Muslim or not, Ellison is pretty street smart? Okey dokey....

Ellison would be conditioned to say 'hes troubled' by things that the public might be 'troubled' to learn. Ellison is an empty suit, he'll never utter anything that would give the slightest bit of insight about anything. He'll never add anything to the political vocabulary, he'll just repeat things that have had some success elsewhere.

The flack is right. Frankens not lovable or likable. And for all the hope that was invested in this, Norm will not be defeated.

LAMBERT: You're throwing money in the pool, right?

Great column, especially the part about Franken's split persona, which makes it hard for him to be himself.

Still, I think your piece sells Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer short.

If he's the DFL nominee, all your "98%" apple carts are upended. He's not dull (really, safe) like Roger Moe and Skip Humphrey.

It's true he doesn't speak in soundbites and will get attacked as the flaming liberal he is, but in a "change" election, that's not so bad. He's genuine, not in a calculating way, and that's an advantage over ungenuine unlikable.

Am I sure he's not John Marty? No. Am I sure Franken loses? No. But it would be nice for the Dems to run a person that, you know, people like.

LAMBERT: David Brauer is my esteemed arch-competitor, writing for MinnPost.com. I encourage everyone to bookmark his work.

"As luck would have it I spent the weekend crossing paths with local political media types and the kind of politicos they usually cover."

Dude, why so coy? Where were you? Who'd you talk to while you were there? Where's the transparency? Crack den? Time share seminar? Garage sale? Edina art fair? What? Give us some context. Limn the scene, man.

LAMBERT: It was all social and off-record.

Here's my question: Who knew an anachronism the likes of "Playboy" still had enough readers in 2000 to afford Al Franken cranking out that parody piece? I mean, come on, people, that rag is the coelocanth of magazine publishing.

Porn?! Really?! How adorably quaint.

LAMBERT: If the DFL doesn't have an operative hip enough to turn the GOP's "shock" at Playboy into an asset, they're doomed.

Hard to believe it's been 6 years for Coleman. I had a good friend who was very close to Wellstone's daughter Marsha. She was crushed when she lost Marsha and I really began to appreciate the fire and legacy that Paul left behind. Take away that tragedy and Coleman vs. Franken never happens.

Sadly the Democrats found the next closest wingnut to Ventura. Franken could care less about Minnesota, it was just a convenient place to try to win a seat. Franken will prove to be too impersonal and too far left.

Coleman is a true waffle and his teflon will show. The two times I've seen Coleman speak he was a pure politician. Lots of words with little substance.

I didn't agree with Wellstone on many issues, but I sure miss his fire and energy. We deserve better than Franken vs. Coleman.

LAMBERT: I find Franken a good student of issues, and I think he's close enough to the middle class for his rhetoric to be genuine. But there's a knot in there somewhere that provokes this smugness. I wonder if it is a type of exhaustion from too much time playing against type? Loosen up, dude.

He's lucky. All this distracts from the real question, "What is his life experience and proof of performance that qualifies him to be a U.S. Senator ?"
The politicos in both parties are largely career hacks. Until people recognize that any discussion for one side being better than the other is like a discussion as to who is the good wrassler vs the bad wrassler at a WWE event. Which in turn might explain how Jesse fits in so well among this crowd.

LAMBERT: You're on to something appropriate to this particular election ... namely, are we prepared to reevaluate the criteria for "leadership"?

You have to think that a lot of folks are having second and third thoughts about Franken, and would like to slow him down a bit. I have no clue who would run against him in the primary, but the much vaunted DFL endorsement has been in recent years a deadweight more often than a booster rocket.

There's worse out there than this, and I think a lot of DFLers are just starting to catch on as to what that means: embarrassing headlines this fall, hurting the candidates all the way down the ticket.

Oh, and you're absolutely right about Franken the man. He doesn't wear well, not at all.

LAMBERT: But as I say, I've seen him do a AAA job on a small town crowd.

When you're right, you're right.

