Al Franken Flips Out on CNN

NewsMax.com ^ | 8/26/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Al Franken must be having a hard time these days.

The liberal media have been parading him on all the shows -- to claim that the liberal media is not liberal at all, but really a right wing propaganda machine.

These liberal media outlets (along with a silly lawsuit from Fox News), have helped to propel Al Franken's new book into the bestseller lists.

But it would only be fitting that when appearing on a liberal network Franken would complain he is being censored.

Decent folks were aghast at such chutzpah on CNN's Crossfire Monday, when Franken subbed for James Carville as the show's co-host, pitted against conservative Tucker Carlson.

As anyone who watched the program saw, Franken was given more than enough time to air his baseless complaints about a right wing cabal taking over the major media.

All was fine while Franken and ally, Joe Conason, also out with a book claiming -- you guessed it -- the right wing control the media -- monopolized most of the conversation.

No doubt they were reveling in the good old days, when a typical TV talk show had four liberals and no conservatives, or one token conservative who was rudely interrupted anytime he dared challenge the prevailing p.c. sentiment.

So when Carlson and fellow conservative, talk show host B.Q. Cullum, began challenging the notion that somehow the major media like the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, the three major networks, CNN, MSNBC, and practically every other media outlet in the country are and remain -- liberal, Franken clearly had a panic attack of seismic proportions and flipped out -- on air.

Franken's hysterics began as soon as B.Q. challenged his claim that the Clinton administration "were building the military that won the war in Iraq and that won the war Afghanistan."

B.Q. responded, accurately, that the Clinton administration was "not funding -- they were not funding the military."

Co-host Carlson tried to add his two cents, when Franken clearly became unglued and began screaming, no less than four times, "I am the co-host of this show. I am the co-host of this show. I am the co-host of this show. Let me say one thing. I am the co-host of this show. I get to say this. Now, Dick Cheney ..."

Franken's unusual behavior drew some nervous laughter from the audience, and even his co-host Carlson was taken aback, saying, "Al, your face is actually twitching, so you're starting to make me a little nervous."

Later, after returning from a commercial break, Carlson again noted Franken's freakish behavior.

Carlson said to Franken, "Your face is starting to twitch again, Al. You are making me nervous, I have to say. I love having you here, but ..."

When Carlson went to wrap up the show, and fade out for the final break, Franken started again, in his nasally high pitched voice, "No, no, no."

A baffled Carlson, who handled himself with great poise, looked at Franken and again tried to end the show.

Here's the transcript:

Carlson: "I know. I'm sorry. We're totally, completely out of time. I'm getting it in my ear. They're saying they're going to cut us off."

Franken: "No, no, no, no."

Carlson: "Yes. No. It's true."

Franken, unrelenting: "Because I've got to say this."

Carlson ". . . I'm sorry."

Clearly, after this show Franken has more evidence of conservative bias for his next book, "How CNN's Conservative Censored Me and Other Ways Right Wing Enterprises Silence Paranoid Liberals Like Me."

We're not finished with Franken.

Let's put aside his dramatics and review the subject matter at hand.

Is the press biased in favor of conservatives?

As Carlson stated, the evidence is not anecdotal. Studies show the press to be very biased, to the liberal side.

Carlson cited one study: "This is a survey from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. And it asked journalists to describe their own political leanings. This is self-reporting: liberal/Democrat, 61 percent; conservative/Republican, 15 percent."

Another baseless claim made by Franken:

"Now, Dick Cheney said that any secretary of defense fights with the military that was given to him by his predecessors. And he said that after the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the first person he thanked was Ronald Reagan. I think Bill Clinton is entitled to that same call from Donald Rumsfeld."

First, Bill Clinton needs to call America and explain how he allowed al-Qaeda to grow for more than a decade.

In the same call he could also apologize for emasculating the CIA and FBI -- to the point that 19 foreigners could penetrate our borders and hijack four jets on Sept. 11, 2001.

