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Isn't it ironic: Time for Al Franken to drop out of the race
by Rich Broderick • May 28, 2008
I have a confession to make.
I never expected that the first boot to drop on Al Franken’s vanity campaign for U.S. Senate would concern his tax returns. I was anticipating something more along the lines of the dirt currently being circulated about the “Porn-o-Rama” column he penned for Playboy back in 2000.
I haven’t read the columns in question so can pass no judgment on whether they are obscene and misogynistic, as the GOP is claiming. But let’s face it. The words “Playboy Magazine,” “Porn-o-Rama” and “credible U.S. Senate candidate” don’t mix together well in the same sentence, even if, as Franken apologists claim, the columns were intended as satire.
But then, maybe it’s Franken’s candidacy that is intended as satire. After all, the man is a master of deadpan irony. A genius, in fact. Just ask him. Unfortunately, if the DFL goes ahead, as it seems intent on doing, and endorses this guy, the joke will be on the party.
As I wrote recently, the real issue with Franken’s problems keeping track of what he owed to which state is not that he was cheating on his taxes. It’s that he’s a carpetbagger, an opportunist who moved to Minnesota specifically to run for office.
And the problem with “Porn-o-Rama” is not what he did or did not pen under that title. It’s the title itself. And all it hints about other revelations to come that will prove red meat to a GOP desperate to hold on to Coleman’s Senate seat. (Incidentally, given the heightened sensitivity of Hillary Clinton’s supporters to any suggestion of misogyny, one wonders what her Minnesota backers must make of Franken’s frat boy sensibility. Surely one of the things that drove Katherine Lanpher from his Air Radio radio program was that she’d gotten tired of being treated by Franken like some kind of on-air Girl Friday.)
Franken’s problems don’t stop at opportunism or satirical thrusts at America’s sexual mores or misogyny or the fact that his staff keeps him away from the press for fear that he will indulge in a fit of rage at some poor reporter. He is also a self-absorbed and lackluster candidate who fails to connect with voters. Polls that came out even before Porn-o-Rama showed him running seven points behind Norm Coleman – Norm Coleman, for heaven’s sakes – or just about dead even with Mike Ciresi, who ain’t even in the race anymore, and only a few points ahead of Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, the underfunded DFL-er who happens to possess the integrity, vision, and record of public service that Franken lacks.
Ironically, at a time when Hillary Clinton is leading John McCain in national polls and breathing down Barack Obama’s neck, there is a growing chorus of voices calling on her to drop out of the Presidential race. A much stronger case could be made that the time has come for Franken to drop out of the Senate race. Afterwards, he could demonstrate that his concern about Minnesota and the direction of the country is rooted in something more than mere ego by, say, lending his support and campaign organization to Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, who’d then have an excellent chance of defeating Coleman in the general election. Or Franken could help shake up the country’s addiction to partisan duopoly by, I don’t know, backing Mike Cavlan, currently running for the Green Party endorsement for U.S. Senate. After the election, Franken could go on to satisfy his obvious appetite for public service by getting involved in politics at the ground level rather than the 50th floor by maybe running for his local soil conservation district or community council.
“Al Franken is a funny man,” begins the ABC News Report on Franken’s Porn-o-Rama Playboy problems. That’s debatable. What really isn’t funny is the prospect of six more years of Norm Coleman in the U.S. Senate, an eventuality Franken’s narcissism is bringing a little closer every day.
Say goodnight, Al. Time to take your bows and exit stage left.
Comments
Funny....
I actually think Franken’s funny, and even likable, but that isn’t terribly important. It’s unfortunate that Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Michael Cavlan, etc. don’t get more serious coverage, because as per usual, there are going to be a host of issues that go untouched during this year’s Senate campaign, especially after the DFL convention, when the television ads get even more frequent, more obnoxious, and more devoid of substance.
I actually think Franken has more of a chance to appeal to an excited DFL base than Rich gives him credit for here (whether that appeal can extend to moderates and other voters is more questionable), but I think what’s unfortunate about the Franken vs. Coleman smackdown that we’re about to witness is that yet again neither of them are going to be really challenged in a substantive way on fundamental issues like foreign policy, the war against Iraq, universal health care, etc. It’s par for the course as far as issues go.
While Franken would certainly be preferable on most issues, his record both on-air and on this campaign doesn’t suggest he’s going to be an outspoken leader on issues, like his late friend and former seat-holder Paul Wellstone certainly was.
Suggestion
If the author is truly interested in unseating Norm Coleman, I would suggest that they take some time and do some research into Mr. Franken’s life and work. The column here demonstrates a profound ignorance of Al and his campaign (and in fact confesses to it in the third paragraph). I’m sure that once the author understands the candidate and the issues they will support Al and help him defeat Mr. Coleman this November.
