most liberal TV news has the worst raings. the same is true with the print media. the Wall street journal and Washington post both conservative leaning and both doing well, while the Seattle post and the NY Times both liberal leaning are either closing or in deep do do financialy

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:43 pm

tunnelcat wrote:woodchip, Rush uses his famous term 'feminazi' ALL the time and I find it insulting and patronizing but since this a a free country, he can spew it all he wants. He just needs to quit whining when others on the left sometimes use vile terms describing his beloved conservatives.

TC, I suspect you don't listen to Rush very much. His usage of the term "Feminazis" is directed at a very narrow spectrum of women who, at the extreme range of their ideologies, want nothing more then the disassociation of anything to do with men...including the exclusive use of artificial insemination for breeding. Feminazis in Rush's view, are on par with white supremacists and neo-nazis.

Tunnelcat · Post by **Tunnelcat** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:31 pm

What's funny is that I used to listen to Rush, O'Reilly and Drudge (when he was on TV) during the Clinton/Lewinsky debacle. But as conservatives gained more power and became more and more corrupt and arrogant during the Bush years, their crowing and spin doctoring began to grate in my ears. So yes, I don't listen to Rush any more. He just pisses me off now to listen to him. I also think he uses the term 'feminazi' a little more broadly than you think. Sorry, my opinion here.

Back to the thread, apparently, Minnesotans are getting sick of the whole mess too and now don't like either of the candidates very much.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S735533.shtml?cat=206

Also, Franken's trying to speed things up while Coleman's trying to drag it out. We'll know a trial date sometime soon and see who benefits.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/nat ... c:_Yyc:aUU

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:06 pm

If you have any doubt which way the press leans, simply watch Bush’s final press conference, and listen to the questions and how they are framed.

Senator Al Franken

Senator Al Franken

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