Let's define 'vulgar'
Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, Bush’s former chief speechwriter, has spent most of the year devoting his columns to bashing Barack Obama. Today, he mixes things up a bit by bashing a different Democrat he doesn’t like: Senate candidate Al Franken.
Consider his article in Playboy magazine titled “Porn-O-Rama!” in which he enthuses that it is an “exciting time for pornographers and for us, the consumers of pornography.” The Internet, he explains, is a “terrific learning tool. For example, a couple of years ago, when he was 12, my son used the Internet for a sixth-grade report on bestiality. Joe was able to download some effective visual aids, which the other students in his class just loved.” Franken goes on to relate a soft-core fantasy about women providing him with sex who were trained at the “Minnesota Institute of Titology.”
Orwell would be so proud.
“Porn-O-Rama!” is a modern campaign document every voter should read — the Federalist Papers of lifestyle liberalism. It has the literary sensibilities and moral seriousness of an awkward adolescent nerd publishing an underground newspaper to shock his way into campus popularity. But, in this case, the article was written in 2000 by a 48-year-old man.
Gerson goes on (and on), highlighting various excerpts from Franken’s satirical works, some of which are funny, and some of which aren’t. Gerson’s broader point, it seems, is that Franken has contributed to a coarsening of our culture — in the “cause of relevance and realism” — and it would be another setback to allow this coarsening to affect our “political discourse.”
Gerson insists politics “should not actively push our culture toward vulgarity and viciousness,” which, Gerson argues, “Sen. Franken” would do.
I’m all for a civil discourse, but I find Gerson’s complaining wildly off-base.
First, Gerson makes no effort to appreciate the distinction between candidate Franken and satirist Franken. To hear Gerson tell it, Franken will be telling risque, profanity-laden jokes on the Senate floor. This is foolish — Franken may have a background as a comedian, but he’s serious about politics. Our “political discourse” will remain unchanged, whether Franken’s quick wit is brought to Washington or not.
Second, Gerson’s right about having Franken used, shall we say, “salty” language in his comedic work, but I’m not sure why Gerson believes contemporary politics is free of this kind of talk now. When Gerson’s former boss decided to launch an unnecessary war, he proclaimed, “F**k Saddam, we’re taking him out.” When Dick Cheney ran into Pat Leahy on the Senate floor a couple of years ago, he said, “Go f**k yourself.” John McCain, someone Gerson praises in his column for his civility, has cursed out most of his Republican colleagues who have dared to disagree with him. (Last year, discussing immigration policy, McCain screamed at Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), saying “F**k you! This is chickens**t stuff.”)
And we should be worried that Franken might worsen the “vulgarity and viciousness” of modern-day politics? How, with a few scabrous jokes? My hunch is, our political system will survive just fine. (Indeed, given Norm Coleman’s priorities and policy positions, bawdy humor should be low on voters’ list of priorities.)
Ultimately, the biggest problem with Gerson’s complaining isn’t that he’s a prude; it’s that his priorities are hopelessly misguided. Josh Marshall noted:
…Michael Gerson, who helped bring us Dick Cheney, state-sanctioned torture and official lies to lead the country to war lets us know that Al Franken is the Vulgarian at the Gate. He’s also concerned about “the cooperation and mutual respect necessary in a functioning democracy.”
Exactly. Gerson was a top aide in the Bush White House. He wants to talk about “vulgarity and viciousness”? The day after we learn that a CIA counterterrorism lawyer told interrogators at Gitmo in 2002, “If the detainee dies, you’re doing it wrong”?
The mind reels.
Gerson: Pot meet kettle
Translation: Michael Gerson doesn't get laid very often.
Boy I can't wait to read Gersinner's writings when Rush runs for office!
US Imperialism = vulgar
blood for oil = vulgar
racism and sexism and ageism = vulgar
hypocrisy = vulgar
homophobia = vulgar
mortgage foreclosures = vulgar
soaring energy costs = vulgar
BushCo = vulgar
I'm confused...
How would Orwell have been proud?
I have a feeling Gerson is just a hack.
Gerson wrote speeches for Shrub. Hardly the arbiter of good taste or literary value.
Al is going to make a great senator.
If Franken didn't see this coming, then he's not smart enough to hold public office, but that's never stopped anyone else that's been elected.
"vulgarity and viciousness"?
I'd take those anyday over a war without end 3, 000+ of our soldiers dead and god knows how many Iraq victims.
We are now known for our stupid president and our freedom and liberties9which are really not so great beacuse Bush and Cheney need to change them all the time) BUT, we think the rest of the world should look up to us anyway.
Give me vulgar anyday. Viciousness hopefully will go away when bush goes back to Texas.
BobD @ 3:
What about Falafel Bill? He's written his share of smut, as well as expressed it verbally to unwilling participants. At least Playboy readers paid for their subscriptions.
i wouldn't vote for al franken.
he may be a progressive, funny, a good writer, smart, famous, and politically astute, but he will always be a comedian to me.
he also worships bill clinton.
Al has it locked up anyhow.
He is a good man and the Minn voters know it.
