GOP Throws The Kitchen Sink At Franken

The National Republican Senatorial Committee put out a kitchen-sink type ad Monday, accusing Al Franken of writing pornography, laughing at the disabled, humiliating minorities and demeaning women.

The meat of the ad is lifted, primarily, from Franken's time as a humorist. And it comes at a time when the Democratic challenger appears close to pulling of an electoral upset.

But the real back-story here is as much about Franken's opponent, Norm Coleman, as it is about the NRSC.

Several weeks ago, the Minnesota Republican pledged to launch a positive campaign. And, subsequently, he took down all negative advertisements. But he has done very little to demonstrate his disapproval of independent groups who are whacking Franken on his behalf.

The Coleman campaign insists that he is prohibited from interceding when it comes to the ads put out by the NRSC. The Senator himself has said that it would be illegal to personally contact outside organizations to "ask them to stop their negative ads."

But other candidates for office have done just that, including Rep. Chris Shays, a Republican from Connecticut and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona. And just this Sunday, Coleman emailed NRSC chair Sen. Jon Ensign about a direct mail piece sent out by the group's independent expenditure arm -- a pamphlet that looks like a children's book and accuses Franken of writing a pornography column in Playboy Magazine and "comedy routines about raping women."

In short, the Minnesota Senate race is witnessing mudslinging at least as dirty as that seen on the presidential level. And Coleman seems to be trying to appear above the fray while reaping the benefits of outside group attacks.

Comments

[SENATORCALLENBOWE]

IT WAS PROBABLY FROZEN THANKS 2 JACK FROST'S EARLY VISIT IN BURNSVILLE, MN :)

[FirstShirt]

Try throwing pie. He is a clown and would probably go along with it.

[Bluedog12]

Which candidates father was recently caught with a prostitute?

[DMcD]

The GOP really fears Al (as they should). Minnesota has an opportunity to "really change" things, in voting-in Franken. I envy them --- I'm stuck in San Diego [ Duke Cunningham / Bilbray territory ] and have little chance of making a difference, given the irrational nature of our local voters.

[violettefemme]

Hey there, I'm in SD too, (originally from NJ) and I agree with what you said about local voters and our elected officials. A very weird political climate here.

I remember how shocked I was once I settled in here and learned the local ways, to discover that what I had thought of as a surfer/hippie haven/groovin' California sunshine lifestyle was actually a Republican­/Christo-F­ascist/Neo­-Con/No Evolution in Science Class kind of place. Yikes!

I am thankful every day that the state goes Blue for Presidential elections!

Obama-Biden '08!

[rationalthought1]

This ad is hilarious. Its actually funnier than a lot of the routines on SNL.

[suhud]

Good heavens, PALIN demeans women!

[democracydiva]

TOTALLY

[katlade]

Can you imagine coming up with an ad campaign that utilizes a comic book like mailer that that no child should see? The GOP didn't think that would anger any parent - repub or democrat. Genuises. No wonder they are losing all over the place.

[DuPageDem]

Let's see, Franken's tacky jokes vs. what the Rethugs did to Wellstone and his family . . . boy, that's a tough one, I'm not sure which was worse.

[craneman]

and why didn't Coleman mention the audacity of Frankens visits to the troops in Iraq ?

[VPN]

He was too busy covering up his days of protesting as a youthful (as they now call it un-American) hippie.

[Chapmanp2]

Al Franken is a visionary genius. He spent years writing political satire & there's no way in hell you do what Franken has done without having an intricate understanding of what's wrong with the system.
Yes some people are probably offended by some of Franken's past material. You can't offend without having truth involved in one way or another. The kitchen sink strategy adopted by the GOP will be their final undoing. It hasn't worked this year & they haven't adjusted or found a message that resonates. The Republican party has become the boy who cried wolf & they've run Rove's playbook in to the ground.
Senator Franken's victory will be symbolic of the utter failure of the Republicans under GW Bush...

[SailFree]

This is about the best illustration of the day re the delusional nature of left wing thinking. Al Franken is a childish, petulant, mean hate-monger. And those are his good points.

