Filed by Brad Friedman in San Diego…
As I standby in a hotel room in San Diego, near the DemcoracyFest! venue, to hopefully post some big breaking news momentarily, Al Franken is broadcasting his show from the site.
In a discussion moments ago with reporter Ruben Navarette, the previously quiet crowd gathered at the live broadcast broke into boos and disapproving shouts when the interview, led by Franken, implied that “Busby had lost” the recent special U.S. House Election in California’s 50th district due to a “gaffe” made prior to the election.
Audience members erupted in applause when it was mentioned that “some believe the election was not run cleanly.” Franken and his guest regarded the election as legitimate, which led to boos and protests from the crowd who became unruly during the discussion, rejecting the announced results that “Bilbray won the election.”
Navarette was also booed when he implied that George W. Bush “beat” Al Gore in 2000. Event organizers had encouraged Franken to invite me to speak during today’s live broadcast, taking place smack dab in the middle of the country’s largest election controversy prior to the November general election right here in San Diego. Franken, instead chose to have Navarette to discuss Election Integrity in Mexico and elsewhere, along with a rep from Common Cause New Mexico to discuss other election issues.
UPDATE: As Franken was going off the air, the DNC issued a statement calling for a manual count in the Busby/Bilbray race due to the security breaches via voting machine “sleepovers” and other “election irregularities”. That BREAKING STORY IS HERE…
CORRECTION: Franken’s guest during the segment described above was apparently Ruben Navarette of the Washington Post/San Diego Tribune, as opposed to a guest from Common Cause New Mexico as we had originally reported. The guest from Common Cause was on the show after Navarette.
UPDATE AND IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION 7/15/06 12:50am PT: …
Several commenters have criticized my reporting on this story, suggesting that I had reported that Franken had been booed. While my original headline (which BRAD BLOG moderator Agent 99 has since reworded for clarity) was “BREAKING: SAN DIEGO DEMOCRACYFEST CROWD BOOS AL FRANKEN DISCUSSION OF BUSBY/BILBRAY ELECTION!,” the wording of the headline could have certainly been clearer. It was written at lightning pace while the DNC Statement calling for a hand count of the Busby/Bilbray race was coming in and I was simultaneously rushing to get that story out before heading over to the DemocracyFest venue where I was supposed to have been an hour earlier, but knew I wouldn’t have net access to complete the story for the rest of the day/night.
While the original headline might have been clearer, it was accurate, if misleading. The crowd booed during the discussion which is what I was trying to convey.
The bigger problem occurred when I shortened the headline for the notice of the story that I had posted at DU (they only allow a certain number of characters for the subject of such posts) and my rushed re-wording was completely wrong in the bargain. That shortened subject line had read “FRANKEN BOOED ON AIR DURING DISCUSSION OF BUSBY/BILBRAY IN SAN DIEGO!” That was wrong, and I regret the error.
Adding to the problem, apparently RAW STORY’s shortened banner headline link may have been similarly misleading. All, no doubt, due to my original accurate, but sloppy headline. Hope that clears up the confusion.
Finally, as to who was booed and who wasn’t, commenter Dan Krisher was kind enough to post an MP3 link to the audio of the exchange. Though I believe there was an earlier part of the discussion not included in Krisher’s link, wherein the trouble began, you’ll see that it was Union-Tribune journalist Navarette who received the boos, not Franken. Though I believe both began the discussion (particularly in the earlier segment not on the MP3 linked above) by regarding Democrat Francine Busby as having “lost” the race, that is a bit of “conventional wisdom” which is utterly unproven at this time due to the irregularities regarding the voting machines used in the race.
Either way, such are the dangers of blogging too quickly, even as I had little other choice in this case. And as mentioned, I regret all of the errors and confusion related to my coverage of this item and hope that these comments serve to clarify the mistakes.
I am grateful for a lot of the ground-breaking debunking that Franken has done and for his willingness to stand up on many important issues, but this is certainly a rather tone-deaf effort…
The crowd wasn’t booing Franken, they were booing his guest. The guest was a reporter whose name I don’t recall but he was the one who was booed. I dislike Liberal dishonesty just as much as I dislike Conservative dishonesty.
