The Savage Republican

Hot off of his appearance on the Michael Medved program, Al Franken did a live chat today with the Olympian (H/T MDE). It was a little bit friendlier audience today which made for a couple of softball questions like....

"David, Seattle: After you are elected to the U.S. Senate, who in your opinion will be the second-funniest senator? "

and

"Timothy, Olympia: As a noted comedic writer, you have had a very impressive career. What has been your personal highlight? And can I still get the Lincoln Medallion?"

But there were a couple of good questions:

"Joel, Maple Grove, Minn.: What is it about being in the entertainment industry that makes entertainers such as yourself become heavy-handed political advocates? You starting losing me once you became so partisan. "

Ohhhh good question Joel. Al????

Franken: Well, I guess I started becoming more partisan when I left SNL, because I never felt it was appropriate for the show to have a dog in the race, but once I left I felt free to express my political views. And I feel like the country is going in the wrong direction now. Take Dennis Miller for example, I admire the fact that he chose to have a dog in the fight and he did what he did. There's a difference between a comedian and a satirist and an advocate, and I'm kind of all of the above. I get that from people who are Republican or totally political, and I've chosen to do what I do for a reason and I'm not going to change because of that question.

If there is a difference between a comedian and a satirist and an advocate, how can you be "all of the above"?????

Peggy, Elma: How might we go about changing our economic system to a social system similar to Scandinavian countries'? Is there any chance we can elimination the "personhood" of corporations so people once again can run the country?
Franken: I think that there are certain things we can do that other industrialized countries have done that would be a huge improvement such as national health insurance and public financing of elections. I'm an entrepreneur and I'm a firm believer in entrepreneurship, not that the questioner isn't, and I do think corporations have far too much power in this country.

Well thank goodness Al is a firm believer in entrepreneurship, but what is nationalized healthcare doing to small business in these Scandinavian countries???? Just wondering...

Missing from today's dialog....talk of a nuclear Iran and the cartoon riots and a lot of other things that are really important. Al needs to start becoming aware of these issues if he is indeed going to run, because these are issues that the Senate will be dealing with now and in the very near future. What good will universal heathcare be if the mullah's in Iran drop a nuke on New York City?????