Sure Gerson. You're still pissed because Al's article wasn't in Blueboy magazine.
Does Gerson not know that this was satire and not real?? Moron.
Emma Hussein Goldman @ 10:
Good point, where was Gershin when Mrs. Cheney's soft porn came out? I heard nothing of that book before the election! Scooter's got a book too. Maybe he and Jeff gannett were having writing sessions when Gannon had his sleepovers!
marko @ 11:
I watched SNL back then. He wasn't much of a comedian. :) Give him your vote, he is strong enough to run knowing that PBS has footage of him talking about doing coke until 4 in the morning while writing for SNL. Hey, it was the 70's!
Considering most of the drool from the delusional, regressive hacks like Gerson is the definition of vulgar, this is just another example of wingnut hypocrisy.
Franken can be very funny, and like most comedians he can fail to get a laugh at times. I don't think i am alone when I can't seem to come up with many comedians that are right wingnuts and also display any good humor?
Vulgar? The entire right wingnut establishment is vulgar and..........____________ (fill in the blank)!
Gerson had over 800 comments, mostly (like mine) giving him hell for this obvious hypocracy. For a self professed Christian, he doesn't seem to have heard of "Take the beam from your own eye before you try to remove the mote from your neighbor's eye."
marko @ 11:
So you would vote for Dubya's butt pug Coleman? You sound like a comedian too....a bad one.
BennyP @ 12:
I was reading yesterday how Al's tax issues have dogged him and that Coleman is now polling ahead of him. I hope its not true and he goes on to win. He's a good guy.
I'm sure Gerson's article appearing right now was no coincidence but just a part of the coordinated rightwing smear machine.
"Orwell would be so proud".
Can someone explain that comment to me? Is Gerson just talking out of his, because that makes no sense.
The title, "Blue Skies Initiative" would make Orwell proud. I could probably come up with another 20 examples of conservative phrases that Orwell would chuckle at. But I don't get Gerson's meaning. Was he just trying to sound all 'literated and stuff?
Why would Al Franken write stuff like that? Who made him do it? Could it be..........S A T A N?????
Gerson is more charitable than I would be in describing Franken's alleged "sense of humor."
On the other hand, perhaps Gerson hasn't heard any of Franken's limericks about the leprechaun with diarrhea that aired on Air America.
Franken lost all credibility with me as any flavor of progressive during his chest thumping cheerleading for the recent Israeli Slaughter of Lebanese Civilians.
Still, he's a better choice than Norm Coleman, and asking anyone to censure Israel and expect to get elected in the USA is still, sadly, beyond the pale.
Speaking of vulgar, I sent a letter to Gerson asking him to repost his scathing indictment of Dick Cheney when he said FU to Senator Leahy on the floor of the Senate.
Huh? Oh, he didn't write a scathing indictment of VP Cheney...?
Nevermind.
This editorial was in out local paper this morning. My first thought was why would a Washington inside the beltway columnist be writing a hit piece on a Minnesota Senate seat? Could it be that there is some serious man love between Gerson and Coleman? Is it that the Republicans are so worried about this November that they have to reach from afar to try and tilt races? Could it be that Gerson is just a dweeb as evidenced by nearly everything he writes? Could it be he is going into contention with Cal Thomas to be King of the inside the beltway dweebs?
I liked Gerson's article so much I just contributed $$ to Franken's campaign. Do you think that's what Gerson was intending? Ha, EFF that right wing hack. Let's get Al Franken elected. I'm from MN, so I'll be supporting him. Dump stinky Norm Coleman.
marko @ 11:
I see worshiping Clinton as a good thing. Let's see, Clinton ran a surplus, times were great, unemployment low, booming economy.... Clinton was the best president we've had in the past 50 years.
Why is it objectionable that Franken is a comedian ? He also is an outstanding political analyst with superb insights.
Ronald Reagan will never be more than an actor to me.
Jesse Ventura a body slammer.
Sonny Bono a (bad) singer.
And George W. Bush ? You guessed it, the Village Idiot.
I say let's bring a little humor into Washington.
vulgar [vuhl-ger] (adj): characterized by using your role as speechwriter to provide the words to the lies, conjured up by cheney and rove
Gerson:
A repug is an animal with soft 'ittle ears
Kicks up at anything he hears
His back is scrawny and his brain is weak
He's just plain stupid with a stubborn streak
And by the way, if you constantly rewrite the rules
You'll grow up to be a repug fool
~ sing to the tune of "Swing On A Star"
And Democrats are the donkeys? Har! Eff this idiot and candy-assed complaining. He oughts to go get a sense of humor.
gerson shouldn't encourage kids to read 'playboy'
He helped Bush and Cheney slaughter hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Certainly not vulgar.
he may be a progressive, funny, a good writer, smart, famous, and politically astute, but he will always be a comedian to me.
thomas jefferson will always be a farmer to me.
I love it when right-wingers go on FOX News and rant about liberals coarsening our culture as O'Reilly or some other tool nods in agreement. FOX News' sister network, FOX TV, has consistently lowered the bar on American TV from 'Married With Children' to 'Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire' to 'Temptation Island' and on to the crap they're showing today. Rupert Murdoch has done more to drag America into the gutter than any other individual.
