Norm Coleman vs... Stuart Smalley!

Well, he's finally gone and done it. After several years of threatening, Stuart Smalley AKA Al Franken is finally going to completely desecrate the political system and run for US Senator from Minnesota.

According to the Associated Press,:

"Franken had been considering a run since 2003. He said several weeks ago that he would leave Air America and privately told prominent Democrats about his plans to seek office."

Apparently some people take Al Franken and his political aspirations quite seriously. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, contributors to Franken's political action committee include: Barbra Streisand, Phil Donahue, Larry Hagman and Norman Lear.

It doesn't surprise me that Phil Donahue would support Stuart Smalley for a senate job. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Phil Donahue supported Stuart for President. Those two men feed off each other and together produce some of the most skewed thinking I've ever heard.

For example, in his book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, Stuart has a chapter titled: I Bitch-Slap Bernie Goldberg. The chapter recounts Stuart's appearance on the Phil Donahue show with Bernie Goldberg, the author of Bias: How The Media Distorts The News. It was obvious that Smalley was there to go after Goldberg, and that's exactly what he did. Only Smalley's retelling of the incident in his book is nothing like what happened on the show. I know because I saw the show.

The encounter began when Smalley accused Goldberg of misusing a quote from John Chancellor to make the case that the media is Liberal. But that's not all there was to Smalley's attack on Goldberg. Smalley went on to say that Goldberg not only misrepresented facts in his book, he outright lied. Goldberg waited until Smalley's little tirade was over, and then he politely asked Smalley to be specific. If Smalley was going to challenge Goldberg's reputation and ethics as a journalist, Goldberg wanted specific examples to prove such a case. At this point Donahue entered the conversation and told Bernie not to whine after which Goldberg informed Donahue that his reputation is being maligned. He is not whining in asking for specifics. When pinned down, Smalley could not come up with one single incident where Goldberg had lied or misrepresented facts. Not one. He hemmed and hawed and looked at the floor a lot. What he did not do was come up with substantiation for his charges. By the end of the segment, Smalley was very subdued. If he couldn't get away with outrageous hyperbole, he had nothing more to add, and Goldberg made it clear he wasn't putting up with any of Smalley's bullfeathers. As for Donahue, Bernie Goldberg describes him perfectly:

'Phil Donahue "has made the world safe for emotion masquerading as thought."'

On the basis of what I saw and heard for myself, I can only conclude that Smalley hasn't got a clue what the term "bitch slap" means. Further, Smalley wouldn't know a fact if he fell over it and it gave him a resounding affirmation premise.

As a comedian and satirist on Saturday Night Live, Al Franken could and did get away with putting events in whatever context would get him the biggest laughs and the most attention. That's what comedians and skit writers do, and Franken was no exception.

But as a radio talk show host representing a Liberal point of view, Franken had an obligation to stick to facts, not present all out conjecture. I listened to his talk show once, and I watched it on the cable Sundance channel twice. It was absolutely terrible. All Franken did was call Conservatives unflattering names. He gave no examples of why he was launching these attacks; he just expected that because he said it, it must be so. As a matter of fact, all I got from listening to Franken was that Conservatives are bad, bad, bad and don't you forget it.

The Fibberal Spin Machine is already in motion supporting Al Franken's bid for a senate seat in Minnesota. Franken himself has posted a very persuasive video on You Tube in which he articulately and sincerely outlines his case for why he should become Minnesota's next Senator. However, one video cannot erase the years of hyperbole Franken has used to forward his political beliefs. And just because he seems sincere and honest does not mean that he is. I hope Minnesotans keep that in mind next year when they vote for their next Senator.