FRANKEN’S DEBUT: STILL NOT FUNNY
Apparently Franken didn’t read Victor Navasky’s plea in the July 10 New York Times. Navasky begged Franken to remain funny, despite the responsibilities of his new post. That humorless piece was better than Franken’s performance today.
July 13, 2009
"8 Best Moments from Sonia's Hearing."
With video clips. A highlight:
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57 comments:
Franken was not funny in his speech yet his presence is at best a joke and also not funny! Senator Al is the best ACORN can buy, which says damned little about ACORN and its vote sandbagging. Oh well, perhaps he'll gain a conscience and resign at year's end.
"Remain" funny?
I thought Frankin was sometimes funny in the olde days. But I don't think much of him as a person.
As far as being a senator, notwithstanding the sadness that he actually could be elected (only with Obama's coat tails), he seems to be able to assume the role of a windbag senator the same as the rest of them. I wouldn't be surprised if he thinks he can be president someday.
Al Franken fit in perfectly. Whatever the DNA of a Senator is today, he has a complete genome of it. The sad part is how worried he was over fitting in. he IS the essence of today's Democrat super-majority Senator cheerfully sponsoring and passing the hoax of the month.
Not that it applies to Franken, but you look at that committe and rue the day that the Supreme Court in an act of insanity held that term limits were unconstitutional.
Come on in, Gene. Let's see how you can defend this piece of ofal. Afterall, your lineage is ofal too. HAHA!!! See that, Gene? It's called humor, something you and that moron Franken lack, you humorless dicks.
Bernard McGuirk, hosting Best of Imus, suggested coming up with at least ``Who let Norm Coleman in?'' Calling Franken's performance characteristically unfunny.
Email Franken and let him know that you always enjoyed Prairie Home Companion and he has your support.
And so what if you pronounced the f in Roman a clef on Imus in 1998. Lots of people get that wrong.
The most experienced nominee in a hundred years? Is he fucking serious? Or was he trying to be funny with that line?
Way to go Minnesota. Way to go.
Sotomayor looks like Señor Wences's ``Johnny'' hand character. It's the no-neck effect and the hair styling.
The guy in the box is still open.
You've all been too hard on Franken.
He has potential. He could be the next Durbin, Leahy, or Dodd.
Email Franken and let him know that you always enjoyed Prairie Home Companion and he has your support.
LOL. The nod-off potential there was pretty high, wasn't it.
I just listened to the bit with her closing statement. She sounds a lot like Dorothy (Bea Arthur) on the Golden Girls.
I thought Franken was supposed to shake things up. The man I'm hearing in that clip sounds like a career politician, eager to lick every boot he comes across.
This is not a sentiment that is for or against her getting appointed...it's a simple question of logic.
How is it that she's the most qualified person for the job in the last 100 years if her name has never come up before.
Objectively, if she were the most qualified, her name would have come up long before now. She would have been trotted out as the standard against which Alito and Roberts were judged by the left.
Since they weren't (at least in my recollection and quick research), this claim of immense qualification, indeed "supreme" qualification, smells nothing as much as rhetoric; suprise, suprise. Much ado about nothing, which is the way the left in Congress seems to govern. Non-binding resolutions come to mind...
If I were a Democrat from Minnisota I would be really angry. This clown is the best the party can come up with? It really is a sad day for the country that things in the Senate have gotten this bad.
If I were a Democrat from Minnesota I would be really angry. This clown is the best the party can come up with? It really is a sad day for the country that things in the Senate have gotten this bad.
It's not just the Senate. Look at the best the Republicans could come up with for the Presidential run in 2008.
"It's not just the Senate. Look at the best the Republicans could come up with for the Presidential run in 2008."
John McCain won the medal of honor. You should wake up every day and thank God you will never have to do the things he did. He was certainly not the greatest Senator in history, but he did things that people like you and Frankin will never do. To compare him to Fankin is pathetic. People like Frankin wake up every day and get to live in a great country and have never sacrificed one damn thing in return. McCain, whatever his faults, will always be above that group.
And fuck you Madison Man for comparing a MOH winner to Al Frankin. You are normally better than that.
Candidates are decided by soap opera women, because their tastes and interests edit all media coverage.
They are the audience in the only workable media business model.
I wonder if Franken would have been elected if Minnesota didn't have same-day voter registration.
The most experienced nominee in a hundred years? Is he fucking serious? Or was he trying to be funny with that line?.
I can not imagine standing in public, nay, national television, and saying something so completely detached from reality. Where does one get that "ability"?
And I'm not knocking Sotomayor. But pul-heaze.
Kansas City, I was convinced term limits were a bad idea by the argument that we would end up being ruled by unelected professional staffers. When Steny Hoyer, who is highly regarded here in Maryland, recently laughed at the very idea of anyone reading the entire health care reform bill before voting, I realized we are already being ruled by the unelected professional staffers who draft our laws.
