Franken at HuffPo, O'Reilly's Unlikely Support

'JUST TO WATCH HIM DIE'

Franken Funny, Off His Meds, Or Kimball-ed?




When defending Al Franken's so-called "humor", leftists usually insist unenlightened conservatives simply can't grasp his supposedly sharp, sarcastic wit.

"Franken doesn't telegraph his jokes, which are often witty exercises in hyperbole," writes the Sydney Morning Herald in a recent glowing review of The Truth (With Jokes).

If that's really the case, count the Radio Equalizer in with those who enjoy sedentary comedy routines. On the heels of his recent "joke" about sleeping with Playboy centerfolds is this new Franken Huffington Post laff riot:

Over the weekend, Vice President Dick Cheney shot a man in Texas. Asked why he shot the man, the Vice President said, "Just to watch him die."

Seriously, it was an accident. There is nothing funny about the Vice President of the United States shooting a guy.

Then why the lame "joke"? Is this from Billy (the $600,000 man) Kimball's recycled "Late Late Show" files?

You know who's doing a "there but for the grace of God go I?" Scalia.

Bush is confused. He thinks Wittington is just fine. He thought he read a headline saying "Wittington Dodges Bullet."

Now, I imagine that Cheney and the President have hunted together. What would have happened if Cheney had shot the President? I think if he shot Bush this way, Bush isn't 78 and he's in pretty good shape, and he's kinda macho. I think he would've gotten up and shot Cheney back. And I think they would've started blasting each other like in a Tarrantino movie.

Al, it's Tarantino.

By the way, Cheney shouldn't be allowed to hunt again, should he? You get one of these, right? I mean he came very close to killing the guy.

Anyway, be sure to listen to the Al Franken Show tomorrow - noon to three EST. And Vice President Cheney will be our special guest. And guess what? He's bringing his shotgun!

Sure thing, Mr. Franken, it might be a good idea if the Secret Service got a good look at the inside of your new Minnesota digs.

NewsBusters also has its own take on Franken's would-be late night routine.


Oddly, this isn't the whole story. With two entries over the weekend, his first since December (when he wrote about candy bars), Franken has suddenly become especially prolific at the liberal Huffington Post. Why the renewed interest in writing, is there a fresh need for career promotion?

On Saturday, Franken (or one of his Harvard "researchers") returned to that peculiar obsession with defending over-the-top Democrats at funerals:

I think a little more perspective is needed when addressing the comparison that right-wing bloggers and now some mainstream journalists (Howard Kurtz) have been making between the Wellstone Memorial and the Coretta Scott King Funeral.

To this day, there are still a lot of people, including Democrats, who've bought the right wing line on the Wellstone Memorial.

Specifically, that it was a cynical, premeditated political event that included endless booing of Republican politicians who came to pay their respects to their fallen colleague. I wrote a pretty detailed account of the Wellstone Memorial in my book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, and nothing could be further from the truth. I did write that "reasonable people of good will were genuinely offended." The memorial was raucous and a couple of speakers said some things that were inappropriate - basically, let's win this (upcoming Senate) election for Paul.

While the Radio Equalizer doesn't agree with Franken's take on the latter issue, at least there's a decent attempt at taking a stance, unlike the Cheney nonsense. Note the substantial differences between the two posts, did the same person write them both?

UPDATE: liberal media can't get enough of Franken and Cheney's hunting accident. They're tagging the story "Quailgate". Here's the latest.


Meanwhile, on the Bill O'Reilly front, we thought this stunning, partial defense of the FOX News Channel host from the likes of Slate was too good to end up buried in the weekend news graveyard. In this piece by Jack Shafer, the petty effort by New York Times columnist Nicholas D Kristof to send O'Reilly to Darfur is attacked:

In a new column this week, Kristof proved his elephantiasis outbreak was more severe than O'Reilly's. After O'Reilly wrote in his column he couldn't take a break from his day jobs (radio and TV shows) to visit Darfur, Kristof asked readers on Feb. 7 ($) to pledge the amount of money they'd be willing to spend to send O'Reilly because maybe money, not time, is what's kept the TV host from making the hajj. This jab fails to qualify as wit because O'Reilly's TV and radio contracts and his best-selling books have made him hugely rich.

The pledge-drive prank makes less sense because Kristof isn't really asking for the money. "Don't send money; all I'm looking for is pledges," he writes in the Feb. 7 column, giving an e-mail address. How much have Kristof readers "pledged" to Kristof's ego—I mean, the O'Reilly trip? As of Feb. 10, $215,003, according to Kristof's blog. Har har.

Don't get me wrong. Bill O'Reilly deserves it in the shins—or even higher—at least two times a week. His bullying, grandstanding, and modern know-nothingism make him a plump target. But Kristof doesn't want to engage or debate O'Reilly, he wants to embarrass him by playing dada games.

Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make a newspaper columnist. Most columnists start off with a bag full of ideas and endless energy. But the job begins to weigh on even the most talented journalist. He starts writing columns about columns he's written, about his kids, or about the deaths of relatives. He composes columns as open letters to world leaders—or writes from inside their heads. He quotes cab drivers. His columns become more assertion than argument. Finally, he starts picking silly, protracted fights with other media machers.

Kristof, a Times columnist since November 2001, can do better than this. If he's run out of gas, why doesn't he re-enlist as a reporter?

Sure, O'Reilly is attacked here along with Kristof, but that's about as good as it's going to get for a non-liberal in Slate.

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Images 1 and 3: David A Lunde, 2: Pete at IHillary, O'Reilly: CBS