Al Franken
Apr 4, 02:54 PM
ch: Al’s Channel
An Evening with Ann Coulter: Opening Statement
(Editor’s Note: This introduction previously appeared on HuffingtonPost.com)
Last May, as I left the stage after debating Ann Coulter in Hartford, my wife Franni took me aside and whispered: “The poor thing.”
Last Monday, after my debate with Coulter at the Universal Amphitheatre in L.A., there was no sympathy from Franni. Just a strong sense of disgust. Because Coulter had chosen a strange strategy. Offend the audience and then act the victim.
The event was part of a lecture series sponsored by the University of Judaism. The previous debate had featured Newt Gingrich and John Edwards before a crowd of about 5000 subscribers. About 5500 had gathered for me and Ann. The extra five hundred presumably were fans of mine and of Ann’s.
Before the debate, there was a dinner for about 75 sponsors – mainly middle-aged-to- older Jewish couples. Between dinner and dessert Ann and I were to each make three minutes of remarks. I had planned to open with my usual at such Jewish events: “I’m going to start by answering the question I’ve been asked most tonight – Yes, I’ve had enough to eat.”
But Ann went first, and set her tone for the entire evening. “It was fascinating being here for the demonstrations this weekend,” she said with a snotty Darien sneer. “I guess that’s why I didn’t get clean towels in my hotel room this morning.”
There was an audible gasp from the Jews. Ann continued: “I haven’t seen so many agitated Mexicans since the World Cup Soccer Games were in L.A.” As offended as the diners were, the waiters were pissed. Ann was actually dumb enough to drink her coffee afterwards.
I answered by saying that I hadn’t seen so many agitated Mexicans since 1846 when James K. Polk invaded Mexico because he thought Santa Anna had weapons of mass destruction. I wasn’t sure of the year, but I thought the different approaches to our “agitated Mexican” jokes might give everyone an idea of what to expect.
Fortunately, the debate had something of a formal structure to it. I led off with a twenty minute speech in which I eviscerated Ann, followed by her twenty minutes in which she defended herself by saying she was a flawed person and then proceeded to accuse Democrats of being traitors.
Then there was about an hour with the president of the university leading a discussion during which she lost everyone but her most dedicated fans, of which there were maybe fifty by the end of the evening. At one point, when I was talking about making sure our returning veterans got proper medical care, one of her nutcase followers yelled, “Boring!”
Anyway, I’m kind of proud of my opening statement. Here it is:
COULTER DEBATE OPENING STATEMENT – UNIVERSITY OF JUDAISM
Thank you. First of all, I know I join Ann in thanking the University of Judaism for hosting this event. We’ve had an opportunity to spend some time with President Wexler and have dinner with many folks from the University community.
And I’d like to answer the question that I actually get asked the most when I do an event for a Jewish organization. Yes, I had enough to eat.
You know, in these kinds of debate forums, someone has to go first. It’s always preferable to go second, because you can react to what’s been said, giving you something of a tactical advantage. More importantly, it pretty much spares you the chore of writing out pre-prepared remarks.
Both Ann and I said we preferred going second, but I didn’t insist on it, because I understood somebody had to go first. And being a liberal, I just wasn’t tough-minded enough to insist on a coin toss.
So, I’ll try to use my time to define the terms of the debate – if you will. “Whence Judaism?”
No. I think we should talk about the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress and what it has accomplished over the past five years. I’m talking, of course, about well over two trillion dollars added to the national debt, the increase in poverty in our country and the added millions of Americans, including children, without health insurance. I’m talking about the sale of our democracy to corporate interests that pollute our water and our air. I’m talking about the widening gap between the haves and the have nots in this country. And I’m talking about the war in Iraq.
I’m talking about an increasingly corrupt, secretive, and incompetent federal government that rewards cronies, a Republican majority in Congress that’s acted as a rubber stamp, that has performed virtually no oversight and which excludes the minority party from the legislative process in a way unprecedented in our recent history.
I also want to discuss with Ann the coarsening of dialogue in this country. I want to discuss values with Ann. Values like love, of family, of your fellow man, of country. Ann has said repeatedly that liberals hate America. I disagree.
Last year I had the honor of speaking at West Point. It was an audience not so very different from this one. Except that instead of you, the audience was made up of about twelve hundred cadets. Many of whom will be going to Iraq in the next year or so.
The occasion was the Sol Feinstone Lecture on the Meaning of Freedom endowed by philanthropist Sol Feinstone. It’s an annual event and Sol Feinstein’s granddaughter, who is about my age, attended.
After telling a number jokes and getting the cadets on my side. I told them that we had been lied into the war in Iraq. I had just published a book entitled The Truth (with jokes), and I told the cadets that you can’t have freedom without the truth. You can have freedom without jokes, as has been proven by the Dutch and the Swiss.
I proceeded to prove that we had been lied into war, citing example after example of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and Condi Rice, who had been National Security Advisor in the lead-up to the war, telling the public information that they knew not to be true.
At the end of the speech I received a standing ovation from the cadets. Sol Feinstone’s granddaughter told me she had gone to every lecture for the last thirty or so years, and that I received only the second standing ovation. The other was for Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam.
By the way, Ann has written that Max Cleland was lucky to have lost his legs and his arm in Vietnam. I disagree. More importantly, I know Max, and he disagrees.
I believe I received the standing ovation because the cadets knew that I was speaking from the heart, and that the information I had given them was all true. And as I said, you can’t have freedom without the truth.
