Althouse: After all the talk of how much Democrats care about women and the children they tend to, Al Franken ended his speech in a very discordant way.

July 25, 2016

After all the talk of how much Democrats care about women and the children they tend to, Al Franken ended his speech in a very discordant way.

"Many of you have jobs. Many of you have families. Ignore them. Let me tell you something: kids love it when their parents aren't home. And let me tell you something else. An 8-year-old knows how to use a microwave. And let me tell you something else. An 8-year-old can teach a 4-year-old how to use a microwave. That's just scientific fact. They'll be fine."

I know it's humor. It just hit me the wrong way. I didn't like joking about neglecting children.

51 comments:

Dan in Philly said...: Humor has a germ of truth, Ann.; 7/25/16, 9:36 PM
Skipper said...: What do you expect from ol' Al? He really has nothing else to do in this job of Senator that, by the way, he stole from Norm Coleman.; 7/25/16, 9:40 PM
Christopher said...: I hate Al Franken for the fraud that won his election and thus tipped the balance into Obamacare and other cascading pollutions.

But that's pretty funny.; 7/25/16, 9:41 PM
Stacy McMahon said...: My 8-year-old can scramble eggs and make salad, and my 6-year-old, who is an early riser, greeted us with perfectly good toast one morning not long ago.

Teaching skills isn't neglect.; 7/25/16, 9:43 PM
Mark said...: this job of Senator that, by the way, he stole from Norm Coleman

And what was Coleman's response? "Um, OK, whatever. The seat is yours."; 7/25/16, 9:46 PM
chickelit said...: Free money and no prisons! vote Dem!; 7/25/16, 9:47 PM
rhhardin said...: I didn't like joking about neglecting children

Women's point of view. Maybe he wants to bring the men in.; 7/25/16, 9:49 PM
Sebastian said...: "I know it's humor. It just hit me the wrong way. I didn't like joking about neglecting children." You missed the real joke. Of course, Franken was just toying with them. The last thing Dems think is that kids will be "fine." Forget families; it takes a village, you know, and a massive government. And kids certainly can't be trusted to get their own food: they need free school breakfasts and free school lunches. All for the children.; 7/25/16, 9:50 PM
Susan said...: The baby sitter doesn't have time to teach your kid how to make toast. She's busy cleaning up vomit from this month's boyfriend's bender last night. Besides she's not letting your brats touch her practically new toaster. Goodwill doesn't often get them in great condition like that and she may never find another four slicer.; 7/25/16, 9:51 PM
Jupiter said...: I am saddened to hear that Democrats reproduce. I had heard they had no use for that practice.; 7/25/16, 9:54 PM
Oso Negro said...: A four year old could have easily been aborted a mere 52 months ago. Why get all weepy and sentimental about them now?; 7/25/16, 9:55 PM
Rob said...: Al Franken shouldn't attempt humor. He's just not very good at it.; 7/25/16, 9:57 PM
john said...: At least he didn't get to the cat (in the microwave) part.; 7/25/16, 10:02 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: At least he didn't joke about abortions.; 7/25/16, 10:09 PM
Roadkill711 said...: Franken, Silverman.....apparently things are so bad that they've called in the clowns.; 7/25/16, 10:13 PM
Jon Ericson said...: Our new unknown seems like it's high. Very little Pee-Wee (Herman that is),

Just sort of a love-fest. Yeah baby!; 7/25/16, 10:16 PM
MayBee said...: Democrats know free college sounds insane, right?; 7/25/16, 10:17 PM
Original Mike said...: The children, how much for your childrem?; 7/25/16, 10:19 PM
David said...: Franken is a crass cynical jerk. He's also a United States Senator, sitting in the seat once held by Hubert Humphrey, a decent and optimistic man.

Bernie is talking now. Incredibly divisive rhetoric. Mean spirited little sob.

And then there's Hillary. All the warmth and empathy of a potato.

And just for balance, I give you Ted Cruz.

We keep electing these people. Why is hard to fathom.; 7/25/16, 10:25 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Get an honest young leftist into a corner who wants to 'do something about college,' and remind him that it is criminal to pump money into secondary education, which will only lead to further exaggerated tuition inflation, when the crying need of our society is to deal with the problems of primary education, at the very beginning of the child's development. Remind him that Head Start doesn't work.

Fun to watch them think.; 7/25/16, 10:28 PM
gadfly said...: If only the Republicans could think better than leftist Donks, but we got Donald. Nate Silver says that Republicans are 68% Conservative, so how did we end up picking a New York liberal Democrat sociopath to be our nominee?; 7/25/16, 10:41 PM
JML said...: Last week a liberal coworker was talking about 'green initiatives' and what we should be forced to do at work. when I expressed concern about the true cost of going green, she responds, "It's not like we are going to force you to become a vegetarian." The irony: She won't recycle her cans and bottles at her home because she lives in an area that gets, on average, 9 inches of precip a year. She has no water service and lives off a cistern, and she won't use her precious water to rinse the containers. She ignores the business case analysis of recycling at work because it doesn't personally cost her anything and it would make her feel good. But if it impacts her, no way - can't have that!