I think Al sometimes suffers from a little bit of ‘cognitive dissonance’. I think the presumption should be after the ‘2000’ national election that Republican candidates are elected illegally until they can prove otherwise.
This is bull i heard the show. The crowd was booing the quest not Frankin. Frankin was trying to get him to bring up some of the questionable things about the election and the guy seemed clueless.
he wants to run for office. you know what that means.
This woman lost the election because she was a poor candidate. San Diego county has been overrun by Mexican
Nationals in San Diego county illegally. She should not have enlisted these people to work on her behalf. This was poor judgement at best.
The DNC needs to come up with experienced candidates who know how to read from a script that has been screened for
stupid remarks.
School board members have no standing for national politics.
There is a big difference determining the class size of
Kindergarten and war and peace in the US house of representatives. Mr. Dean….U failed us.
Franken is one of the few “radio” talk show hosts who actually gives time to those who hold views that counter his or many of the liberals and independents who are apalled at what has occurred under the Bush administration.
You’ll never see Rush, Hannity or O’Reilly open themselves up to an audience that is not “screened”
to make sure the right questions and comments are heard.
I listened to a Hannity town hall meeting a few months ago and one would have thought the adience was made up entirely of Hannity’s family members.
I heard the segment. The crowd initially seemed to warm to Navarette, but when the discussion moved to Busby, his remarks drew boos and catcalls. Franken intervened, at least twice, to give Navarette the benefit of the doubt and a chance to extricate himself from the hole he’d just dug, but Navarette just kept talking and digging deeper.
I should have guessed clicking on that link at Raw Story would bring me here. If several of the posters here are correct about who was being bood – Raw should change their headline.
KenoshaMarge – Is that as in – next to Racine?
They were booing his guest not him. Get it right!
Navarette routinely writes far right, conservative opinions for the San Diego Union Tribune. Why he was on Al Franken is baffling. The guy is plainly a conservative mouthpiece. If they were booing Navarette, then that is what we should expect. He stands for all that is wrong for america.
I have read several comments here criticizing Brad and saying “they were booing the guest not the host” … but Brad never said the crowd was booing FRANKEN. He said they were booing the interview.
So what are you complaining about?
OK I see it now. Raw Story’s headline is deceptive.
Go complain to them, will you? Sheesh!
Ask Franken what he thinks about what Israel is doing.
I thought the crowd was being ridiculous. It can true that the election wasn’t legit AND Busby wasn’t a good candidate. And in fact, she was not a good candidate. She sparked the imaginations of no one. I fail to see how he dug himself a hole by pointing this out.
The booing, to me, seemed to be “don’t speak ill of Busby” whining.
Winter – That’s what I was saying at #9, but you say it more clearly.
Oprn Thread?! Yippe – cya!
99 – you movin’ my keys around again?
I listened to this show, and the crowd was definitely booing the guest, not Al Franken. Also, Franken noted during the interview that the DNC was going to ask for a manual recount in the Busby/Bilbray election.
Please take the time to gets your facts straight before posting. Seeing this example of such a misrepresentation of the facts is very disappointing.
Winter Patriot
I’m with you! We’re taking the heat for someone else’s poorly-chosen words, and… well, Brad’s headline for this coulda been a little more clearly worded.
Bluebear2
I tell ya, it’s yer guinea pig taking liberties with your keyboard! They sell new ones cheap at box stores, and just put a leash on the guinea pig. Problem solved. 😛
I’m listening to this segment now and I’m with the other guys. It was this Franken’s interviewee being booed. Whoever he is, he’s a major league jerkoff.
I am writing from San Diego State, where I attended this morning’s Al Franken Show. It certainly seemed to me that the audience was booing the guest from the Union-Tribune rather than Al Franken. Al Franken was trying to be polite to his guest, but the audience’s boos did not seem to be directed towards Franken at all.
He made sense on immigration but this guy Ruben was as smug and dismissive as they come when it came to the thought of elections being rigged. He took a shot at Busby, then Gore and said the elections in Mexico were clean. Which I most certainly doubt.
LISTEN TO AUDIO OF THE FRANKEN SHOW HERE:
You can go to:
http://www.punkblog.org/FrankenEdit071406h3.mp3
and listen to the audio of the Franken exchange. It’s in MP3 format and you can down load it if you wish.
