Live Chat with Al Franken

CampusProgress.org hosted a live chat with Al Franken on Thursday, March 3, 2005. Over 300 people signed on and submitted questions to Al to answer live from his studio in New York City.

Below is an excerpted transcript of the chat.

[05:02 pm] Al Franken: Hello, everybody. It’s great to be here, answering questions from young people from all over the country. You are the future!!! Okay, let’s go.

[05:06 pm] Mary Miller (University of Delaware, Milton, DE): Dear Al, I have been thinking lately about Johnson’s War on Poverty and all the good programs that came out of that effort (which was really started by Bobby Kennedy, as you probably know). I think it would be interesting to compare the War on Poverty with Bush’s War on Poor People. What do you think?

[05:07 pm] Al Franken: Absolutely, Mary. Bush’s tax cuts go to the rich; Bush’s program cuts go to the poor. But remember that programs like food stamps aren’t just for poor people—half of Americans get food stamps at some point between the ages of 20 and 65. Bush is cutting them. (That statistic is from Mark Rank, who will be on my radio show next Tuesday.)

[05:08 pm] Marlene Aderman (Roseville, CA): What can we do to expand progressive access to radio and get your program on TV?

[05:09 pm] Al Franken: Actually, my program will be back on the Sundance Channel starting in June, and we are expanding our radio markets as I type. Actually, Marlene, someone else is typing.

[05:12 pm] mj (slc, ny): Al, Al Gore once was rumored to be looking into acquiring a television cable station. It is evident there is a crucial need for more progressive dialogue on television; is there any movement toward investment into such a cable station – there clearly is a market for it.

[05:13 pm] Al Franken: MJ, this is no rumor. Gore is part of a consortium that has acquired a cable network. I’m not certain what he’s going to do with it, but I agree—a fair and balanced lefty TV network would be great.

[05:14 pm] Gideon Gordon (Yale University, Topeka, Kansas): How would Stuart Smalley analyze George W. Bush? (and yes, we know he’s not a licensed therapist)

[05:16 pm] Al Franken: I’ve talked to Stuart, and he believes that Bush is an untreated alcoholic—that he’s white-knuckling it and has substituted his addiction to alcohol with grandiose delusions of a direct relationship with God who has chosen him to be president and bring freedom to the Middle East. I think Stuart may have something there, though he is neither a licensed therapist and has not even a passing interest in politics.

[05:17 pm] Drew (University of Kansas, Nortonville, KS): Al, Listen I have listened to every show since the beginning a year ago. I’m a HUGE fan. I just finished Lies, also great book. Here’s my question, Ann Coulter is coming to speak at the University of Kansas, same place you spoke, the Lied Center. I think she is having Q & A afterwards, what is the best question to ask her?

[05:20 pm] Al Franken: Drew, go to the paperback edition of her book Slander, page 197, first paragraph, where she talks about Gore’s advantage in getting into Harvard because his father was a Senator, as compared to Bush’s meager advantage of having a “little-known Congressman” as a dad. Read the paragraph aloud and ask her why she omitted the crucial facts that the first Bush went to Yale in the 1850s, that Bush had 14 legacies ahead of him, and that his grandfather, Prescott Bush, was at that time on the board of trustees of Yale University. Ask her if those omissions might have been a purposeful attempt to mislead. And then let me know what she says.

[05:20 pm] Ernesto Falcon (Cal Poly, Camarillo): Do you think the Democrats can win this Social Security fight without offering an alternative to the Bush plan?

[05:22 pm] Al Franken: Bush knows he can only win if he convinces the American people that there is a “crisis” in Social Security. Since there isn’t one, and so far people just aren’t buying it, it might actually be counterproductive to push a plan—at least until the President actually puts a plan of his own on the table.

[05:22 pm] Teela Depena: I am extremely frustrated at the lack of accountability in this administration? From lack of WMDs, to Jeff Gannon, – why is there no legal action taken against the administration? Do we need congress to do this? Where is our Ken Starr?

[05:23 pm] Al Franken: They control Congress, Teela.

[05:23 pm] Matt (College of St. Rose, saugerties): Al, read your book Lies… good stuff learned alot from it and you kept it interesting, This past week my college held a lecture given by Eliot Spitzer. The lecture was great and it seems he sticks to his morals concerning big corps and protecting the little guy, i was lucky enough to get a picture with him afterward. My question is how do you feel about his bid for governor?

[05:24 pm] Al Franken: I’m a big supporter. Everyone, go watch Spitzer’s Jan 31 speech at the National Press Club. (Google around and you can find it.) It inspired me, and it’ll inspire you.