Get Real
The GOP’s effort to make the Playboy article a big deal is a tempest in a teapot. How could a reasonably intelligent person not understand that an article titled Porn-O-Rama could be anything other than satire?
You are correct about one thing. Al Franken being funny is debatable. Not everyone will get his humor. Satire requires a certain amount of critical thinking capability to get the joke.
Wow, If you guys followed
Wow,
If you guys followed anything politically you would know that the latest poll puts Franken only two points behind Coleman and JNP is not even being mentioned anymore in those polls.
I understand that the TC Daily Planet is run by volunteers, but that is not an excuse to publish untimely dreck.
Enjoy your Kool-Aid
Gee — you think maybe I hit a nerve?
That Coleman, a lackluster Senator joined at the hip to the most unpopular President in modern history and a member of a party facing near-extinction this fall, is leading Franken by any margin at this point is a clear sign of Franken’s weakness as a candidate. As for all those who seem to think I don’t know anything about him, well, what can I say? I’ve followed his career and his work closely enough to form a considered judgment about what is, in fact, a vanity campaign. And though I have not met him personally, I know lots of folks who have, like the fervently liberal college student who went off eagerly to interview Franken last fall for his school paper and later gave me this reaction: “He’s an idiot. He’ll say anything he thinks you want to hear.” Or the DFL activist friends who were open to his candidacy a few months ago but have been turned off by his inability to make a coherent case for his election. Or the acquaintances who were present last week when Franken addressed a group of Minnesota Muslims and who came away muttering not only about how lame his presentation was but how Franken was unable to look anyone in the eye — this last a comment I’ve heard time and again from people who have encountered him on the campaign trail.
As for the claim that my comments are untimely, well, I am truly mystified given that the DFL state convention is taking place in a little over a week. Can you suggest a more timely moment to question his candidacy?
Sorry, but those of you who have responded with such vitriol to my post mostly seem blinded by Franken’s celebrityhood, such as it is. The issue is not whether I think he’s funny or whether I understand his Playboy column was an attempt at satire. The issue is that If he is endorsed, we can expect a long summer and fall of mud-slinging of which “Porn-o-Rama” and tax problems are just the tip of the iceberg rather than a substantive discussion, as Andy H. points out, of issues like the Iraq War (where Franken’s early and enthusiastic support for the invasion constitute another fatal weakness), health care, energy policy, etc. Followed by an election in which the odds are good that the no-good Norm Coleman is returned to the Senate for another six years.
Wherever Al Hangs His Hat Is Home?
Franken didn’t “move back” to Minnesota to be Senator. He’s only here for the duration of the campaign so that, having won, he can live out east again – in DC. That’s the bargain he’s made with his wife Franny (“Franny Franken”, you kidding me?) There’s no way Angry Al would take a job that required him to live full-time in Minnesota again – he’s beyond that. Al’s dream is to have an important job that keeps him in the public eye and to live a fancy lifestyle susidized by the working folk of Minnesota.
Here's a question that nobody seems to ask:
Who would make the best senator? With all the nonsense about taxes and unemployment insurance and 8-year-old satire, very little attention is being given to the actual job of being senator. We also seem not to even mention anything at all about the sorry record of the Republican incumbent.
Personally, I really hope that Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer becomes my senator in Washington next year. Jack has written a dozen books, mostly about world politics and foreign policy. Jack was a citizen advisor to Wellstone, who had the foresight to publicly oppose the Iraq war before we so tragically invaded. Jack sees the long-term insecurity that we get from endless wars for oil. Jack sees the long-term security that we get by sustainable energy investment and the green manufacturing jobs that would come from that.
I grow truly weary of the constant horserace…who has the most money, who has the best polls. I want an outstanding senator who understands the issues. I want Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer.
He’s not perfect
No, Al’s not perfect. And he isn’t a perfect candidate either. I’m particularly distressed by his early support for the invasion of Iraq. That seems to belie a certain gullibility I hope he has overcome. But then, a lot of people were fooled but the unprincipled propaganda being spouted by the current administration.
Then there are his tax problems and the Workman’s Comp issue. Most of this can be chalked up to bad advice or bad advisors. But then again, who was responsible for selecting those advisors…?
Those who claim that he is just a carpetbagger that has moved back to Minnesota just to run for his friend, Paul Wellstone’s senate seat have not been keeping track of Al’s activities for very long. The reason why he has such grass root support among most Democrats is because he has been working very hard these last few years (long before he became a candidate) supporting local DFL candidates and causes. He has made appearances around the state and local DFL conventions and events and worked very hard to make those personal connections with working Minnesotans.