Micheal Gerson seemed to have no qualms about serving in the Bush Administration alongside Scooter Libby, a man who wrote about liittle girls being intentionally placed in bear cages so that the bears would then rape them.
Bonkers @ 29:
*cough*
Swing On A Star?
i... ummm... what song?
;-)
One must consider the source. This is a hard-wired, neocon zombie Bushbot. Thoroughly brainwashed by his masters. Grasping difference between fantastical satire and reality is most likely something he is incapable of.
Franken describes himself as a satirist. His intellect and sensitivity to the lives of the the "average" American and his strong sense of ethics especially in government and public policy will be a boon to the Senate. Come on Minn. Coleman in a Dem. controlled House and Senate will only be an obstructionist.
hey! i loved married with children! it was a very smart show.
noen @ 14:
Sociopaths (right wingers) do not GET satire, irony, sarcasm, metaphor, pathos. You know, REAL humor. They only "get" locker room humor. It's what makes them sociopaths...
So Swift, Twain, Vonnegut, Orwell and many many more are confusing to them, they read it as writ, not what's implied. You KNOW people like this...
Republicans have personified vulgarity in almost every deed.
I wonder if anyone's ever had to explain to him that "A modest proposal" isn't REALLY about eating irish babies.
Cause they haven't, they really should.
Samson- @ 34:
This song (Sinatra's version, because the Crosby version at YouTube ain't my fave). But you know that, don'tchya?
Great lyrics, Bonkers!
Bitter Bud Hussein @ 5:
Orwell would not be amused, but he was certainly aware of the kind of twisted mind that could produce this kind of silly attack against Al Franken. He may have been able to muster a bitter "Oh, damn, here we go again" smile if he were alive to read this crap.
Big Brother, on the other hand, would have been proud of Gerson. BB would have loved the way Gerson makes use of Al's old Playboy essay that makes joking references to internet porn to attack, to accuse the soon-to-be-Senator of corrupting our culture and mores, when Gerson, himself, helped bring about the hideous corruption and malevolence of an Administration that has killed more than 4,000 Americans, maimed 10's of thousands of others, pandered to greed, destroyed the once-heralded American dollar, and gathered support from a gaggle of pedophiles, rapists, and other sexual deviants in order to start yet more wars and further diminish America in the eyes of the world. Yes, BB would have appreciated that.
Gerson is not a hack. Gerson is a douche-bag, bloated and used-up, and his writing really just represents the spillover. If Christ came back, He'd bitch slap this hypocrite until he cried for his mama -- and He'd hang out with Franken, have a couple of beers, and then go out and visit His wrath on the 29%-ers and their ennablers.
Orwell would not be amused
Phylter @ 38:
needs to be black and white......no grey areas...requires thought
Hmmmm, lets see here. I live in Minnesota so, in one corner we have someone that wrote some politically incorrect jokes. In the other corner, we have someone that has been a Bush boot licker, illegal war supporter, poor-people hating, middle-class hating, union-busting ass-wipe. Jeepers, this is going to be a really tuff call, but I think I'm going with the bad joke writer this time.....
Q. How many repug comedians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A. Both of them.
DJ @ 21:
Sure, I can explain it to you.
Gerson never read anything by Orwell.
Remember that these are the same idiots that tried to coin the phrase 'Liberal Facists'. Two words that have virtually the oppose meanings.
Liberal: For the people. A well run government represents the people.
Fascism: Authoritarian Nationalism. Domination of the people.
The funny thing is, the GOP, and their bootlicks, know what they are doing. They are trying to associate good things, with bad.
Example: War is Peace (Didn't a republican politician actually say this recently?). Ironically, that phrase could be described as 'Orwellian'.
We have the face facts. The republican party is a party of fascism.
the main thing is to get franken elected and then sit back, relax and watch bill o'reilly's head explode.
When I saw Gersons article, all I could think was....well all I could think is summed up accurately in the above comments. What a joke this guy is as a speech writer for Bush he has no right to say what good and bad speech are...the above are why my faith in my country is being restored, to know I am not alone in being sick and tired of the way things are and using my mind instead of fear to determine the course of the future.
votingvet @ 42:
Sounds like the Second Coming is going to be more interesting than I'd thought!
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 45:
LOLOLOLOL! I didn't know there were TWO of them...
Left&Left @ 19:
i am from missouri you dickwad, i can't vote for either!!!
i wouldn't vote for coleman for any reason.
As Dennis Miller, Norm MacDonald and that other short-lived answer to TDS that ran on Faux News for about a hot minute all prove, Republicans don't know comedy beyond, maybe, a kick in the balls.
Phylter @ 50:
Yeah, Dennis Miller and that pedophile drug addicted gasbag.
St. Paul Scout @ 44:
this b.s is directed at teritary minneapolis/st.paul suburb types...and let's not forget small town peeps.....city dwellers could give a shit
Actually, if Orwell were alive today he'd take a look at what's been going on in the US and say "You stupid nimrods, I tried to warn you!"
so torture is good, and satire is bad. even if the man didn't realize it was satire, this should hardly be an excuse for such idiocy.