But I suppose I should try to add something to the thread. So--
--per your respected rival David, Jack is a nice candidate, that's sweet...so who is he again? Oh, that's right, the candidate with ZERO name recognition who would be hard-pressed to even get the DFL nod, to say nothing of the out-state vote. Nothing personal, this is politics.
--and so back to Franken, he needs to sell his strengths (which is your point, right?) and not run from them. The Body didn't win by running away from his wrestling and Franken won't win by running away from his humor--in fact, it is the one way to ensure he will lose. He should be sharp, witty, and on message. Coleman has ZERO family values and only the most huge idiots cannot see that, so Franken can just lead with this statement--that he 'will respond fully to all family values complaints Norm offers up in person'. Nuff said?

LAMBERT: Since it is still only early June there is plenty of time for Franken to do a tweak on his "messaging" (stale campaign verbiage example #564). I've always thought his one-on-ones with Norm would be his best opportunities to establish his issues bona fides and assert that his comedic past is an asset not a liability.

Brauer, what kind of crazy scenario are you trying to foist on us here?

Let me see if I've got this straight, you're saying it's possible for a liberal college professor with a pittance of a war chest to unseat a moneyed incumbent with hustle and guileless sincerity yoked to a firm and detailed grasp of the issues and how they affect the lives of average people?

Man, that is CRAZY talk. Where's the precedent for THAT pipe dream?

LAMBERT: I say Brauer's smoking something. Pass it on.

I wish that someone would go tape this column to Al's bathroom mirror.

LAMBERT: The part that Jesse Ventura got right is that he -- and Bill Hillsman, his ad guru -- judged that an enormous chunk of voting age America grew up listening to rock 'n roll, did the sex and drugs experimenting thing, and look back on all that with great fondness. They know damned well what family values are. Clearly one issue affecting both parties is the bat shit ferocity of the delegate crowd. The contortions that any normal Baby Boomer has to go through to prove their purity to either fringe is inhuman.

This is the fatal flaw of the Franken campaign: He cannot be himself. He believes, rightly or wrongly, that if he is his sardonic, sarcastic, witty self, Minnesotans would reject him, so he's shoved his personality into the back of a closet. The voters can tell that there's something amiss with how he presents himself. He should either be himself, in all his, uh, glory, or not run.

LAMBERT: Maybe, like so many candidates with the endorsement in hand, Franken will re-assert his true personality. BTW: While I'm plugging esteemed competitors and fellow bloggers, Rob Levine does terrific work every day as editor/writer at cursor.org, one of the Twin Cities' first websites and still one of the best. Check him out.

I think we all recognize that, between the sorry state of the Republican brand nationally and the fact that he has very few defining principles other than self-preservation, Norm Coleman is eminently beatable. Like any first term incumbent, the election should be little other than a referendum on him. I've maintained since last Fall that this is the fundamental problem with a Franken candidacy:his history and personality make HIM the issue, and this is precisely what the Repubs will do from now to November. Take the focus off Norm. Your suggestion of how to deflect it is clever, but the fact of the matter is that this is still traditional Minnesota, and I don't see it playing well. The best solution for the Dems----albeit an unlikely scenario---- is for Mike Ciresi to reappear as the nominee. Smart, tough, a talented debater, none of the baggage. He would kick Norm's ass.

LAMBERT: But do people like Ciresi any more than they like Franken? I still say Franken has to re-examine his role as a counter-culture icon and remind "traditional Minnesota" that many of them lived through/enjoyed the same excesses he did and are productive, responsible citizens. Hell, they might even be better for their occasional excesses.

I think all that's important about Ciresi's likability factor is that the voting public doesn't have nagging doubts about his past and his personality. Franken has not shown the ability to transcend his, which is going to be a huge problem when people walk into the voting booth and hang their chads.

LAMBERT: Just think how many might get confused and vote for Pat Buchanan.

Norm produced for St. Paul. He's got good instincts in representing the State.

Franken wrote dirty stories for Playboy and has a problem with how to pay his taxes.

What's the debate?

You libs will promote any piece of dog poop, overlook any incompetence, to prevent actual experience and leadership from winning.

It's truly remarkable.

I really believe if you all had been picked for that dodgeball team in third grade, things would have very likely turned out differently for you.

LAMBERT: What I like about Norm is that he's in the game. He does retail politics pretty well and -- you gotta hand it to him -- knows how to play the prevailing wind.