There is no question that Mr. Bush, just months into his presidency, truly did inherit this disaster from his predecessor.

More to the point, Clinton also needs to make a second call to Mr. Bush and explain why he reduced America's military capability by almost 50 percent during his eight years. Unlike you Al, the numbers don't lie.

Clinton could also tell him why military stocks had been so depleted after his war in Kosovo and bombing aspirin factories that the Pentagon's arsenal was practically depleted of smart bombs or cruise missiles when Mr. Bush arrived at the White House.

A little story the press has not fully reported: it took more than a year for the Bush administration to go to war against Iraq, partly because it had to keep munitions factories running 24/7 for a year to rebuild stocks depleted during the Clinton years.

Yes, America "won in Iraq and Afghanistan," as Franken says.

But we won because of smart bombs and hi-tech equipment developed largely during the Reagan build up of the 80s -- a build up so vociferously opposed by Franken and his ilk.

We also won because of the greatness of our troops and their commanders -- many of whom persevered during the 90s to serve their country under a commander in chief they did not respect.

[Yaelle]

Ha ha ha ha ha! Too bad his big head didn't actually pop off of his little body in his hissy-fit!

[hotpotato]

Franken's hysterics began as soon as B.Q. challenged his claim that the Clinton administration "were building the military that won the war in Iraq and that won the war Afghanistan."

Now I'm really confused. I thought the left has decided we have not won the war in Iraq OR Afghanistan and that we are losing on both fronts.

[meanie monster]

Remember "vote for me, Al Franken". LOL

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

He has a reputation for being unable to control his temper, and for nearly getting into physical confrontations with people.

He debated my pastor once on a local (Seattle) afternoon show. My pastor is very cool, very calm, very big (was in the NFL before his ministry) and pretty much nailed Franken to the wall - and Franken was visibly ummmm...unhappy.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

His big head is obviously mostly empty space - big head; pea brain.

[weegee]

Carlson cited one study: "This is a survey from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. And it asked journalists to describe their own political leanings. This is self-reporting: liberal/Democrat, 61 percent; conservative/Republican, 15 percent."

What was the remaining 24%? Communist?

[DB]

It seems to have something to do with guys named "Al"...

[martin_fierro]

He debated my pastor once on a local (Seattle) afternoon show. My pastor is very cool, very calm, very big (was in the NFL before his ministry) and pretty much nailed Franken to the wall - and Franken was visibly ummmm...unhappy.

I'd've paid ca$h money to see that.

[martin_fierro]

Libs love these baboon-a$$ed histrionics.

They call it "passion."

[CyberAnt]

Yeah, I thought Iraq was a QUAGMIRE !!

[strela]

Anybody get a vidcap of this?

[nickcarraway]

This is a ``dog bites man'' story.

[RandallFlagg]

If they really wanted to boost ratings, they'd have put Frankenstein against Ann Coulter. Frankenstein would have gone Jerry Springer on them all.

Someone please ping me if they find a video of this. Thanks.

[nickcarraway]

If they really wanted to boost ratings, they'd have put Frankenstein against Ann Coulter.

That's too scary! The emotional trauma could have made Al permanently revert to his ``Stewart Smalley'' character!

[Bonaparte]

It's been obvious for years that Franken is seriously deranged. And yet Harvard and CNN can't get enough of him. What does this say about them?

[patj]

I saw part of this as I was surfing. I thought Franken kept yelling "This is my show" over and over. Since I never watch CNN, I didn't know he was a sub, but he is still nuts. On another subject; did anyone else see Brit Hume go after Karen Tumulty (sp) from Time last night? She was visibly angry.

[Russell Scott]

Its obvious from him mocking God in his new book, he has some demons using his brain as their playground.

[Samwise]

Now I'm really confused. I thought the left has decided we have not won the war in Iraq OR Afghanistan and that we are losing on both fronts.

Maybe I can explain...

Rule 1 of Liberalism: Facts, logic, and consistency are irrelevant.

[mhking]

Damn. Now I wish I had watched.

