Senator Al Franken draws map of USA

Run time: 01:22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0-FYyuvrRk   Posted on YouTube: September 05, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: September 06, 2009 By DU Member: populistdriven Views on DU: 13506

 
Senator Al Franken draws a map of all 50 states from memory during an appearance on Minnesota Public Radio's Midday at the Minnesota State Fair.

Senator Al Franken also did this on the Letterman show on August 20, 1987
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn2ofGwDd4A

And here he is in doing the same on April 28, 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HfcrqXtxOM

I love that guy! :thumbsup:

because I'm a democrat in Texas and we are working our asses off.

I should tell you what you can do with your Texas freak remark but I won't.

Texas was robbed by the right wing extremists as surely as they robbed other states and became the majority in congress and other state governments for well over thirteen years....or did you forget that!!!!!

By the way Provis99...what "my state doesn't have any republiican nutcakes in it" do you live in.

Yawwwwwwwwwwwwwn.....it's so easy to point fingers at the OTHER guy isn't it.

maybe it was the oil -- but it's still Dealey Plaza --

Murchinson, H. L. Hunt -- goes back further than 13 years.

It's long been know as the "Outlaw State" --

And not only was Texas robbed by the right wing extremists, so was our

"people's" government which is what all of this political violence/

assassinations have been about.

All of our states are threatened by this right wing movement -- all of

government.

Yes quite unfortunately Texas became a center of right wing action AFTER THE RIGHT WING WHACKOS STOLE THE STATE AND BUTCHERED OUR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS UP LIKE PORKCHOPS!!

So instead of pointing fingers at Texas, and bitching, why don't you staunch liberal Democrats insist that the National Democratic Party folks help us Texas independents and Democrats CHANGE THINGS INSTEAD OF GRIPING.

Would you not offer a drink of water to a person dying of thirst? Would you not offer to bandage the wounds of a car wreck victim? I doubt it. So why not help out at the very least your fellow Democrats that live here in Texas?

this is pointing to the reality of '63 in Texas, coup on JFK/people's government --

Jim Marrs, a fellow Texan, has been trying to sort that out since then -- see Crossfire.
Does he do it because he hates Texas?

Are any of us still talking about and investigating that because we want to "point fingers
and bitch" . . . ??

Again -- the right wing takeover of Texas happened long before the latest moves on your
Congressional districts.

Keep talking about the problems in Texas -- we seem to also have very similar problems in
Atlanta with former Gov. Don Siegelman being only a hint of the GOP political corruption
going on in that state.

I usually get some mailings from Texas Freedom Network which is a good organization fighting
the religious right -- also a construct of the GOP!

Good luck to you -- I understand you are fighting hard -- and we should all be more aware of
what is happening. Keep talking about it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x365801

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6453648

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6474385

etc., etc.

I'm strictly an independent but I know what you mean and how you feel.....the libs outside of Texas still blame Texas for bush instead of Connecticut where he was born and raised until he was around fifteen.

They can blame us Texans for bush all they want but we native born Texan's know it takes a Yankee born cretin miscreant to become as big an ass as bush is....LOL

They incubated the climte for it to happen..not to mention the fact that the Dallas leaders were probably in on it!!

50% of it, anyway --

But, I don't see any reason to believe that all Texans wanted that to happen --

in fact, the contrary was obvious the day of JFK's visit.

He was a popular president who would have been re-elected, probably also in Texas?

I think the state was very right-wing, but what it had to do with ALL citizens, I'm not sure.

The original taking of Texas -- the whole oil industry -- points to leadership by people who

would be hyper right-wing.

And the wealthy have a way of either reaching office or putting someone they're paying into

office -- I think LBJ was an example of that -- and so was Nixon.

And, IMO, our elections are questionable all the way back to Nixon/Humphrey!


PS: Just want to add this which should have been in the post earlier . . . that I've been
very grateful to very brave Texans who tried over and again to tell the truth about the JFK
assassination -- long list of them and many of them dead for their trouble!

Jean Hill, of course -- but many, many others -- and still, I think, they gather there on the
anniversary to make clear their dissent with the Warren Report.

It's also ironic, that all of the US is pretty much now in the same boat as Texas has been . . .
that is, taken over by right-wing leadership which is violent and very powerful.

