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May 25, 2013
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 Party of Franken, Party of PalinPosted on Jul 8, 2009By Joe Conason The new senator from Minnesota is a comedian, writer and actor who lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and raised a lot of money from friends in Hollywood. The departing governor of Alaska is a hockey mom from a small backwoods town who likes to hunt and fish. Yet today, Al Franken looks wholesomely mainstream, while Sarah Palin seems headed for the tabloid fringe. That unexpected contrast reveals much about the current configuration of Republicans, Democrats and politics in America—a story of two parties that crossed paths while traveling in opposite directions over the past dozen years or so. Before he entered politics, Franken had a long and highly successful career in television, wielding a sense of humor that could be wicked, outrageous and even offensive. He was an urban denizen with liberal sensibilities who counted professional wrestlers, college professors, scruffy journalists (including this one) and members of the Grateful Dead among his friends. Even after he signed on as the star host of the progressive Air America radio network, he was primarily an entertainer. Back around the time that Franken quit “Saturday Night Live” for the second time, Sarah Palin entered public life as a civic activist and candidate for local office in Wasilla, Alaska, where she was soon elected mayor. She was a populist of the right-wing variety, a fundamentalist churchgoer and a scourge of politics-as-usual. Concerning herself with such conservative staples as government spending, tax cuts, term limits and gun rights, she was a textbook Republican officeholder. But somewhere along the line, everything changed for both them and their parties. Franken left showbiz behind to prove himself a serious policy wonk as well as a devoted family man; Palin transformed herself and her family into a reality television show. Advertisement How this all came to pass is a complicated story that actually begins long before the political decisions that led to his rise and her fall. The bookish, wise-guy Al always had a political streak dating back to his college years at Harvard, where he switched from mathematics to political science and graduated with honors. The telegenic, athletic “Sarah Barracuda” embarked on a career as a TV sportscaster in Alaska’s biggest city before eloping with Todd and moving home to Wasilla. The reversal of the parties’ trajectories, in style and substance, may have begun during the 2002 election, a stunning midterm defeat for the Democratic opposition that Republican strategist Karl Rove predicted to be the start of decades of unchallenged rule for GOP conservatism. That was also the moment when Paul Wellstone, the Democratic senator from Minnesota who had become a national icon of progressive politics, died in a terrible plane crash along with his wife, Sheila, his daughter Marcia and three aides, as he was campaigning for re-election. In the bitter aftermath of his death, turncoat Democrat Norm Coleman won a special election to succeed Wellstone, and joined the Republican majority in the Senate. And Franken, a Minnesota native, began to think about whether he might someday run for that same seat to vindicate the legacy of Wellstone, one of his closest friends. In victory, the Republicans grew increasingly extreme and overconfident, encouraging figures such as Palin to follow their most extreme instincts. In defeat, the Democrats at last began to refurbish their progressive ideology, reconnect with working American families and rediscover their will to fight. As an author and radio personality, Franken made a significant contribution to his party’s renewal. He was ready for prime-time politics in ways that Palin, the sudden star who could barely utter a coherent paragraph, was not. Beneath the glittering surface, she exhibited profound weakness. Behind the joking persona, he showed moral and intellectual strength. Joe Conason writes for The New York Observer. © 2009 Creators Syndicate Inc.  TAGS:
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By Mary Ann McNeely, July 13, 2009 at 4:47 pm Link to this comment
In defeat, the Democrats at last began to refurbish their progressive ideology, reconnect with working American families and rediscover their will to fight.
What Democratic party are you talking about? Certainly not the one in the United States.
Report thisBy Erroll, July 12, 2009 at 6:10 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
DBM [at July 11 at 5:51 am] justifiably states: “let’s make it about the issues.” Excellent suggestion. Let us start with Joe Conason’s claim that Franken has shown “moral and intellectual strength.” While I am certainly no fan of the superficial and less than intelligent Sarah Palin, it should be pointed out that Al Franken’s views are anything but liberal.
* He did not support Congressman Kucinich’s proposal
to impeach Bush and Cheney.
* He is against the immediate withdrawal of U.S. from
Iraq and Afghanistan.
* He supports Obama’s plan of keeping the insurance
companies in the equation regarding a health care
plan while eschewing, like Obama, single-payer.
* Franken unconditionally gives his support to Israel
while caring very little, if at all, for the plight
of the Palestinians. If Franken exhibited “moral
strength”, as Conason claimed, then he would have
condemned Israel when it slaughtered 1,400
late last year. But since Franken is a blatant
Zionist, the last thing that the [alleged] moral
liberal would do would be to dare to criticize
Israel.
