Brave Al Franken
: I finally got to hear Al Franken on Fresh Air recount his USO tour of Iraq and Afghanistan. Say whatever you want about Franken, I have great respect for him and David Letterman and company going to entertain the troops. Franken may have opposed the war but he supported the troops and put his life on the line to do it. He makes light of the danger but it is danger.
16 responses to “Brave Al Franken”
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Franken deserves enormous props for doing that. (And not coincidentally, anything he says against the Bush Administration regarding Iraq will have way more credibility, factually and morally.)Franken says that lots of troops in Iraq would tell him, “I don’t agree with you politically, but I’m very grateful you came here.” And that’s how it should be. Celebrities who criticize the war will almost always mumble something like, “Though of course, I do support the troops”.
But the next obvious question would be, “If you support the troops, then why aren’t you entertaining them?” That’s the one thing that celebrities can do, to be supportive, that the common citizen cannot. But so far, very few have. (Franken and Robin Williams are the only top name talent I can think of.)
So how about this: why don’t Sean Penn, the Dixie Chicks, and everyone other entertainer who says they were against the war but for the troops actually go to Iraq and do a meet and greet. And when they get back, they can say whatever they want against the war without anyone questioning their patriotism, and if people like Bill O’Reilley and Limbaugh presume to bash them anyway, we will kindly request that they, too, get on the next USO flight to Baghdad. -
I happened to catch most of SNL this weekend, and Franken had a very funny Baghdad-Location Stand-up Spot on the program. He interviews two soldiers, but gets the wrong info on one of the soldiers which makes it appear that his wife has been having an affair with a black guy in his absence and is having a new baby with the black guy, so the baby’s name is very Afro.
It was funny, but also a bit “edgy!”
Some exec on SNL should clip that cameo skit out. It can stand on its own. -
Well, first of course, Sean Penn has been promising to go to Iraq as a reporter. LOL.
I find Al Franken pretty darned funny much of the time when he’s not busy screaming dumb political views in my ear. He is very observant of human nature and has quite a nice sarcastic wit until he goes from the rapier to the meat-axe when he goes after Bush.
I don’t remember him being that way about Bob Dole or Bush I (maybe I mis-remember, but I don’t remember the coarse vituperativeness that is so similar to Michael Moore’s approach). -
Hey, Lost Remote– PSST !
See if you can use a digital razor blade and extirpate the Franken skit out of that SNL program from this past weekend.
You know who has that– BBC Newsnight program. After they broadcast it, you can play it back and then note where Salam Pax’s segment starts. But then, after a while, they cull it out and isolate it for you. It works just like a regular tape recorder. Fast forward and everything. If you can operate a tape recorder, you can deal with this.
Surely, SNL must have something like that because they tape these programs and rerun them later on.
Or did anyone get that skit on TIVO? Look for it. It’s only a few minutes long. If you sneeze, you might miss it. -
I respect him for going to entertain the troops, but last night’s SNL skit was . . . horrid.
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His first political book (I think), “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot” wasn’t that bad, I thought. Not being a Rush Limbaugh fan (which I why I read the book), I found it pretty funny.
Most of the book wasn’t bashing republicans (other than Rush and a couple others), it was praising Clinton.
Still, the way he drooled over Arinna Huffington in the book was perhaps a warning sign. IMHO, anyone who finds her charming, or anything other than incredibly annoying, must see the world far differently than most people. -
David Letterman also went over to Iraq (Baghdad) over the Christmas holiday.
Franken knew that his purpose in going over there wasn’t to hector the troops with complaints about Bush, but to entertain them. He listened, in other words. As annoying as I find his Bush-related rhetoric, I’ll give him a lot of credit for looking beyond his political views to the needs of the soldiers.
Contrast this to Sen. Clinton’s trip, where she thought it was appropriate to tell the troops that there were many people who didn’t like what Pres. Bush. She should have just chit-chatted with the troops, *listened to them for things she can fix back in Washington* — and that’s it. If she felt the need to complain about policy, she should have saved it for a meeting with the generals, who are *paid* to put up with politicians and their rhetoric. -
“(Franken and Robin Williams are the only top name talent I can think of.)”
Henry Rollins went to Afganistan to entertain the troops. -
ditto everything said above.
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al franken is unstable and obsessed.
this condition greatly diminishes perceptive ability.
while in iraq, the reality around him was most certainly way out on the periphery of his awareness. just as it is wherever he goes. -
I really loathe Al Franken under most circumstances (especially his propensity to start physical fights when he can’t provoke an enemy otherwise – it indicates how desperate he is for public confrontation), but I gotta set that aside here. Props to Stuart Smalley – it takes courage to go into a war zone and entertain the troops. Guess in his heart he’s not such a bad guy after all – he really DOES support our troops.
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I give a great deal of credit to Al Franken for traveling to entertain the troops.
I work for the USO at a domestic airport. I talk to men and women in uniform as they are traveling through (often on their way to and from Iraq and Afghanistan). They universally appreciate the entertainers who travel on USO tours and love that anyone famous will travel all that way just for them.
Many famous people have traveled over in the last year. If you go to the USO website you will see a complete list. -
Isn’t Al Franken the author of Lies and the Lying Liars… ?
I wonder if Al told the troops that in his opinion, they were fighting for a worthless cause and their fallen brothers in arms all died for nothing. -
Celebrities…. have opinions… and try to make money. That’s it. does anyone care what the Romper Room lady has to say on the war, taxes, corporate reform?
Why do people get so up in arms over what celebrities and singers have to say about anything?
Acting is a craft, like baking bread. Do you care what your baker has to say about the war? And if you disagreed with them would you get your knickers in a twist?
Celebrities want to get their names in the paper and get paid…. they don’t have more meaningful opinions on things just because they are on tv or make records.
And kudos to Letterman and Franken for going to see the troops in Iraq but I don’t really care about their politics. They’re comedians. And so is Michael Moore. They aren’t running for Congress or anything. -
It’s really sad that nobody here has any sense of humor at all. There is already so much misery in the world– and all you’re doing is adding to it.
Franken was wearing an obviously fake satellite dish on his forehead during this skit which was like an old-fashioned vaudeville skit.
Obviously, no one here knows what that is due to their lobotemies. -
especially his propensity to start physical fights
Whaaaaa? Make shit up much?
http://www.al-franken.com/excerpt.html#chap38