Is CNN gonna yank his sorry butt for tonight?

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[csvset]

Al Franken as a child.

[Wondervixen]

>>He has a reputation for being unable to control his temper, and for nearly getting into physical confrontations with people

My husband loves people like that...They give him an excuse to knock their teeth out almost from the word "GO"

[The_Media_never_lie]

Is there any way I could see this? This was great. for once a mantra spouting, factually oblivious lib comes unglued on national TV. Where can I see a tape of this?

[RWG]

I heard most of joe conason's appearance with Micheal Medved. Medved has got to be the smartest person in the media and his command of history and current events is equalled by no one else. But Medved tolerated way too much from joe. In fact, most media tolerate way too much from extreme leftists. Where is the public outrage about the Texas democRATS? Why isn't someone every day ridiculing the sabotage of the electoral process? The missing Texas legislators have nullified the votes of Texas residents who put the Republicans into a majority role.

Politicians act as if shame were real and a factor in voting, otherwise they wouldn't cover up their faults and level charges against opponents. Non-leftists ought to recognize this fact and go after the traitors.

[SkyPilot]

This is the actual picture CNN uses to advertise Franken for Crossfire:

[SkyPilot]

Crossfire transcript HERE

[prairiebreeze]

I didn't see Brit but E.D. Hill lambasted Al FRanken yesterday! She says he indirectly referrs to her as a "drunken woman" in his book. The incident that Franken bases this on was at some journalists dinner that many media personalities attended. Thing is though, E.D. is trying to conceive and hasn't been drinking. And wasn't that night.

She called him an idiot and other names on air! I was surprised at that.

Prairie

[alnick]

If they really wanted to boost ratings, they'd have put Frankenstein against Ann Coulter. Frankenstein would have gone Jerry Springer on them all.

Now that would be fun to watch.

On second thought, Franken would probably punch Ann in the face, so maybe it wouldn't be such a great idea.

[smith288]

Al needs some time with Stuart Smalley. He needs some affirmation.

[Publius6961]

Anybody else have a problem with the results of ADA?
Anybody?

Ahhhhhhh...
The beauty of unintended consequences!

[babaloo]

Missed Brit last night. Can you elaborate on the Tumulty exchange?

[Fawnn]

It's been obvious for years that Franken is seriously deranged.

According to Laughing in the Shadows by Patricia Wynn Brown, Michael O'Donoghue -- one of the original writers on Saturday Night Live who died in 1994 -- "hated Al Franken and once threw a script Franken had written out a 17-story window." (Evidently getting any respect has been a long time coming for poor Al. Ironic that the same Franken who's been adopted by the far left was, before his recent rantings and right-hating tirades and books, most famous for his SNL Stewart Smiley skit that parodies the new agers.) ;)

A bit off topic for this thread, but if you're curious, you might want to read Michael O'Donoghue's How to Write Good. That piece was written as humor, and although it was written in the 1970s, it is still spot-on about some of the journalism techniques used to slant the news. (Note: I set the How to Write Good link to open a new window so that it doesn't take you off of this thread.)

[Green Knight]

Ping.

[Fawnn]

I read somewhere that E.D. from Fox and Friends is upset with Franken about something he put in the book about her. (Referred to her as being the "drunken blonde" at an event; the event he mentions took place when she was either pregnant or trying to get pregnant and therefore wasn't even drinking.) I didn't catch that show. Anyone know about it?

I followed a link on another thread and read a part of Al Franken's intro to his newest book. Based on the incident at the LA Book Fair televised on booktv.org/CSpan-2 where Franken confronted O'Reilly and that book intro look into his thought patterns, the kindest conclusion I can reach is that Franken is a scary, sad demon-haunted being. (I can't quite bring myself to call him either a person or a man.)

