Al Franken has recently announced that he's leaving his radio show on Air America and will soon make a decision about his candidacy for a Senate run in '08. Most rumors point to the fact that he will make a stab at the nation's capitol, which may cause concern for voters.Now I liked Franken's first book a lot. It was a funny and somewhat insightful read, if not overwhelmingly naive and biased. The rest of his books were less enjoyable as he moved from satire to being a political know it all where anyone claiming to be a Democrat seemed angelic in his view while Republicans were naturally too busy to run a fiscal budget as they were drinking the blood of orphans.
After listening to his miserable radio show I all but given up on the once talented SNL writer. The strong possibility of him entering public office does amuse me, but frighten me a little. Granted one could argue that less qualified people have occupied a Senate seat, hell we even have a former Klan member that's still a federal legislator, but shouldn't the voters demand more experienced, and more reasoned, candidates? Isn't it time we abandon our love of celebrity when our nation's political future is at stake?
Then I remembered he will be running in Minnesota and all ideas of a race involving intelligent, reasoned discourse were abandoned. Good luck St Paul!
"I asked Dalai Lama the most important question that I think you could ask - if he had ever seen Caddyshack." - Jesse Ventura
Comedian Al Franken to Run for Senate
3 comments:
I for one am thrilled that Franken is leaving the airwaves. I have one of "those" jobs where I have the luxury of sitting at my desk, without having to pick up a phone and talk to customers. Thus, I listen to talk radio. Franken's show has annoyed me from day one. He's just simply NOT a radio man. Instead of spending three hours a day giving us high profile interviews, he wastes his time singing, impersonating someone, or talking about Bill O'Reilly. Then he'll bring on a guest, say Hillary Clinton, and start off by telling her, "look, we only have 20 seconds, but tell us how you'd solve this Iraq thing." 20 seconds later, it's commercial time. What the hell kind of radio is that? So, I say good riddance, Al. As for him being a senator, well, I don't think he has a chance in hell.Who would take him seriously?
Yeah I have to say that I am a bit freaked out by all of this. I think that Franken has some good points but this politics of complete hate of the other side does not make sense. Working together and acknowledging that people are different is pretty important stuff.
I'll hold off judgement on his political abilities until I've heard more of what his platform is, beyond "Republicans suck, Al Franken is better".
I think there is some hope for him as a politician, as I think he really is an idealist to the bone. In these days of every senator being in the hip pocket of one corporation or another, a hardcore idealist might not be that bad.
And who would vote for him, you ask, Greg? The same people who voted for Jesse "The Body" Ventura.
Post a Comment