So has anyone got a link to the actual Playboy article? All Google turns up is news articles and links to porn.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 55:
Orwell would sue Bush for plagiarism.
Rick @ 27:
1. clinton is a war criminal
2. clinton loves globalization
3. clinton ran nafta through
4. clinton has so little respect for his wife, and women, and the democratic party he will fuck anything that move regardless of the consequences
5. clinton is friends with GHWB, buddies, pals
6. clinton ran his mouth and was one of many reasons his wife isn't a candidate
7. listen to amy goodman interview clinton in 2000
8. clinton signed the telecom bill of 1996, for his buddy rupert murdoch
I don't know... I thought that Stuart Smalley bit was pretty vulgar.
So civility should outweigh relevance and reality?
I don't mean to coarsen the culture or anything, but fuck you and the horse you rode in on. It's our editorial pages that are decorated with excrement you vile, ignorant shithead.
Being Bush's speech writer is more obscene than anything Al ever wrote at SNL or said to Playboy. After Franken wins the Senatorial race in Nov, I'll watch the "factor" the next day for the first time...laughing my black ass off.
When they attack you with bogus morally issues and don't debate the real issues, you know that they are running scared. The Repubs think they see a vulnerable Demo candidate. Yet, in the back of their little minds, the Repubs know that any Demo who is articulate and hits home the real issues is dangerous to Repub political survival.
Franken has the entire summer to push his campaign. He has the drive and intelligence to make it work. Furthermore, Franken will have the benefit of Obama's coattails.
Minnesotans may be moody, but they aren't stupid. The state will come to realize that Repubs do not have their state in their best interest. Can You say underfunded infrastructure, levee breaks, and falling bridges?
Al Franken is vulgar and pornographic and Jonathan Swift advocated cannibalism. Bottom line is that Republicans don't get satire.
Al Franken was a very successful comedy writer who worked at the highest level of his profession. He's at least as qualified to be a senator as Ronald Reagan - who was at best a mediocre B-movie actor - was to be president.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 55:
You're right. That's EXACTLY what he would say.
The republican party, and the way America has been going, is exactly what Orwell warned against.
Figureheads like Bush, and the people they work for, like Cheney and his business partners, spin lies, upon lies, until people think they are truth.
They attack sources of knowledge and any form of education, while trying to replace them sources of propaganda. Ignorant people are the easiest to control.
With their secret prisons, spying on citizens, fear tactics, and creation of enemies, they are EXACTLY what Orwell warned people about.
Bush, Cheney, and their partners, need to pay for their crimes. We can't let them get away with this.
St. Paul Scout @ 44:
Ding! Good answer!! I too will be voting for Al in MN. I sent an email to gerson last night using a very similar comparison. I also game him some examples of what I though was vulgar. Including a picture of the screaming Iraqi girl (stained with her parents blood) after her parents were accidentally killed at a check point serviced by American troops. He wants vulgar? Send him to Iraq
or one of the secret prisons. Norm Colman, my ass.
marko @ 59:
Well, I agree with you there on NAFTA and globalization, but then the good outweighs the bad for me.
That's all you got ? The telecom bill ? He's friends with Bush Senior (and this is bad because..... ?) ? He likes sex (yawn, so do I) ? He lost his temper (like McCain or Cheney or O'Reilly have never lost THEIR tempers) ? Hillary did herself in and I'm not upset by that anyway - I have been a Barack supporter since the day Edwards dropped out. Too funny.
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 45:
How many conservatives does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Ten: 1. One to deny that the light bulb needs to be changed., 2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed., 3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb., 4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the light bulb or they are for darkness., 5. One to give a billion dollar no bid contract to Halliburton for a new light bulb., 6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush dressed as a janitor standing on a step ladder under a huge banner: 'Light bulb change accomplished!", 7. One administration insider to resign and write about documenting in detail how Bush was literally in the dark., 8. One to viciously smear number 7., 9 One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along., 10. And finally one to confuse the American people about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.
Bitter Bud Hussein @ 5:
He clearly doesn't understand anything about Orwell. Total Irony.
*
marko @ 59:
Oh, and if you dislike someone who loses their temper, who disrespects his wife (called her a c$&t), is friends with
the Bush's, and supports NAFTA, the telecom bill and loves globalization, then you had BETTER NOT vote for McCain.
me and myself @ 69:
Actually Both and 10 are hilarious. yuck yuck
Also, the comments on Gerson's piece were great.
The best, for me, was "It's worse to inspire profanity than to utter it. So shut up already Gerson.."
Orwell would be so proud?
thats easily the most confusing statement of all...
joe cantwell @ 47:
THIS is the major reason to elect Al Franken.
The other is that he's a very smart guy--who worships Paul Wellstone, not Big Dog.
Don't miss Thers discussion about "civil conversation" over at FDL. It took place the night of the great RBC mi/fl debate.
