Ethics For Ye, But Not For We

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Al Franken bashes tobacco companies from the stump, among other places.

Indeed, check out this entry from his “campaign blog“:

Al Franken, who hopes to challenge Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., next year, says he delivered a stern message to friend Tom Hanks at a fundraiser in Los Angeles last month.

“At one point I talked about the contrast between me and Norm, which was that he takes money from Big PhRMA and Big Insurance and Big Oil and Big Tobacco, and I’m taking money from Big Comedy,” Franken recalled in an interview Wednesday. “And I said, for example, I don’t think I’ll be writing any earmark in for Tom Hanks.”

According to Franken, Hanks stormed out of the room, bringing the house down. Then the actor returned to applause, pointed to Franken, and the two said in unison, “Big Comedy.”

It is to chuckle.

But as it happens, he’s not above dipping his fingers into Big Tobacco’s deep pockets.

Local lefties are un-thrilled at the news.

44 thoughts on “Ethics For Ye, But Not For We”

  1. c’mon mitch, where is the intellectual honesty in this one?

    An heir to a tobacco fortune who is holding a fund raiser for Franken is not the same thing as taking money directly from the Tobacco industry.

  2. Isn’t it?

    Maybe, maybe not.

    It’s not like anyone would let it go unnoticed if were a Republican.

  3. Good thing Brooke Astor died. Wouldn’t want any candidates to soil their hands with money from Big Beaver.

  4. Fulcrum,

    Expecting intellectual honesty here is like expecting milk from a turnip.

    And Mitch, it’s not like you’d let it go unnoticed if it were a Democrat, but then again, you’re NOT a republican. What a load of BS, par for the course I guess.

  6. Bigger than that is the fact that Franken is mining out-of-state donors for cash rather than actually campaigning with the people he intends to represent. California does not need a third Senator, and Minnesota deserves a Senator who is representative of Minnesota’s interests, not the California political elite.

    I hope that the DFL ends up nominating that clown. Franken is a loose cannon and someone who will not play well at all with anyone outside the city limits of Minneapolis or St. Paul. Minnesota already elected a joke to office once, I rather doubt anyone is too keen to do it again.

  7. “Expecting intellectual honesty here is like expecting milk from a turnip.”

    Which brings up the standard question. Why do you continue to come here and, worse, continue to comment? I mean, it’s not like anyone takes you seriously. You’re like AngryClown, except with a monotone, none of the snark, and endless pixel after pixel of Kerry-esque droning with any points you may be trying to make lost in your preening, self-important balderdash.

    If it were only possible to taser a comment troll. . .

  8. And Mitch, it’s not like you’d let it go unnoticed if it were a Democrat, but then again, you’re NOT a republican.

    Er…huh?

  9. Which brings up the standard question. Why do you continue to come here and, worse, continue to comment?

    Er, yeah.

    I mean, everyone’s welcome (except Doug, anymore), but, like, if it’s that unfulfilling or aggravating or…whatever… then why?

    It’s not like leaving comments here does anything to change the world, one way or another.

  10. “I mean, everyone’s welcome (except Doug, anymore)”
    Yeah, thanks for that Mitch.

    Jay, Al is a New Yorker. I know more about angryclown ‘s favorite deli than Al knows about the average Minnesotan. At least Norm Coleman took the time to actually work here before presuming to the Senate.

  11. I love how provincial you guys get in the sticks. You figure anybody who moves there must have an ulterior motive cause, like, who’d actually want to move to Minnesota? Get a little self-esteem, Kerm. Angryclown’s been to the Twinkie cities. Couple times. They seemed pretty nice. Come to think of it….

    Sen. Angryclown (I-Minn.)

    What do you think?

  12. Col. Cathcart asked: “Why do you continue to come here and, worse, continue to comment?”

    Cause you guys are in desperate need of some relief from the little wingnut echo chamber you’re sealed inside of.

  13. Aw, gee, AC, thanks for your heartfelt concern. However, you should probably be aware your “relief,” such as it is, between your brand of slapstick snark and Peevish’s brand of elitist, meandering, endless and incoherent literary diarrhea, lays bare the idiocy of moonbats such as the two of you and makes us stauncher wingnuts, because the moonbat alternative is too horrifying to imagine.

  15. Its a moot point in any case. Frankenfreak won’t get past Ciresi let alone Norm.

    He was funny in Trading Places however. I think that may have been his peak.

  17. “love how provincial you guys get in the sticks.”

    Yeah, we don’t need to import Senatorial candidates from places like Massachusetts and Arkansas. Must be a drag having all those people and so few qualified representatives.
    But you do have Chuck Schumer. You must be so proud.

  18. Both MN senators (Dayton & Wellstone) voted against the Iraq war resolution. Both NY Senators (Clinton & Schumer) voted for it.

  19. “An heir to a tobacco fortune who is holding a fund raiser for Franken is not the same thing as taking money directly from the Tobacco industry.”

    How do you figure? Doesn’t the money come from the same place, the production and sale of tobacco products? Personally as long as tobacco is legal, I don’t really care.

    If this was a hundred and fifty years ago, would you make a distinction between getting money from someone who used to be a slave trader and one who was still in the business?

    Again, I have no problem with big tobacco, the entity that is cleaning up from the sale of tobacco is the US government, but if Al is slamming tobacco on the campaign trail, taking old tobacco money seems just a little hypocritical.

  20. Ah, but the tobacco heir didn’t have to do the grubby business of producing and selling a product to get rich. Old money is clean money. Just ask the Kennedy’s.

  23. No glib defence of carpetbagger Senators in New York and the fools who vote for them. Not surprising. Mayne when Chuckie Scumer hangs it up y’all can elect Rosie O’Donnell to the Senate. Or Barry Manilow.

  24. That’s the difference between a state where people value what you can do and not how long you’ve been in the same place. I’ll take our carpetbag Senators, like Hillary Clinton and Bobby Kennedy, no problem. People come to New York to make it big. You’re terrifed that folks only go to Minnesota to pull something over on the local rubes. Very sad, Kerm.

  28. angryclown said:

    “People come to New York to make it big”

    So New York is like flypaper for people with low self esteem?

  30. Cathcart, your signal to noise ratio is dropping dangerously. You must post something interesting, entertaining or, at least, remotely relevent very soon, or Angryclown will be forced to exclude you from his notice.

  34. Congrats on hitting the jackpot, Yos! Being ignored by the ignoramous bitchieclown is a badge of honor.

  35. AC bragged “That’s the difference between a state where people value what you can do and not how long you’ve been in the same place.”

    Which is a nice way of sidestepping the fact that New York has been the Main Bitch for the DNC for decades.
    How do they get you all to bend over at the same time?

  36. It’s worth a lot of money to ensure that the people who know what they’re doing are in charge, rather than the wingnut God-botherers from backward states like Alabama, Kansas and Wyoming. You happen to live in a fairly progressive state but, unaccountably, choose to be backward.

  37. I’m backward? Because I think spending billions on trains is a dumb idea? Because I value life, even the unborn? Because I think murderers should be killed (especially in Iraq)? Because I would rather make decisions about my own life without the Government dictating them?
    You have an odd definition of backward.

  38. Progressivism is the status quo, Kermit. Therefore by honoring tradition you are really going backwards. The more progressive society becomes, and the more you stay where you are, the faster you will be going backwards.

  40. It’s you lazy heartland wingnuts who always favor “protecting” your jobs by keeping energetic immigrants out. Not to mention anti-competetive welfare payments to U.S. farmers.

  42. Sorry Kerm, forgot the top reason you want to keep immigrants out is that you’re closet racists.

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