Althouse: "Al Franken sounds high."

April 17, 2023

"Al Franken sounds high."

Meade texts, with this clip:

I won't hazard to guess what's going wrong there, but it goes on for 8 minutes.

43 comments:

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: The host is a lying liar who lies.; 4/17/23, 8:13 AM
rehajm said...: The trouble with, ah...destroying creative destruction is nothing ever goes away. We're left with zombie businesses, zombie government agencies, zombie Al Frankens...; 4/17/23, 8:19 AM
MadisonMan said...: Franken is 71. There are many reasons this could be happening related to advanced age (sorry to put it that way althouse).
Drunk or High are just two possibilities.; 4/17/23, 8:29 AM
Temujin said...: A combination of alcohol, pot, and intense build up of amyloid plaque. When he returns to the Senate, he'll make a good partner for John Fetterman and Diane Feinstein (I'm going to assume she'll still be there).

Our future looks solid.; 4/17/23, 8:30 AM
gilbar said...: Al Frankin says...
The Overwhelming Majority of people support abortion; up to and during labor
Girlygirl says.. a "terrible issue for republicans.. because They are at odds with the american public"

really? Really? REALLY? Really?; 4/17/23, 8:31 AM
gilbar said...: oh, wait a minute; girlygirl has a point; when she says..
There may be people who DIE, in the event, of illegal abortions.. She's right! at Least one per abortion; 4/17/23, 8:33 AM
MadisonMan said...: BTW -- Apologies for intimating 71 is an advanced age, Althouse; my sister is your age and she is not old. As Indy has said: It's not the age, it's the mileage.; 4/17/23, 8:33 AM
tim maguire said...: Franken just looked old to me. He didn't seem high so much as slowing down.

Why would she introduce him as Senator Franken? Since when do senators keep the title after leaving the Senate?; 4/17/23, 8:36 AM
Meade said...: “You’re not not-funny… HAHAHAHAHA”; 4/17/23, 8:39 AM
gilbar said...: girlygirl says..
elected officials are making laws and talking about impeaching judges; That's not how democracy works!

Really? how DOES democracy work?

meanwhile, Al Frankin apparently is back living in NYC..
New York Post: Let’s be blunt — legal weed is turning New York workers into zombies; 4/17/23, 8:41 AM
Original Mike said...: "BTW -- Apologies for intimating 71 is an advanced age, Althouse; my sister is your age and she is not old. As Indy has said: It's not the age, it's the mileage."

It's unsettling that I am the same age as old people.; 4/17/23, 8:45 AM
Original Mike said...: MSNBC still beating the 'threat to our democracy' horse, I see.; 4/17/23, 8:45 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: While the left toss out Title IX - in favor of men beating women in sports - because some men like to claim they are women..
While the left do all they can to keep racism alive ... while the left return to the era of segregation... While the left pour gas on the flames of hate and division... While the left allow crime to flourish... while the left let millions of illegal entrants flood the nation across an open southern border....
While the left hide Epstein's client list -

MSNBC / NBC(D) - will call you all dumb red state racist fascists... who want to take the nation backward.; 4/17/23, 8:49 AM
Tommy Duncan said...: What a horrible Monday. First Alex Smalley, then Stuart Smalley, and then topped off by the 10+ inches of heart-attack-on-a-shovel snow on my driveway.; 4/17/23, 9:08 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I regard myself as old. I was born in the same year as Franken — 1951. But I'm not experiencing this age as something that has changed my capacity to think and speak. What are the forces that cause someone to garble their words like Franken does? I know he always had a kind of speech impediment, but this seems odd.; 4/17/23, 9:11 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Those young people aren't democrats, they are democratic!
Subtle!; 4/17/23, 9:16 AM
William said...: He lives in a state of transition or, perhaps, confusion. He has to project the gravitas of a Senator and the impertinence of an SNL comedian. He doesn't know whether to juggle or balance the personae.....I regard my seventies as some of my happiest years. You're only a septuagenarian once and you have to make the most of it. That's all in the past now, but how red were the roses.; 4/17/23, 9:32 AM
Butkus51 said...: He was wishing to honk her boobies.; 4/17/23, 9:54 AM
n.n said...: You don't molest, even in jest, a lady at rest.; 4/17/23, 9:54 AM
Josephbleau said...: Franken spent his life as a performer, you would think that he would have learned to go onstage and do his lines even when having a bad day. Something must be wrong with him.; 4/17/23, 9:57 AM
Readering said...: Scrolled youtube comments. All fans, no detractors.; 4/17/23, 10:01 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Al Frankin says...
'The Overwhelming Majority of people support abortion; up to and during labor'
Girlygirl says.. a 'terrible issue for republicans.. because They are at odds with the american public'

"really? Really? REALLY? Really?"