The F Word
I don't think re-PIGlics have even a basic understanding of Satire.
I read recently that Sociopaths literally understand basic concepts differently than those who are not sociapaths. They have a completely skewed world view as a result.
The world is completely going to hell because these people are running it. This helps explain a lot. The repiglic party is overflowing with these people. It's ground they've staked out and made their own. Home sweet Sociopathic home.
*
The Rovian pile-on, underway for months, is turning Franken into a leering deviant. It's working. Franken ought to be a shoo-in, but he's fallen way behind in the polls.
Funny how real deviants like Larry Craig and Mark Foley (and Bill O'Reilly) get to live under the Neocon Cone of Silence.
The lesson is that a normal person with a sense of humour, a stable family life, who's written some risque jokes and articles, will have his reputation destroyed.
Why the f*ck would any sane person go into politics at all?
Q. How many rethuglicans does it take to screw a country?
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.
.
.
.
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A. All of 'em.
Sorry Gerson ol chap, Tricky Dick Nixon already pissed on that decorum parade way back in the late 60's/early 70's... That whole Viscousness and vulgarity schickt? Already a fact of political lifer now, and Franken doesn't have a damned thing to do with that... But you knew that already didn't you... After all you and this administration has taken full advantage of that path the RNC and Nixon among others paved for you long ago... I don't have to recite chapter or verse... Much of the really nasty shit out of the mouths of your overseers is already highlighted in this threads leadin paragraph........
This fact makes your whole argument just so much pablum at the least and probably just another angle of vulgarity and oblique visciousness you are mining for your ideological boyfriends in the WH.... The short story on you and your phony plaintive wail for less of what you yourself sell regularly is spelled out in exact detail by helenahandbasket@1's post... . Indeed, pot meet kettle.......... You think Franken is going to be bad just because he was a commedian? You're a moron Mikie, you want real visciousness out of this language? Don't get me started dillweed cause I CAN go all nuclear with the vulgarity on your punk ass....JD
Win or lose i hope Al Franken writes a book about Gerson. Nothing Gerson could write would come close.
The first time i ever saw Al Franken on Saturday Night Live he drew, state by state starting with Maine a map of the United States on a white board. While doing so he explained something about each state. He is a genius. Gerson wrote speeches for Bush. He must be inteligent but i have serious doubts about his moral fiber.
It looks like we are going to have to fight more than the smears about Obama.
Gerson is simply another in a long line of right-wing concern trolls who feigns concern over our culture and how depraved it will become by someone simply uttering something. He feigns not knowing what satire is in this case, in order to make a really lame and unoriginal stab at coloring someone unfit for government work because the person in question "harmed" Gerson's sensibilities.
It's the most basic conservative ploy: X person will ruin your child's brain, so don't elect him. He's making the same case the idiots picketing Elvis concerts made 50 years ago. It's tired, lacks novelty in the extreme, and is simply concern trolling of the most obvious type. Of course, all of Franken's words are taken out of their context to make the point, which alone completely undermines Gerson's self-assuredly noble point.
Rick @ 71:
i think bill clinton will tell you he made some mistakes regarding NAFTA...Friedman told Reagan about it and Clinton became entrenched in it.Clinton pass it through a repub. congress.Clinton had the right intentions in my opinion but he listened to Goldman Sach's chief Robert Rubin....Clinton wanted to have labor/environmental provisions....NAFTA was a big move spin it how you want....it was a counter- revolution of the New Deal.....it has hurt many people revisions might be the answer....he had the balls to do it ...it has to have some regulation......sorry but mccain will never be able to think out of the box like clinton...go ahead with smears whatever
[It's an interesting topic folks, but it's off topic here. Please take the arguments of the WJC legacy to an Open Thread, please. Thank you. Site Monitor]
Franken's gonna coarsen our culture? what did he do, call his wife a trollop and a c**t?
How can all these people be so upset about Al's Playboy article if they haven't even read it? Is it really that bad? They make it sound like every teacher has been handing out the article at school. I need to read this. I've been looking and still can't find it.
Someone please link to Al's article!
Trittydi @ 77:
Your link was broke (I corrected it above). Profile of the Sociopath -- good reading. For understanding the less psychotic right wingers try The Authoritarians. Very revealing parallels when you contrast it with Bushco.
This guy who says that liberals acceptance of evolution leads directly to genocide is suddenly worried that our political discourse might get vicious? Give me a break
Of course this jerk Gerson had nothing to say about the issues.
Doubting_Terrance @ 85:
Here is part of it in a Playboy Endorsement of Al Frankin
[It's probably NSFW, folks, so watch yourselves if you're working. Site Monitor]
It's just Reslugs again wetting their panties, out of total desperation for their corrupt and criminal party.
Doubting_Terrance @ 86:
Thanks for the linkies. I see Dean's book Conservatives without Conscience is based on the research at your link about authoritarians. Dean's book itself is definitely worth a read, too.
the only thing that is truly vulgar is hate.
Someone needs to inform the bloggers out there that Al Franken is a comedian, and from time to time comedians will exaggerate information to be funny. He will not make our society any more vulgar than any other politician.