And she lives in a village. With no water...; 7/25/16, 10:41 PM
Original Mike said...: "Nate Silver says that Republicans are 68% Conservative, so how did we end up picking a New York liberal Democrat sociopath to be our nominee?"

Tradguy will be along shortly to explain it to you.; 7/25/16, 10:52 PM
buwaya said...: All I can say is, whatever Democrats think of women, they really, truly hate children. Or, rather, I think, fear them. I live in Democrat central, San Francisco, the ultimate Democrat city, the paradise of the white aspirational liberal, and the truth is they simply dont reproduce. Or very few of them do, and have few kids if such an unlikely event comes to pass. And this pathetic birthrate is even accounting for the age distribution and gay proportion.
Democrat-Liberalism, taking revealed preferences into account, is the politics of a death-cult.; 7/25/16, 11:06 PM
Anonymous said...: I suspect the joke sounds off because it's uncomfortably close to the reality that Democrat policy favors ignoring the kids in favor of the interest groups who work with them (i.e. teachers, consultants, etc). The kids will still be fine, after all they tend to vote Democrat, so their education can't have been that bad, right?; 7/25/16, 11:12 PM
eddie willers said...: Franken hasn't been funny since Davis left.; 7/25/16, 11:15 PM
n.n said...: This is either a plea to end the "final solution" and Planned Parenthood, because no sane individual actually believes in spontaneous conception and supports cannibalism for fun and profit, right? Or something nefariously trans-social.

It could also be a recognition of rights and responsibilities, but that's unlikely coming from a Twilighter in the Pro-Choice Church. It's more likely that the children are inconvenient or unwanted intrusions into female chauvinists' lives, and cause a revenue drop for Democrat interests. Hence immigration "reform" and refugee crises.; 7/25/16, 11:16 PM
buwaya said...: Ultimately this all isnt a battle of political ideologies, or policies, or even tribes. This all is incidental.
Peter Thiel has identified the core problem (part of it) long ago, and I was a bit disappointed he hadnt brought it up. Granted it is a bit complex to explain in that venue.
His point is a cultural failure is in process, a failure to progress in technology, to create art, to be generally creative. The bureaucratic-economic system works to suppress that (I have seen how this goes). Worse, which is the part to which he does not continue, is that all this also serves to suppress reproduction. Not only are technology and art decadent, your people are actually dying out.
And those closest to the death cult are dying out the fastest.; 7/25/16, 11:20 PM
Scott said...: Microwave nothing.

The one I remember was in the 1990s, the FBI director's children got into trouble when the older son taunted the younger one into pushing the terrorist attack panic button while home alone. The next day their father (Freeh IIRC) called a press conference and explained why the SWAT team was sent to his house. Then totally stone-faced pointed out that his sons were not covered by the 1st Amendment for their actions, waived their 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination, and that unfortunately for them, the 8th Amendment did not apply for what was about to happen to them.; 7/25/16, 11:23 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: All I can say is, whatever Democrats think of women, they really, truly hate children. Or, rather, I think, fear them. I live in Democrat central, San Francisco, the ultimate Democrat city, the paradise of the white aspirational liberal, and the truth is they simply dont reproduce.

Seattle is the same way. We are currently casually house shopping for our family of seven; the single family homes are being torn down at an alarming rate to make way for condo buildings for childless adults (they all have doggie day cares on the ground floor though) and the houses that are left are being chopped up into apartments or marketed as having great layouts for "roommates/shared living." If you want a single family home with room for more than one, maaaaaybe two children, you're living an hour or two outside of the city.; 7/25/16, 11:43 PM
Paul Snively said...: You can take the jackass out of SNL, but you can't take the jackass out of the jackass.; 7/25/16, 11:48 PM
mockturtle said...: I agree that the Progs have no use for children. They would like to abort as many as possible.; 7/25/16, 11:52 PM
buwaya said...: I know fellows with large families who own homes in Fresno, Chico, Sacramento, and commute to work during the week in the Bay Area, staying over at shared apartments. Its a hard life.

The way its set up is something like a sophisticated insect trap, or extermination scheme, which destroys fertility - come here to live, and thats the end of your lineage. After a while the human infestation is under control. I suppose. Im not sure if thats what they intend or if they are caught in their own trap.; 7/25/16, 11:55 PM
mockturtle said...: Seattle is the same way. We are currently casually house shopping for our family of seven; the single family homes are being torn down at an alarming rate to make way for condo buildings for childless adults (they all have doggie day cares on the ground floor though) and the houses that are left are being chopped up into apartments or marketed as having great layouts for "roommates/shared living." If you want a single family home with room for more than one, maaaaaybe two children, you're living an hour or two outside of the city.