All this simply confirms the notion that the differences between the Democrats, [such as an alleged liberal like Al Franken], and the Republicans are cosmetic at best.
Report thisBy Dale Headley, July 11, 2009 at 3:51 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Many people are going to be surprised when Al Franken starts to work as a Senator. He is very intelligent and passionate, and I have no doubt he will do his very best to represent Minnesota in Congress. That being said, he will be hard-pressed to keep his sardonic sense of humor under wraps when questioning witnesses in committee hearings. CSPAN may enjoy its highest ratings ever in the next couple of weeks.
Report thisBy DBM, July 11, 2009 at 2:51 am Link to this comment
I welcome commentators like SageNot. Apart from the obligitory “bleeding heart” ahead of the word “liberal” there was actually some substance to the opinion even if worded insultingly. Right Wing thought is always fascinating.
I would say, though, that SageNot and quite a few others seem to have missed the point of ths article. While it is ironic that an intelligent television personality should be become an intelligent politician at the same time as a vacuous politician has become a vacuous television personality, it is primarily a well spotted co-incidence.
The point of the article is to use these examples to illustrate that the Republicans are becoming increasingly irrelevant while the Deomcrats are coming back from a period in 2002 when they appeared to be politically irrelevant themselves.
I think, though, that another comedian - Bill Maher -got it just right a few weeks ago when he said that the U.S. has a functioning party to represent business interests, the military industrial complex, Big Oil and the Finance sector. This party is called the Democrats. The problem is that the Republicans seem to seek to represent only racists, xenophobes and other fearful people. There is no-one to represent the bulk of the American people.
So, SageNot, welcome to the debate ... but let’s make it about the issues and not just insult people.
Report thisBy SageNot, July 10, 2009 at 2:26 pm Link to this comment
A compliment from a guy/gal named Mill, who’s gibberish is patently over the Hill.
Don’t cry to me about those Conservatives dummy, if you read my comment, you can read I presume, I clearly state my preference, so what’s it to you?
Let’s hear your hero Franken on Obama’s daughters, he’s been known to lower himself to Letterman’s level, you know, GROUND ZERO!
Report thisBy mill, July 10, 2009 at 2:18 pm Link to this comment
Mr. Wellstone died October 25, shortly before the election. There was a scramble to find someone to be the candidate on the Democratic side.
Mr. Mondale agreed at the last second (metaphorically) to run. Meanwhile, a memorial service for Senator Wellstone was held, and the Republicans decided to turn post-service commentary into a partisan snipe hunt. Coleman kept his head down, the national 504s hacked vigorously on Democrats, and Coleman won. He served as a proper lapdog for national Republicans during his Senate term. As chair of the Senate Committee on Investigations, he didn’t bother to investigage no-competition Iraq War contract awards, nor overbilling by private contractors on those awarded contracts. Mr. Coleman had previously won as Democratic candidate for Mayor of St Paul, then turned his coat to Republican, sensing the national trend of the time. He very nearly lost that senate election, and lost running for governor against Jesse Venture (Ind) who won, and Skip Humphrey (D) who was not quite the leader his father was. Coleman just lost the close Senate election in Mn to Mr. Franken.
Report thisBy mill, July 10, 2009 at 2:06 pm Link to this comment
sagenot - good choice of moniker
Sarah Palin wouldn’t recognize the truth if it bit her on her bun.
Al Franken used the truth to skewer right wing phonies like Palin, O’Reilly and Limbaugh as he joked his way to success. And, oh by the way, Senator Franken can talk policy with the best of them.
Once again, what are the duties of the Vice President under the Constitution, soon-to-be-ex Governor Palin? Your first answer in the campaign was both wrong and gibberish.
Report thisBy SageNot, July 10, 2009 at 12:59 pm Link to this comment
Is this crap appearing in TruthDig?
You bleeding heart liberals wouldn’t know the truth if it came up & bit you in the arse. Then to have the nerve to put Letterman’s crap on here for good measure. He’s as funny as a Dead Man Walking!
Al Franken has always been an assh*le, even when he was only playing one.
What’s with the Sr. Citizen crack, have the author look this Sr. Citizen up, tell him to bring his dentist & internist too. Who does Joe Conason work for again, The Observor, isn’t that referred to as the NYC RAG? Or the poor man’s N.Y. Times?
I’m surprised at the TruthDig, dig deeper guys, there’s never been any depth in the liberal rants, & I’m not a Republican either. Our citizenry wants t/b governed from the middle out, not from the lunatic fringes in, don’t say I didn’t tell you!