You can’t have good government without the truth. During the crafting and passage of the Medicare prescription drug bill, the chief actuary of Medicare was told to withhold from Congress the true cost of the bill. He’d be fired if he told the truth.
The bill costs so much, in large part, because the bill prohibits Medicare from negotiating with the pharmaceutical companies on the price of drugs. As a result, seniors now pay on average 44% more than veterans getting the same drugs through the VA which is allowed to use its size to negotiate with the drug companies. To get the bill passed, the vote was held open for three hours. Tom DeLay was later admonished by Republicans on the ethics committee for attempting to bribe, and then extort, Republican Nick Smith of Michigan to get him to change his vote. The chairman of the Commerce Committee Billy Tauzin who ushered the legislation through, soon left Congress for a two million dollar a year job as the chief lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry. Obviously, a complete coincidence.
During the 2000 campaign George Bush ran for president by saying repeatedly, and I quote, “by far the vast majority of my tax cut goes to those at the bottom.” Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, the president continues to ask for and sign tax cuts that go primarily to those at the top. By the way, until George W. Bush, our country had never cut taxes during a time of war.
As a result, our deficits grow and the cuts – in Medicaid, Pell Grants, food stamps, low-income housing subsidies, community block grants – are targeted at the poorest in our society.
George W. Bush famously said that Jesus was his favorite political philosopher. Frankly, I don’t get it.
I’m Jewish. Thank you. I’m not an expert on the New Testament. But I know that if you cut out all the passages where Jesus talks about helping the poor, helping the least among us, if you literally took a pair of scissors and cut out all those passages, you’d have the perfect box to smuggle Rush Limbaugh’s drugs in.
I don’t understand when the Christian right says that equal rights in marriage threatens marriage. I’ve been married 30 years, many of them happy. I don’t think that if my wife and I were walking around in Boston, where we met, if we saw two men holding hands with wedding bands… I don’t think I’d say “Hey, that looks good. Y’know, honey, you don’t like watching football on Sundays. Maybe I could marry a guy, watch football with him, and then if I wanted to have sex, I could come over and have sex with you.”
I was just talking to Newt Gingrich the other day. And I said to him, “Don’t you want for a gay couple what you had with your first wife? Don’t you want that bond that comes with the pledge of fidelity that you had with your second wife? Don’t you want what comes with that lifelong bond that you may or may not have with your third wife – I have no idea what’s going on there.”
You know, Bill O’Reilly always talks about his “traditional values” – as opposed to “the far left’s secular humanist values.” I didn’t realize phone sex was a traditional value. I didn’t think the phone had been around long enough. Maybe telegraph sex.
In her book Slander, Ann referred to Democrats and our “Marquis de Sade lifestyle.” I’ve been married for thirty years. Ann, you’re an attractive woman. And I know you support the president’s abstinence-only sex education. I want to congratulate you for saving yourself for your one true love.
When my daughter was six years old, her teacher asked all her students to write about how their parents had met. We told Thomasin that we met at a mixer freshman year of college. I saw Franni across the room, gathering up some friends to leave. I liked the way she was taking control and I thought she was beautiful. So I asked her to dance, and then got her a ginger ale, then escorted her to her dorm and asked for a date.
My daughter wrote, “My dad asked my mom to dance, bought her a drink, and then took her home.” Now all the facts were accurate, but what my daughter wrote was extremely misleading. Now my daughter wasn’t lying. She didn’t realize that what she wrote made her mom seem like a slut.
Ann, however, is not six years old. And she has developed her own techniques for misleading, by leaving out important facts. Let me give you an example of Ann lying by omission.
Also in her book Slander, Ann tells her readers that Al Gore had a leg up on George W. Bush when applying to their respective colleges. Harvard and Yale. Ann writes:
“Oddly, it was Bush who was routinely accused of having sailed through life on his father’s name. But the truth was the reverse. The media was manipulating the fact that – many years later – Bush’s father became president. When Bush was admitted to Yale, his father was a little-known congressman on the verge of losing his first Senate race. His father was a Yale alumnus, but so were a lot of other boys’ parents. It was Gore, not Bush, who had a famous father likely to impress college admissions committees.”
What does Ann omit? Well, that Bush’s grandfather Prescott Bush was also a Yale alum and had been Senator from Connecticut, the home state of Yale University. That Prescott Bush had been a trustee of Yale. That Prescott Bush had been the first chair of Yale’s Development Board – the folks who raise the money. That Prescott Bush sat on the Yale Corporation for twelve years. That Prescott Bush, like George W. Bush’s father, George H. W, Bush, had been a member of Skull and Bones. That the first Bush to go to Yale was Bush’s great great grandfather James Bush, who graduated in 1844. That in addition to his father, grandfather, and greatgreatgrandfather, Bush was the legacy of no less than twenty-seven other relatives who preceded him at Yale, including five great great uncles. Seven great uncles. Five uncles, and a number of first cousins.
Now why did Ann leave out these somewhat relevant facts? Ann grew up in Connecticut. Ann, did you really not know that Prescott Bush had been your senator when you were born?
Ann, is it possible that when Prescott’s son George H. W. Bush became president, it totally escaped your notice that his father had represented your state in the United States Senate? Did neither of your parents mention it in passing at the dinner table? Did no one at home in Darien make any comments about the new president’s lineage?
Understand. This isn’t sloppiness. This is deliberate. For Ann’s purposes – to claim that the media that was manipulating facts here – Ann herself had to manipulate facts – in such a shameless way. This is what she does.
And she does it over and over and over again.
Let me give you another example.
