Al Franken Knew?
Dean
I've been trying to stay away from the dogpile onto Air America and the issue of the inappropriate loan their management took of money that was supposed to be used for inner city schoolkids. The loan wasn't all that big (out of an operating budget in the tens of millions, this was a loan of a few hundred thousand), and it was believable that the on-air talent might not know about the deal.
It is, however, no longer realistic to believe that Al Franken didn't know. Franken signed a settlement agreement on it almost a year ago. Which means his claims that he didn't know are no longer credible.
Part of me wants to excuse Franken because (A) I've always liked him, and (B) I notice that the document he signed is a simple notarized "yes I was here and executed this document" agreement, which might--possibly--been among a slew of such documents he could have signed.
However, I ask myself: would Franken or his fans accept that as an excuse if it were Bill O'Reilly or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity? I doubt it.
Could this possibly be more ironic?
Of course, I also don't want to lose by playing too nice, either. But saying to Franken, "You may not have known, but you did sign" and that the result is legal if not moral culpability which requires criminal punishment, but not outright banishment from public life seems fair to me.
And yes, I know, this makes me a better person than the Lefties. But I already knew that, and being more decent than a Lefty sets the bar of morality too low to be useful anyways. Its like giving Gorbachev the Nobel Peace Prize for not starting an unwinnable nuclear war.
50s - Raised during a period of great economic prosperity; never having to fear Depression or World Wars like their parents.
60s - where most were protesting the war, not because they cared about peace or Communism, but because they didn't want to get drafted, instead stay home get high and have "free love"
70s - so obviously selfish, that the decade was named for these 20-30 somethings that only cared about themselves (probably thinking they deserved this after "WE STOPPED THE WAR").
80s - The Decade of Greed; they're name for a decade where the economy turned around but still feeling guilty about making money....
Yeah, those Duck and Cover drills were just for exercise, and the Korean War was just a bunch of rednecks getting drunk, and of course the Commies weren't really ahead in the the Space Race, and of course they weren't trying to get nukes to kill us.
Nah, yer right, the 50's were just like Leave it to Beaver.
Yes, there was a lot of fear of the Bomb back in the 1950s and early 1960s, and then revived during the Communist "nuclear freeze" campaign of the 1980s. But there would have been more fear without the Bomb, a million men sacrificed in an invasion of Japan, and then Stalin taking over Western Europe.
Did we fear nuclear destruction? We were more concerned about keeping ourselves going as the free half of the world that was determined not to be swallowed up by communism. Frankly, it wasn't until those 13 hollow days and nights in October 1962 that most of us thought this planet was about to burn up like a piece of toast. All because Kennedy made the mistake of letting Nikita Khrushchev think he was some sort of weak patsy over because he sold out the Cuban freedom fighters whom his government had recruited, trained, armed, then abandoned to Castro's jails on the beaches of the Bay of Pigs. But that, of course, was after the 50s had run their course.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Yes, indeed, I sat up sometimes and watched Saturday Night Live. (Mostly I didn't watch TV at all.) But they had some serious and heavy-duty talent working that show. Funny, I just don't remember Al Franken in that category.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
I think Franken, like most people right and left, is a fallible human, and I would be willing to accept his explanation if it was, "Christ, I was signing all kinds of stuff, lots of loan repayment and other things. I had no memory of that." I wouldn't put him up against a wall and execute him.
But I have to say this should be an object lesson for those who sling around accusations of venality and dishonesty for a living.
But regarding Franken, I have to ask, what has he done for us lately? We're all supposed to be cool about Robert Byrd's past because of what he's done since he left the KKK, judging him on his more recent activities. If we hold Franken to the same standard, he's worse than useless. I can see liking his earlier work, but liking him personally? Just doesn't fly for me.
Go to Michelle Malkin's blog, and read the linked post.
Scroll down and you'll find this:(emphasis added)
Now... "He may have just trusted the people who wrote the contract and didn't bother reading it; he may have had a lawyer read it for him and the lawyer didn't mention the loan;"
Since it's his signature at the top of that form, and the form says that the each of the Parties has in fact read this Agreement and undsertands its terms, then he's a liar or an idiot. Or, he's a liar and an idiot, and trusts an incompetant lawyer.
I have to point out that that the total amount is at the TOP of the AAR LIABILITIES list.