{Thanks Dan. I fixed your link. –99}
Everybody
I just took the liberty of rewording Brad’s headline for clarity’s sake. He really did not mean to imply the crowd was booing Franken, I’m just certain of that. If he comes back and bonks me on the head for it, well, that’s the risk one takes when acting unilaterally. Thank you. –99
This (booing) is not suprizing on the basis of the host, the guest, and the topic(s). Franken is an old-style, inside-the-beltway Liberal; not a net-roots Progressive. His staff booked a guest from the uber-rightwing S.D. Union-Tribune; they’re not stupid, they knew who they were getting (could have had Brad or local Dave Rollins from CityBeat). They/he picked a couple of issues (Busby/Bilbray, immigration) that have local relevence but, and this is important, they/he DIDN’T HAVE TO; the topics were chosen to allow the host to take a left-of-guest position, which is typical for this program. Sorry fellow/sister lefties, this was Franken and staff just being themselves; playing position the candidate . . . er . . . host “safely” left-of-center. The crowd was obviously expecting something else.
Thanks Agent. I’m sure Brad will appreciate it. Rawstory is linking to this thread with the original headline. You might want to contact them and ask them to adjust their headline as well.
Navarette was hired by the San Diego Union-Tribune to replace the superb James O. Goldsborough, our newsrag’s sole regular non-right-wing commentator, who was driven away by the hard-core publishers. As a writer, commentator, and useful contributor to political discourse, Navarette has proven to be generally hopeless. Apparently he was meant to bring an Hispanic viewpoint to the newspaper, but his columns are shallow, tedious, and firmly planted on the party line.
Franken did not choose well by inviting him to the show. Differences of opinion are fine, but Navarette has little to contribute on any subject.
In Franken’s defense, I’ve noticed that he often tends to appear as if he’s siding with the opposition, or with the less popular idea. It’s as if he’s “playing devil’s advocate” in the most sophisticated sense.
I’m not exactly defending this – because it drives me frigging crazy and wind up cussing at the radio. It’s just, IMHO, his way of drawing out his opponent – giving them some kind of “comfort” by creating an angle to disarm them. This seems to explain his way of doing things, which often leads him to the advantage in his discussions.
Another example would be his love for reading hate-mail that he reads – and if there are protestors around, he will bring them up on stage, on the radio, and will ask them in the most sincere way why they hate him so much. His genuine interest and seeming agreement with some of their points disarms them and he is often his way of bringing people around.
Also, it’s very entertaining…
can we link????????
Am a regular reader and supporter here. Brad Blog almost always gets it right, but not this time. The crowd was booing Navarette’s weaseling around what happened in the Bilbray-Busby election, doing what so many media types have been cowered into doing: “giving both sides” to be fair and balanced, no matter how unbalanced the other side’s facts are, and failing to do the real job of news analysis. Navarette’s view of the election results/who won was “it depends who you ask and who they were supporting” and went on to add that if Busby had been a stronger candidate without the immigrants-without-papers gaffe, she would have won handily over the disliked Bilbray. Then he got really stupid about Gore and Florida 2000. Franken gave a great come back that drew deserved cheers.
Clearly, Navarette doesn’t not support the investigation into the actual vote count necessitated by compromised voting machines, and I suspect he doesn’t buy into the belief that elections are being hugely comprised and democracy subverted. Navarette was a weasel and he deserved to be booed.
Franken also deserved to be booed, but not for the reason Brad is saying. First, Franken couldn’t say Bilbray’s name correctly. Second, Franken kept framing the discussion of the CA-50 election as whether or not it was “clean.” Franken clearly was not prepared for this important discussion and could not/did not focus on the salient issue–the compromised machines and the subsequent lack of response from SD election officials to the need for a manual recount.
Of course, those following this issue know that the Bilbray-Busby aftermath isn’t about “clean” ; it’s about “certified.”
Al–love him to death–should’ve known that.
GeorgiaBlues
Brad only was careless in his headline wording. He wasn’t saying Al was booed, but that his discussion with Navarette was booed by the crowd. I think I fixed the problem, AND I contacted other blogs to ask them to fix their links so people would stop getting the wrong idea, here.