On page 265 of her book Treason, Ann writes of Tom Friedman, the New York Times columnist. “He blamed twenty years of relentless attacks by Muslim extremists on- I quote – ‘religious fundamentalists of any stripe.’”
This didn’t sound like Tom Friedman to me, so I found the one Friedman column that contained that phrase – “religious fundamentalists of any stripe.” It was from a December 26, 2001 column called “Naked Air,” about an airline where everyone would fly naked. “Think about it,” Friedman writes, tongue firmly planted in cheek, “If everybody flew naked, not only would you never have to worry about the passenger next to you carrying box cutters or exploding shoes, but no religious fundamentalists of any stripe would ever be caught dead flying nude.”
Let me repeat. Ann wrote of Tom Friedman, Jewish by the way, that “he blamed twenty years of relentless attacks by Muslim extremists on – I quote – ‘religious fundamentalists of any stripe.’” She bothered to put “I quote” in there for emphasis.
Friedman actually wrote “no religious fundamentalists of any stripe would ever be caught dead flying nude” in service of a conceit that illustrated our dilemma of either becoming less open as a society or learning to live with much higher risks than we’ve ever been used to before.
Friedman was not blaming 9/11 on the Lubavichers, as Ann suggests.
Now this sort of deliberate misrepresentation contributes to a coarsening of our nation’s dialogue. Ann recently told an audience:
“We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens’ creme brulee,” Coulter said. “That’s just a joke, for you in the media.”
Here’s my question. What’s the joke? Maybe it’s a prejudice from my days as a comedy writer, but I always thought the joke had to have an operative funny idea. I’ll give you an example of a joke.
Like they do every Saturday night, two elderly Jewish couples are going out to dinner. The guys are in front, the girls riding in back. Irv says to Sid, “Where should we go tonight?”
Sid says, “How about that place we went about a month ago. The Italian place with the great lasagna.”
Irv says, “I don’t remember it.”
Sid says, “The place with the great lasagna.”
Irv says, “I don’t remember. What’s the name of the place?”
Sid thinks. But can’t remember. “A flower. Gimme a flower.”
“Tulip?” Irv says.
“No, no. A different flower.”
“Magnolia?”
“No, no. A basic flower.”
“Orchid?”
“No! Basic.”
“Rose?”
That’s it! Sid turns to the back seat. “Rose. What was the name of that restaurant…?”
That’s a joke. What exactly is the joke in “We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens’ creme brulee?” Is it the crème brulee? Is that it? Because Stevens is some kind of Francophile or elitist? Is it the rat poison? See, I would have gone with Drano. I’m really trying here, Ann. Please, when you come up, explain the joke about murdering an associate justice of the Supreme Court. One who by the way, was appointed to the Supreme Court by Gerald Ford, and who, also, by the way, won a Bronze Star serving in the Navy in World War II. What is the joke? ‘Cause I don’t get it.
Now in Ann’s defense, she doesn’t always make horribly offensive remarks or knowingly craft lies. Very often Ann is just wrong out of ignorance or pure laziness. Take this from the MSNBC Show – Saturday Final – on August 30, 2003 – MSNBC. She is talking about how well the war in Iraq is going.
COULTER: I think the rebuilding is going extremely well. Douglas MacArthur was in Japan five years after V.J. Day. There were enormous casualties in Germany after World War II. The rebuilding is actually going quite well compared to past efforts. And really, all we’re getting from Democrats is constant carping.
Ann, do you know how many combat fatalities the American military had in Germany after V-E day? Zero. You know how many in Japan after V-J day? Zero.
Ann and I have debated once before. In May of 2004, and Ann still felt the war was going amazingly well. Let me quote her from that debate:
“…. This war is going amazingly well… the casualty rate is incredibly small for the rebuilding. It is going better than can be expected. You cannot read about how well things are going against Al Sadr, where you have Iraqis protesting against Al Sadr; all these stories about how Al Sadr had (this) vast support among the Iraquis… oh no no no. They recently held a protest march saying, ‘Al Sadr, get out.’”
As you know, Ann, Moktadr al Sadr, recently picked the Shiite choice for prime minister for the new government, Mohamed al Jafaari. Sadr has thirty-two seats in the Iraqi assembly compared to Ahmed Chalabi’s zero. And remember, it was Chalabi to whom we were going to turn over the Iraqi government.
Things are not going amazingly well in Iraq. And they haven’t been going amazingly well since we allowed the looting of Baghdad. A week ago, former prime minister Ayad Allawi said that Iraq was already in a civil war. And as George Bush said in September of 2004, we should listen to Allawi because – and I quote – “he understands what’s going on there – after all, he lives there.”
The first thing this Administration needs to do in Iraq is to start acknowledging the truth and level with the American people.
I think the one lesson we can all agree on from Vietnam is that we cannot blame the troops. By and large, the vast, vast majority of our troops have performed heroically. And they deserve our gratitude and support. And that means supporting them after they’ve come home.
Two thirds of the wounded in Iraq now have brain injuries. That’s because so many of the casualties are from IED’s, and the injuries are concussive and not ballistic. Each one of those brain injuries is going to cost a million dollars over the course of that veteran’s life. And we need to fund programs for those who come back with post traumatic stress disorder – a higher percentage than in any previous war.
Now another value I believe in is love of country. For some reason it rankles Ann that I’ve done six USO tours and have had the nerve to talk about it. I do so because I want people to be aware of the work that the USO does. I want anyone here today who is a Hollywood celebrity to think about giving up a couple weeks of your life to entertain our men and women in uniform. I think it rankles Ann that I’ve talked about going on the USO tours because she can’t conceive that anyone would actually do something for anyone else. I didn’t go to Iraq to prove that Democrats are patriotic, Ann. I did my first USO tour in 1999, when Clinton was president. We went to Kosovo, a war that was vehemently and vocally opposed by many Republicans. Even so, we didn’t call them traitors. I was invited by the USO to go to Iraq because they know I do a good job and that it means a lot to the troops when anyone comes over to show them we care.