So mister "lying liars, ad nauseum" put his personal signature on a very important legal document, even though said document clearly states that the signee did, indeed read and understand the document, and the best you can do is that "he trusted his lawyer!?"
Hell, just for that he should be put into prison for pure stupidity.
Actually, "I never read the document" -although an incredibly stupid defense- is the only way he can claim he never heard of the funds in question. While "the laywer didn't mention the loan," it was -I repeat- clearly listed under AAR LIABILITIES.
And (as for "nothing remarkable") how in the white Christ can a man sign a document listing $875,000 in liabilities due to a children's club and forget about it!? Shouldn't "Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club" raise some sort of warning flag??
I have to call bullshit on this one. Either Franken signed the document and he's lying his ass off now, or he was bone-head dumb enough to sign a document his lawyer handed him, and he should go to jail for pure stupidity.
And if anyone wants to start slinging around "what about [token right-wing talking head]?" I'd say the same damn thing.
When you consider that Franken's stock in trade is that liberals are smart and conservatives are stupid, I say let the dumb SOB dangle in the wind as a lesson to the next nitwit who signs a paper he doesn't understand.
Dean,
First, it wasn't a "I was there and I executed this document," situation, if you read the details. It was a "I read this document and I affirm that I understand it" situation. Big fracking difference.
And -by the way- it wasn't "a few hundred thousand," but nearly a million: $875,000 as clearly stated (again) in AAR LIABILITIES.
I guess I'm too old-school; I'm a part of the "you sign it, it's yours" brigade. No takebacks.
Now maybe, just maybe if he spearpoints the hunt for the malefactors inside Air America, I might be inclined to cut him a tiny bit of slack; but only some. Odds are he'll be on his knees, sucking anus to the powers-that-be in AAR for the forseeable future.
He's been outed as a dishonest hypocrite, and should be treated as such.
I am, on the other hand, inclined to cut Janeane Garafalo some slack, just cuz she's cute, even if she has gotten rather shrill the past couple of years.
It is (a) not impossible that this page was taken from a completely different document and inserted fraudulently by someone, and that it's some OTHER instrument that Franken thought he was signing, or (b) it's possible there were a slew of these things, with literally dozens of funding sources, so he might not have noticed.
B is obviously a weak excuse because you're quite right, if you sign something like that for a business liability you should know what you're signing. And I grant, there's no way Franken would let, say, a Limbaugh or a Hannity get away with that, he'd be merciless on them for anything similar.
Limbaugh is fat, an endomorph. O'Reilly and Hannity are both good Catholics. Hannity is a mesomorph, a man's man's man. Coulter is as much as ectomorph or more so than Limbaugh ever was an endomorph, down to the skin and the bones.
Leonard Peikoff was much better than any of them, though. As the saying went, he could whip Rush Limbaugh with half his brain tied behind his back. Too bad he's not still on the radio. 'Twould have been interesting to hear a debate between Limbaugh and Peikoff. Peikoff once debated Phyllis Schlafly and a liberal named Phil Wexler. Wexler was for the welfare state but he agreed with Peikoff on foreign policy -- anti-totalitarian. We need more liberals like Phil Wexler. Today, he'd be called a "neo-conservative". Leonard Peikoff and John Ridpath have also debated socialists.
"B is obviously a weak excuse because you're quite right, if you sign something like that for a business liability you should know what you're signing. And I grant, there's no way Franken would let, say, a Limbaugh or a Hannity get away with that, he'd be merciless on them for anything similar."
In a way, I have to agree with that double standard in this case, hypocritical though it is of them. Leftists like Franken may be corrupt, but they have also never struck me as particularly intelligent. They are easily duped. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.
On the other hand, if a Limbaugh, a Hannity, a Coulter, an O'Reilly, a Liddy, or -- Rand forbid! -- a Peikoff, ever did any such a thing, I would have to conclude that he knew what he was doing, because those people are just much too intelligent. I would then have to condemn him for such a moral lapse. Fortunately, such a man or woman almost always has moral convictions that would deter him or her from such a lapse.
Wnen somebody on the Left disagrees with me, he may be stupid and evil but often he's just stupid. When somebody on the Right disagrees with me, he's just evil. I prefer evil.
I completely feel you on this one. You can always depend on evil to do what's in its own best interests. Stupid and evil doesn't know what its best interests are - they're just not yours.
Ok, I'll admit that (a) is theoretically possible... :)
He's still a loud-mouthed schmuck entertainer who takes himself waaaay too seriously.