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TURKEY BELIEVER SUPPORTS TURKEY CANDIDATE

Minneapolis writer Susan Lenfestey meets former radio host and future Minnesota senator Al Franken, and is deeply impressed. As you’d expect Susan to be, considering her deductive abilities:

He’s done four tours in Iraq to entertain the troops, and unlike our Commander-in-Chief who serves them a plastic photo-op turkey, Al eats all his meals with the men and women who are stuck in this quagmire.

That’s not to say Franken doesn’t have his faults:

When asked his greatest area of vulnerability, he said it was that he cares too much.

But not enough to investigate whether a plastic turkey is actually plastic.

(Via Raffi)

Posted by Tim B. on 02/16/2007 at 12:10 PM
  1. When asked his greatest area of vulnerability, he said it was that he cares too much.

    And his excessive humility. Don’t forget the excessive humility.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2007 02 16 at 12:37 PM • permalink

  2. Franken can be funny sometimes, for example after the 2004 elections.  But he stayed on a single (``Bush is stupid’‘) joke too long on his own former show.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2007 02 16 at 01:10 PM • permalink

  3. “It’s almost scary to see how much is churning in that big head of his.”
    Why yes, yes it is.  That has to be a serious candidate for some “money quote of all time” list.

    I just can’t wait to hear her glowing tributes for Rush and Hannity since she believes talk radio is such a great training ground.  If a few years makes you so “well-informed” think what a few decades can do!

    <the Yojimbo would place the sarcasm key back in the “off” position but it done busted on that last piece>

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 02 16 at 01:14 PM • permalink

  4. He has spent more time in Iraq than any one else in politics. (I made that up, but I think it’s true.)

    Girlfriend, you’re a liberal. If you think it’s true, it is true. Isn’t that the whole point of the plastic turkey?

    Posted by Brentbo on 2007 02 16 at 01:27 PM • permalink

  5. Did you see the “Tax Deductible Donation” link? It’s good to know that my tax dollars are going to support this.

    Posted by moptop on 2007 02 16 at 01:38 PM • permalink

  6. Two articles? Gee, one of their more prolific writers, huh? And she calls Jonny Murfa, ex-Marine®, an “Eagle amongst the Turkeys”, so we know she’s got her head in the right place.

    Dark and smelly.

    Posted by mojo on 2007 02 16 at 01:38 PM • permalink

  7. That would be John “slow-bleed” Murtha if you please.

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 02 16 at 01:51 PM • permalink

  8. I ran across this priceless comment by Myrna Blyth, retired editor of Ladies Home Journal in The Corner on Wednesday.

    “Saw that Al Franken just announced that he is running for senator from Minnesota. Kind of surprising since he is my neighbor on [West] 81st and Riverside Drive, just around the corner from that fine lutefisk establishment, Zabar’s. In fact, I ran into Al just the other day and he said he couldn’t stop and talk because he was rushing to get a haircut.  Guess he feels he is good enough for the people of Minnesota but a Minneapolis haircut is not good enough for him.  That New York haircut looked great in his announcement!”

    That would be West 81st St. and Riverside Dr. in Manhattan, for those in doubt.

    Posted by Forbes on 2007 02 16 at 02:01 PM • permalink

  9. #8 Forbes,

    I had read that item and it reminded me of Walter Mondale’s funny, man-of-the-people reply in 1984 when asked why he went to barbershops instead of hiring a hairstylist.

    “People in Minnesota like shitty haircuts.”

    Posted by JDB on 2007 02 16 at 02:12 PM • permalink

  10. Is he registered to vote in NY? Could be a problem, Al…

    Posted by mojo on 2007 02 16 at 02:14 PM • permalink

  11. This year we celebrate the 27th anniversary of the last time Franken was funny.

    Posted by SoberHT on 2007 02 16 at 02:15 PM • permalink

  12. #11 Mark,

    I actually do remember the last ‘laugh out loud’ moment Al gave me. It was a “Culture Wars” reference during Comedy Central’s 1992 Election Night coverage.

    As the early returns in the East were showing Clinton doing well, Franken dismissively warned viewers that New England was a hotbed of lesbianism and might not reflect the country as a whole.

    Franken’s like a kid who was funny and made you laugh in second grade but you tend to avoid him in high school. (Wow, I’m writing like Maureen Dowd!)

    Posted by JDB on 2007 02 16 at 02:49 PM • permalink

  13. #10—mojo: Well, Franken’s NYC residency would have to be reported by the NYTimes for it to be true.

    It’s the flip side of “fake, but accurate,” if it’s not reported by the Times, it must not be so. That’s the reality-based community for you!

    Cheers.

    Posted by Forbes on 2007 02 16 at 02:59 PM • permalink

  14. O/T

    Profiles in courage update.