My daughter is 25. She teaches inner city kids in the Bronx. And that makes me proud. She hates when I say it, and that makes me even more proud.
My son is an engineering student. He wants to build fuel efficient cars. He’s a junior in college and got a job at Ford this summer working on a new manufacturing process for power trans. I don’t know what that means either. But he got there because he works his butt off.
But my son doesn’t feel that he got where he is because he is some kind of rugged individual. That he did it all himself. He knows that he stands on the shoulders of those who stood on the shoulders of those who stood on the shoulders of those who stood on the shoulders of those who stood on the necks of Indians.
My wife and I tried to instill certain values in our kids. But we don’t love them because they’re perfect. We love them because they’re decent, loving kids. Kids who care about others and care, by the way, about the truth.
One last thing. Speaking of the truth. A few months after my last debate with Ann, the following appeared in a New York Observer story about Ann. From the September 13, 2004 issue..
The writer asks Ann in the article:
“She debated Al Franken recently?
“’Yes,’ she said. ‘It’s not an interesting debate, because liberals can’t argue. So it’s never like point-counterpoint; all we do is hear about his fucking U.S.O. tours for three hours. Excuse my French.’”
Ann, let’s see if we can have a point-counterpoint, and an interesting debate. And by the way, Ann, I have here a DVD of that entire three hour debate – And I’ll bet you my speaking fee tonight that I spoke about my USO tours for less than a grand total of three minutes. How about it Ann? My speaking fee against your speaking fee?
I mean we care about the truth, don’t we?
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I’d love to hear the entire 3 hour debate, particularly the 20 minutes Ann spent answering Al’s opening statement.
I know 3 hours can make for a large file, but if we could download an audio file of debates/speeches like this (like Air America Place) I’d bet it wouldn’t be that expensive and would enhance the site.
Just a thought.
— Sir Rhino Apr 4, 06:05 PM #
I would pay to buy the full 3-hour debate on DVD. $20.00 if that was all I got. Maybe $40 or $50 if it included plenty of extras and maybe part of the proceeds when to a chartiy.
— C.S.Strowbridge Apr 4, 06:43 PM #I agree with Sir Rhino – howdy, Sir!
Al, I heard you describe how the debate would be set up and where it was. Never heard anything about it after that though.
To hear it would be good, no GREAT!
— tiptoe Apr 4, 10:40 PM #
It’s a bit of mystery to me why Al or anyone else takes this woman seriously. She’s a little harpy who has figured out that there are about 2-3 million right wing fruit cakes out there and she is making a good living off them. They will suck up any pap she throws out, railing against elitist liberals, Washington insiders, the commie MSM, it’s all grist to her mill. The only way to neutralize her is to demonstrate to her followers that she is a grifter. She probably spends $1000 getting her hair done, and lives in the east seventies or Georgetown. The last place she is going to be seen is in middle America. This is her achilles heal, she is a conwoman feeding the prejudices of a lot of know nothings. Expose her for what she is to these rubes.
— John Apr 5, 12:14 PM #Excellent post, Al! I would also pay for a transcript of Ann’s response to this openning statement. I arrived here from the Huffington post site, and this post should really be there as well.
— Mark Patten Apr 5, 12:29 PM #Hmm.. just happened upon this entry from the Huffington Post. Very cool speech, Al. You rock.
Actually, Ann Coulter lives in Palm Beach, Florida, though she has a vested interest in not allowing the truth to be widely known.
You see, she voted in the wrong district in 2004. In Florida, this is a class three felony.
The MSM that Ann hates and fears has failed to pick this up, however. Only the local papers have bothered with it; the story hasn’t gained much traction.
For more info, check out Michelle Pilecki’s posts at the Huffington Post. Then, if you can stomach it, attend a function with Ms. Coulter and make sure to ask her “excuse me, do you live in Palm Beach?”
— AngryDan Apr 5, 12:34 PM #It was Al, joyfully and skillfully taking on O’Reilly in that wonderful book-fair debate, who woke me up as to how my fellow gullible Americans were being so systematically misled by selfish liars, and showed me the rising power of blogs. Blogs continue to be the only way I can get close to the reality behind human events, especially this totally illegal and immoral slaughter of innocent Iraqis.
It is, IMO, essential that someone take on the likes of Coulter and O”Reilly—first, to increase their stress and help move them along more quickly to their inevitable bodily demise, never letting them relax and get away with their constant and deliberate lying—and second, so that those unfortunates who today still naively take their lies as truths to be exposed, over and over again, to the actuality of their histories. There is no one better than Al at accomplishing this in a civil as well as an irrefutable way.
Thank you Al from the bottom of my heart. You are exemplary as a true patriot who returns the good fortune of his celebrity a thousandfold to his country. I wish I lived in Minnesota (almost—I like living in Honolulu too much!) so I could vote for you as Senator.
— pookapooka Apr 5, 12:37 PM #Oops, my bad: she voted in the wrong precinct, not wrong district. But, it’s still a felony in Florida.
I’d love to see Ann do time. My guess is she’d weigh 300 lbs. once she got out. It’s awfully hard to keep your weight down in prison, what with no crystal meth there and all..