I'm predicting this is why Hilary is staying in:

An untold story lies behind Hillary Clinton’s determination to remain in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination — the possible revelation of a shocking recording of rival Barack Obama’s wife Michelle.

That’s the word from longtime political analyst Roger J. Stone Jr., who writes on his The StoneZONE Web site that the recording purportedly documents Michelle Obama making racist comments in a speech.

According to Stone, Hillary aides are in a race with Republicans to get their hands on the offensive recording.

“On the heels of Michelle Obama’s quote that she ‘has never been proud of her country’ until now, the new controversy could turn the contest upside down, but it more likely” to benefit “John McCain than to boost Hillary Clinton to the nomination — if the alleged recording exists,” Stone writes.

He also asserts that Mark Penn, Clinton’s former chief campaign strategist, has told sources that the bombshell “could come this week.”

LAMBERT: Fascinating. And did you hear the one about Hillary and Bat Boy's love nest?

Somehow the same thing happens on a regular basis. B Jr. makes a comments that just makes me go to the window and scream, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." Norm Coleman's only instincts come from knowing which direction the prevailing winds is from. If you look up flip flop in the dictionary, there is a picture of Norm with his arm around John Kerry.

When I saw the picture of Norm, Laurie and son on the front page of the Strib the other day, it gave me such a warm feeling. Once again Laurie was trotted out to make them look like the perfect nuclear family. How many nights in a year do you suppose they spend in the same city, no less the same house? Norm is way too busy chasing women and Laurie is likely relieved that he isn't bothering her.

If the Dems had the same electoral killer instinct as the Republicans, they could make Al Franken look like a choir boy. I feel fairly certain that when Franken wrote "Porn-O-Rama" that he had no intention of running for office. The last thing we need is to have only career politicians in Washington.

LAMBERT: And As I say, Sen. Coleman -- no dummy -- is always quite reserved in his comments when the topic turns to someone else's "family values".

I'm guessing Bertram is referring to M. Obama's "whitey" quotes. Problem is, and it is quite apparent in the audio, she was saying "why'd he..."

The reason the audio hasn't been released yet is that it is so apparent what Obama was saying, that it's downright laughable anyone could construe it as something different. But hey! why release the tape when the smear job is so delicious?

LAMBERT: bertram was also out early and loud on the "illegal Guatemalans" -- a talk radio trope -- who started last year's California wildfires. I don't believe he ever offered a correction. But we understand.

So now his sex jokes are "dumb"? Careful, Brian. You're starting to sound an awful lot like those bogeymen, er, "superficially values-obsessed" nazis, er, "conservatives."

As for "everyone" laughing at said "dumb" jokes, wasn't that the company line/defense back in the 70's, when sexual harassment against women ran rampant in the corporate workplace?

"Hypocritical" indeed! ;)

LAMBERT: Obviously a piece written for Playboy -- the equivalent of a men's locker room -- has a different audience in mind than a mixed work place. But your point has some validity, in that Franken has to assert his bona fides on issues, which he is doing just fine, while putting his boy-being-boy comedic past in context. It's a mistake if he starts apologizing for everything he ever said or wrote ... and there's plenty more where the Playboy bit came from.

Wait a minute there, "Nigel." Do you need a dope slap?

Franken's targets in his Playboy piece were not women, but, rather: the "letters" column in both Playboy and Hustler; men who still "read" Playboy; our hypocrisy as a culture regarding sex and porn; himself; the absurd pursuit of the reduction of sex to a one-way simulation (rent Woody Allen's "Sleeper"... Do I really have to go on?

Humor is like those frogs we all worked on in high school biology: Dissect it and all the life is quickly gone from it.

Bri, you touched on a very salient factor here that, I believe, connects tightly to Franken's inability to dampen/deflect: Franken lacks the "lovable quotient." More often than not--and painfully, in public--Franken comes across as smug, arrogant, and disinterested in other voices, all but neutralizing Coleman's own smug, arrogant countenance.

Here's another truth: Franken's batting average as a comic is pretty low, which would be excusable if Franken hadn't spent the bulk of his working life trying to make people laugh. His radio show was close to unlistenable at times, and for every laugh in his books, a tree gave its life needlessly for the dead pages surrounding it. A funnier Franken could make Porn-a-Rama disappear. He should hire Caleb McEwen and Mike Fotis from his old stomping ground, the Brave New Workshop, to sharpen and freshen his material -- and his appeal.

