Franken's comic confirmation turn

No one should expect any more from Al Franken than they saw of him on SNL. A leopard cannot change his spots and Franken will forever be viewed as a clown. But on reflection, he now is amoungst his real peer group.

I'm confused, is this article intended to be political news or entertainment? If political, wouldn't it be more appropriate to have at least one of Franken's real questions included?

Yeah, I'm with kilndown. I clicked the link expecting to see some of the politics, not a ridiculously offensive skit from SNL.

Very true, leopards (like Ronald Regan, Sonny Bono, Fred Thompson, Jesse Ventura or Arnold Schwarzenegger) can not change their stripes.

What a stupid article.

Franken got elected as a Senator and should be respected.

he WAS (WAS WAS WAS) a comic

Yeah, RH...Comedy is so easy. No intelligence required to make people laugh. No such thing in history of jesters being the ones using humor to point out truth and coment on society. No doubt you are an expert on clowning, and know how easy it is.
I'd love to check out some of YOUR work...any comedy stuff on YOUTUBE of you making people laugh? Or do you just write laughable coments...?

RH, don't confuse a sense of humor for lack of intellect. Franken graduated cum laude a year early from Harvard with a degree in political science. He will probably end up one of the best Senators in our lifetime. I'm pretty sure there are no leopards native to Minnesota but why would one want his "spots" to change? Smart, educated, father of two successful citizens, husband for 30 plus years.

No RH, leave the "spot changing" to the ptarmagan. In winter one color, in summer another a very pretty but wishy washy genus from ALASKA.

sabend wrote that the snl skit is ridiculously offensive. give me a break. i just re-read it a third time. who could be offended by that? only someone that wants to be offended, or looks to be offended.

I didn't know leopards had stripes....

Franken was only funny when he was the brunt of physical comedy, basically a very large Mr Bill.

Lighten up Francis. That SNL skit was brilliant.

This is making a farce out of the senate. Good luck America.

I just wish Al had been funnier to earn that stripe. His old SNL skits were just not that funny.

Franken is a winner....Palin is a loser and now a quitter. Ooooh, now thats painful.

I thought Franken was funny until I read the comments #5, & #7 . Hilarious stuff.

"I clicked the link expecting to see some of the politics, not a ridiculously offensive skit from SNL."

Much of that skit was quoted verbatim from the Thomas hearings themselves.

If you were offended, take it up with the Senate.

The ability to play with language to point up comedic absurdities (as with "jumbo shrimp") was used by Franken to good effect when he noted that another member of the committee asked if the term abortion appeared in the Constitution or Bill of Rights and ended with the question does the word "privacy" appear in either document (it doesn't). Franken is a intelligent guy who employs intelligent people to do research for him.

And what is entirely missing from this humorous side was Franken's serious questions to Sotomayor on her views on internet access in the "Diamond X" case which was about internet service providers and their ability to regulate access and content which has strong free speech implications for everyone posting on this board. Of course this is totally left out of any MSM reporting on Franken yesterday.

Leopards have spots only as babies. Then, they're called "fawns."

To tell you the truth I have more respect for comedians and writers than I do for politicians. More poignant statements have been uttered on SNL than in the Senate.

It appears that Franken has the last laugh. As I wrote in Franken Wins on www.citizenpoet.com, the enduring clown is really Bill O'Reilly who has infamously associated himself with Stuart Smiley.

Great job Minnesota
All you voters proved that YOU are a joke......just like your Senator.