— AngryDan Apr 5, 12:38 PM #Ann is and has been a raving lunatic and racist since the first time I heard her. What she plays to are the racist opportunists that travel this land. Al, great debate and I don’t know why you do it but showing others what Ann is about sure does help
— Ray Apr 5, 12:40 PM #Al, you are awesome. And I am grateful to you for providing a ray of hope amid the insanity. Please, please, publish Ann’s retort—my blood pressue is way too low these days. Thanks.
— Nonni Walters Apr 5, 12:41 PM #Hi Al, Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I listen to you all of the time on Air America by the internet and I have loved your work for many many years now.
Keep up the truth, and I hope that you’ll run for the Senate.
Terrific speech, Al. Coulter is lower than pond scum. Thanks for all you do!!
— Bob Lord Apr 5, 12:58 PM #Honestly, Mr. Franken, best thing I read all Week. Concise, to the point and Most of all, Truthful.
I Imagine her Ms. Coulter’s response was, to be kind, less to the point.
Thanks you.
— S.D. Apr 5, 01:01 PM #The reason why Al Franken Must take Ms. Coulter’s defamatory nonsense seriously is because she has a forum in the Media to present her views. Regardless of how morally corrupt and conniving, she looks attractive, writes best sellers and is therefore mistaken for someone who Knows Something. The dim-ocrats have still not grasped that they must counter every slander immediately. Kerry lost the election because he didn’t eviscerate the swiftboat fraud immediately. There needs to be a strong, verbal and maybe even humorous rhetoretician countering Every right wing lie. Immediately. Thank you Al Franken.
— David E. Hartman Apr 5, 01:06 PM #I’m very glad to have seen this on Huffpo this morning. I had not stumbled across this blog yet…Al, add me to the chorus that wants to read Ann’s response.
— CameronRex Apr 5, 01:09 PM #Hey Al,
Great statement—way to hold her feet to the fire, but in a civilized way.
I’m looking forward to the chance to vote for you against Norm”emptysuit” Coleman. Welcome home.
Al, I have enjoyed your politics and humor since SNL days. I also credit you with converting Ariana during your ‘strange bedfellow’ spots. I’m glad to see someone challenge Ann Coulter for her lies, deceptions and truth twisting. And also for outing Bush and his gang of liers. Keep up the good work!
— Charles Forbus Apr 5, 01:16 PM #You think you are a progressive but in the end all you are is a mealy mouthed, no principles, middle of the road Democrat. You basically support the war by holding a position that says we can’t withdraw until hell freezes over, all the guys fighting the war(Americans) are good guys and heros even if they torture, shoot innocent human beings and blindly follow orders to kill other humans in an illegal war. You are precisely what is wrong with the Democratic Party and why I stopped listening to Air America which seems to be in a contest as to how insipid it’s possible to be when taking non-right wing political positions.
— alan pezaro, m.u.p., ph.d Apr 5, 01:28 PM #You are not even funny anymore.
What does it feel like to go to Iraq and know that you are perfectly safe because the last thing the enemy wants to do is injure even a not funny liberal that is helping them and not his country’s troops.
Oh Al, you have GOT to make that CD available! To prevent seeming self-serving, why not sell it and donate all the profits to post-traumatic stress disorder research or the VA? I would be willing to bet you could raise MILLIONS!
— Alice Schmid Apr 5, 01:38 PM #The best thing that I can say about Miss Coulter is that a blonde is a terrible thing to waste.
— Lucdavid Hart Apr 5, 01:46 PM #Brilliantly done, Al. I’ll guess Ann did not put her speaking fee up against yours, but if she addressed your challenge at all, attempted to be droll and said, “Well, it SEEMED like three hours.” (Soul of wit that she is.)
I also agree that progressive thinkers need to take on and counter Coulter and any of the other right-wing pundits. It must be done directly, with footnotes and cites fully engaged, and force them to back down. They will never shut up, but they can be pinned down and hemmed in, so their squeals of outrage become more shill, and people see them for what they truly are.
Alan. That’s not what he said. Use your PhD to reread the speech and understand it.
NAF: which is why liberal/left activists in Iraq are perfectly safe. Oh? They’re not. Try again, paste-eater.
—
I wasn’t going to fight trools, but I just read through this before preping my afternoon class, and I have to say: goddamn is this good stuff. I’m not a laugh-out-loud kind of guy normally, but I busted up twice while reading this.
Great and thoughtful post. I don’t know how she was able to go on after that—oh yeah, she has no shame and knows her act is a put-on. That’s probably it.
— Todd and In Charge Apr 5, 01:51 PM #Nice going Al.
Just got done watching the ‘Al and Dave’ show on Dead Ahead. Jerry would be proud of you.
jb
— Judd Brown Apr 5, 01:52 PM #Hi Al:
I’m a big fan of yours, and I was at the debate, along with my wife. She had no idea how bad Ann Coulter is, both as a person and as a public speaker. However, I don’t think even Ann believes anything she says. She is like the small child that says the most provacative thing they can in order to see if they can make your head explode. In this way, the people who truly do believe that liberals hate America can feel validated that someone who “thinks like they do” can attract media attention and get their ideas/emotions into the marketplace. The problem is, she is just taking advantage of the gullible and ill-informed by pandering to them via her outrageous statements.
PS – Al, if you truly want to run for senate, you are going to need to get some lessons from a professional public speaker. Your prepared remarks are wonderful and delivered with great style, but when you are ad libbing during the debate you tend to drone and lose audience interest. I know you can do better, and I’ll be the first to contribute to your senate campaign.
GO GET EM, AL !!!