I was at a Legacy Project fundraiser at someone's home about a year ago or so. I was introduced to Franken, and I handed him a book, telling him it's a must-read. This was sort of an experiment: I had written the book -- a self-help parody, with my beaming mug looming large on the cover -- and I was curious if Franken would take the time to notice that guy standing right in front of him and the guy on the book cover were one and the same. Franken glanced at the book, then spent the next 15 or so minutes absent-mindedly trying to shove it into his back pocket. I have a feeling it's it's still on the backseat floorboard of his car, buried beneath some Burger King wrappers.

LAMBERT: Over the past few days I've heard more and more campaign watchers lament the quality of his staff work. I'm not sure that excuses his inability to make his sense of humor an asset, but I'm not the only one questioning the level of sophistication he's bringing to this race.

"What I like about Norm is that he's in the game. He does retail politics pretty well and -- you gotta hand it to him -- knows how to play the prevailing wind. "

Speaking to this point, Minnesota has totally shot itself in the foot when it comes to Senate seniority. If we could reach an accord to keep on representative Dem and one Representative Rep in office for a few terms each, we would be much better off than churning Senators. We pretty much have that now, right ?
I may not agree with much Ted Kennedy stands for, but I bet in his state the schools get built, the libraries are funded and the bridges...well, with Ted I won't go there...
But when is the last time Minnesota had a 3 term senator ? Or a 4 term ?

Am I on to something ? Or, as Jim L might say, does this smack too much of antidisestablishmentarianism ?

LAMBERT: That Rod Grams-to-Mark Dayton run didn't exactly lend our fine state any weight on committees and in the Senate lounge.

So Norm has these good qualities going for him--
--he is a good wind sock
--he knows where the special interests lay their money (reminds me of Kline, but that's for another day)

Isn't this the election for change...isn't Norm exactly the type of representative that we are trying to get rid of?

Simply, Franken just needs to be different from Norm to be elected, not try to out-Norm Norm.

He should speak out often and with passion about how he is a change from the Washington N(n)orm, to make this character assassination as the point as to why no-new-ideas Norm is the problem and not some 25 year old magazine article--even though I'd still take my chances with Al's old magazine articles over anything Norm might have written. Does Norm even write?

Name one idea Norm has written about in the last 25 years.

Step up Al, make your pitch and I'd let you have your turn to bat.

LAMBERT: The Franken piece was eight years ago, but the issue is precisely that he is allowing himself to be made the issue.

I appreciate the juxtoposition of the Wisconsin Dells "family fun" ad under the "Frankenporn" article.

Really drives home what we all look for in our Senatorial candidates...

Let me see if I'm getting this straight, at an unrelated fundraiser you, upon meeting him for the first time, foisted upon Franken, unsolicited and unannounced, a copy of YOUR book to see if Franken would notice you were the same guy on its as a test of HIS self involvement.

If your deliberate parody is half as funny as this inadvertent piece of work, I'm sure Franken laughed at the book until he soiled his chinos.

Truly hilarious.

Hey, Jed:

What does a Senate race between two Jewish candidates have to do with the 19th century movement to remove the Church of England's status as the state church of England?

Ohhhhhhhhh, right, you don't actually know what antidisestablishmentarianism means. It was just a gratuitous, and ultimately failed, shot at...I don't know, my vocabulary? And in your bumbling, inhorn way you just grabbed for the biggest word you could muster, diction be damned.

Hey, whatev'...You seemed on the verge of some sort of point before you took after me for reasons that elude this reader.

LAMBERT: Oh, boy.

Dude...

http://wonkette.com/343443/senator-norm-colemans-wife-now-available-for-blo--go

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34218-2004Aug25.html

LAMBERT: "Blo and Go". What can I say?

I think youre right on to examine the motives of those politicos who would publicly chastise Franken. Certainly Norm wouldn't want to risk being called a hypocrite in some future bimbo eruption by calling out Franken on Playboy - cuz we all KNOW hes out doing. Lets examine the others though:

Walz / Oberstar - From socially conservative districts, must make a few chastising utterances in order to keep up their family values bona fides.

