Has Al Franken become too DLC?

After the election, his show has been dry and lifeless. Maybe i didn't notice it before, but he is too moderate for my tastes.

nt, but there is always the Randi show after his.

BartCop Radio!

But if you're a subscriber to the site (I think the minimum is $5), you get the members area with the radio show...and he's on fire after the election!

On edit: Add Laura Flanders and Majority Report to my list of favorite AAR shows

Guy James, and others who don't hold back and cut through the bullshit

Who's the guy that teams up with RFK jr.? Mike Papatonio(sp?)?

He rocks

I love listening to Al, because he doesn't jump into anything without knowing the facts. Maybe thats why he seems conservative. This guy is big on facts. When Hannity came onto his show during the DNC, he simply told the guy he was lying, and the next day posted what he said sentence for sentence and proved each line completely wrong. This guy knows what hes talking about.

raise your spirits, or just bash the repugs.

Al is not realy good at that, but as you said he does have his facts down pat.

He was one of the best at that. Even now he is still very good at bashing the president, the administration, and other republicans, probably not the way you may like. He doesn't jump to conclusions, even when he has a democrat on the show, he makes sure that they're telling the truth because that is what he considered important. Now you might find that to be bad, but I see that as being a crediable person. We need that! Who wants a liberal Rush-type blurting out crap that is just plain crazy!?

Air America might not of become what it is without Al, can't believe people want to jump down Al Franken and John Kerry's throat due to these voting problems. I'm just as optimistic as the next person here, and I believe that the president probably lost this election, but lets not kill the progress (Air America, MoveOn) that we've made through this campaign!

It's not what I am, but I still garner some enjoyment of his program.

He often gets the best guests.

and they think "moderate" = DLC.

he thinks you can actually have conversations with RWers (like the idiot didohead).

How esle do you get back those voters who agree with liberal issues, but vote republican thinking thats what they believe in. A huge majority of the people in this country agree on liberal issues, the only way for them to get our message is to talk in a reasonale articulate manner so that theres a chance they'll see the light of day. Hell I think having a liberal with a realiable reputation in the media industry would be great, which is what Al has created for himself. Who wants a liberal version of Rush!? Or should we run away from Republicans and keep our ideas to ourselves? Al tends to take them on face to face, which is what I respect about the guy.

This entire thread is based on an overgeneralization of moderate liberals as ugly as any other political overgeneralizations.

Al is a liberal, he is not a centrist. Centrists fall in the middle. What he does have is a greater respect for convention, and too much trust in our system. That does not make him a centrist.

The DLC has no place in this conversation. Al franken has nothing to do with the dlc.

he worked his ass off during the election. That being said, I don't think he's too moderate. Just because he's laid off the voting issues, and doesn't scream like a kid on the radio like Malloy and Rhodes, doesn't make him a moderate.

to Al is because he has great guests. Most of the time I put him on mute. I don't think he has it for radio.

with John Glenn right now....

he has to start talking without conviction, less someone hold up something he says to use against him in a potential future campaign.

He should just get off the air if he is going to be another "colorful CNN commentator". We have enough of those morons that won't speak the truth, and he is not adding anything to the landscape.

he is a little too middle-of-the-road for me and probably a lot of people here, but I believe we need many, many, many (more) leftie talk shows out there. They should appeal to a wide array of listeners. If he appeals to some of the more moderates and independents, what's wrong with that? I think it's great. Listen to Malloy or Randi if you want hard-core. If you want inspiration and education, listen to Hartmann.

"he worked his ass off during the election. That being said, I don't think he's too moderate. Just because he's laid off the voting issues, and doesn't scream like a kid on the radio like Malloy and Rhodes, doesn't make him a moderate."

Malloy & Randi are unbelievably tireless & passionate about our rights & this country. They have worked just as hard if not harder than franken (who I do have a bit of respect for).. but to say that we shouldn't be screaming bloody murder about the current state of affairs is missing something. Complacency got us here.

he was working almost non-stop for months. I think he was out campaigning for Kerry every weekend over the last several months of the election.

but he does get mixed up quite a bit. Thank God for Katherine.

I do wish he would lose the resident ditto-monkey. That guy is so completely lame.

and (while I'm at it) the oy! oy! oy! show should go! go! go! (at least dial it back to once a week.)

ive always thought that
thats why i wanted Malloy to be on air america so bad ;)

Al doesnt think the election was stolen. I love how this has now become a litmist test of 'true' liberals.

He isn't in any way shape or form DLC, that is a rediculous assertation.

The DLC is a group of politicians and operatives who are centrists in the democratic party and believe that the nation is fundementally shifting right and the party should follow the will of the people.

Al isnt a politician or operative.
Al isnt a centrist.
Al doesnt believe the nation as a whole is shifting to the right as an action of thier will.
Al doesnt believe the party should move right as a response to the current political landscape.

Al is in no way shape or form DLC.
The next time a republican paints the left with a large brush, I hope everyone remembers how many people on this forum paint with just as wide a brush.

Al Franken is very much a liberal, he just happens to disagree with you about certain issues that are fairly unrelated to being liberal or not and have nothing whatsoever to do with the DLC.

If you arent willing to accept that sometimes people might not agree with you without being part of some evil group, I dont know exactly how liberal you can claim to be.

Harvard Square, other DUers were there with me as witnesses. Then he gave his views on how maybe school vouchers should be checked out as an example.

And alot of the support for the DLC comes from liberals like Al who are very receptive to moderate rhetoric.

Its unfortunate that Al doesnt know the truth about vouchers, but while Al may like thier rhetoric, it is very clear that he and the DLC differ a great deal in thier vision of the party and the future of the party.

But summing up Al's spot in the political spectrum as DLC is massively inaccurate, I suppose that is my point. Even if they do have some things in common.

doesn't cater to liberal partisanship or any other nonsense.

NM

He has always been the moderate voice of Air America.
You either like him or you don't . I like all the
shows on Air America personally.

I think it is important to make that destincion.

Al is hesitant to make some conclusions and gives the other side and the system more credence than many here. That doesnt make him right, or centrist. His ideology is solidly left.

I think Franken is (was?) a big optimist and believer in America and the American people. He truly thought that if we pointed out the lies of the RW often enough, we would be able to inform enough people, word would spread and we would defeat Bush in a landslide and democracy would triumph and America would again be a respected nation around the world.

Unfortunately, his optimistic bubble was burst on Election Day and I think he is either still depressed about the election, or maybe is just bitter about the results?

They're ignorant people, but their hearts are in the right place. I don't mean Franken is dumb- far from it. He's bright and he's funny. I like his show alot. I love his books.

However, I think he's very naive at times. He's often shocked by some piece of information that should be common knowledge to someone on the left. I don't mean new stuff, either. I'm talking historical facts. The kind of thing that shatters the moderate's happy view of the world and gets them to take a side.

He is kissing party asses and talking the talk.