In Seattle [and all of the Pacific NW], it's considered bad form to have more than two children and better to not have any at all. Having a large family is thought to be environmentally irresponsible. Hope you won't be tarred and feathered.; 7/26/16, 12:02 AM
Levi Starks said...: I think it's particularly satisfying for lefties to tell and laugh at the jokes for which they would crucify republicans.; 7/26/16, 12:29 AM
Fred Drinkwater said...: Franken's "joke" reminds me of a pet peeve. I see photo galleries of cool designs for staircases, or houses with cool swinging walls, .... or hear thoughts about how cool it is for kids to be without their parents because "they'll be fine." All fawned over endlessly by my liberal friends.
Who will be rudely reminded of the reality of their nice liberal local city government when it comes down on them like a ton of bricks for building code violations, zoning violations, and civil or criminal violations, should they actually try to do any of those things themselves.
And I don't want to hear any complaints from them - all that law is "for the children!" after all.; 7/26/16, 12:30 AM
David Begley said...: Franken is an embarrassment.; 7/26/16, 12:33 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "Blogger gadfly said...
If only the Republicans could think better than leftist Donks, but we got Donald. Nate Silver says that Republicans are 68% Conservative, so how did we end up picking a New York liberal Democrat sociopath to be our nominee?"

After elimination of all other possibilities, and indeed all other possible possibilities, I have determined Trump rigged the votes, and then spit on your meatloaf by telling you that very thing and making you eat it.

The man is truly sick to do this to you, with no end in sight.; 7/26/16, 1:11 AM
jaydub said...: "And those closest to the death cult are dying out the fastest."

I enjoy asking my great-nephew, a Bernie supporter and a college junior blessed with the usual vast reservoir of socialist know-how, whom does he think is going to pay for his expanded social security and healthcare, payoff his tuition and fund his other preferred social justice initiatives, given the 52 million abortions since 1972 and his generation's plans to save gaia by dispensing with offspring altogether. That particular dilemma apparantly wasn't covered in sociology 101, but, I tell him not to worry - college may not teach the course that answers that question, but post graduation employment will.; 7/26/16, 2:23 AM
iowan2 said...: But if you leave them home alone to play in the yard for an hour, Al Franken's bureaucracy will come and take them away from you, forever.; 7/26/16, 6:07 AM
Moneyrunner said...: helicopter parent in aisle eight.; 7/26/16, 6:33 AM
Rusty said...: so how did we end up picking a New York liberal Democrat sociopath to be our nominee?"

T.E.A. party.; 7/26/16, 6:51 AM
wildswan said...: Fun fact

The majority of adults in this generation have two or fewer kids. The majority of adults in next generation will come from the families with three of more kids.; 7/26/16, 7:28 AM
StephenFearby said...: "...An 8-year-old can teach a 4-year-old how to use a microwave. That's just scientific fact. They'll be fine."

Practical example: The 4-year-old will finally be able to stop the 2-month-old from crying by cooking it in the microwave.; 7/26/16, 7:35 AM
DougWeber said...: I had to stop watching the convention last night when I heard Al Franken, whose primary qualification for running for the Senate was that he was a comedian, complaining that Trump was not qualified to be president.; 7/26/16, 7:45 AM
JAORE said...: I love comedy. All stripes. Raw? Fine by me.... if it is funny. Edgy, provocative? Great.... if it is funny. Political? Sure, either side.... if it is funny.

I have never, ever found Frankin to be funny even when his politics were completely unknown to me. At BEST I could admire a line or two from his routine.

Last night AF did not measure up even by those low standards.; 7/26/16, 8:14 AM
CStanley said...: Blogger Levi Starks said...
I think it's particularly satisfying for lefties to tell and laugh at the jokes for which they would crucify republicans.

This. It reminds me of my two dogs, who on the occasions that they escape from our yard will usually return when we call them, but not before they make a pass through a neighbor's yard where there are dogs inside of a fence- just to enjoy showing off their freedom and pissing off the other dogs. This is exactly the behavior of Democrats who enjoy pushing the envelope of what they can get away with, knowing full well that Republicans have to stay inside the fence.; 7/26/16, 10:52 AM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Why all the consternation? Franken is perfectly right. Certainly my sister and I loved "snow days," when school was shut down, because then we were alone in the house. Of course, there were instances when we got blindsided. Like the time Mom came home because the snow was too thick even for her to get to work -- by which time we'd messed up the kitchen making waffles and were inspecting our parents' porn cache. I fended Mom off while my sister hurriedly put the box in the basement, and later we managed to return it to the top of the master-bedroom closet shelf.

[Aside: Why isn't "master bedroom" taboo yet?]; 7/26/16, 11:10 AM
Just_Mike_S said...: It's attempted humor. Al Franken has a long history of attempted humor, and failure at same. But results are irrelevant to Lib/Prog/Dems. Give him his trophy - he tried.; 7/26/16, 1:20 PM
Joe said...: It's not about skills, it's about being loved and wanted.

Being alone at home may be a blast for the short term, but not the long term.; 7/26/16, 2:26 PM
Paul Kramer said...: don't be surprised
he's neglected comedy his whole career; 7/26/16, 3:13 PM