— Ethan Eller Apr 5, 01:53 PM #So, Al - what is it about this
speech that you’re proud of?
Is it true that Howdy Doody is
really your dad? Is it true that
you masturbate on pics of
Cindy Sheehan? Is it true that
only fags like your “progress
ive” quote unquote ideas?
Al, it is my firm belief that the work you do and the work of others like Jon Stewart, Kieth Olberman, Lou Dobbs and Steven Colbert, are the saving grace for our precious democracy. Truth really is beauty.
— David J. Fahey Apr 5, 01:57 PM #Al,
Please run for president, I’ll vote for you.
We need a decent guy like you to stand up and tell the truth.
Nice work Al!
But unlike the narrow minded righties who stick their fingers in their ears and sing when the opposition speaks, I want to read Ann’s response. (even though I know it will be filled with lies, hatred and racist bile)
— Al in LA Apr 5, 02:01 PM #Ethan Eller, you must not have listened to Norm Coleman lately. The tendency to drone and lose the audience was illustrated by Norm beautifully when Michael “Heckuva Job’ Brownie handed him his ass during the hearings. Great stuff!
Go Al!
— Judd Brown Apr 5, 02:03 PM #I’m here by way of the Huffington Post as well.
Count me as someone who thinks you should definitely keep speaking the truth over and over again even to idiots like Ann Coulter. That was a beautifully written speech, Al,and I only wish I could read her response.
Here in Texas (it’s so brutally red here) I take every opportunity to own the word Liberal. I’m tired of people using it as some sort of epitaph or negative stereotyping. Keep fighting the fight Al and I promise I will too!
Thank you to Al Franken, for agreeing to debate Ann Coulter. I’ve seen her in action and one of her main tactics is to derail any discussion with ‘facts’ that the person she is talking to can’t easily counter. Al Franken, however, has the knowledge, the intelligence and mental nimbleness to skewer her every time, and demonstrate that the ‘facts’ she presents as truth are no more than outright lies, exaggerations and things taken completely out of context.
— LDW Apr 5, 02:13 PM #Hey, if someone at the PAC has a copy of this, I will rip the file into MP3’s and host them.
Let me know, email me and let me know if anyone recorded it.
— Daniel Apr 5, 02:16 PM #Loved the speach…Ann sure has problems with the truth…we’ll see what a 3rd degree felony rap does for her “selective” approach to the facts.
Peace
You certainly are all there. You are very intelligent and tell the truth. You have to feel sorry for Ann Coulter, she is a very, very sick child. I never in all my years of listening to her has she made any sense and displays her hatred for democrats constantly. Real sicko. Keep up your good work and hope we can get this country back to what it is meant to be. The Constitution is not just a damn piece of paper.
— Anthony S Milograno Apr 5, 02:27 PM #Excellent speech. I guess it’s fun to debate with that anorexic skank, but I never pay any attention to anything she says. I hope to see you in the senate soon. Keep up the good work!
— John M Norman Apr 5, 02:32 PM #While reading the comments I had this image of Ann sitting in her chair with a series of expressions on her face along the lines of Bush in the first debate in ‘04 against Kerry. Kinda like her creme’ broulee was backing up on her. From a bigger picture perspective, what is going to happen to her and her ilk (Rush, Bill, Tucker, etc.) when the Dems take the House and maybe the Senate in November? Do they get a higher profile in the minority or do they fade into the mist where they belong? In a more perfect world, the MSM will swing back to a more neutral position and the wildeyed R/W noisemakers will fall off the right side of the earth.
— Jack Straw from Witchita Apr 5, 03:00 PM #You said, “You can’t have good government without the truth”. I think you can compare this (Oh the Nazi comparison again) with the regular quotes from Joseph Goebbels who said you can’t have good government without good propoganda – the Bush administration credo – (gute Regeirung ohne gute Propoganda). If you ever want to see a comparison of the Nazi chronology with the Bush chronology it’s astoundingly similar.
— b. schaeffer Apr 5, 03:06 PM #Al, you funny sumbitch….thanks! Love this PAC, Love my country, Love it, man. Ann’s fans are the type with heads like cement: all mixed up and permanently set. Truth is the million pound shithammer; keep using it with humor. L8R….VTRC
— vermontraccoon Apr 5, 03:28 PM #I’m pretty mad that you liberal dogs lined out Ronnie’s post. :O(
Here it is in the orignal form I dictated to him in.
Ann
So, Al – what is it about this
speech that you’re proud of?
Is it true that Howdy Doody is
really your dad? Is it true that
you masturbate on pics of
Cindy Sheehan? Is it true that
only fags like your “progress
ive� quote unquote ideas?
— Ron Cooney Apr 5, 01:56 PM #
— Ann Coulter Apr 5, 03:30 PM #Ann Coulter? You have to shower after? If stupidity had a face it would be Ann’s.
— mike miller Apr 5, 03:39 PM #Thank you, Al. I have heard you talk about most of this on Air America and have read all your books, but it is good to see that you’re confronting “people” (and I use that word loosely in this context) like Ann Coulter and speaking the truth.
Keep it up; we need your humor and your truth.
— Brooke Apr 5, 03:52 PM #GO AL GO! Please post the entire show—I would so pay to see her face while your talked. I will never forget O’Reilly exploding on CSPAN when you both were on that book tour panel years ago—it was classic!
Thanks for doing what you do. Saw you on your last trip to Tampa Bay . . . I wish Florida was your home state so you could run for office here—lord knows you would have plenty of material to keep your comedy going as well!