Franken has passion, he has a brain, and as a comedian who has skewered many an elected official, I suspect he will be less of a hypocrite than our average politician. We could have gotten worse.
And his hyperbole in praising Sotomayor is nothing more than the usual courtesies, not worth getting excited about. Although such phrasing did do in Trent Lott....
And his hyperbole in praising Sotomayor is nothing more than the usual courtesies, not worth getting excited about..
I recognize it for what it is and know it doesn't matter. I just marvel at some people's ability to do it. I could never be a politician.
John, I'm comparing the parties, not the candidates.
And I find the You're better than that complaint ridiculous. You're better than that.
I don't believe John McCain is a recipient of the Medal of Honor.
Nevertheless, his nomination for POTUS does not begin to approach the absurdity of Al Franken as a US Senator.
I suspect he will be less of a hypocrite than our average politician.
Is hypocrisy the worst sin a politician can commit? Is it OK to cheat on your wife as long as you have never made a public statement against adultery? Is it OK to leave a young woman for dead in a car underwater as long as you have never said, "I am against letting women drown!"
What if a politician says, "I think smoking is bad for you" and is then discovered to be a smoker. Is he a hypocrite? Or truthful? Can you be a smoker who also believes smoking is bad for you?
Are you saying Franken will just be upfront about the laws he breaks, maybe tax laws (I have no evidence of that - it's just an example)? And then it will be OK because he never said he thought it was bad to cheat on your taxes?
Hyperbole or fact, I can't say, but the enomium to Judge Sotomayer that she is "the most experienced judge to be nominated to the high court in 100 years" is not unique to Al Franken and did not originate with him:
http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/84AAA9E3-30A7-4A7D-B507-1402DB6AD46A/
Also, in this story, Senator Patrick Leahy is also quoted saying the same thing:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/07/13/cbs-sotomayor-perfect-nominee-all-american-story
In fact, for what it's worth, the White House itself made the statement: "If confirmed for the Supreme Court, Judge Sotomayor would bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years, and more overall judicial experience than anyone confirmed for the Court in the past 70 years."
See here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/01/sonia-sotomayor-supreme-c_n_194470.html
Is anyone here so knowledgable to assert that the claim hasn't even a whisper of truth to it? In any case, this is hardly a case of Al Franken being unusually nutty. At best, it's accurate, at worst, he's merely echoing the words of others, another tendency all too common among Washington pols of both parties. (Without their pre-scripted talking points, I doubt many Republicans would have a word to say in their monopoly as guests of the "liberally biased"(sic) tv news/chat shows.)
John McCain won the medal of honor.
No he didn't.
Is anyone here so knowledgable to assert that the claim hasn't even a whisper of truth to it?
It's absurd on its face.
The local commie Cookie has wandered back by - good to see you - how are things in the home today, Cook? What color is the sky in your world? Is Saint Nader still visiting you on a nightly basis?
"The most experienced nominee in a hundred years? Is he fucking serious?"
To be fair, I think you're missing a very important point to that "experience." In addition to whatever her actual legal experience is, she's a wise latina. That's like looking at a sword and thinking "That's just a plain old sword," when it is in fact a +4 Sword of Correct Rulings.
"It's absurd on its face."
Says who?
You bitch about him being nothing more than a comedian, then bitch because he's not "funny" enough.
Is there ANYTHING this crowd doesn't bitch and whine about?
It's absurd on its face.
Then it should be easy to find a person who had more Court experience when nominated. Yet I've seen nothing posted citing a more experience nominee.
Normal people, that is to say, non-Nader voters. Go away, Cookie - you are delusional.
"The most experienced nominee in a hundred years? Is he fucking serious?"
Overheard in office:'so and so has thirty years experience'
comeback: 'yeah, he's repeated the first year thirty times'
So much for experience. so much for SS.
John said..."John McCain won the medal of honor. You should wake up every day and thank God you will never have to do the things he did. He was certainly not the greatest Senator in history, but he did things that people like you and Frankin will never do."
As for Al Franken's ability to make people laugh, and based on McCain's campaign and V.P. pick I'm not so sure about that.
There are many who think McCain's and Princess Sarah's team was outright hilarious.
Then it should be easy to find a person who had more Court experience when nominated. Yet I've seen nothing posted citing a more experience nominee.
Franken didn't say Court experienced, he said most experienced.
jeremmey,
You get to be a mouthy queer and live in peace thanks to the sacrifices of people like John McCain. You should get down on your knees and kiss his feet if you ever saw him. Thanks to people like him, you get to suck cock in peace. That is a pretty big debt I would say.