This whole fascist thing has advanced very quickly over the years, under cover of covert
activities -- and thanks to W and Cheney, as well.

We ALL need to find a way out of this soon --

And let me be clear that it was obvious that when we didn't challenge the JFK coup -- which
was basically a coup on a "people's" government, fascism would take over!

and - bush* was a PRODUCT of texASS thinking - he spent his FORMATIVE years there - so he's YOUR creation - OWN IT!!!

sorry, but you don'g get a pass...

I don't argue with republicrat or demlicans fools and you couldn't possibly make me angry. But don't let that stop you from spewing your envious bullshit.

Molly Ivins

Bill Moyers

Jim Hightower

LBJ (The last Democratic President, warts and all)

Ann Richards

This guy:

Rick Perry lives there.

Thanks for that.

The Texas State house is close to becoming blue....

http://www.txdemocrats.org/

I met him in the mid 70s after he lost his Senate seat to Bentsen. Really a nice guy and he was a tough uncompromising liberal from Texas.

As many Texans did . . .

:kick:

I've always been impressed by people who can draw, like cartoonists. So Franken's ability to do this really amazes me. For a while there I considered that there might be faint lines on the sheet he was merely tracing, but the quick closeup didn't reveal anything like that.

I'm sure most of his detractors wouldn't be able to identify any states, let alone do something like this.

(that he might be tracing or something) but watch the clip of him doing it on Letterman in 1987, wow. He's improved in accuracy of scale over the years apparently. It's worth it to see Letterman and Paul in the younger days, Dave wearing Adidas with khaki pants and navy blue jacket. When asked how he learned to do it, Franken answers "Bar bet." What ever happened to Davis, btw?

Oh, that's a YouTube...

Nice pedigree, Al Franken...

Writer, Comedian, Politician and all around Learned individual contributing to the United States under his pencil.

Here tis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn2ofGwDd4A

Seems to me it was on the Weekend Update segment, but I could be wrong.

TlalocW

I was seated about 6' behind the main camera. What is missing is the funny and also serious commentary that went along with it. He continued to answer questions from the crowd as he went along.

i hope oreilly somehow sees clip.. :-)

I saw him do this at a fundraiser last year while he was running for his Senate seat. And he is cracking jokes the whole time. And he says he learned it in a bar bet, I think it was in college.

Then they auctioned off the finished poster to one of the donors at the fundraiser and he signed it for her. It would be a great souvenir.

When I was in 10th grade social studies (a long, long, time ago) I thought it was very ODD that nobody in the class, but me, could draw a map of the world (I got an "A+" when I included continents, major lakes and rivers, mountain ranges, and major world capitals). . .

but this even amazed ME!

drawing Minnesota in 2 minutes

those gerrymandered districts look more like a Rorschach test than a congressional district

Even I, who flunked art can draw his district.

because it's been gerrymandered so much...however the Congress critter from Wyoming would have the easist time of it!

:D

:thumbsup:

I would pay money to see that.

Pretty much any R could draw a picture of the United States as THEY know it ... It would actually be fairly simple - the "heartland" with the southern states and some select midwestern states. No need to include the states on either coast, because those are not actual states of the good ol US of A.

The awesomeness of Senator Al Franken! :woohoo: :applause:

:hide: :sarcasm: That was awesome! :)

I almost spit my coffee on my keyboard!

That's a great bit - I've always been able to draw the individual states, but not all together in a decent map. Salute, Sen Franken! :patriot:

and broadcast late at night on Showtime? The show's introduction had Al drawing all the states on a plexiglas panel with a dry-erase marker. It was speeded up due to the show's time constraints, but it was impressive nonetheless.

On edit: as the credits ran at the end of the show, the footage was run in reverse, which was also fun to watch.

...or has the Alzheimer's kicked in?

and I am chagrined at my own forgetfulness.

plexiglas. It was, and still is, an amazing feat, which I would bet very few people can do...frontwards or backwards.

11:00 PM, Eastern Time.

Very impressive indeed. Also, because of how he started with the border and MN.

Daaaamn...

:applause:

or else there wouldn't be very many globes <g>

Kisses and Hugs Senator Franken!

A brain.
A heart.