McCollum - Unlikely to suffer her own bimbo eruption. In sync with her constituency. Hmmm. Must just be somewhat of a typical, humorless feminist.

Ellison - using the 'where theres smoke theres fire' standard used for Norm, he's also at risk of a bimbo eruption. Safe district though, and his consituency wouldnt really care, a little side action is expected. BUT - he has hustled, er, cultivated an image of Muslim piety. Yeah, that got to be it. Another example for street smart Kieth taking the thoughtful, moral high ground.

LAMBERT: Ellison has one of the stranger mixes of constituencies in the state.

Hey, this auspicious media item isn't getting any coverage on any of the other media blogs, so...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRIAN. Now, get off line and celebrate!

LAMBERT: Thanks. I'll be sober(er) tomorrow.

Com'n BL, as a birthday boy in modern America, you know 8 years ago might as well be 25 years ago. It is all ancient history. Wasn't Norm a Democrat 8 years ago, I'm shrugging, I can't remember when he jumped ship when the sails came around his wind sock.

Still, I'm standing by my question...can anyone tell me one thing Norm has written in 25 years of representing MN? I can wait.

LAMBERT: You won't get it from me. I think Norm's both beatable and SHOULD BE EASILY beatable. His foremost skill is for re-positioning.

Whoa baby! All this talk about "guileless sincerity" and "salient factors" makes my poor head swim. So it will come as no surprise that I need somebody to explain something to me: Do we actually believe that the United States Senate is no place for sex? I mean, he just WROTE this stuff, right? No wide stances, no 3 a.m. calls to the interns' dorm? Of course, there's the whole issue of gravitas...I do get that. After all, while Al's been making jokes and thinking about sex, Norm Coleman has been doing the serious work of spreading democracy in the Middle East. Yes, that has gotten a few thousand young Americans killed, but hey...that's better than writing about sex isn't it? Isn't it?

LAMBERT: Precisely. Which is why I'm confounded that Franken's ream hasn't constructed a paradigm around him that automatically sheds "bad behavior" attacks. Campaigns -- especially pre-endorsement campaigns -- are all about satisfying and reassuring every variant in the uber-activist wing of the party. Here's hoping that post-endorsement Franken re-defines himself a bit and acknowledges that garden variety counter-cultural/pop culture satire is an asset not a liability.

"You libs will promote any piece of dog poop, overlook any incompetence, to prevent actual experience and leadership from winning."

Take out libs and substitute "repubs" and that really sums up not only Bush/Cheney, but a whole host of other GOPers - like, why, Cheney making sure Norm was the GOP senate candidate!

And speaking of incompetence, good lord man! There's now nearly 8 years worth of that with Bush/Cheney. Heckuva job...

LAMBERT: The opposition is one exhausted crowd. May I suggest they all retire to the Idaho panhandle for a couple election cycles and come up with a new chest of "ideas", like, I don't know, "trickle down economics" or supporting the Pledge of Allegiance?

Good, maybe then we'll hear your take on the windbag in St. Paul the other night, where 20,000 special-ed students were apparently bussed to and told to scream and moan for an hour.

What a farce this guy is - "This is the moment when we start caring for sick people, WHEN WE START GETTING JOBS FOR PEOPLE"?

WTF?

Adults are actually going to be casting votes for this phony jackass?

LAMBERT: Have you reserved your tickets for W's big farewell address at the Xcel this September? What a night that'll be. The tears of gratitude. The long list of speakers thanking him for service to his country and advancing the cause of "true conservatism." Oh, wait ...

Despite the paranoid and personal hatred you feel for a man who comes from a long line of influential and successful forebears, has served his country in the military, graduated from top schools, and had a successful business career, and served two very productive terms as President in a time of war against perhaps the most dangerous of enemies we have ever faced, W will certainly go down as one of the best.

Give me that rundown on the Obamaessiah's bona fides again?

LAMBERT: You're kidding me, right? i mean, day after day this stuff comes in and I give you minimal credit for being serious ... but this. Really? "Served his country in the military" ... "two very productive" ... "successful business career" ... . Zero points for reality, but a couple dozen for chutzpah.