Al Franken, IMHO has not thought carefully enough about this issue, and isn’t ready to commit so unmistakably to the election fraud issue… yet. I think he’s going to have to get to it pretty soon if he wants to be the kind of Senator we all know Al Franken would be. He hasn’t backed off the truth in his career so far, so I’m thinking he just has to wrassle with this one a little longer. I bet he’ll have Brad on his show before it’s too late.
Yipes! Blogotopia can get pretty intricate at times!
BOOS AL FRANKEN’S DISCUSSION
Verb…….Adjective…………Noun
Seems simple enough to me!
Agent BB2
“Al Franken’s” isn’t an adjective, really, is it? I mean, it really can be sometimes, but….
People earlier sure were taking it wrong.
As a former San Diego County resident, it is clear to anyone with half a brain that the citizens there feel overwhelmed by illegal immigration. The cost in police protection, property insurance, education, health care, etc. are all reflected by the influx of illegals. Cheap gardners, nannies and motel maids do not level out the tremendous cost of living increase these illegals create. This has nothing to do with sympathy for another’s plight. It has to do with the simple fact that this region has been increasingly inundated for far too long with numbers of people that cannot be assimulated fiscally into the area. IF the DEMs don’t face reality and speak for securing the boarder and holding employers accountable, they will loose, loose, loose every election to the opposition. San Diego, both DEMs, and GOP’s are with Lou Dobbs on this one.
Brad wrote:
Franken, and his guest regarded the election as legitimate which led to boos and protests from the crowd who became unruly during the discussion, rejecting the announced results that “Bilbray won the election.”
That, along with the Raw Story headline, says that Franken agreed with Navarette and was being booed as well. That’s just plain wrong.
Franken’s show and act are tiring. He really doesn’t get it. He was bamboozeled by Colin Powell’s lie-fest at the UN, and he still won’t call for a pullout from Iraq.
Al should be booed on this one, headline correct or not, I listen to him often during my lunch breaks and the guy doesnt touch election fraud. Recently he stated that he was satisfied that the 2004 presidential election wasnt stolen, I wanted to reach through the radio and grab him by the throat. I think hes smokin the crack pipe on this issue, hopefully RFK can help him to extract his head from his anis on this one. Dont get me wrong, hes done alot of good but not on this issue, not at all.
Al Frankin is a liberal Democrat, but that is about ALL good I can say about him.
He THINKS he is way funnier than he actually is, especially on radio, where his “dry sarcasm” doesn’t really play well, ESPECIALLY not to the not-yet-fully-convinced in the crowd.
And, most importantly to THIS issue, he is still a “Dem in denial” on Election Fraud. In addition, he either knows just as little about the details of the issue as my DOG, or he ACTS that way to protect his position as a “middle of the roader” in the hopes of getting elected to office down the road.
Either way, it’s coming down to “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” time and I don’t think he’s going to be with us.
For the moment, we can use him, but eventually, we’re going to have to give up on him.
Charlie L
Portland, OR
Man, Charlie, I sure hope you are wrong. Al Franken really has done much to help the liberal cause, and I would say progressive cause, too. He is single-handedly responsible for turning Arianna Huffington from a screeching GOPAC harpie/Gingrich Groupie to someone who is doing quite a lot to further progressive politics… that, and, of course, Arianna’s willingness as a human to open her mind to the error of her ways, and stop making those errors.
I think Al Franken is a genuine-enough man to take a look at himself on this issue, and I really think he will come around.
Maybe Al Franken should work on Ann Coulter – I’d gladly supply the burkha! Black or Purple?
Ok Blubear2, you supply the burkha and I’ll supply the condom … one will do I am sure … 😉
Al Franken and Ann Colter!! Yuck…
Man, you guys have dirty minds! I didn’t mean Franken had any, shall we say “romantic” influence on Arianna, and I’m sure Agent BB2 didn’t mean for him to get the burkha on Coulter through any, shall we say “sexual” means. It really would be a service to all humanity though, if we could get that little-black-dress-from-hell into a burkha! I think if you go to Franken’s page, you will see that, so far, he has not had much sway with Coulter… other than to put her in her place, but good. If only there were some means to keep her there, but, no, it’s Night of the Living Dead with that one!
