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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Picture of the Day













Is this really the poster boy for the Dem brochure?

U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken speaks during a picnic for Democrats in Edina, Minn., Saturday, July 21, 2007. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)

posted by mikevotes at 7:15 AM

12 Comments:

  • I'm fan of Franken's politics. As such, I think I'm missing the point to your comment.

    By Blogger -epm, at 10:37 AM  

  • Well, his public presentation is mostly through his comedy and not his politics, and the caharacter he plays isn't nearly as strong as he is.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:02 PM  

  • i read his book and was seriously underwhelmed

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:35 PM  

  • As a MN resident I have attended a number of Franken's appearances. I too am a fan of his politics and I have observed him to be the most caring, fair, intelligent and humble "politician" I've ever seen.

    I'm 55 years old and I'm looking forward to voting FOR someone (instead choosing between the lesser of two evils) for only the second time in my life. (The first time was for a county commissioner.) (He lost.)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:43 PM  

  • Guys, I'm not blasting Franken as a person, or for his politics, it's just my general casual impression is that his presentation will fall right into the Repub caricature.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 2:34 PM  

  • What is in his right hand? a cigar, a microphone, brat?

    Is the republican caricature of democrats that they are happy and hungry for good leadership? If so, caricaturize me, baby!

    By Blogger vanDruten, at 2:45 PM  

  • I think it's true that, initially at least, the Republicans will be able to make use of this. But I used to listen to Franken's show on Air America, and he was great--serious, intelligent, reasonable, thoughtful. If he can show that side of himself he'll be fine in the end. Of course, he'd be much more effective if he'd been a fictional tough guy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:12 PM  

  • Tom, I think you hit it in the last line.

    "Serious, intelligent, reasonable, thoughtful" doesn't win American elections.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 4:20 PM  

  • But he's also passionate, and that does win American elections. Another thing is that he tends to attack policy not personality, so I think he can be a uniter.

    The Repubs will pull the trite, juvenile, "Stuart Smalley," "radical left-wing" politics of personal destruction schtick. However, if people get the chance to actually hear Franken speak for himself, I think he does a good job of dispelling that fantasy.

    Franken isn't a politician though, and he doesn't bear fools lightly. He can be prickly, which could be his undoing. On the issues though, I thing he does a good job at pulling the veil off of today's vile conservatism and showing that he does represent what I would call traditional American values.

    Well see. But the man would make a great US Senator... if you can separate the SNL characters from the Al Franken, the man.

    By Blogger -epm, at 9:01 PM  

  • "i read his book and was seriously underwhelmed"

    He can come across as a smart-ass and this can be a real turn off for a lot of people. Despite making some excellent points, his books can be a little... self righteous(?) at times. He'll need to be less of a smart-ass on the campaign trail, which is something he himself has acknowledged. I'm sure he's making progress with his ability to bear fools with a little less impatient contempt... At least overtly :-)

    By Blogger -epm, at 9:09 PM  

  • I am not a Franken watcher. I'm just giving a gut reaction, and that gut reaction, true or not, is doughy, know it all. The debater kid that got beat up in high school.

    I knew that kid. I hung with that kid, but that kid didn;t win popularity contests.

    (It's really a statement of where our politics are.)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:19 PM  

  • "The debater kid that got beat up in high school."

    Not meant as a personal slight, but this is wicked funny because Al was a wrestler in high school... (Of course he also graduated cum laude from Harvard.)

    But in today's anti-intellectual America I get where your gut reaction is coming from.

    By Blogger -epm, at 11:54 AM  

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