    Vote on H.R. 86-69 in less than a half an hour.

    Posted by yojimbo on 2007 02 16 at 03:25 PM • permalink

  15. Meet Al

    But, which Al will show up for the campaign? Mild mannered Stuart Smalley or Angry Al Franken?

    Minnesota loved Paul Wellstone and elected Jesse Ventura, so I suppose anything’s possible. Word is Norm Coleman’s more than a little worried about this election, with or without Al Franken.

    Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 02 16 at 05:02 PM • permalink

  16. #9 JDB

    “People in Minnesota like shitty haircuts.”

    Hey, I resemble that remark.

    If Norm (Sen. Coleman) signs on to the non-binding pant-load in the works right now, he can go ahead and lose to Al or whoever.

    My check book is waiting to see what he does.

    Posted by Thomas on 2007 02 16 at 05:13 PM • permalink

  17. Al Franken is several cuts below Jon Stewart in my pantheon on unfunny.  And he’s loud.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 02 16 at 05:30 PM • permalink

  18. “of” not “on”.  Crap.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 02 16 at 05:30 PM • permalink

  19. Rebecca, my sweet, please don’t trouble yourself over piss-ant little typos. However, I must question your use of the word pantheon. Dictionary.com defines it ‘as a public building containing tombs or memorials of the illustrious dead of a nation.’ Surely you mean ignominious dead.

    Posted by Brentbo on 2007 02 16 at 06:28 PM • permalink

  20. One of the best gifts I was ever able to give was a remaindered copy of “Al Franken’s a Gap-Toothed Moron” to a friend who loved Franken’s “Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot.” The look on her face was worth much more than the stick-on price tag of$.98.

    Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 02 16 at 06:29 PM • permalink

  21. Inplactricide comes to Minnesota. God help us all.

    Incidentally, Lenfestey is exactly the way you think she would be, based on her name.

    Posted by Teaparty on 2007 02 16 at 07:21 PM • permalink

  22. Man, this plastic turkey thing just won’t die…

    Posted by Skip on 2007 02 16 at 09:07 PM • permalink

  23. I found her I’m-so-breezy-but-I-don’t-know-words-longer-than -a-few-letters-to-convey-a-concept-so-I-must-use-hyphens-instead method of writing to be a bit pretentious.  Of course, since she was invited to a dinner with other serious people who wanted to see who else came to dinner with other serious people….  Oh, never mind.

    Posted by saltydog on 2007 02 16 at 09:45 PM • permalink

  24. OT - if you have not seen Stephen Colbert’s interview with Debra Dickerson talking about whether Barak Obama is black (I kid you not) then I’ve got it posted at Kerplunk.

    It is really very funny and shows up the black lobby for the shallow lot they are these days.

    Posted by Jack Lacton on 2007 02 16 at 11:35 PM • permalink

  25. Franken, hmmmm, isn’t Al Jewish? Has he met the Islamic representative from Minnesota, yet?

    Big question…if elected and the way Coleman is going, Al just may be a shoe in…but should he be elected, will he take his oath on The Bible, the Torah, or Thomas Jefferson’s Quran?

    Hey, Al. What about those Islamic cabbies, I mean I assume you take a few belts, what happens if they toss your ass out?

    Posted by El Cid on 2007 02 17 at 12:00 AM • permalink

  26. Oh yeah, if Big Al (not the snow queen, Big Al) and he sends mail to constituents, will he be Franking Franken?

    Well gee howdy, time for another drink…can I get anyone, anything? (and lost, ain’t an answer)

    Posted by El Cid on 2007 02 17 at 12:07 AM • permalink

  27. Wow! Being stuck in a quagmire, with nothing to eat but plastic sounds really bad.
    We’d better surrender now and pay that cheezya thing.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 02 17 at 04:12 AM • permalink

  28. “The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.”
    Theodore Roosevelt
    (And the plastic-turkey-syndrome!)

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 02 17 at 07:28 AM • permalink

  29. Talking of Iraq:

    You’ve got the ABC, we’ve got the CBC.

    From the 0900 radio news rport on Saturday:

    “..in Baghdad, the new [security] crackdown coincided with a significant dip in attacks.”

    Wow, I wonder why that might be?

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 02 17 at 10:21 AM • permalink

  30. #24, Jack Lacton, what a perfect Colbert interview!  He certainly had Debra Dickerson (and the whole ridiculous idea of who’s black and who isn’t) on the ropes.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 02 17 at 11:02 AM • permalink

  31. “He’s not black, he’s an African African-American”...geez, do these people ever listen to themselves? Thanks for posting that interview, Jack Lacton, quite eye-opening as to the inanity of much modern black advocacy.