How about the cause of "secure from terrorist attack by deranged Muslim extemists"?

That's enough for me at present.

Can't wait for The Obamessiah to be seen in a hunting get-up....

I preface this comment with the acknowledgement that I have been a lifelong Democrat, but the level of incompetency of the DFL Party Leaders and the DFL Chairman in their handling of this senatorial campaign is astounding! In an election year where you have an imminently beatable incumbant Senator, and you offer up and fully support a truly uninspiring and controversial candidate such as Al Franken, is astounding. Why are the failings of this campaign such a shock to the DFL Party leaders? You start with the fact that Minnesotans have already failingly experienced their "celebrity" politician. Then compound this with the fact that the DFL Party leaders have clearly done zero forensic research on their chosen candidate.(Which should have been, and is, elementary to any statewide candidate.) And Franken apologists are left wondering why this campaign is dead in the water. I called this one about a year ago, and was scoffed and dismissed by my other "lib" friends. This was an election cycle that only called for an experienced, "competent" candidate (such as a McCollum, Walz or Good God! even a Cirisi) and you would have had a repeat of 2006. Instead, the DFL Leaders set common sense aside and hitched their wagon to the trainwreck that is Al Franken and the Al Franken campaign. How could the DFL leaders have gotten it so right in 2006, and so wrong in 2008? What a lost opportunity. What a shame.

LAMBERT: i don't agree that Franken's campaign is a train wreck, or that it was doomed before it started. I'm just saying that he is failing to use his asset as an unorthodox public figure and is allowing Coleman's record of toadyism to the most corrupt and incompetent administration since Warren Harding to slip off the radar. (And Harding never started a war, you know, for the hell of it.)

Yes, Bertram, Jr., Obama's rhetoric is so lame and empty that McCain is making a hard-to-watch, wince-inducing and self-mocking effort to coopt it in a pitiable effort to portray himself as the change agent in the election.

Truly sad to witness. Well, not as sad as your delusional posts. But, still, pretty darned pathetic when you consider that McCain's got highly-paid K Street lobbyists feeding him this bilge.

You, well, one hopes you're on your own and remain so.

While Franken's campaign may not have been doomed from the start, it is painfully reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's:inelastic, ponderous, slow-moving. Perhaps I've missed it, but Al himself has been nowhere to be found to respond to this latest crisis. Perhaps he can't turn these flaps to his advantage in the manner you outline, but sitting on his ass while the sores fester only compounds the problem.

LAMBERT: I gather the operative attitude is one of, "this is not a crisis." That may be true, now. But as I say the Republicans have plenty more where this came from teed up and ready for the Big Bertha all through the rest of the race.

I was using antidisestablishmentarianism to make the point that each major political party thinks they should be , in effect, the one true state religion or belief system.

Obviously flew by you ,Jim. And my remarks regarding you were intended as a tip-o-the-hat
(copyright 1939 Jimmy Hatlo )

including the Michelle Obama / Farakkan "whitey" rant at the church tape....that will be fun.

S'matter Jimmy, didn't get picked for kickball again?

Brian, your call whether or not this comment fits, but for my couple zinc pennies it seems on topic and thus I will offer it--
http://s4xton.com/1754/why-im-supporting-al-franken/

I offer it by because this better represents the Franken we are considering this election cycle, not the one pandering past occupations.

Equally, I have no interest in judging Norm by his Blo N Glo family.

To be honest, I don't think even Norm or Al want this election to go down there--and thus I am confronting both voters and special interests (including DNC and RNC interests) who let elections go there.

How to stop it? We, the voters, have to take responsibility to stop it (because we know the special interests will not).

How--by not voting based on non-issues.
How--by voting on the true election issues and calling b.s. on any non-issues that are introduced.
How--by becoming informed and demanding media that informs us of the issues and ignoring media that does not inform us (to the point of boycotting media that chooses to support special interest news of distraction).

So, I wonder, what media might do that public service for us? I say it is not MSM (which is run for money), that it is the blogosphere (which does not post for the money...since most do this work only as a non-paying hobby).

LAMBERT: Good points. Read Dan Froomkin's classic "On Calling Bullshit" up on the corner of this site. Now is the time.