Report thisBy Threegoal, July 10, 2009 at 9:48 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Joe—While I completely agree with the thrust of your article, I need to point out an inaccuracy. Norm Coleman won a garden variety, every 6 years, Senate election in 2002. What was “special” was that the Democratic candidate for re-election, Paul Wellstone tragically died during the campaign, and the DFL party had to put forth a last-minute substitute, Walter Mondale, who unfortunately lost to Coleman.
Report thisBy Tomazulob, July 10, 2009 at 7:27 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I thoroughly enjoyed Al’s program when he was on Air America. I particularly enjoyed it when he did the live version on Sundance. Watching Joe Conason on the show gave it the humanity that the radio does not give. It was fun to see what the columnists look like at a time when they were not appearing very much on the TV. Now, Keith and Rachel use them a lot.
One segment of Al’s show I really enjoyed was when he called a restaurant in Alabama to talk to the residents there about some issue. He was charming with them—not the least bit condescending—and I thought to myself that he has a natural ability to communicate his beliefs to someone without clubbing them over the head with them. I hope he succeeds in the senate.
Report thisBy freepatriot, July 10, 2009 at 7:25 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
sarah palin is a grifter
a common con man
her husband is a grifter
and her daughter is a grifter
it’s all about separating rubes from their money
Hi joe, long time, no see
thanks for being a decent human being all this time
Report thisBy howie, July 10, 2009 at 4:45 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Great column, but I have a small nit to pick.
Coleman did not win a “special election” to replace Wellstone. He won the regularly scheduled election after Walter Mondale was tapped to replace Wellstone on the ballot and the GOP convinced everyone that the Wellstone memorial service had been mean and partisan.
It’s all in one of Al’s books.
Report thisBy MarthaA, July 9, 2009 at 10:55 pm Link to this comment
That wink was all it took for me to decide she was a hillbilly type fruitcake; and when at the beginning of the debate with Senator Joe Biden, she asked him if she could call him Joe, that was also uncool, unpolitical, undignified and unprofessional. Being Vice President is not a beauty contest. And, also, her interview with Katie Couric bombed horribly. And, she didn’t even know what a Vice President does. I am thankful she has decided to quit and hope she keeps the thought. The Republicans love puppets and still may prop her up for president, if they can get her to cooperate with them.
Here is Letterman on Sara Palin: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/07/letterman-takes-on-palin_n_226854.html
Report thisBy M Currey, July 9, 2009 at 4:18 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
John McCain was a moderate Republician and had he picked someone other than S. Palin he might have won but Obama did have a terific organization going that is not to say that he is a better choice than Ms. Clinton she would have made a good president but her husband was still Bill Clinton.
I think that people considered McCain’s age and Palin’s lack of experience and maybe even inteligence as a deciding factor in their downfall.
And McCain did now know about e-mail or twitter so he was behind the times. Kind of like Daddy Bush now knowing how to go through a check out line at the local supermarket.
Report thisBy mr trail safety, July 9, 2009 at 10:58 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Palin’s use of sports metaphors to describe her moves are hilarious. To paraphrase Vince Lombardi: “There’s no “I” in “team”, but there sure is one in “Dick”. Every team feels better when the ball-hog goes rogue into the stands, right?
Report thisBy Inherit The Wind, July 9, 2009 at 5:02 am Link to this comment
I think the only real juxtaposition is that Palin had her public nervous breakdown at the same time that Franken was finally confirmed as Senator. Had the vote count issue been resolved in December, this would be a non-starter.
You can’t compare Franken, a brilliant long-term political commentator and activist, with Palin, an ignorant quitter who has a history of abandoning things when they get tough.
Palin managed to get elected governor of a state with fewer citizens than Westchester County in New York, or Fairfax County in Virgina, and is one of the most heavily subsidized states in the Union (#3 or #4, I believe). She only served 1 1/2 years before abandoning her state for the 2008 campaign and the media spotlight that followed her as the Dope-oisie of the extreme Right adored her.
Most TruthDiggers, even those of “The Contingent”, are FAR more knowledgeable of politics, economics, law, science and history than Palin EVER will be. Compared to her, Dumbya Bush is Albert Einstein.
What is it about the GOP? For every Tim Pawlenty, there seem to be 10 Michelle Bachmanns. For every truly intelligent Republican office holder, there are at least 10 truly moronic, ignorant fascists. I mean, to the GOP, Joe The Plumber is a pundit.
And Sarah Palin is right in that trough of phony “man/woman of the people” who is nothing but the scum of the earth.
Report thisBy Robert Morrison, July 9, 2009 at 12:48 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I think you are being too kind to Sarah Palin by suggesting that she can “barely utter a coherent paragraph”, because I have yet to hear her utter one.
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