Norm Coleman and his surrogates are basing their entire campaign on the fact that Al Franken's comedic skills make him unworthy of serving in the U.S. Senate. Given Coleman's constant genuflections for BushCo over the past six years, this is clearly his best strategy.
I'm going to get drunk now...
Conservative, right-wing, reactionary parties/groups/individuals who typically fear/disdain/are contemptuous of their fellow citizens always turn the political discourse on trivialities -- loyalties oaths, pin, flags, manners, family values, work ethic -- to disguise their self-loathing and insecurities. Go to the source . . . . Benito Mussolini -- cookie-cutter architecture, jongoistic slogans, train schedules. He is the consumate corporatist/neo-con champion for special interest groups. The rationalist systems man wrapped in a flag and a solution.
xoites defends Constitution @ 89:
No, there is no nudity on this page. Ads for Playboy and a link with Al Frankin dressed as a Playboy Bunny with very bad posture.
[Pardon me for yet another intrusion, xoites, but with some net nanny type of software used by businesses today, it's not the content but the URL that sets off the alarms. Thanks. Site Monitor]
Sorry . . "jingoistic slogans . ."
BlueIndependent @ 82:
Well stated.
marko @ 11:
This makes me sad. In fact, being a Minnesotan, having met Al Franken, listened to his show and enjoyed SNL, I am still quite sad. The race for a Senatorial seat should be about the issues. Unfortunately, this election will not be.
Franken will be spending the next 6 months explaining what satire is to Minnesotans who aren't known for their deep sense of ironic wit, but do vote. On the other hand, their is a commercial running now showing Norm Coleman taking out the trash at his house, which is ironic in its own ways--not the least of which has to do with the nature of his relationship with his wife, but satire is what we are going to talk about.
Franken is a good campaigner. He gives a great speech. He is eloquent and has his head on straight(on most issues). He does have personal issues, however. Someone should have taken him aside and talked to him. The Minnesota Republican Party has read Live from New York. They aren't stupid and looked through his books, and perhaps are now compiling a list of offensive things he said on his radio show. Its a fairly obvious target.
So, in Minnesota we get to talk about satire. We get to hear it defined and argued. We get to hear about family values from *cough* Norm Coleman(roady throughout the early 70s for Heavy metal bands). But we won't hear about the issues. That makes for a sad, unfortunate campaign.
Ultimately, the truth is, this stuff does have power. Its possible that Norm ("I'm 99% better than Wellstone")Coleman will get to keep the seat in the Senate that went to my political hero because of Al's ego. Sad.
What makes me the most sad is that the Wellstone legacy becomes a more and more distant memory. My son says that he was "going to be the Governor..." A distant memory.
great.... and Bush is a Businessman?...A Second tier family heir??... a mildly mentally challenged man child?.... and no comedian. And Clinton oversaw the worst 8 years we ever had as a country???... my God - get your head out of your BUTT.... Al Franken wants to serve the great state of Minnesota ... not RULE them like the Norm the Jack -Off - Coleman.
I'm afraid we shall never again see the exqusite refinement of yesteryear, when the GOP Special Prosecutor reserved a dedicated link to EACH OF CLINTON'S BLOWJOBS.
Gerson's the typical conservative - no sense of humor at all except when Rush and his minions make "jokes" about people who are already dumped on by mainstream society (the homeless, gays, minorities, etc.). Besides, isn't he an Evangelical Christian? If he's so true to his religion, why the fuck is he reading Playboy?
I googled "Porn-O-Rama!" by Al Franken but couldn't find the article.
Anybody know where I can find it?
[I haven't tried it myself, jimbo, but take a gander at some of the preceding comments. xoites linked to a Playboy article. You might find a link in that. Maybe. Thanks. Site Monitor]
You crass liberals are ruining America with sexual fantasy and dreams. You daydreamers need to lay off the crack pipe and put down the pen.
Where as we conservatives are saving America by actually living our desires trolling public lavatories, cruising for pre-teens, racking up multiple adulterous affairs and beating the shit out of homos. Action speak louder than words and only action can save our nation.
If you are a person of action vote Republican.
Gerson's editorial was a classic example of conservatives just not getting satire. Much of what he complained about arose from him thinking that Franken was serious when he was adopting a satirical tone and using the language to either roast his subjects or using language similar to his subjects for comic effect.
There have been times when Franken's humor has been over the top even for me, but 99% of the time his "vulgarity" is finely tuned to make a point.
He obviously didn't get the memo that Franken was a comedian for thirty years before getting into politics.
Interesting, that killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and torture aren't considered vulgar, but a titty joke is.
"i wouldn’t vote for al franken..."
Yes you would.
"...he also worships bill clinton."
Worships? And as iffy as BC has been on some things of old and of late, you're telling me Al's support of him would make you jump ship? That's a game of chicken I don't believe you'll win.
