Q & A with Al Franken

[Tiger Al 0]

Q Have you and the network decided whether to go ahead with a talk show?

A Well, they're pretty far along on putting the network in place. The question for me is whether I'm doing my show, which would be three hours a day, five days a week. So, it would essentially consume my life. So, I'm asking myself, "Is this the best way for me to spend the next 11 months going into this election? Is that the most effective use of my time?"

In the early part of this year I was researching the book, and then in the spring I was writing, and then I finished in July. And then I went on vacation thinking I would come back with a few weeks to actually focus on this whole radio thing -- and Fox sued me. Which meant that we released the book earlier. So I've been on this book tour since late August.

Q I didn't realize the lawsuit moved up the release of the book. What was the thinking there?

A To take advantage of the enormous publicity that was generated by their dumbass lawsuit and our subsequent victory in court. Fox was literally laughed out of court. Now usually when you say someone was literally laughed out of court, you mean they were figuratively laughed out of court. Not in this case. People came from miles around to see this historic First Amendment case and laughed throughout the hearing.

Q As you point out, the publicity value for the book was enormous --

A It was great. It was the best thing anyone could ever do for me. Thank you, Bill O'Reilly. Thank you, Fox.

Q So how could Fox be ...

A So stupid? Well, they threatened to sue us about a week after my dust-up with O'Reilly at the BookExpo in L.A., where he went nutso. They were dealing with someone who was totally irrational and in an infantile rage.

After the BookExpo, O'Reilly went on his radio show and said that if this had happened in the Old West, we would have to have had a shootout. And oddly enough he guaranteed his audience that he would have won this shootout, telling them -- and this is a quote -- "I would have shot Franken between the head."

Q Between the head?

A Yes. So Fox sent us this letter threatening to sue, and my publisher was a little upset. I said, "I've been doing this for 30 years and I can tell you one thing: Satire is protected speech, even if the object of the satire doesn't get it."

Q You must have seen this reference in Time magazine where a columnist said that you, as well as people like O'Reilly and Ann Coulter, are part of the "burgeoning American anger industry."

A There's a big difference between what I do and what O'Reilly does, and between what I do and what Coulter does. They lie and then I expose their lies. Actually, I do the opposite of what they do: I tell the truth. My book is jujitsu. I take what they say and use it to heap scorn and ridicule on them. And the scorn-and-ridicule part is the satire part.

Which they either don't get or pretend not to get. For example, they go, " 'Lies and Lying Liars'! He's calling us liars!" Guys? Ann Coulter's book was "Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right." And "Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism." The purpose of the title "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them" is to parody their overheated rhetoric.

Q Where did the idea of your running for the Senate first come from?

A I was in St. Paul, actually, at a Wellstone Action fundraiser, which was the publication party for a beautiful book of photographs of Paul and Sheila by Terry Gydesen. It was very emotional, and people kept coming up to me and saying I should run in 2008 against [Norm] Coleman.

This isn't that unusual. I've had people say I should run for office since I wrote "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot," because, you know, I know a lot about politics, I'm fairly articulate, I've been married to one woman for 28 years, and I'm very, very good-looking.

Anyway, I happened to tell a good friend of mine at Newsweek, off the record, that people were saying that to me the whole time I was in Minnesota. He called me a couple of weeks later and said, "Would you mind if I did a Periscope item on it?"

This is probably why any good campaign manager would be loath to handle me, because you want a disciplined candidate. You should gather every campaign consultant you can and map out exactly how such an idea should come out. You should be checking with fundraisers and pollsters before you allow something like this to come out.

And instead, it was my friend, so I said, "Sure, what the hell."

Q If you're seriously talking about being a politician from Minnesota, could we have a little lightning round where I name a few subjects and ask for a brief description of your position?

A OK, but I would be lying to you if I said that I knew enough at this point about Minnesota issues. If it's about a cement factory in Willmar, I'm not going to be able to answer.

Q You're against the Willmar cement factory?

A I didn't say I was against it!

Q Israel, and the West Bank, and the Palestinians?

A Oy.