[05:24 pm] Cathe (Buena Park, Ca.): As a nurse I am concerned about the rising costs of health care & the vast number of Americans who are uninsured. What can the Democrats do to stop this from becoming bigger problem than it already is?

[05:26 pm] Al Franken: Russ Feingold has a great idea. Mandate universal health insurance for all Americans, but allow each state to come up with its own plan. You’d have 50 laboratories for innovation, and we could move from partisan ideology to actually having data to compare different approaches.

[05:26 pm] Matt (Univ. of Maryland): Mr. Franken, I’m wondering what your advice is to combat the increasing number of right-wing funded organizations and publications on campus. I know at the University of Maryland we have several new groups, including a right-wing newspaper funded by Morton Blackwell and other groups, and I’m sure it’s happening all over. Is it best to take these groups on publicly and expose them for who they are, or just ignore them and not risk giving them extra publicity?

[05:27 pm] Al Franken: Out-organize them. Get involved in Campus Progress, which is hosting this webchat; get involved in MoveOn and host parties; expose any lies in their publications; beat them in debates; and remember—scorn and ridicule, scorn and ridicule.

[05:28 pm] Holly: How can the Democrats stop the Bush machine from convincing American people that private accounts are the only thing that can save Social Security. It’s scary, because he convinced them that we had to attack Iraq (because of WMDs when that wasn’t true) and some people still believe it.

[05:29 pm] Al Franken: Keep shouting from the rooftops, especially if that’s where your campus radio station or newspaper happens to be located. Also, write letters to the editor of your local paper. By the way, even the Bush administration has said that private accounts would do nothing to address the solvency issue. Call your local newspaper or TV station and say that students oppose Bush’s plan, and try to get them to do a story about how he hasn’t convinced young people.

[05:29 pm] Sue R. (Little Rock AR): Hi Al! I am so sick of the RW crapola spewing forth on the radio stations around here. Is there any hope of getting more stations in RedAmerika to carry Air America? Thanks.

[05:31 pm] Al Franken: By “RedAmerika,” I assume you mean either “Red America” or “Red AmeriKKKa.” The former is correct. Hopefully, we’ll be in Little Rock soon; we’re about to go into Texas big-time and move that state from solidly red to… a little less solidly red. Thanks, Sue R.!

[05:31 pm] Nick Urcuioli (Purdue University, Lafayette, IN): I live in one of the most Conservative States in the country and my university is very conservative itself. What do you think is the most effective way to gather support for progressive values on campus?

[05:32 pm] Al Franken: Organize the liberal community, put out a liberal campus paper, bring in speakers, educate yourself, organize organize organize.

[05:33 pm] Kevin (University of Houston, Houston): Having grown up in a right to work state I have a healthy fear of big labor. Yet, at the same time, I have a healthy fear of the ascendancy of big corporations with no labor movement to keep them in check when it comes to protecting workers from abuse. In fact here on the Gulf Coast, firing a worker who attempts to unionize and paying the settlement is built into the cost of doing business. It’s clear that labor as we know it is going the way of the do-do bird, and many people of my generation would never think of joining a traditional union like the Teamsters. Do you, or any of your acquaintances, have any ideas for a revamped labor movement for the 21st century that addresses worker rights without becoming a huge corrupt entity all its own?

[05:35 pm] Al Franken: First, read the New York Times Magazine article about Andy Stern, head of the SEIU. I believe that one of the big achievements of this century will be making worker’s rights as global as the market. This is going to be a great century for labor. But it’s going to take work and commitment, and I’m counting on you, Kevin, to lead the way.

[05:36 pm] Brian (Indiana U., Bloomington): Al, you posted on this site that everyone read Humphrey’s speech in ‘48 to the DNC on Civil Rights. Do you think someone will have the moral courage to do whats right in 2008 and stand before the DNC and call for equal rights for GLBT Americans? Or sooner?

[05:36 pm] Al Franken: Absolutely. But it will be in one of the speeches not given during Prime Time.

[05:36 pm] Bob (UVA, Virginia Beach): Is there a better way to coordinate the efforts of what appears to be thousands of progressive groups?

[05:37 pm] Al Franken: Yes, and it’s already happening. The America Votes coalition during the campaign was unprecedented, and I myself am doing everything I can to organize a vast left-wing conspiracy.

[05:40 pm] Drew Rosdahl (University of Kansas, Nortonville, KS): Al, We are dying for Air America Radio In Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City, Kansas area. Please Tell me that something is in the works.