Yes, the Republicans will have a field day digging up dirt on everything Al has said on TV and Air America radio, and written in his books and articles. You can take just about anything out of context to make the opponent look bad in a political race, and Al has a lot of material lying around for them to do just that. I sincerely hope that my fellow Minnesotans can see through that, get to a serious discussion on the issues and make an informed decision on who best reflects their values and support that candidate.
LOL!!!
Fat Al gets it in the ass!
Serves you right to suffer, baby!
not a carpetbagger
Franken is not a carpetbagger who moved to Minnesota specifically to run for office. He’s a native-born Minnesotan who moved around as his work moved. He was in TV, political satire, publishing, movies—you sometimes have to move for work. I know I have. He moved back to where he grew up. Had he run for Senate in New York, wouldn’t he have been pegged as a carpetbagger? You cannot be a carpetbagger everywhere—he returned to where he grew up, plain and simple.
Katherine Lanpher left his show to write a book, nothing more, nothing less.
Lanpher's departure
Sorry, but my understanding is that Lanpher, a talented writer and radio personality, has told friends that she left the show because she was tired of being given little more to do than serve as Franken’s laugh track.
Your understanding?
What’s the basis of this “understanding”?
Satire
Satire targets human folly or human vice; it’s aim is corrective. Did Playboy hire Franken that he might correct them? There is not satire in Franken’s comments. He’s having fun exposing himself, nothing more.
I’m not seeing a byline
I’m not seeing a byline on this piece? Who wrote it? And did he or she actually read the Playboy article in question? I haven’t, and I’d like to. Please provide a link. Thanks
Byline Added
Sorry for any confusion; I’ve added a byline. This is a blog entry by Rich Broderick.
The rural people of MN
The rural people of MN will not go Democratic for Franken. This is one to many ghosts in the closet.
Rich / Bill, time for a reality check
Bill’s accusation that Franken is moved to run for office by a lust for the spotlight and an easy income is hard to take seriously. He was already rich, hugely successful and very famous. How does it materially benefit him and his family to trade that wealth and success for the onerous burdens of national office and the attendant very substantial drop in income? It is conscience and civic duty that calls him to hazard his fortune thus. This is a man who looked up from his work one day a decade or so ago to see evil overcoming his country because too many good people were doing nothing.
The core mechanism of this evil is the subversion of the Fourth Estate by capital concentration, most especially right-wing talk radio. After writing a couple of well-researched and devastating books attacking the most virulent and influential right-wing propagandists, Franken helped to organize and spearhead a bold invasion of talk radio, the ironically named Air America bringing life and hope to what had hitherto been a desert of lies serving the super-rich.
Rich: Calling Franken, a native Minnesotan, a “carpetbagger” and an opportunist is especially absurd in light of his opponent’s New York / Jersey-accented betrayal of his constituents, switching parties in the middle of his term as Mayor of St. Paul. Your accusation insults Minnesotans’ intelligence.
Bill’s pretension to insight into the Franken marriage (“the bargain he’s made with his wife”) is wildly presumptuous. And Bill’s assumption that the Frankens would really prefer to live on the East Coast seems improbable to me, and I grew up there. I moved to Minnesota fifteen years ago and stayed because life’s a lot better here. Franken knew that already, of course.
Rich, Did you actually listen to Franken and Lampher on Air America? Far from lowly servant (“Girl Friday”, “laugh track”), her role was to keep her eye on the ball and bring him back to the topic when he strayed. And it was Franken’s show, after all.
Where did you get the idea that Franken’s staff wants the press to go elsewhere (“keeps him away from the press”)? Once again, you insult our intelligence. The candidate has appeared in quite a few TV and newspaper interviews, doubtless fewer than Team Franken would like.
Can you provide an example of the “frat boy misogyny” you ascribe to Franken?
I’ve met Franken a few times and can testify that he has no problem looking anyone in the eye. That’s just a lie, sir.
And what are the polls you claim showed Franken seven points behind Coleman before the Playboy flap? He and Coleman are presently in a statistical dead heat. You don’t have to be a math genius to see that your claim and this fact are at odds with falling poll numbers.
Nelson-Pallmeyer, were he endorsed by the DFL, would have an exellent chance of getting his name recognized by a small fraction of the Minnesota electorate. He has zero chance of defeating Coleman in the general election. Who are you kidding? You speak of Nelson-Pallmeyer’s “long record of public service”, omitting the fact that this service has been as a professor, not a public official. He’s an important activist, but should learn the job as a state legislator and congressman rather than trying for Senate as a virtual unknown.