Q Maybe not so brief.

A Well, you know, I'm Jewish. As such, I'm a supporter of Israel. I believe there should be a Jewish state there.

Q Are you a supporter of the Sharon government?

A I believe Arafat is responsible for there being a Sharon government. After Barak and Clinton made those offers to Arafat, he should have at least responded. And I think by not responding, that brought Sharon in.

Now, what they're doing with this fence: I can maybe see putting up a fence, I don't like the way they're putting the fence up. In attempting to protect settlement areas, they are extending the fence to incorporate Palestinian territory, cutting through farmland and so on. It's needlessly provocative. This is a long way of saying, "Oy."

Q Late-term abortions?

A It's a very rare procedure, and I think that if the life and health of the mother are jeopardized, it should be allowed.

Q The Medicare bill?

A From what I know about it I'm against it. It feels like it's moving toward privatization of Medicare. And I think it's a sellout to the pharmaceutical companies for not allowing the Medicare program to use its purchasing power to negotiate lower prices.

Q What do you think our Iraq policy should be now?

A Now? Unfortunately, I think we should send more troops. The first thing we need to do is make Iraq more secure. And I believe it'd be safer for our guys and for everybody if we had more troops there.

Q From the way you were talking about the radio show, it sounds as if you're consciously working mainly on winning the 2004 election for the Democrats.

A I think this president's a disaster. I think this is the most right-wing administration we've had. It's an administration that makes all of its decisions based on a political calculus, at least domestically, and has been disastrous in terms of our relationships with other people around the world, and that went into this Iraq thing in a way that has made us bear the entire burden, a burden that we didn't have to bear, because of hubris.

There are three aspects to this: One, Bush alienated the rest of the world, so we are bearing this basically alone. Two, he misled the American people as to why we were going to war. And three, they went in there without planning for anything but the best-case scenario.

Q How does comedy prepare you for a life in politics?

A First of all, it doesn't. I've written political satire for a long time, so at least I can say I've always been interested in and fairly knowledgeable about politics and public policy.

What I really find amusing is how Republicans and conservatives would always go, "Martin Sheen? How dare he talk about politics, he's an actor! And Susan Sarandon! She has no business speaking out against the war, she's an actress!" But then it's like, "Oh, Ahnold's running! Oh, the Terminator! Yippeee!" Well, give me a break. That was the most content-less campaign I've ever seen in my life.

Q I understand you're going on a USO tour soon.

A Yep. It's my fourth USO tour, and they told me a couple of weeks ago that I'm not allowed to say where we're going. Am I scared? Yeah. But this is when they really need it.

You know, I love our troops. You can publish that I'm going, and you can say that Al said he can't say where, but ... it's Greenland.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Why stop at the senate? He should run for president. Maybe he could coax that other left wing fabricator Michael Moore to run as his VP.

[Tiger Al 0]

Why stop at the senate? He should run for president. Maybe he could coax that other left wing fabricator Michael Moore to run as his VP.

That'd be fine with me. I'd vote for anyone who exposes Limbaugh, Coulter, O'Reilly and the rest of that sorry lot you guys call journalists for the liars that they really are.

[AUBoggs 0]

Who was that character Franken played on SNL, Stuart somebody (I think) always talking about 'daily affirmations'? He wore a sweater and usually sat beside a fireplace. I always liked that segment on SNL. It was so upbeat and positive. I'd vote for the Stuart guy, hopefully he'd leave Franken at the house.

[Tiger Al 0]

Who was that character Franken played on SNL, Stuart somebody (I think) always talking about 'daily affirmations'? He wore a sweater and usually sat beside a fireplace. I always liked that segment on SNL. It was so upbeat and positive. I'd vote for the Stuart guy, hopefully he'd leave Franken at the house.

It was self-help guru Stuart Smalley. But, you've gotta take Franken with you, too! He'll be a great Senator one day.

[AURainman 6]

I take Franken's opinions with about as much respect as you give Limbaugh's opinions. Or Shwarzenegger. Just to let you know. If he goes into government, I'll laugh my @** off!!!