(i didn't know he was a math major. its been pretty obvious, even since
SNL days*** -yea, i was there- that he has an excellent and disciplined mind,
an exquisite sense or humor, not to mention his Air American days where he
demonstrated both political acumen and a very interesting instinct and taste for
the juglar blood of his prey.

I rarely do such things but I've been
bombarding him with emails for years screaming at him RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE.
And I'm not even in his state (I'm in CA). Hes not for President, but I weep
for joy to see him in the senate. THANK YOU Minnesota! )

*** It was a long time ago but you might remember his hilarious self-promotion skits.
http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/comedy/watch/v17990884DXWTS8At
Somehow, you just knew he came from a "hells kitchen" kind of neighborhood where
kids grew up with only two choices: Either become a priest,
or a senator.

thanks for the comment.

and he grew up Jewish. So the priest thing is out. (I know way too much about Al Franken.) I did enjoy your video. Made me laugh. I did send him some money. I didn't get a medallion tho. :) But, we did get a great senator.

they loved watching that

but there is more than drawing, there should be aspects similar for all types of people... drawing, recitation or knowledge of the state motto, inception, bird, etc...that would be cool, for sure...

President would have to know not only the states but the WORLD...
gees, Bush would have never made it to governor! ...what a wonderful world that would be!

I just pulled out a piece of scratch paper and did it now. I haven't really thought about all the states for decades. I missed Maryland but got the rest in their right places although the borders were accurate.

It's cool to see Al do it so well,but I think most everyone can do it.If a Federal employee can't, then they should not be hired.

I'm not from Minnesota, but I was a donor to his campaign.

If he keeps going the way he has started, knowledge of the states, especially New Hampshire and Iowa, might come in handy.;-)

Where, without any evident theatrics, he was able to not only articulate cogent positions and answer questions with actual fact-based responses, but keep it cool so no one was shouting or waving a gun around. By the end of the discussion even the people who clearly disagreed with him were doing involuntary head-nods when he said something that was inarguably true.

He's very, very good at what he does. I'm thinking he's a better politician (leader?) than he was a comedian.

I could practice drawing something for a million years and still suck at it, I have no talent like that, lol.

Putting in all the individual states might be difficult. I can point them out..but remembering all their shapes would be hard to do.. way to go Al Franken!

My new favorite Senator.

My American geography is not bad but this is amazing ! Recommended !

anyone can draw the square boxy flyover states (no offense) but how in the hell did he draw NJ and W. Virginia so damn good and quick? That man has talent. Plain and simple. I'd like to see any other member of congress, Dem or Repub, pull off something like that. They probably wouldn't even be able to find their own damn state.

I heard on the radio somewhere that he learned to do this as a child, using a map that did not include AK or HI. Those are only recent additions to his repertoire.

to try that!

just to embarrass them.

I would think that more people could do this.

I must have gotten an elementary school education that those after Reagan didn't.

It still saddens me. Maybe horrifies me.

but a lot of people could do the same thing...And it's not really a big deal if you put in to the fact that he could practice doing it. All it takes is a good memory and some concentration

It's like writing out the periodic table of the elements from memory. It takes about a week to commit something like this to memory and then you can impress all sorts of people with attention spans too short to do so.

But getting it so precise in details, scale and position is amazing.

I mean, come on. We are all artiiiiistes, just like me...

Le Franken isn't so speeecial.

But I admiiit, I am a brillaaaant artiste.

/scarcasm

:eyes:

That he can think, speak, and draw something of political relevance (the US) at the same time?

I suppose you are more impressed by the ability to read a book about a goat to 6-year-olds.

Mr. President, the Russians have started a war in Georgia!

"Oh my goodness, how are things in Atlanta?"

border to memory. That not beking the negative kind of patriotism but more a great fondness for the place. He'll go donw as one of the greats in Senate history it's looking to me. WTG Al.

You're very fortunate to have Senator Franken. But what makes me happy is that I know he's fighting for all of us.

That was impressive!

He's gonna be fun!

can't draw worth a damn and if I tried to do what he just did, no one would recognize it as the US.

:headbang:

After all, he's one of those dirty commie loving intellectuals who are driving this country straight to Socialism.
To think that he would have the gall to KNOW all 50 states...
better than any wing nut refugnican.

Franken in "16"

At the same time:applause:

:wow:

I had to write this again