Pinned Down
By Mitch Berg
Al Franken wants to be your next Senator.
But he didn’t bank on Swiftee, who buttonholed him on Saturday at the Minnesota State Fair:
Swiftee: “Well I am convinced that you yourself were not involved in the actual money exchange, but it is inconceivable that you were not aware that money that was meant to send kids to summer camp ended up in your pocket.” “Have you sent that money back to the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls club?”
Al: “Well, Air America is paying that back and…”
Swiftee: “I’m asking about you Al. I’m asking about the money that went from The Gloria Wise charity to your pocket. What did you do, personally, to make things right?”
Al: “You know they still owe me hundreds of thousands of dollars..”
Swiftee: “Yeah, they are running out of charities to turn to I guess.” “Look Al, you are running for the Democrat endorsement, the Democrat platform is supposedly built around concern for kids, especially poor kids. Don’t you think it smacks of hypocrisy to have kept those funds?” “You may not have known about it at first, but you found out a long time before you car to admit it, and you certainly know about it now; why not send it back today?”
Al: “So, do you want me to answer?”
Swiftee: “Absolutely”
Al: “Well I, you know this story has been twisted so badly, you know there is a newspaper called the New York Post and, it’s known as a conservative paper, and (turns to FrankenTeamster), what was that guy’s name?”
Swiftee: “Forget what the Post said Al, its all lies. I’m asking you, Al Franken, candidate for US Senate to explain what has happened to money that you received that was supposed to have sent those kids to summer camp.” “You’re not going to deny that some of that money was paid to you are you?”
Al: “Well, you know, Air America was being run by people who were not honest, Evan Cohen and (unintelligible)…they were crooks. I didn’t have any knowledge of the financials (unintelligible).”
And I loved this bit:
Al: “Well, look, my lawyer put a blank piece of paper out for me to sign, it was an addendum actually, the document was dozens of pages long, and I signed that addendum, yes, but I didn’t read it.”
Mrs. Swiftee: “You’re saying that you signed a legal document without knowing what it said?”
I love the photo Mrs. Swiftee took:
Never have I so wished to have been at a campaign function with a tape recorder.
It’s going to be a fun campaign season.
August 27th, 2007 at 10:38 am
The old media filters are gone. Now we get to challenge the other side. No more free rides.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Yeah, but will anybody listen? I’m thinking that the, err, leftwing noise machine would have to make a lot of noise in the general election to drown these questions out.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:42 am
In Minnesota? I suspect the folks who would vote for Franken are going to engage in “I-don’t-care” overdrive mode.
They still have Kerry-Edwards stickers. They’re going to treat him like the new Wellstone! candidate.
Come to think of it, who isn’t their new Wellstone! candidate?
Mondale!
Klobochar!
Hatch!
Wetterling!
Franken!
Inanimate Carbon Rod!
August 27th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Wow.
I just read the whole exchange…Swiftee twisted Franken like a pretzel.
August 27th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Swiftee meets Franken…the intellectual equivance of Einstein meeting Paris Hilton.
August 27th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Hey! Al wrote a book. A bunch of them! He created the funniest character the history of comedy: Stuart Smalley. Stuart Saves His Family was pure Aristotle.
August 27th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
“Swiftee twisted Franken like a pretzel.”
and Mrs. Swiftee applied the salt.
August 28th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Frankenfreak will never make it past Ciresi let alone Coleman.
August 28th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I think he’s actually got a better chance than Ciresi… or put it this way, I think it is Franken’s to lose.
August 28th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
I concur with Badda. Ciresi may have the dough, but Franken’s got mo’.
The party faithful seemed to have smoked something that makes them believe that Franken can’t lose. Well, as always in MN, there’s a 50-50 chance that the DFL can’t fail no matter how badly they stumble, and a 50-50 chance that they’ll find a way to shoot themselves in the foot.