Comedian Al Franken: "George Bush is Going Down"

If the crowd present to hear comedian Al Franken at the Rochester Convention Center Sunday night has anything to say about it, President George W. Bush “is going down” to defeat in November. <!--break--> <br><br> “After 9/11, this country was the most united I have ever seen in my life,” Franken said. “The president had the opportunity to lead the country into a new American Century. He blew it. He hijacked 9/11 for his own political purposes and that’s why he is going down.” <br><br> Close to a thousand people cheered and clapped enthusiastically at those words, and the audience gave him a standing ovation when he concluded. <br><br> Franken was speaking at a fundraiser for Jewish Family Services in Rochester. The organization itself takes no position with respect to political candidates, but Franken’s talk was punctuated throughout with assenting murmurs and applause as he sharply criticized and poked fun at President Bush and his cabinet, particularly with respect to their handling of the Iraq war and occupation. <br><br> Franken made no apologies for his riotously partisan position. “Tonight I will talk politics, he began. “I’ve made no secret about the fact that I am a Democrat.” The crowd applauded loudly, as people clearly wanted him to do what he does best -- use his acerbic wit to excoriate the Bush administration for what he sees as its profound failures. <br><br> “It’s time to get rid of this incredibly radical conservative government we have,” Franken said, adding, “when Bush said in his campaign that he was against nation-building, I didn’t realize that he meant only our nation.” Franken pointed out that between the two Bush administrations, not a single net new job had been created. If you took the two Bush administrations together and had them run the country from its inception, he said, “today not one American would have ever worked. We would be hunter-gatherers.” <br><br> In spite of its record on jobs, the Bush administration has bragged about what it has done for the economy, he said. In its report on the economy in February, the administration actually bragged about how many jobs have been created in other countries through outsourcing. <br><br> Franken also poked fun at Bush’s support for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Using his “serious ad voice,” he proposed an ad to make the point that while Bush is against gay marriage, he has “nothing to say about terrorists getting married. Right now terrorist couples are plotting to sanctify their love in holy matrimony and then blow up the Holland Tunnel.” Franken exhorted the audience to call George W. Bush now and criticize him for being “weak on terrorist marriage, because unlike gays, terrorists can breed.” With his superb comic timing, Franken waited a beat, and then said “This message is brought to you by the Coalition to Distract You from Real Issues.” <br><br> Franken reserved his most biting criticism for Bush’s handling of the Iraq war and occupation. <br><br> At first he was ambivalent , he said. Colin Powell’s assertion before the United Nations that Saddam Hussein was a clear and imminent threat to the United States and other countries because of his possession of “Weapons of Mass Destruction” was very convincing. In particular, Franken brought up Powell’s insistence that photographs of aluminum tubing with “anodized coating” could mean only one thing, and that is that Hussein had or was very close to possessing nuclear weapons. That anodized coating would be present on those tubes for only one purpose, Powell said, and that is to be used as a centrifuge for creating weapons grade plutonium. <br><br> Franken said he trusted Powell more than anyone else in the Bush administration, and took to heart Condoleezza Rice’s assertion that “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” <br><br> Five months later, Franken said, a nuclear specialist at the Oak Ridge nuclear laboratories told reporters from the <I>Washington Post</I> not only that the tubes were the wrong size -- in order to adapt them for creating weapons grade plutonium, the first thing they would have to do would be to “mill off all the anodized coating.” <br><br> “We were lied to,” Franken said. The audience went completely silent as Franken paused before going into his next riff. <br><br> “President Clinton lied about his sex life,” he said. As a result, married couples today discuss exactly what adultery means. “My wife has told me that oral sex <I>is</I> adultery. Maybe that’s why we’ve had none since we were married.” <br><br> “The so-called liberal press covered the Monica Lewinsky story for a year an a half. A few did not,” he said. For instance: “<I>Sailing Magazine. American Grocer Monthly. Jugs,</I> and <I>Big Butt</I>.” <br><br> “It is one thing to lie about your sex life and another to lie about why you are sending young men and women into harm’s way,” he added, to thundering applause. <br><br> The question that must be asked, Franken said, is “What did the president know and if not why didn’t he know it?” And if he did not understand, did he ask to have the intelligence briefings explained to him? Did he know he didn’t understand? “This question must be asked repeatedly and in an accusatory tone.” <br><br> Franken is no slouch when it comes to supporting American troops overseas. He visited Iraq during a USO tour a few months ago. He also visited Kosovo and Bosnia three times each. Despite his sharp criticism of the Bush administration at home, he said he kept his performance low-key and “Bob Hope-y” while in Iraq. Most of the troops are the same age as his own children. He said there is no way he would have told them, “Your president lied to you, and you are dying for no reason.” <br><br> Nonetheless, Franken clearly believes that to be the case. <br><br> Franken fans and critics will be able to hear him live weekdays on the radio beginning March 31 from noon to 3 p.m. on the new Air America Network, to be broadcast in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The program will also be available on the <a href=http://airamericaradio.com>internet.</a>.