I don't know about "up to and during labor,"--I seriously doubt that--but a majority of Americans do support legal abortion.; 4/17/23, 10:33 AM
Joe Smith said...: He's gotten super doughy.

Remember, he was an epic coke- and pot-head back in the day.

Maybe he's gone back to that.; 4/17/23, 10:38 AM
rcocean said...: OK. Ordinarily, I wouldn't listen to boring joke-toad Franken no matter what. But you got me to bite. I did notice he's talking very slowly, and with a slight slur. But it could be, he's just not very bright, and has to speak very carefully because he's afraid of saying something weird, stupid, or angry.

This was Minnasota's Senator. What a clown state!

BTW: I've noticed all these Sunday talk shows (don't if this was Sunday) are having very 2nd rate guests on. Maybe the real "newsmakers" are finally catching on.; 4/17/23, 10:49 AM
Mountain Maven said...: Shame is a quaint anachronism. Franken should be a the park with his grandkids.; 4/17/23, 11:03 AM
Lurker21 said...: Franken sounds more drunk than high, more Foster Brooks than Cheech and Chong, but it could be drugs or age or fatigue or a medical condition.

As to what he's saying, my impression was that the Democrats have had "crawl over broken glass" pro-abortion voters for quite a while. They're more motivated since Dobbs, but both parties have had single-issue abortion voters throughout this century and even further back.

The Senate, as the name suggests, was supposed to be for old guys. The WWII generation came on strong and was able to knock off some of the oldsters in the lopsided elections of the midcentury period, but no generation since has been able to make much of a dent in the gerontocracy. Indeed, it's only gotten more pronounced in recent years.; 4/17/23, 11:08 AM
farmgirl said...: Did he seem like he was groping?
For words, people: for words!!; 4/17/23, 11:08 AM
Iman said...: The 1980s were the Franken Decade. In 2023, Franken is just another big fat idiot.; 4/17/23, 11:14 AM
Narr said...: Sunday talk show rule #1: those who talk don't know, and those who know don't talk.

Franken didn't seem that different from before to me--he's of mediocre intelligence and needs a character and script to be entertaining.

The newslady is standard-issue libimbo.; 4/17/23, 11:20 AM
Known Unknown said...: I cannot even watch because it is relentless propaganda. The same way I cannot watch OAN or Hannity.; 4/17/23, 11:22 AM
Eva Marie said...: He could just be tired or jet lagged. But it all depends on expectations. If this was Joe Biden, it would be a stellar interview.; 4/17/23, 11:28 AM
Jake said...: Sounds more drunk than high to me. Perhaps pain pills?; 4/17/23, 11:47 AM
Michael K said...: Blogger Jake said...

Sounds more drunk than high to me. Perhaps pain pills?

Yeah, that was my impression, too. Sounds more like drunk but could be drugs.; 4/17/23, 12:01 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Hannity is the biggest Trump-Humper of them all.; 4/17/23, 12:05 PM
M Jordan said...: Not a Frankenstein fan but he seemed circumspect to me. Maybe he was trying not to sound excited or overtly partisan, I don’t know, but he came across less vitriolic than most Dems these days.; 4/17/23, 12:07 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I agree that it sounds more like drunkenness.; 4/17/23, 12:14 PM
walter said...: Fresh from the "green room"?; 4/17/23, 1:11 PM
Jupiter said...: The question for Al, is, "Would you be willing to be photographed groping the breasts of a woman with a dick?".; 4/17/23, 1:36 PM
M Jordan said...: Oh, I see my “Franken” above got autocorrected into ”Frankenstein.” My regret here is that someone will think I thought that clever.; 4/17/23, 1:43 PM
SoLastMillennium said...: If you have heard any of the stories about SNL back in Franken's day you would know there was a lot of recreational drug use going on by members and guests. So maybe he was just reliving his youth? If so, I'm not one to blame him (being old myself); 4/17/23, 1:52 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: He always sounds like that - but agreed - it's more intense and obvious.; 4/17/23, 1:54 PM
David53 said...: Alex mentioned the semi-automatic rifle Kid Rock used to shoot up some beer cans. KR used a fully automatic weapon, an MP5, I think. It's interesting that these terms are so often conflated. There's a big difference.

Full auto weapons are legal in most states, even Wisconsin, if you have some money and can stand a rigorous, time consuming background check. the licensing fees are usually pretty stiff.; 4/17/23, 2:58 PM
Robert Cook said...: I just watched the video. I don't know what anyone sees as "something going on here." Franken acted and sounded as he always has (to my perceptions) in situations where he is not performing a scripted skit. He seemed lucid, though he offered no sparkling insights of our current political landscape. The conversation between Franken and Ms. Wagner presented a reasonably accurate but not particularly revelatory discussion about the nature of our politics today.; 4/17/23, 6:30 PM