[driftless]

Franken was interviewed on CNN yesterday by some women I can't identify (I rarely watch CNN). She asked him about the infamous shouting match with O'Reilly. Al responded that he was just casually pointing out to Bill what a "pathological liar" (actual statement by Franken about O'Reilly) he was. The interviewer then pointed out some of Franken's own lies including something about stolen material from Harvard and a few other things...something about Ashcroft I believe. You should have seen the stuttering and ers and ahs coming from Franken then. Why it was all just a joke he exclaimed. "But they were lies" repeated the interviewer "weren't they?" Remember this was CNN grilling the Great Unfunny One.

[Fawnn]

Never mind about the E.D. incident. Answered in this post while I was posting my question.

[xrp]

Somehow, I don't think Ann Coulter would take kindly to being punched in the face.

[Quilla]

Prariebreeze mentions the show in #27. I saw the segment yesterday morning. E.D. had just arrived on the set for the 6 am (central) program. She was furious as someone had just told her about Franken's comments in his book. You could tell Steve and Brian were leery about her getting into it as E.D. is known to get a bit excited. Apparently, Franken describes events from the Washington Correspondence dinner. He walked up to the Fox table and started harrassing the guests. He claims that a drunken blond (E.D.) took his picture. E.D. explains that she wasn't drinking but she knows he's referring to her. She called him a liar several times and an idiot. She went on to say anyone who bought his book was an idiot as well. Although Steve and Brian were whincing, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[PGalt]

Anybody giving this NOBODY a forum or a mention is in for a ratings dive. Franken is a lose/lose situation.

[Fawnn]

The interviewer then pointed out some of Franken's own lies including something about stolen material from Harvard....

In her article posted on this thread, MICHELLE MALKIN mentions how "[t]hanks to Court TV's Smoking Gun Web site www.thesmokinggun.com, we now know that the Saturday Night Live leftover abused his position as an 'academic fellow' (now that's funny) at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy in a puerile attempt to trick Attorney General John Ashcroft into publicly sharing his personal experience with abstinence...." (Franken sent letters to Ashcroft and others using Harvard stationery; the letters contained lies about the replies he said he'd received.)

In the introduction to his book, Franken mocks how the research for his book was actually done by his Harvard "students."

[Fawnn]

Thanks! (I'm sure sorry that I missed the show that day!)

[Quilla]

Yes, Franken is a loser. I have all along suspected that Amazon's bestseller rankings are tampered with since Hillary's lies remained at the top for as long as they did. Franken's just released fiction is currently #1 at Amazon. They should change their company name to Amazing.con.

[jonalvy44]

that's classic...I'd love to have seen that. Crossfire has been plummeting for some time, they moved the show and cut it to 30 minutes. Thank God (can I say that here? haha) I don't have to see Paul Begala's bulbous head anymore.

[smiley]

Side whispers throughout most talk show circuits is that Al Franken is in need of mental health therapy and is a walking time bomb. Just a matter of time before he actually physically attacks someone.

[mhking]

My co-host today is author Al Sharpton -- Franken. Sorry.

Tucker's not as much a doormat as he seems, eh?

[Rome2000]

Al Franken is a lying four eyed raving moron.

[Republican Red]

I posted the smoking gun story a few days ago. It also shows the letter Franken penned.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/967423/posts

[SuziQ]

Remember "vote for me, Al Franken". LOL

He used to be vacuous, yet slightly amusing when he used to appear on SNL. Nowadays he's just vacuous!

[katana]

Beautiful woman or not, Ann would kick his a** in a heartbeat.

Never pick a fight with the long and lanky types. If you're a slow, short armed, myopic squirrel like Franken, superior reach and leverage alone would seal his doom.

Even if it didn't come to blows, the dismantling (and unmanning) he'd undergo trying to debate Ann Coulter would be PPV type material. Plus, being a good conservative girl, if he takes a swing she might just have to shoot him.

[ko_kyi]

Rule 1 of Liberalism: Facts, logic, and consistency are irrelevant.

Addendum to rule 1: Facts, logic, and consistency are worse than irrelevant, they are the tools of the oppressor.

(I actually heard one of Farrakhan's flunkies say that once.)