The exact first thing that got me into educating myself on lies and misinformation in the media was Al Franken’s “Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.” He put into words, what I was just beginning to think…that Limboob, Handjobbity, O’LIEly, and Coulter were a bunch of shill liars for the Republicans.
The next big thing I did was get David Brock’s “The Republican Noise Machine.” I recommend those 2 books as essential reading for anyone who visits this site, and wants to learn about reichwing lies and misinformation in the media.
After researching many websites, I found that the 2 best are Brad Blog and Raw Story. The Clint Curtis story is what first interested me in Brad Blog.
I like American Free Press newspaper. I think it’s conservative, but they run the only uncensored unfiltered news stories in print in America. AFP is a weekly newspaper. Some call it anti-Israeli, I don’t think it is. I think the more you report on Israel, the more they smear you with the “anti-semetic” slur. AFP reports extensively on 9/11, in fact, you will see them mentioned liberally on ALL highly regarded 9/11 websites. Christopher Bollyn is one of their reporters. They really report there.
I believe Al Franken is a very honest man, not a liar like O’Hannitybaugh & Coulter. Al, or anyone who calls their bullshit, is smeared by the “Republican Noise Machine” in the media. Find out how it works. Educate yourself.
I stopped listening to Air America radio, because I could only listen to it streaming on my PC, and that’s a pain in the ass. I wish Air America radio was readily available on AM radio, like the “Lying Liars” are. They might be the biggest reason for the shape our country is in. They always say, “Why do liberals hate our country?” We hate YOU, we love our country. YOU are not “our country”, Lying Liars.
Al Franken is a patriot and a hero. He could be making millions in the comedy biz, but he has chucked it all to expose the lies and crimes of the cabal that has temporarily stolen the U.S. government.
Navarette’s basic argument was that the Dems were losing because their candidates were weak. We know better. EXIT POLLS DO NOT LIE! Any hacker can flip the tally. The Republican leaders are willing to cheat believing that the ends justify the means. They are wrong and we will dance on their graves.
P.S. I am not advocating violence.
I understand Franken’s suppose to be cool about letting the other side speak, but F..that! They get enough air time and the public gets enough of the other side. We need every air/news minute for truth, not for agreeable debate. Sorry Franken you let me down, bad choice! You had an outlet for truth and lessons of factual points, shame on you!
BIG DAN wrote-
‘They always say, “Why do liberals hate our country?” We hate YOU, we love our country. YOU are not “our country”, Lying Liars.’
Now that I’ve finally stopped laughing, I want to thank you for that comment. I will use it as a rejoinder next time I hear one of these SOBs throw out the “why do you/liberals hate our country” crap.
I was in the back of the room helping actress activist Mimi Rogers and others hold up signs to help lead the crowd into reacting more vocally to this interview.
The problem that we were booing about was that he kept on focusing on the WRONG issue of why Busby lost, which was completely immaterial to what we are concerned about now (our process of voting and how it’s become corrupted, and no one’s being held accountable for it). And taking shots at the quality of our candidates to boot is pretty lame. I like Franken, but by having a guest like this guy on, you add fuel to the fire that we’ve been trying to avoid that the right is trying to champion. That is their view that they echo that this recount is about sour grapes because Busby lost and it is more of a “Dino Rossi” style legal effort (though of course they won’t bring Dino Rossi into such a discussion), instead of a general concern about the health of our voting processses. That will make it just that much harder to get Busby to come out and eventually be led into supporting this effort.
Al could have made up for having this guy on by reading the DNC announcement on the air. Mimi got a call from Brad in the last half hour about this announcement and she hustled it up to the stage. But evidently he didn’t choose to break into his last interview with this news.
Al could have done better, but the interviewee WAS the problem.
Thanks for all the comments (both good and bad) concerning this item.
PLEASE see my UPDATE AND IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION 7/15/06 12:50am PT added to the bottom of the original article above.
I hope it will help to clear up the confusion due to my original hastily posted report.