<p>If the crowd present to hear comedian Al Franken at the Rochester<br /> Convention Center Sunday night has anything to say about it, President<br /> George W. Bush “is going down” to defeat in November.</p> <!--break--><p><br /><br /></p> <p>“After 9/11, this country was the most united I have ever seen in my<br /> life,” Franken said. “The president had the opportunity to lead the<br /> country into a new American Century. He blew it. He hijacked 9/11 for<br /> his own political purposes and that’s why he is going down.” </p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Close to a thousand people cheered and clapped enthusiastically at<br /> those words, and the audience gave him a standing ovation when he<br /> concluded.</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Franken was speaking at a fundraiser for Jewish Family Services in<br /> Rochester. The organization itself takes no position with respect to<br /> political candidates, but Franken’s talk was punctuated throughout<br /> with assenting murmurs and applause as he sharply criticized and poked<br /> fun at President Bush and his cabinet, particularly with respect to<br /> their handling of the Iraq war and occupation.</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Franken made no apologies for his riotously partisan position.<br /> “Tonight I will talk politics, he began. “I’ve made no secret about<br /> the fact that I am a Democrat.” The crowd applauded loudly, as people<br /> clearly wanted him to do what he does best -- use his acerbic wit to<br /> excoriate the Bush administration for what he sees as its profound<br /> failures.</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>“It’s time to get rid of this incredibly radical conservative<br /> government we have,” Franken said, adding, “when Bush said in his<br /> campaign that he was against nation-building, I didn’t realize that he<br /> meant only our nation.” Franken pointed out that between the two Bush<br /> administrations, not a single net new job had been created. If you<br /> took the two Bush administrations together and had them run the<br /> country from its inception, he said, “today not one American would<br /> have ever worked. We would be hunter-gatherers.”</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>In spite of its record on jobs, the Bush administration has bragged<br /> about what it has done for the economy, he said. In its report on the<br /> economy in February, the administration actually bragged about how<br /> many jobs have been created in other countries through outsourcing.</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Franken also poked fun at Bush’s support for a constitutional<br /> amendment to ban gay marriage. Using his “serious ad voice,” he<br /> proposed an ad to make the point that while Bush is against gay<br /> marriage, he has “nothing to say about terrorists getting married.<br /> Right now terrorist couples are plotting to sanctify their love in<br /> holy matrimony and then blow up the Holland Tunnel.” Franken exhorted<br /> the audience to call George W. Bush now and criticize him for being<br /> “weak on terrorist marriage, because unlike gays, terrorists can<br /> breed.” With his superb comic timing, Franken waited a beat, and then<br /> said “This message is brought to you by the Coalition to Distract You<br /> from Real Issues.”</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Franken reserved his most biting criticism for Bush’s handling of the<br /> Iraq war and occupation.</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>At first he was ambivalent , he said. Colin Powell’s assertion before<br /> the United Nations that Saddam Hussein was a clear and imminent threat<br /> to the United States and other countries because of his possession of<br /> “Weapons of Mass Destruction” was very convincing. In particular,<br /> Franken brought up Powell’s insistence that photographs of aluminum<br /> tubing with “anodized coating” could mean only one thing, and that is<br /> that Hussein had or was very close to possessing nuclear weapons. That<br /> anodized coating would be present on those tubes for only one purpose,<br /> Powell said, and that is to be used as a centrifuge for creating<br /> weapons grade plutonium.</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Franken said he trusted Powell more than anyone else in the Bush<br /> administration, and took to heart Condoleezza Rice’s assertion that<br /> “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Five months later, Franken said, a nuclear specialist at the Oak Ridge<br /> nuclear laboratories told reporters from the <i>Washington Post</i><br /> not only that the tubes were the wrong size -- in order to adapt them<br /> for creating weapons grade plutonium, the first thing they would have<br /> to do would be to “mill off all the anodized coating.”</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>“We were lied to,” Franken said. The audience went completely silent<br /> as Franken paused before going into his next riff.</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>“President Clinton lied about his sex life,” he said. As a result,<br /> married couples today discuss exactly what adultery means. “My wife<br /> has told me that oral sex <i>is</i> adultery. Maybe<br /> that’s why we’ve had none since we were married.”</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>“The so-called liberal press covered the Monica Lewinsky story for a<br /> year an a half. A few did not,” he said. For instance: “<i>Sailing<br /> Magazine. American Grocer Monthly. Jugs,</i> and <i>Big Butt</i>.”</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>“It is one thing to lie about your sex life and another to lie about<br /> why you are sending young men and women into harm’s way,” he added, to<br /> thundering applause.</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>The question that must be asked, Franken said, is “What did the<br /> president know and if not why didn’t he know it?” And if he did not<br /> understand, did he ask to have the intelligence briefings explained to<br /> him? Did he know he didn’t understand? “This question must be asked<br /> repeatedly and in an accusatory tone.”</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Franken is no slouch when it comes to supporting American troops<br /> overseas. He visited Iraq during a USO tour a few months ago. He also<br /> visited Kosovo and Bosnia three times each. Despite his sharp<br /> criticism of the Bush administration at home, he said he kept his<br /> performance low-key and “Bob Hope-y” while in Iraq. Most of the troops<br /> are the same age as his own children. He said there is no way he would<br /> have told them, “Your president lied to you, and you are dying for no<br /> reason.”</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Nonetheless, Franken clearly believes that to be the case.</p> <p><br /><br /></p> <p>Franken fans and critics will be able to hear him live weekdays on the<br /> radio beginning March 31 from noon to 3 p.m. on the new Air America<br /> Network, to be broadcast in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San<br /> Francisco. The program will also be available on the <a></a> href=http://airamericaradio.com&gt;internet..</p>