Al Franken

Army of one

Filed under: Al Franken

Al Franken is campaigning hard for Josh John's vote.

He was the only guy who showed up for a townhall on veterans issues Saturday:

Franken sat down in Brigitte's Cafe in St. Cloud with the lone voter interested in veterans issues, the theme Franken's staff had established for that public appearance.

Franken spent an hour listening to the woes of Navy veteran Josh John, trying to navigate the medical system for former military members.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at August 10, 2008 9:12 PM | Comments (5)

 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce gets revenge on Al Franken

Filed under: Al Franken

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has released an attack ad against Al Franken, who was publicly critical of the organization's Vice President for Western Hemisphere, John Murphy.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at August 9, 2008 12:00 PM | Comments (11)

 

Fake employee rights group attacks Al Franken in smear ad UPDATED

Filed under: Al Franken

If you open up the Star Tribune to page A10 today, you'll see a garish full-page smear against Al Franken (the same ad is on the back of the Pioneer Press's A-section as well today).

Above a huge picture of Al Franken looking shifty eyed with discolored teeth--clearly the ugliest picture they could find of the man--reads the headline:

Is Al Franken Confused?

The short answer: No, but this ad is trying to confuse you.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at July 24, 2008 3:15 PM | Comments (5)

 

New poll shows Franken leading Coleman

Filed under: Al Franken

Lost in the media shuffle over Jesse Ventura's non-announcement announcement yesterday was a nugget of news about the very race Jesse ducked out of.

A new Rasmussen poll shows Al Franken with a 44-42 advantage over Norm Coleman. This is the first poll in memory that shows the former comedian ahead of the incumbent; hell, it's the first one in some time that shows positive movement from Franken.

In a week where Franken found out he's facing a new primary challenge, his campaign could use some good news. A few reasons for the Franken team to be hopeful and a few reasons for them to be skeptical after the jump.

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Posted by Jeff Shaw at July 15, 2008 7:35 AM | Comments (3)

 

Breaking! Al Franken cross-dressing shocker! Must credit City Pages U.S. News!

Filed under: Al Franken

U.S. News has a devastating scoop in its 10 things you didn't know about Al Franken this week.

Al Franken began his career as a satirist in second grade in Minneapolis. After the girls in his second-grade class performed "this really insipid show, 'I'm a Little Teapot,' " Franken told People magazine in 1992, he gathered the boys together and wrote a scathing parody. They dressed in drag to perform it, bringing the girls to tears.

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Posted by Jeff Shaw at June 13, 2008 9:55 AM | Comments (2)

 

Freaky Franken: Weird Al joked about raping Lesley Stahl

Filed under: Al Franken

Senate candidate Al Franken's pornographic problems continued yesterday as GOP leaders unveiled a new magazine article with sexually embarrassing material.

Unlike Playboy article that has been the source of so much chatter, Franken didn't pen this one. But the New York Magazine article about Saturday Night Live recounts an episode in which The Freaky One jokes about raping CBS News reporter Lesley Stahl.

Here's how Minnesota Democrats Exposed described it:

At a Capitol press conference, leading Republican women leaders today called on Al Franken to denounce another in a series of jokes that target women. In particular, the leaders condemned a joke that Franken proposed for a "Saturday Night Live" skit during the 1994-1995 season where he suggested the drugging and raping of CBS News reporter Lesley Stahl as comedy fodder.

"This is sick, sick, sick. To gleefully propose humor that makes light of date rape drugs and to joke about how one will take a prominent news anchor, drug her, and rape her and then take pictures of her while she is unconscious is horrendous and terrifying, said state Representative Laura Brod. "To the thousands of women in this nation who are raped and sexually assaulted, the prospect that a man who made his living joking about these things would be a United States Senator must be horrifying," Brod added.

In the New York Magazine article, dated March 13, 1995, entitled "Comedy Isn't Funny: Saturday Night Live At Twenty--How The Show That Transformed TV Became A Grim Joke" Franken veers off of a discussion of a skit involving Andy Rooney, and proposes a skit involving the drugging and rape of Lesley Stahl.

Franken: And, "I give the pills to Lesley Stahl. Then, when Lesley's passed out, I take her to the closet and rape her." Or, "That's why you never see Lesley until February." Or, "When she passes out, I put her in various positions and take pictures of her."

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at June 6, 2008 8:05 AM | Comments (4)

 

Minnesota Republicans out Franken on lesbian jokes

Filed under: Al Franken

It's a topsy-turvy world. And if you go for those political flicks where nobody knows who their friend is, well then don't leave your seat to pee--this one's just getting good.

At a press conference on Monday, Minnesota Rep. Laura Brod (R-New Prague) and Sen. Betsy Wergin (R-Princeton) released a letter with an attached page-long summary of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken's "tendency to objectify and insult women."

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Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at June 2, 2008 10:56 PM | Comments (4)

 

They read it for the articles: GOP attacks Franken with Playboy column

Filed under: Al Franken

Republicans are hitting Al Franken below the belt, literally,circulating a fictional sex story he wrote for Playboy.

Yesterday the GOP circulated a letter calling on Franken to apologize to women for the January 2000 column, called "Porn-O-Rama!" In the article, Franken imagines visiting a sex institute that offers all manner of virtual sex. Here's a sample:

My nervousness disappeared, and I sat back and enjoyed the amazingly realistic cyber job. It was every bit as good as the last real blow job I had gotten 23 years earlier-if not better-because when I shot my wad, the virtual mouth swallowed.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 23, 2008 9:55 AM | Comments (2)