[JohnDewey]

However, in the real world of facts and logic and rational thinking, your description, "childish, petulant, mean hate-monger," is actually a perfect fit for all of the following:

Rush Limbaugh
Bill O'Reilly
Michael "Savage" Weiner
Sean Hannity
Ann Coulter
Michael Reagan
George W. Bush
Karl Rove
Tom DeLay
Mitch McConnell
John Boehner
etcetera...

[JohnDewey]

Oops, I forgot today's reigning King & Queen of, "childish, petulant, mean hate-monger[s]."

John McCain and Sarah Palin.

[imipolex]

Watch out, SailFree, Hate(tm) and Hate-Monger(tm) are registered trade marks of the Republican Party, and associating them with liberal comedians could be illegal.

[lobear00]

The time has come when all "Lying Republican Snakes" should be put behind bars for life.

[SailFree]

But ignore Lying Democratic Snakes? Barney Frank? Chris Dodd? All those who created the financial crisis and mortgage mess but who escaped by blaming Republicans under cover of the mainstream media's deliberate blindness?

[Zeppelin1]

You forgot Ronald Reagan.

[Tobagogirl]

Excuse me? All of this economic mess happened under George Bush's watch! What about him. Sail Free I think I hear them calling you over at the Fox Website. Just go why don't you. You are talking S**T and you know it!

[ConCreteHead]

Here is a link to something very curious about the Coleman NRSC relationship.

Aside from running for the chairmanship in 2004 (Elizabeth Dole won) he is slated to take over at the beginning of next term (if Norm wins reelection) when Senator John Ensign term expires.

Norm is the favorite setting Republican to travel on behalf of the NRSC/GOP/RNC to speak to party supporters across the country which is purely partisan based on why a GOP majority matters and at the “expense” of the NRSC. These are some of the expenditures that Coleman has been accused of taking as outside of senate ethics rules, or at least how they were reported on his disclosure statements. So when he says he has no control over the message of the ad-spots pushed by the NRSC he is lying through this veneered teeth.

Norm has been nothing more than a political opportunist his entire political career. It's about Norm’s advancement to the next level of political office rather than his constituents. He licks his finger, sticks it in the air to see the direction the political winds blow, and then crafts his message around that premise. Whenever questioned on his voting record he uses “special circumstance” as an excuse to position himself as a moderate who had to make a tough choice playing party politics every time.

Check-out Norm’s slippery way around the truth!

http://mnpublius.com/2008/10/mnpublius-exclusive-norm-coleman-is-coordinating-negative-ads-with-nrsc/

[Bjarni]

Will be interesting to see if Franken/Coleman destroy each other and open the election up for Dean Barkley to win it.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_senate_elections/minnesota/election_2008_minnesota_senate

[Saoirsi]

"What about ME; Al Franken?"

[TrevorAlan]

Yes, the true Al Franken decade shall be the 2010's

[ChessLover4Obama]

Intresting ad...without a SINGLE charge proven!!! If you think this stuff doesn't have an impact, take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL20TdHjX2s

[Matt7]

Obama as President would be a good start in the right direction. But for those who think that we've "arrived" because a Black man will have gained the White House need only look at this clip to see how very far we have to go. We can do it, but EDUCATION and critical thinking will have to be at least as important, and as vigorously pursued, as understanding and willingness to overcome bigotry and fear-mongering.

It's going to take intelligent, thinking human beings, who for whatever reason identify themselves as Republicans, to stand up to your Party and demand that this kind of nasty, no-holds-barred lying and smearing stops. Why would they want to be identified with a Party that does such things? Is "winning" REALLY that important? And who really "wins" when garbage like this proliferates?

Not America.

[TrevorAlan]

I can't see your link, but the point is they're attacking his comedy which was satire. So everything they say could be technically true, but if you write satire and you say something sexist during that piece, it doesn't mean you were demeaning women, you could have been demening male chauvenist­s--showing the ultimate stupidity of their position. He once made a joke that McCain sat out most of the Vietnam war, which McCain laughed at.

This shows either desperation or a lack of a sense of humor, if not both.

[ChessLover4Obama]

Tested the link, it worked fine. You might need to update your player.