You make the mistake of thinking they don't understand what Franken says is satire. They know what satire is (see PJ O'Rourke, the only conservative that actually DOES satire). Making it known that they know what satire is does not serve election year ends however (or their ends generally speaking), so Gerson will happily go about pretending he doesn't get it. The upshot of that stance is, while he will seem obviously dim, he will also come across as naively sincere, thereby winning the sympathy of readers and getting them to think: "Hey! Gerson may not recognize satire, but leave him alone! He's just trying to stick up for families!" Notice the emotional ploy? It's textbook republican, and once again you are caught discussing the finer details while readers pick up more readily on the emotional phishing, and walk away with their hook in your mouth.
Do not think for a second they are actually that dumb. They are Sun Tzu first, truly sincere last. If they were anything else, they might actually be making reasonable points in the halls of Congress. As such, they are not, so they don't.
Additionally, there's plenty of film footage of Arnold smoking pot and feeling up women in bikinis, and he happens to be the new hope for the Republican party. If there is such a thing.
If the right keeps up editorials like this, McCain might just get all 10,000 of his votes from the FLDS Sect.
Let me translate satire for Mr. Gerson
Franken's take on internet porn was remarking on the ease and efficency that porn access has acquired,along with the ridiculiousness of it's need in American society.
As such It was a comment on the degrading of civil discourse, so if talking about porn is porn Mike Gerson is a pornographer. Oh My!
marko @ 11:
Weren't you the troll in here the other day trying to defend and validate Rush Limbaugh's latest nonsense?
tim shea @ 111:
tim, you have got to include that in a letter to the editor at the WaPo! That's worth a lot more mileage than it will get here.
Vulgar means "of the vulgate", which means, "of the people". So, to be vulgar, is to be a populist.
joe cantwell @ 47:
I wish a thousand Obamas and Frankens got elected so all the Hannities and Limbaughs would just shoot themselves in the fucking head.
So Gerson really *does* read playboy for the articles!
Of course.
Your right-wing friends like Limbaugh, Malkin, Coulter, Hume, Hannity, and O'Reilly have contributed so much honesty, civility, morality, and thoughtful sensitivity to our airwaves.
Well, here's some vulgarity for you Mr. Gerson:
Go fuck yourself.
So?
Was it Franken who wrote Obama the Magic Negro?
ysbaddaden @ 119:
I feel like I know you well enough to know that you're not smearing Franken, ysbaddaden...No, it was Limbaugh and/or his people.
Timmy_D11 @ 115:
I used to say the exact same thing in the 90's about Hillary running for president and then when it finally happened Rush started urging Republicans to vote for her in the Democratic primaries Ann Coulter said she would vote for her instead of McCain. Etc.
So be careful what you wish for Bizarro World is just one dimension away from this one and the membrane that seperates us is very thin.
a protohominid @ 121:
Difference is Limbaugh wasn't supporting Hillary, just trying to create chaos in the Democratic primaries to weaken whoever the winner would be for the general election.
You know he'd be tempted to put a pistol in his mouth if she actually won the general.
I wrote Michael a little note of personal excoriation on this yesterday:
Michael,
Franken's 'too vulgar' to be in the Senate? Really.
You're afraid he might sully his high office by walking on to the senate floor and telling another senior elected official to 'go fuck himself', as did the Vice President?
Maybe you're afraid he'll shoot someone in the face and then cover it up for three days.
Perhaps he'll gin up intelligence to start a war (man's ultimate vulgarity) of choice that results in a million dead civilians, four million refugees, and costs this nation a couple of trillion dollars...that we're borrowing from the Chinese.
Maybe he'll reveal the secret identity of one of our spies for nothing more than political payback, to suppress dissent in a country where free speech is the rule of law.
You're writing as if neoconservatives, are due some kind of respect.
Respect, sir, is an earned thing. It doesn't naturally flow to the party of Larry Craig, Jack Abramoff, David Vitter and Dick Cheney, and George W. Bush.
They, like you, have richly earned contemptuous mockery.
You see, with zero credibility, you don't get respect.
Aren't you the fellow that said a 'looming mushroom cloud' was our causus belli, even though everybody knew the Iraqis didn't actually have WMD's? Aren't you the guy that provided the foundation of false, jingoistic rhetoric to take us to a bloody, useless, and expensive war?
For the record; Rove is worse than 'human filth'. Human filth, you see, doesn't think political victory at any cost, at the expense of the nation's health and reputation is acceptable. It just kind of sits there, stinking. That's the end of it's capacity to wreck the world. Rove is more advanced than filth. He's filth with the capacity to slither.
Fleisher would have to study ethics for seven years straight to achieve 'monkey' status. Monkeys generally aren't professional cyphers.
In closing, do us all a favor and remove your mouth from Fred Hiatt's pecker. It'll be easier, that way, for you to type your next load of specious crap.
Your cry for 'civility' is hilarious; you fuckers have been questioning our patriotism for going on seven years now. Anybody who opposed your catastrophic boondoggle was labeled as 'weak' or a 'dirty hippie' or 'un-American'.
Well, the nation can finally and clearly see who's been working against the interests of our Country, asshole.
Enjoy your time in the desert, fuckwit. You're going to lose more of the Senate, more of the House, and we're going to have a President Barack Obama. Oh, and a Senator Franken, too.
