I would like to take a moment to congratulate Al Franken for getting elected to the senate, and beating his republican incumbent opponent Norm Coleman. Considering that Franken started his campaign WAAAAY behind the incumbent and was pretty much written off as a goofball no-chance candidate I think he's done pretty durn' gud if ya ask me.
But anywho. Let's take a step back and take a look at the fellow. Noted books he wrote:
"Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and other Observations"
"Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right"
The front cover has a photo of O'reilly and an entire chapter is dedicated to all of the lies he's been caught in the act with (seriously, buy this book and give it a go.... you may be interested to find out just how truly "fair and balanced" fox isn't) FOX, being thoroughly embarrassed by the book took to the offensive and sued Franken for infringement of it's copyright phrase "Fair and Balanced"- it was the only thing they could come up with, they couldn't even sue for libel since he used direct quotes from O'reilly and FOX and then provided facts which contradicted them.
Anywho, the judge found FOX's lawsuit to be "wholly without merit" and threw it out. But the publicity that FOX provided Franken through the media coverage of the lawsuit caused sales of his book to skyrocket!
In essence, Al Franken's enemies provided him with free publicity.
It is this formula that catapulted Franken from goofball no chance candidate into the senate- his opponents helped him there by flinging mud at him that actually backfired.
How did this happen?
Let me tell you good reader....
Franken is a satirist... a comedian... a jester. Does he launch attacks against political opponents? Yes, absolutely. But he has always done it with wit and humor, not malice.
His opponents knew only smear and fear. You stand the two toe to toe, and his republican opponent didn't have a chance. Not. A. Chance. Once Franken started closing up the gap with Coleman, the republicans redoubled their efforts at trying to demonize Franken, which only had the effect of giving him more free microphone time in which he had more opportunity to use their mudslinginging for further satire, a subject in which he was well versed.
In short, in this particular instance, the republicans shot themselves in the foot by trying to make Franken look like Fagin. If they would have toned down the rhetoric and not gone so out of their way to try and demonize someone who clearly isn't one, Coleman probably could have won.
So in closing, I would also like to thank the Republican Party, the true force behind the election of Senator Al Franken. He couldn't have done it without ya!
So next time, maybe it would be a good idea to lighten up a bit. Why so serious?
-To laugh is human; to mock, divine- (Monty Python.... I think...)