Franken's satire doesn't pass the test

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | July 8, 2008 | Michael Gerson

[rhema]

Warning: The following contains extreme vulgarity by a candidate for the United States Senate.

In the nationally important Senate race in Minnesota, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is presented with a unique political problem. Should he raise in his ads the issue of comedian Al Franken's offensive vulgarity? Or would this risk a backlash against Coleman for coarsening the public conversation? Remember that when Ken Starr detailed Bill Clinton's most repulsive antics -- stained dresses and such -- it was Starr who was accused of sexual obsessiveness.

Franken's defenders explain that his edginess is the result of being a "satirist" -- a term he embraces. "My work, dare I say, is provocative, touching and funny," Franken has explained. "It sounds immodest, but I now have a brand name in political satire."

Satire has been called "punishment for those who deserve it." Writers from Erasmus to Jonathan Swift to George Orwell have used humor, irony and ridicule to expose the follies of the powerful, the failures of blind ideology and the comic weakness of human nature itself.

So what is Franken's "provocative, touching and funny" contribution to the genre? Consider his article in Playboy magazine titled "Porn-O-Rama!" in which he enthuses that it is an "exciting time for pornographers and for us, the consumers of pornography." The Internet, he explains, is a "terrific learning tool. For example, a couple of years ago, when he was 12, my son used the Internet for a sixth-grade report on bestiality. Joe was able to download some effective visual aids, which the other students in his class just loved." Franken goes on to relate a soft-core fantasy about women providing him with sex who were trained at the "Minnesota Institute of Titology."

Orwell would be so proud.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Candidates should leave this stuff alone. You need some good 3rd-party operatives to raise it. If you get lucky, you’ll get the opponent on the record about it, and THEN the candidate can discuss what his oppponent has SAID about it.

[rhema]

At its best, politics can offer examples of civility and generosity that challenge selfishness and prejudice -- the tradition so far embraced by both John McCain and Barack Obama. At the very least, politics should not actively push our culture toward vulgarity and viciousness. This is not prudery; it is a practical concern for the cooperation and mutual respect necessary in a functioning democracy. And it is hard to believe those causes would be served by a Sen. Franken.

[pnh102]

Norm Coleman should simply point out that Al Franken has been a miserable failure as a comedian, an actor, a comedy writer and radio talk show host.

[rhema]

Candidates should leave this stuff alone. You need some good 3rd-party operatives to raise it. If you get lucky, you’ll get the opponent on the record about it, and THEN the candidate can discuss what his oppponent has SAID about it.

I see the formation of a new 527: No Pornographers in Public Office.

[junkman_106]

Al “Buttface” Franken has never been a comedian of any stature. To portray him as a “satirist” is going too far. IMHO Norm Coleman should just ignore the putz. Al will no doubt stick his foot in his mouth once again with no assistance from anybody.

[Maceman]

"My work, dare I say, is provocative, touching and funny,"

Right.

[rbg81]

Personally, I think Franken is narcissistic to the point of being mentally ill. His humor is very mean spirited (to use a Dem catchprase) and vulgar. The only question: will the Minnesota voters, who elected Jesse Ventura, even care?

[wita]

A picture worth a thousand words, but yet says all that needs to be said.

[Ratblaster]

The first time that I saw Al Franken, I thought that he was creepy, unfunny, and boring. How does he make a living?

[Bitsy]

The only time this smuck was funny was when he looked in the mirror. What a complete waste of human genes.

[laotzu]

Satire has been called "punishment for those who deserve it."....To an event hosted by the Feminist Majority Foundation in 1999, Franken told this thigh-slapper: "Why don't we focus on what Afghan women can do? They can cook, bear children and pray. As I recall, that was fine for our grandmothers."

Funny, funny guy. Grandma had it coming.

[LiberConservative]

For example, a couple of years ago, when he was 12, my son used the Internet for a sixth-grade report on bestiality.

His son will eventually be the 'Rat nominee for President.

[pabianice]

Franken is every loathsome Liberal made flesh.

[rhema]

Personally, I think Franken is narcissistic to the point of being mentally ill. His humor is very mean spirited (to use a Dem catchprase) and vulgar.

The Carleton college student whom Franken mocked could attest to that.

The only question: will the Minnesota voters, who elected Jesse Ventura, even care?

The truth hurts. The liberals who like that sort of "humor" (the late Steve Allen described Franken's kind of entertainment as "vulgarians entertaining barbarians") will no doubt laud Franken's "edginess."

[wardaddy]

Franken lived in my neighborhood off 85th and West End 25 years ago and I’d see him occasionally at Zabars or the fish market.

He was good natured with folks and took ribbing over SNL skits in stride.

Now, he seems like a bitter old liberal.

(from a bitter old righty..lol)

[mad puppy]

AF:

For example, a couple of years ago, when he was 12, my son used the Internet for a sixth-grade report on bestiality. Joe was able to download some effective visual aids, which the other students in his class just loved.”

---

In the world of respected leadership there are a few things you can do which should instantly DIS-qualify you from ever being respected or leading. Surely enabling your 12 y/o son to download visual aids for his bestiality report is one of those things. Don’t people go to jail for stuff like that? If Mr. Coleman is unable or unwilling to question this behavior then frankly, he isn’t qualified either.

[polymuser]

I thought that he was creepy, unfunny, and boring. How does he make a living?

From liberals.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I thought that he was creepy, unfunny, and boring. How does he make a living?

I dunno, let me go ask Garrison Keeler.

[purpleraine]

Franken hasn’t been funny since the first time he put a satellite transmitter on his head on SNL. And he drove than into the ground. Nowadays he’s trying to be funny to hide his lack of ethics. He’s worth about 1/3 of the vote from old hippies who wink that only they know the truth.