That's how bad you people have fucked things up. That's how incompetent you're perceived as being - we're going to have a Senator Franken!
And the best part is that there's nothing you can do about it, except whine like a little bitch, as you have in your column today.
Yours in vulgarity,
I'm reminded of the Vietnam-era joke: A protestor holds a sign reading FUCK NIXON. A police walks up and says, "Cross out the obscenity!" The protestor thinks for a moment, then crosses out NIXON.
How many articles has this author written about regarding all the actual arrests and convictions of republican elected officials on sex charges? Maybe in his mind it is better to atually do it rather than write about it.
I'm late to this post, but in scrolling through the comments, I'm surprised to find that no one has mentioned Scooter Libby. You know, the guy who worked in the White House who wrote a book that WASN'T SATIRE in which a young girl is forced to have sex with a bear in a cage. I don't recall hearing about any conservative outrage over that. These people are so blatantly hypocritical, it would be funny if it weren't so dangerously sad.
Let's see, which Democrat wrote a novel that contained lesbianism?
Oh, wait, that was Lynne Cheney.
What about the Democratic Governor who was in a documentary, comparing the muscle burn from pumping iron to the slang word for the completion of a sexual act? (and saying it over and over and over...)
Oh, wait, that was Arnold Schwarzenegger.
What about the guy that wrote a song that was purchased and sold it for use in a porn movie?
That was also a Republican. Two points if anyone can remember his name. He was from California, I think...
Torture is OK, but making jokes about porn, not so much?
It's like the hoi polloi
Which sounds like a luau dish
Or a political candidate from Hawaii.
So let's all go out and find us some hois.
Didn't bill o'really write books of soft porn
To match his manhood?
At least Franken doesn't plaster on the make up like a trollop you...
Well, at the end of the day, I think we can count on the "good people" of Minnesota to vote for that pillar of good taste and sound judgment, and all-around class act, Norm Coleman. When the chips are down, you can always count on Minnesotans to back the republicans.
I still can't believe that there's no link to the actual Porn-O-Rama article (the previous Playboy link just points to Al's 20 Questions with them). The way the damn (R)'s are whining you'd think the article was coming up as everyone's browser's homepage.
All this commotion about an old article that no one can find?
Rowdy! @ 4:
Yes, but at least they (repukes) don't make sexual references. God forbid! They keep it where it belongs, in an interstate restroom.
'3. clinton ran nafta through'
NAFTA was signed sealed and delivered under Bush 1 - but don't let facts get in the way of a good anti-clinton rant.
Onwards and upwards Al - at a minimum he will make politics more interesting.
UbuRoi @ 135:
Ummm, correct me if I'm wrong here, But Nafta was Reagan's baby, fine tuned by Bush1 and signed by Clinton.
If you disagree with this, please post a link verifying your position. Thank You.
Oh Jeez where to start? How about Bob Dole leering at a Britney Spears young enough to be his great-granddaughter in a Viagra commercial? Before running for POTUS?
How about the premeditated rape and murder of a 14 year old girl and murder of her family by US soldiers in Iraq? Or the rapes of so many US women by contractors in Iraq that the attending docs get the women confused?
Republicans... they sure know how to ignore the plank in their own eye for the dust mote in their opponents'. After Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Baghdad, Katrina, Plame they shouldn't be allowed to talk about obscenity for the next century.
"Ummm, correct me if I’m wrong here, But Nafta was Reagan’s baby, fine tuned by Bush1 and signed by Clinton."
Actually NAFTA's great champion was Al Gore, who decimated Ross Perot in debate on the issue. After that it was a done deal.
And the thing with NAFTA is in the 1990s no one gave a crap, because there were so many new jobs being created by the Clinton administration that employers like me were hiring any warm body we could get. It was the best time ever to be an employee and the worst ever to be an employer, but I was glad because it made the nation stronger and grew the middle class. NAFTA was meant to be revised over time if it started to suck.
That it sucks now is a commentary on Bush, not Clinton.
"NAFTA was signed sealed and delivered under Bush 1 - but don’t let facts get in the way of a good anti-clinton rant." This is not true. It was passed in 1993 after being championed by Clinton.
But... everyone was on board in those days, and frankly no one cared. The economy had turned around under Clinton so profoundly that if you couldn't find a good-paying job you didn't have a pulse.
karl @ 83:
Sorry moderator, you are right. The conversation evolved away from the topic. Just goes to show you though that so many times when a conservative is criticized (Gerson), the neocon response is to bring up Clinton. I love Franken and miss listening to him on Air America. Gerson's opinion is just that, an opinion - and a bad one at that.
You mean another former Bush hack has taken a job with the MSM to offer their special brand of analysis on the topics of literature, comedy, and events of the day?!? You'd think the Limbaughs, O'Lielly's and the rest of the Faux Fodder could generate enough ignorant ranting every day.
AL will WIN
ha ha ha ha hha
to bad the incompetant 8 years of GOP leadership
will LOOSE BIG AGAIN like 2006
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