Franken is the most promising challenger to Coleman, by far. His savage wit and brilliant research team is the adversary Coleman and the Republicans fear most. The panicked retreat from Franken by prominent DFL representatives, prompted by the Ciresi camp’s Liebermanesque embrace of mud slung by the Republican attack machine, reflects very badly on both the courage and the intelligence of the DFL leadership. Franken fights, the “leadership” caves. I’ll take the fighter, so should the DFL.
Your opinion piece is pure hot air, its principal claims easily refuted by a little reflection and research.
Reality bites
Ted: I listened to Franken’s program almost every day. Lanpher quit because, as I said, she got tired of being treated as little more than a live-action laugh track. If you’d listened to the program yourself, you would have heard the tension between them growing week by week. Also the utter vacuity of Franken’s political “ideas.” (Then again, maybe you wouldn’t have, which might be the problem here).
Ted: Frat boy misogyny? Precisely what was it Mr. Franken was apologizing for at the DFL state convention? Oh, yeah, that’s right. Something about jokes about rape, wasn’t it?
Ted: Word of Franken’s staff keeping him away from the press comes from reporters trying to cover his campaign. Try talking to some reporters trying to cover his campaign. See what they have to say.
Ted: Maybe he looked you in the eye. Others say he didn’t — or couldn’t. At all events, I wasn’t making that part up, just reporting what I’ve been told. I’ve never met the guy.
Ted: A Star-Tribune poll published just prior to the “Porn-o-Rama” news showed Franken running seven points behind Coleman. You can look it up!
Ted: Calling Franken a carpetbagger doesn’t mean Coleman isn’t one. Although, despite the fact I detest Coleman (you can look it up!), I have to point out that he isn’t one. It’s a little hard to label somebody who served as an assistant state attorney and two-term Mayor of St. Paul a carpetbagger, even if he does retain a bit of an East Coast accent. Switching parties may or may not be reprehensible (would you think so if Norm suddenly decided to be a Democrat again? Doubt it!) but isn’t covered by the term “carpetbagger.” Check out a dictionary, find out what the word means.
Franken's from Here
Regarding the poll numbers: In effect, you are backtracking and now acknowledge that Franken’s numbers are lately on an upward trend.
Regarding his putative mysogyny: I’ve listened to plenty of Franken, and mysogyny is a color I don’t see in his work. Andrew Dyce Clay he is not.
Regarding your absurd “carpetbagger” label: The term denotes a ne’er-do-well who rides in from elsewhere to take office and take advantage. Franken grew up here, went to Harvard and succeeded on a national stage; the term clearly doesn’t apply. And I notice you’re silent now about calling Franken an opportunist. Unlike Coleman, Franken has not changed his stripes for personal gain. Were Coleman to switch again, he’d likely wait a long time for support from Minnesota Democrats. Coleman’s career is about what’s good for Coleman. Franken’s is about what’s good for the country.
Let's take this one step at a time, Ted
No, Ted, I’m not backtracking on anything. The last poll to appear before I wrote my initial blog showed Franken behind by seven points. Obviously, I did not have the foresight to see what the polls would say after I wrote my blog.
No, Ted, Franken’s not Andrew Dyce Clay. Then again, he’s not Genghis Kahn, Joseph Stalin, Lao-Tse, or Gloria Swanson, either, so I’m not sure exactly what your point is. In terms of his misogyny, I see you overlooked the rhetorical question I posed to you — what was it exactly Franken was apologizing for so profusely at the DFL state convention, anyway? Wasn’t it, in part, about rape jokes he’d made back when he was at SNL? Have you ever made a joke about rape, Ted? I haven’t. Only men with a certain attitude about women make rape jokes, Ted. And that’s just the incident we’ve heard about — so far — Ted.
If I failed to call Franken an opportunist this time around, well, what can I say? I’ll try to do better next time.
LOL!
I think he isn’t a perfect candidate either. I’m particularly distressed by his early support for the invasion of Iraq. That seems to belie a certain gullibility I hope he has overcome. But then, a lot of people were fooled but the unprincipled propaganda being spouted by the current administration.
Nice! Surly too
Rich,
Isn’t it ironic, that this blog is now irrelevant. Franken won the endorsement and can win back Wellstone’s seat.
Ditto to Mr. Bagg’s comments…and when the people of MN here what Sen. Coleman has NOT done for the state, region, and country. There will not be a story to feature city vs rural, north vs south argument to save or support Coleman.
...just an Us versus Norm story.
We’ll win with Franken – believe that.
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