— jillabuster Apr 5, 04:05 PM #What Al said to Ann was very important… but, I can’t stand that he debates her, because that gives her some legitimacy, and she also makes money off of hatred and stupidity. I could have gone to the Skirball Center for this event, but there was no way on earth I was going to have my dollar directly contribute to this horrible human being.
— Progressivepam Apr 5, 04:07 PM #Hi Al!
Just wanted to let you know I attended your debate with that evil woman. I didn’t go to the entire series, just the one with you and Ann.
I just wanted to say you were so great! I’m so happy you posted the text of your opening statement because it was so elegant.
You handed that offensive woman very well and never stooped to her level…answered her every lie and slander with grace but with firm and factual rebuttle. It really was a joy to watch.
I have to admit, I actually had to leave the auditorium when it was Ann’s turn for her opening statements. She’s so vile that I just could not stomach listening to her go on without you to counter her so, when she was through, I returned. I’ve seen enough of her on Bill Maher’s show to know she makes my blood boil to a point I can hardly deal with (notice she hasn’t been on his show in a while? I would venture a guess that Bill got too much grief from her appearance).
Once again, thank you for a great evening and keep up the good work!
— rikki Apr 5, 04:19 PM #— Ron Cooney Apr 5, 01:56 PM #
— Ann Coulter Apr 5, 03:30 PM #
Sad little trolls ….. hey, wait a minute, we finally got mAnn to spill her male name. LMAO
shoo fly(s), shoo
Al, thank you for posting this speech. I heard you do a brief synopsis on your show and wanted to hear more. I’m sure someone took notes of Ann’s speech and/or reply to you so could you please post that as well, if only just the highlights. I wish you two could be booked on the same television show so we could watch you crush her in front of millions. Thanks for all you do.
— Amy Apr 5, 04:38 PM #I have read this twice today and was very edified each time. I can’t wait to read the congressional quarterly (?) when Al is in congress.
— zenster666 Apr 5, 04:57 PM #Franken provides a humorous and pointed barb to deflate Coulter’s egomaniacal distortions and “truthiness”. It inspired me to offer up a definition.
“To Coulter” (verb; also nascent social virus):
To vomit up (like a bulimic feline who has swallowed too many hairballs) a bile of baseless, fact-free political rhetoric and hate at everything left of Atilla the Hun or the Grand Inquistor (especially evil Liberals and godless Secularists) for the purpose of inflaming the venom and unbridled vitriol of
Joe Six Packs, Jane Rednecks, George Survivalists and John Unilateralists.
Often accompanied by a sudden loss of gray matter, a corresponding emotional
anorexia and a tendency to contradict reality.
Sometimes thought to be a variation of “Maggie Thatcherism” with legs, though
absent a heart.
May orginate in reptile world; destination unknown; hopefully to be deep-sixed after the next November auctions (formerly known as elections).
— David Macauley Apr 5, 05:06 PM #Hi Al. I loved the speech and wish I’d been there to hear you live. I’m also curious about Ann’s response.
Al, I’ve meant to write you since 2004 to thank you for truly helping me through a hard time. A friend gave me your book, “Lying Liars”, a few weeks after the presidental election. I couldn’t put it down and was in actual pain from laughing. It was the first laughing I’d done for weeks and I credit your humor for helping me get up and moving again. Thanks so much, Al.
I woulld’ve liked to have known Ann as a child.
She can’t always have been filled with such contempt and bitterness.
What was it that turned her so against herself that she has to take it out on the rest of us?
Where is the Ann Coulter, who said on FoxNews that she had been to lots of Grateful Dead shows.
Ann, a DeadHead?
I still can’t make any sense out of that.
Either she’s got multiple personalities, or she just loves efficiency as much as hating.
Read your intro to the debate, by the way saw you in person on the morning show in LA. great
as always, whatever you do. I do not waste my time on AC either by watching her or reading about her. She is a waste of my valuable time. Please keep up the good work. Listen daily, watch when you are on TV shows also. God Bless,
Sally
OC in California
SOS out of smalley. Ann probabley kick his fat ass and was a lot funnier doing it.
— idgaf Apr 5, 05:45 PM #A transcript here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1607703/posts
It has commentary and misses showing EvilAnne’s face, but has her evil words. — Rogas Apr 5, 05:46 PM #Al:
You did us all a favor by eviscerating this foul-mouth harridan. She is an opportunist, preying on the weak minded, right wing and evangelist crowd. They pump money into her bank account and she gives them what they want to hear. Isn’t it strange that this debate saw little press coverage anywhere. If someone can cite a press report on this, I would love to see it. As a Vietnam veteran, I despise all that she stands for. She would change her tune overnight if she had to go to Iraq and shoulder a weapon.
Mr. Franken,
I may have to move to Minnesota. I live in TN and after having Frist for my senator I need all the help I can get. Good luck to you and thank you for taking on this mission.
Thank you very much, Al.
We have to challenge these liars every chance we get. Call them out on their lies.
— Village Crone Apr 5, 06:31 PM #Thanks Al! You so clearly state what many of us think but lack the eloquence to express.
You just made the top of my bookmark list.
— PManglona Apr 5, 07:10 PM #Re:Bush and Yale. Don’t know if true, but I read that Bush was turned down at University of Texas before he was accepted at Yale.
— Ronniedell Apr 5, 07:26 PM #Terrific site! It’s very satisfying-no shouting necessary. Hoist the morons by their own petard, don’t bother screaming at them. The Repubs are dying not with a bang but a whimper.
