Al Franken: A Political Activist or a Satirist?

[A_Wanderer]

defending the indefensible... a great liberal art

Nothing in this world is indefenible if you put your mind to it.

 

[Ft. Worth Frog]

Ah, yes. Well remember what Mchael Moore's defenders have said about the lies and untruths in BFC and F 911-"The important thing to focus on is the truth that he uncovers, mot his lying." Or something to that effect. If that's the case, then nobody should ever be busted for lying because truth is relative, right?

 

[strannix]

I'd sure like an explanation for this one.

...

Woops. Look at Franken’s last remarks. In the span of about 5 seconds, the letters went from being a "joke" and "satirical" to something totally different, an effort to exclaim "abstinence-only sex ed doesn’t work." You'd think the guy would want to get his stories straight before he hits the press tour!

I saw this interview when it originally aired. I enjoyed watching Zahn approach "lying" with the mentality of a six-year-old. Of course, Zahn appraoches damn near everything with the mentality of a six-year-old, so she gets annoying after a (very short) while.

Anyway, my explanation is that it's a joke! It's like when you tell a knock-knock joke; there's not really someone knocking on the door. Call it lying if you will. Anyone who got one of those letters should have known it was a joke - "abstinence heroes"?!?!

What I don't understand is why a joke and an "effort to exclaim abstinence-only sex ed doesn't work" have to be different things. Again, satiricist and activist aren't mutually exclusive. One could easily use humor to criticize public policy, and that's what Franken was doing here.

And for his part, I believe he acknowledged that it was a mistake for him to use Harvard stationary for the letters.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

al franken is a political activist until he goes too far, at which point he reverts back to satirist in order to not look "stupid." sounds a lot like michael moore to me.