    Posted by PW on 2007 02 17 at 12:32 PM • permalink

  32. Wimpy Canadian, would you please persist on insisting on being logical?

    It gives our leftist friends headaches.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 02 17 at 01:55 PM • permalink

  33. ENOUGH WITH THE BLEEDING TURKEY. It was not plastic. Maybe, just maybe, Bush wanted to do something nice for the troops who are fighting to keep all of us safe and free? Is that so inconceivable to these people? *headdesk*

    God, I wish I was old enough to drink.

    Posted by Tungsten Monk on 2007 02 17 at 03:11 PM • permalink

  34. Not only does it not die, but what do they think happened?  Do they think the President walked around giving the grunts a fake turkey leg and then laughed at them when they bit into it?  Even if the myth was true, what do they think it shows about his character?

    Posted by Vile Pliskin on 2007 02 17 at 03:32 PM • permalink

  35. Are we forgetting what really caused the turkey lies to be told?
    Bush snuck into Baghdad without telling the lamestreams the CinC was going to see his troops.
    He will never be forgiven for that sneaky trick and the msm will punish him forever.

    Posted by Skeeter on 2007 02 17 at 05:38 PM • permalink

  36. When asked his greatest area of vulnerability, he said it was that he cares too much.

    Next he’ll complain about his pesky oversized penis and the callus it’s created on his left ankle. 

    Al Franken.  A giant tool if ever there was one.

    Posted by Carl H on 2007 02 17 at 05:57 PM • permalink

  37. O/T
    Eric Hunt Arrested After Wiesel Attack.
    No mention of his brothers York and Mike.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 02 17 at 07:38 PM • permalink

  38. Since Tim doesn’t seem to be around, you can get your Blair-fix here:

    PM derangement syndrome
    “Howard Derangement Syndrome’’ was on glorious display this week following a few lines from Howard to the Sunday’s Laurie Oakes, after Oakes had asked him about US Senator Barack Obama’s “plan to bring troops home by March, 2008 ... basically he’s agreeing with the Labor party’‘.

    Posted by Art Vandelay on 2007 02 17 at 08:55 PM • permalink

  39. Good one, Tim. “Wasted troops” may be Obama’s first significant error, but plenty of voters picked up on his characterizing Australia as Bush’s ally rather than America’s. Bad form. Very bad form.

    So far in Campaign ‘08, the only people who have employed racist tactics are Bill and Hillary Clinton.

    Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 02 17 at 09:43 PM • permalink

  40. Totally OT, but I wonder if Dreamboat Loewenstein has seen the photo of Tzipi Livni featured on the main webpage of The Australian.

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2007 02 17 at 10:53 PM • permalink

  41. #29 Canadian,
    That’s evidence for the acute and sophisticated intelligence of the news reporters today, like the New York Fishwrap reporter Fox Butterfield, who for years was puzzled over the fact that the prisons were full even though crime was declining.  Doh!

    Thirty years from now (when secret documents are declassified) some history grad student will make his reputation by disproving the conventional wisdom in his field that Bush offered the troops a plastic turkey, and that he spent time in Baghdad actually serving Thanksgiving dinner to the troops.  The historical profession will be astonished.  Look for his book to be published in New Delhi because no American publisher would touch it, Regnery having been forcibly closed down in 2029 by President Chelsea Clinton.

    Posted by Michael Lonie on 2007 02 17 at 11:07 PM • permalink

  42. #38

    From Tim’s column:

    Readers may have noticed a parallel syndrome extant in Australia, usually limited to the more feverish realms of the internet, but sometimes bursting through to the surface media and mainstream politics…

    Sounds like that campy sci-fi movie with Kevin Bacon, Tremors.

    =^0

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 02 18 at 12:22 AM • permalink

  43. No, Tremors was intelligent and entertaining.

    I headed over to Turkey Girl’s site.  Odd how none of these people can receive .jpeg attachments.

    Wonder what they’re afraid they’ll see?

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 02 18 at 01:23 AM • permalink

  44. So, Susan Leftenski found herself at the bottom of a recycle dumpster under a pile of used Barbie dolls and plastic turkeys.

    She had nothing left to say and nothing left to give, except herself.

    Opportunities come and go, but here was one that could lead to an exclusive interview, a book deal and the chance to honestly tell the world about Al’s real campaign performance.

    Ugh, whaddya do?

    Posted by splice on 2007 02 18 at 10:23 AM • permalink

  45. #24
    Great link.

    The US Black Movement must see themselves as a protected species ... Obama isn’t qualified to represent them because he doesn’t have African American slaves as forebears?
    Only the PC Left could subdivide by race and culture to the molecular level.

    You’d think that this movement, supposedly representing the downtrodden, would take any help they could get, rather than shun it.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 02 19 at 12:15 AM • permalink

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