Brodkorb Far Ahead Of The Curve Again
By Mitch Berg
A few weeks ago, the local Sorosphere tried to unload their brickbats at Michael Brodkorb for reporting that Al Franken’s handlers were working hard to insulate the former comic and SNL star from reporters.
“Pshaw” they said. Not exactly Pshaw, although I think the word is long overdue for a comeback.
But the story’s gone all national now; Kevin Duschere, of the Strib’s Big Question blog, notes:
According to The Atlantic Monthly, reporters covering Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race this year shouldn’t count on getting a lift from Al Franken.
That’s one of the amusing bits arising out of a largely flattering piece in the May Atlantic on Franken, considered the favorite to secure the DFL Party endorsement to run against incumbent Norm Coleman this fall.
The theme of the story by Atlantic senior editor Joshua Green is that Franken, who has built a wildly successful career out of being both funny and confrontational, needs to convince Minnesotans that he’s as serious and somber — and presumably dull — a candidate as any of the rest of them.
One of the ways for the Franken campaign to do this, according to Green, is to limit face time for reporters with the candidate as much as possible, to avoid the chance that he will make an unguarded remark that will explode into the headlines the next day.
Green found this out when he wasn’t allowed to ride along with Franken and his staff on a campaign swing in February through St. Paul, the suburbs and Isanti County.
Can you imagine if Michele Bachmann’s handlers kept reporters from seeing she was conservative? Or if Jesse Ventura was crazy? Or that Tim Pawlenty is a lawyer? Like all of those, “Funny” and “unpredictable” is Franken’s stock in trade. Is it honest, keeping that from the public?
Maybe, maybe not. You be the judge.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Norm Cloeman is one lucky dude. Just sayin’.
April 10th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Sorry, Coleman. No disrespect intended. Just typing without my specs.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Seems to me that Hillary never goes to or accepts open question formats. All questions need to be submitted in advance. Her first senate run had a “listening tour” where the people who did the listening were the audience.
Nothing new here.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
“Funny” and “unpredictable” is Franken’s stock in trade.
A bit of a correction, Mitch. Franken’s stock in trade is “funny” (in quotations very intentionally since we wasn’t anywhere near as funny as Chevy Chase, for example, nor most of the SNL crew) and confrontational. Brodkorb’s run many examples of his later quality showing his temper and arrogance, and it’s the real reason for the isolation.