Wow, Factotum, you sure put a lot of words in my mouth. Why the hostility? Where did I say all would be forgiven as long as no hypocrisy is involved? I feel attacked. Do you attack everyone who tries to find something hopeful, however trivial, to say about a new senator? I was merely musing over how a comedian might be different from the usual senator.
To make your blood boil even more, let me suggest that Franken is a wonk and may actually read the legislation before he casts his votes.
Knee jerk reactions are so Jeremy.
Christy, I did not intend to offend you or put words in your mouth. I took what you said as a starting place for an argument I have had many times with some liberals I know (ie, my husband) who seem to think that hypocrisy is the worst thing a pol can do -- worse than the actual crime/sin/transgression. I have pointed out to him that only someone with standards can be a hypocrite and just because someone has violated his own standards does not invalidate the standards. I did not intend my comment to be fighting words with you! Promise!
Scott, it wasn't so much same day registration as it was "next day just found those ballots in the trunks of my car" rulings. And, "Gee we mislaid those votes for Franken, we BAD" rulings! Those were examples of two of the rulings that won it for Franken.
John, McCain was not awarded the MoH, perhaps a Navy Cross. Regardless, McCain's service was exemplary and beyond reproach. Do not inflate the characteristic of McCain's service, that's not needed nor worthy of him. PS: He was a poor presidential candidate IMHO.
The truth is always more than sufficient in fighting evil!
Cheers.
Thank you for your response Factotum. I agree completely that violating one's own standards does not invalidate the standards. I figure having standards means that people are at least trying.
I'm with those who've said that his presence alone is funny... it is.
hypocrisy is the worst thing a pol [or husband] can do
Yes, I can see why you'd dispute that.
The worst sin is not in violating standards of conduct one has espoused and even believes in; we're all human and prey to weakness and poor judgement. We're all hypocrites. The great sin is in our proud thundering against misteps of conduct in others, casting them from the fold and condemning them for their failings. Presumably, one of the things Christians should take from their faith is the understanding that, to use their terms, we are all sinners and thus we are all owed (and owe to others) compassion and understanding. As we ask for forgiveness for our trespasses, we must forgive those who trespass against us, (or against others, for that matter).
t
Now a lecture on Christian forgiveness from Cook, who voted for an avowed communist. Nice, Cookie, but you really should self-shun.
I could more easily defend Robert Bork as the most qualified and experienced person for the job in the last 100 years.
...I'm betting Franken didn't support him.
"I could more easily defend Robert Bork as the most qualified and experienced person for the job in the last 100 years."
Well, it all depends on one's criteria, doesn't it? Apparently, those who say of Sotomayor that she brings "more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in 100 years" are using that as their criterion. Does Judge Bork have more federal jucicial experience than Judge Sotomayor? Did he at the time of his nomination? I don't presume to know, but presumably students of such matters can provide an answer. Even if he does not have equivalent or greater federal judicial experience as Judge Sotomayor, perhaps you or others will focus on other criteria to define him as the "most qualified and experienced" judge to have been nominated to the high court. One could also argue, I suppose, that the presumption is that Sotomayor will be the next justice, while Bork, fairly or not, didn't make it through the confirmation process, and that whatever Bork's federal judicial experience relative to Sotomayor's, she may have the most such experience of anyone who actually makes the court.
All these assertions are pro forma anyway and are really about selling the
"product" to America. Even if Sotomayor actually has "greater federal judicial experience" than any justice in 100 years, it remains for her to demonstrate through her work on the court whether she was a good or a poor choice, and even that determination will vary according to the differing perceptions and metrics of those who will evaluate her.
Crimso said...
To be fair, I think you're missing a very important point to that "experience." In addition to whatever her actual legal experience is, she's a wise latina. That's like looking at a sword and thinking "That's just a plain old sword," when it is in fact a +4 Sword of Correct Rulings.
+5 Holy Avenger is a necessary tonic at this point.
The illustrious Senator Franken
is,after all,an actor. He will read the lines, either provided for him or written by his own hand, with great aplomb. This is the role of a lifetime. He can stretch his craft from comedy to drama and prove himself to the nation. Can you spell President Franken?
SNL goes to congress is the new wave. If only Rosanna Rosanna Danna was still alive.
Jeremy said...
You bitch about him being nothing more than a comedian, then bitch because he's not "funny" enough.
Is there ANYTHING this crowd doesn't bitch and whine about?
Oh, there you are, Gene. I wondered when you were going to show up with a scintillating defense of the humorless clown. It's always good to know that one humorless clown comes to the defense of another humorless clown. You've got to keep those jokester bonds tight you know. Hey, Gene, did your mom get those flowers I sent her yet?
Cook wrote ...blah blah "jucicial" blah blah...
English, motherfucker, do you speak it? Every time you post you prove that Nader voters are mouth breathing idiots.
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