[05:40 pm] Al Franken: I very much want to get into those precise markets. Plus Wichita. What do you have against Wichita? With any luck, we’ll get there soon.

[05:41 pm] Keith: I just started reading Lies and i can’t stop laughing. These people are idiots.

[05:41 pm] Al Franken: Thank you, Keith, for your kind words regarding my #1 best-selling book. By the way, it makes a great gift.

[05:42 pm] Ryan (Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX): Al, as a more moderate-to-conservative individual, I am curious as to some of your ideas on how to ‘bridge the gap’ between a politically divided America.

[05:43 pm] Al Franken: Here’s one idea: guns. Most hunters want to kill animals. Animals need habitat—the habitat that is being destroyed by big polluters. I believe we Democrats can convince hunters and anglers to join with environmental advocates to make sure we leave a cleaner world to our children, their children, and their guns.

[05:44 pm] Geoffrey King (Univ. of Texas at Austin): Hi Al, Everytime I turn on cable “news” at night, the panels of pundits are almost all right-wingers. Is there any way you can get yourself a regular gig on one of those shows like Scarborough Country to correct all the misinformation that the Ann Coulters of the world spew forth?

[05:45 pm] Al Franken: Actually, I’ve been on Scarborough a number of times—once with Ann Coulter. I think I destroyed her, but that’s easy for me to say, because I won the debate.

[05:48 pm] Rob (Vanderbilt): What are your thoughts on the current attack on academia by the Right. Justified, or just another right-wing assault on what they (rightly or wrongly) deem a progressive stronghold?

[05:49 pm] Al Franken: Right-wing assault.

[05:49 pm] Ed (MIT, Boston, MA): Is the Social Security issue a distraction? I noticed you haven’t talked about, for example, Bush’s job record lately.

[05:49 pm] Al Franken: It may seem like a distraction right now, but that’s because we’re WINNING.

[05:50 pm] J.R. Brady (DWU, Mitchell, SD): Listened to your show today on the court and ten commandments. Is it as valid to have the satanic ten commandments and the Christian on the texas lawn?

[05:50 pm] Al Franken: I wasn’t aware that there was a Satanic ten commandments. What are they?

[05:53 pm] Robin (University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha): Good Afternoon Al, As an African American who is concerned about how the right played my community during the election what does the DNC need to do to keep AA that are loyal and to add those who feel disenfranchised?

[05:55 pm] Al Franken: African-Americans voted Democratic 88-11, and in record numbers. There were millions of first-time African-American voters who went for Kerry. Republicans use race incredibly cynically-for example, Social Security actually benefits blacks more than it does whites, but Bush claims the opposite. Look into this issue, read Paul Krugman, and write and speak about it- we need effective progressive voices in your community to counter the Armstrong Williams’s of the world.

[05:55 pm] Kevin (University of Houston, Houston): When do you plan on extending the Air America network here into Texas? Houston only went for Bush by 55% and we have the second oldest Pacifica affiliate in the country in addition to the oldest Public television station. Austin, too, would be a great market. We really are a receptive, highly diverse audience (contrary to popular mythology) that is being ignored.

[05:56 pm] Al Franken: Actually, we’re getting into Austin and Dallas within the next few weeks. I hope we get Houston soon.

[05:57 pm] Sal (Eau Claire, WI): I am concerned that the right is going to stall their Social Security plans for another year. They will use that time to beat the drum, like they did with the election. Using fear, deception, sound bytes, etc to sell their sad story to the masses. After repeating the same thing over and over, like the WMD’s in Iraq. I fear the general public is going to buy their story. How do we reach the people in this country who don’t listen to Air America or read The New Republic and let them know the truth.

[05:58 pm] Al Franken: I think they run a danger if they let it go into 2006, because Social Security is the giant overreach that second-term presidents often fall prey to.

[05:58 pm] Al Franken: Last question.

[05:58 pm] Curious (Midwest, USA): Is this really Al or just someone pretending to be Al?

[05:59 pm] Al Franken: I don’t believe you’re really Curious. I believe you’re someone pretending to be Curious—which I myself find oddly curious.

[05:59 pm] Al Franken: And what a perfect question to end on!

[06:00 pm] Al Franken: Goodbye, everybody. It was a pleasure. And remember, the future belongs to those who are passionate and who work hard. Paul Wellstone said that, although I think he stole it from Bobby Kennedy. I don’t know where Bobby got it.

Want to know Al’s favorite books and movies? Check out his contribution to Campus Progress’ “The Syllabus.”