Posted on 08/20/2003 12:05:19 AM PDT by kattracks
Liberal hatchet man Al Franken has written a letter of apology to Attorney General John Ashcroft, a frequent target of the self-styled satirist, admitting that he had tried to mislead Ashcroft and trick him into confiding his pre-marriage sexual history. "In the letter, I indicated that I wanted your story for a book about abstinence-only sex education entitled 'Savin' It!' I claimed that I had already received testimonies from several conservative leaders, which I had not," he admitted, according to Fox News.
"The letter was sent as part of a satirical book I'm working on, which will contain only one or two chapters dealing with abstinence-only sex education," Franken wrote.
According to Fox, which is suing Franken for violating its trademark "fair and balanced" slogan, Franken wrote to Ashcroft last June, falsely claiming that he had already received testimonials from National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and William J. Bennett, among others, which he hadn't.
Franken had asked the attorney general to reveal honest and personal details about his younger days, saying: "Don't be afraid to share a moment when you were tempted to have sex, but were able to overcome your urges through willpower and strength of character. Be funny! Did a young woman every think you were homosexual just because you wouldn't have sex with her? Be serious! Were you ever taunted and made to feel bad or 'uncool' because of your choice? But most of all, be real. Kids can sense a phony a mile away."
Franken added insult to injury by writing his request to Ashcroft on a letterhead from Harvard University's Shorenstein Center for Press and Politics at the Kennedy School of Government, where he was a fellow during the spring term, despite the fact that the school never gave permission for the use of their letterhead and apparently were anything but pleased by having been drawn into Franken's attempted scam.
"My biggest regret is sending the letter on Shorenstein Center stationery, I can assure you that no one at the Shorenstein Center had knowledge of the letter before I sent it," Franken wrote. "I am very embarrassed to have put them in this awkward and difficult position, and I ask you not to hold this against the Center, the Kennedy School, or Harvard in general."
Franken said that he was sending an apology to everyone who was sent the letter, including the handful of people who had responded. None of the people named in the letter to Ashcroft wrote back despite his claim that they had, Franken admitted, and he vowed not to use the responses he did receive.
Last week, News Corp., the parent company of Fox News Channel and Foxnews.com, filed a lawsuit against Franken for using its trademark "fair and balanced" slogan in his book title "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," and mimicking the look and style of two books published by Bill O'Reilly, a Fox News personality, Fox reported.
As NewsMax.com reported last night in O'Reilly Lashes Out at 'Fox Haters', O'Reilly said that Fox "is striking back by putting the demonizers on notice that they will be held responsible when they violate trademarks or launch defamatory personal attacks on Fox personnel."
This is the guy the liberals think can be a left-wing counterweight to conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. They should keep in mind what Franken wrote to Ashcroft - that "Kids can sense a phony a mile away." Even when he writes letters on stationary from prestigious institutions.
Yeah he is, but what else can you expect from the left. If they didn't lie and distort the facts, no one would listen to them.
As for Fox News' lawsuit, I think it is a loosing battle for Fox. Instead they should have sued for defamation or slander for being accused of lying.
I was wondering the same thing. My theory is that somebody at Harvard got wind of what he did and realized that it would embarass the school (as if Al Franken at the staff wasn't enough of an embarrassment to begin with!)
Isn't it a bit, um, peculiar for a man to sit around wondering about the youthful sexual exploits of John Ashcroft?
What happened? I haven't heard this one before...
MAIL FRAUD - 18 U.S.C. 1341, makes it a Federal crime or offense for anyone to use the United States mails in carrying out a scheme to defraud.
A person can be found guilty of that offense only if all of the following facts are proved: First: That the person knowingly and willfully devised a scheme to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false pretenses, representations or promises; and Second: That the person used the United States Postal Service by mailing, or by causing to be mailed, some matter or thing for the purpose of executing the scheme to defraud.
Getting information from the AG for a satirical book which would be sold for profit, by lying about why he wanted the information, comes pretty close, in my non-expert opinion.
His grandmother wouldn't let him go in the public showers.
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