Woops, in a brain fart I was referring to Mimi Kennedy, not Mimi Rogers in above reference. Just don’t want to falsely attribute who was helping with us yesterday.
I forgot one thing: Franken said on his radio show on Friday that Israel “has every right to defend itself,” with its attacks on the Palestinians and Lebananon. That should tell you all you need to know about him. Today, CNN is reporting that an Israeli bomb hit a bus outside Beirut that killed 15 civilians. Yeah Al – that’s really defending itself. Reminds me of a drunk who gets punched by someone, but doesn’t know who, and lashes out at whoever’s conventient. How immoral is that?
Steve, that’s the best answer to these idiots who say, “Why do you hate our country?” I always say, “I hate YOU, I love our country.”
One thing I don’t like about Al Franken, is he stays away from big hot-button issues, like vote fraud and 9/11. It seems the bigger they get, the more they stay away from the hottest issues. Besides that, I think he’s great. He got me to start noticing reichwing lies and misinformation in the media, with his book, “Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.” He has the all-star liar crew on the cover: Bill O’LIEly, Ann Coulter, Sean Handjobbity, and Rush Limboob. The “hall of fame” Republican liars, who are at the top of the heap of those ruining America. And THEY have the audacity to always say, “Why do liberals hate our country?” They’re really saying, “Why do liberals hate US?”…and they’ve spun “US” into “our country”, and we let them, if we don’t point this out and say, “We hate rightwing radio, and love our country.”
They get shill caller on, who say, “Yeah, Sean, why do liberals hate our country?”, to make it seem that more people think that, than in reality. Another thing I noticed, they always get shill callers on who say, “I’m a liberal, Sean, but I agree with you…” More liars. Watch how often that happens on their shows, “I’m a liberal, Sean, but I agree with you…” BULLSHIT! Their callers are screened and the ones they talk to are shills. Once in a while I listen to their crap, just so I can point out their tactics. They are all full of shit liars.
I was a HUGE fan of Franken’s before the last election. But, when he told us to all just “get over it”, I quit listening to him altogether.
A person can’t say that they are for truth and then cave in to the biggest and most dangerous lie that ever hit America — election fraud in the 21st century.
Now, I listen to Franken occasionally when he is the only thing available on my drive to work. But everytime he recommends a candidate, I find myself screaming at the dashboard, “Fool, tell them to watch their backs and fix the voting system!”
If I had been in the audience, I would have made it clear that I was booing Franken!!!
Franken needs to ATONE: tell the citizens that all of their hard work on campaigns and their votes don’t matter if the election system is broken!
Truthseeker, you seem to contradict yourself in your defense of Al.
You state Al gave up opportunities to make millions in Entertainment, but instead chucked it all to expose the lies of the administration. Then you state , in caps no less, that exit polls do not lie.
Then you better tell Al, because he seems to think Diebold is an honest enterprise, and that exit polls do indeed lie.
He really is hard to figure on that stance. He KNOWS exit polls don’t lie, yet states the elections of 2004 were on the up and up.
He cannot have it both ways.
BTW, I always enjoy his humor, his wit, his story in his last book about his father and son and God actually made this old Liberals eyes moist, perhaps he would do more good in Entertainment then as a “serious” politacl analyst.
Dear everyone,
I’m hear at Demfest. I videoed the Al Franken event, the amazing election panel with Brad and Debra Bowen, and Brad’s blockbuster press conference yesterday. I also captured San Diego CH 10’s coverage of the press conference (all two minutes!!)
I reviewed the Franken event and wish to comment that Al did get booed in a way. In introducing the issue, he announced that “Bilbray won” and everyone booed. Here’s the astonishing thing. He acted like the booing had to do with his pronunciation of “Bilbray”….!!!! So that is just how out of it he is.
People, it remains to be said. Brad is a superhero!!!!
Let’s wish him and Desi and superhappy Brad’s 40th birthday next week!!!
For additional election integrity coverage of the DemFest events please go to and join http://www.electiondefensealliance.org. Also
I hear ya, Big Dan. It’s now gone over the top. It is repugnant behavior by our “ally” Israel.
Bradblog Booed!
no wait
Poster on Bradblog booed!
no wait
Poster refers to someone being booed on Bradblog!
no wait
😉