A brief case study in the general suckyness of our media...
By Arlen Parsa on 6/17/2008, 11:15am PT  

Guest Blogged by Arlen Parsa of TheDailyBackground.com

As readers of The BRAD BLOG know, former comedian Al Franken will be the Democratic candidate running against incumbent Republican Senator (and Bush Buddy) Norm Coleman this November in Minnesota. The seat is a prime pickup opportunity to for Democrats this year, and Coleman is running scared. Franken was on CNN Monday night and was subjected to a truly awful interview by Campbell Brown. If you can stand to watch this lousy excuse for an interview, check it out:



For the entire five minutes Al was on CNN, Brown didn't ask him a single serious question about an issue of importance to his state. Of course, Al did a great job at swatting down her asinine questions and cutting through the fluff to get to the real issues, but it's still disappointing that this type of interview still happens.

The four questions that Brown asked him were essentially...

1. How do you overcome your history as a comedian? Doesn't this disqualify you from being in the Senate?

Well, having an entertainment past didn't stop Arnold Schwarzenegger from being elected as governor of California twice, and didn't stop Minnesota from electing Jesse Ventura as their governor. Plus, who says a person can't be good at more than one thing?

2. You recently found out that your accountant screwed up your taxes and you paid the government back in full, including the appropriate overdue fines. Doesn't this disqualify you from handling other people's taxes?

Well if it does, then shouldn't Norm Coleman also be disqualified since he's been instrumental in cooperating with George W. Bush to run up the federal deficit owed by all Americans with this war in Iraq? Coleman has voted with Bush almost 90% of the time since he was elected to the late Senator Paul Wellstone's seat in 2002.

3. Why are you even in this race? What are you really hoping to accomplish?

What'd she think he'd answer, that he just wants a business card with two sides to it: comedian and Senator? No, Franken wants what every other progressive trying to unseat a Republican this year wants: an end to Norm Coleman and George Bush's irresponsible lack of leadership and a return to real representational government for his state.

4. Don't you think it's going to be hard for people to take you seriously?

No, but I think it's pretty hard to take your interviewing skills seriously, Campbell. Just for the record though, Franken is no also-ran: according to the latest Rasmussen poll in Minnesota, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman is running about even with Al within the margin of error (48% to 45% with Coleman barely in the lead).

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Article Categories: CNN, Election 2008, Corporate Media, Mainstream Media Failure