— kindofblue Apr 5, 07:27 PM #The reason why Al Franken Must take Ms. Coulter’s defamatory nonsense seriously is because she has a forum in the Media to present her views. Regardless of how morally corrupt and conniving, she looks attractive, writes best sellers and is therefore mistaken for someone who Knows Something. The dim-ocrats have still not grasped that they must counter every slander immediately. Kerry lost the election because he didn’t eviscerate the swiftboat fraud immediately. There needs to be a strong, verbal and maybe even humorous rhetoretician countering Every right wing lie. Immediately. Thank you Al Franken.
******************
There are not enough hours in the day to counter every right-wing lie. So everyone who has a forum for their views, and has written best-seller status, and “looks attractive” must be countered immediately? What if the person spreading the slander meets only two of these three criteria?
The Democrats did not lose the election because they didn’t refute the Siwft Boat liars quickly enough; they lost it because they were so bankrupt when presenting ideas that the Swift Boaters had an easy day filling up the vacuum left by the absence of these ideas. Come up with ideas and stand for something first, and in the process, show that your opponents stand for something opposite – something vile. That way, when the right-wing slime machine starts bearing down on you, you’ll be ready to answer it, because you’ve already done your homework. By the way, the Republicans didn’t win because they effectively countered Democrats’ slanders (there were a few); they won because of their (repulsive) and false ideas (i.e. the notion that Bush could keep us safe). If Democrats can change the terms of the debate and come up with ideas of their own, the public will not be waiting with bated breath as much for the slimers to attack – they’ll actually be waiting to hear what the Democrats have to say.
As far as “debating” every right wing slander, that’s ridiculous, because on some level, debating nonsense gives it a status it doesn’t deserve. By debating a Holocaust denier, for example, you give him legitimacy just by providing him a forum to air his views. By debating someone who says the Earth is flat, you do the same thing. Yes, some, many slanders must be answered, but not EVERY right wing idiocy must be attacked and exposed, given politics is a zero sum game of limited resources.
— DLebovic Apr 5, 07:28 PM #Ann Coulter with that very thin frame cannot possibly have “truthful breasts” . They have to be as made up as her facts.
— tom Johnston Apr 5, 07:47 PM #Thanks and kudos. Here’s another vote for access to audio files of this debate and the other speeches and debates referenced therein. Charge a fee, and do with it what you wish. You’re entitled. For the stuff that has both you and Ann on it, maybe she’d agree to direct proceeds to the USO. Maybe not. Anyway, if you ask her, it’s a win/win.
— Leo Marvin Apr 5, 07:53 PM #This goes to show that Al is helping Senator Feingold put the MENSCH back into being a man.
Good work, sir. What did Ann say after you sat on her with your prodigious buttocks? :-)
— Paul in LA Apr 5, 08:08 PM #“Twiggy with Tourette’s” gets her bony ass handed to her. Bravo, Al!
— John Musser Apr 5, 08:16 PM #What we are seeing here is one of the most brilliant minds in the country spending his time working for social justice. True to himself, true to his country and true to his faith. I applaud him and honor him. I think Al should run for senator from Minnesota, so that he has a voice in our nations lawmaking, and a forum for his opinions about events of the day. I can’t adequately express how much I admire his honesty and intellectual integrity. I have been listening to him on Air America since he began with them, and he always has his facts well in hand, is brilliant in using his knowledge to explain an issue, and never demagogues an issue, or even takes a cheap shot when arguing with the likes of Coulter or O’Reilly. He is the un-limbaugh. He is the exemplar of what Harry Truman meant when he said of his political opponents “I don’t give them hell, I just give them the facts and they think it’s hell”. Loosely quoted by me, but right on point. I can’t imagine Al has time to read this, so what I’m writing might embarrass him, but after reading this speech above I just want to let the readers know what a wonderful fellow we have in our midst, a thought I’ve had many times and now I’ve gone and said it! I love Al, and if there is any justice in the world, it’ll be Senator Franken one of these days. John Fullerton
— John Fullerton Apr 5, 08:25 PM #Al,
You are the real deal. A good man (with jokes. Very funny jokes). Thanks for every bit of light and heart you inject into our dark, cynical political quagmire.
— Douglas Rankin Apr 5, 08:39 PM #Excellent opening statement, Al!
Pretty sad that the right has such unscrupulous pundits to express their ideals.
I think that there might be honest Republicans somewhere, but I suspect they have all hidden from the light of day with all of the dishonorable things being done these days in the name of the GOP.
On the telegraph sex… that was a lot better than the telegram sex… It just didn’t catch on – you know… “Kiss me. STOP. Hold me. STOP. Hug me. STOP”
— chuck Apr 5, 09:24 PM #Absolutely fantastic. I would give that speech to every liberal, every Democrat and say, “This is how you take on a conservative. This is someone who cares.”
Thanks, Al. Keep up the good work.
— jaywillie Apr 5, 09:40 PM #you should be ashamed, taking advantage of a poor, stupid woman, did you notice she can’t spell very well and often uses poor grammar?
— ultimus q gimp (the terror of the cosmos) Apr 5, 09:49 PM #you ought to do a riff on what the thugs would(bsu, cheney, rummy, delay), etc. if they had to go to iraq and serve on the front lines. i’ll be the war would be over very fast
— ultimus q gimp (the terror of the cosmos) Apr 5, 09:56 PM #Great Opening Statement Al. My respect for you continues to grow. The DVD sounds like a great idea to make a few bucks, but I can’t imagine that BITCH would have anything to say that I’d want to hear. And as for Al, I know he can take care of himself.
— John Garza Apr 5, 10:01 PM #I just read the description of this on the FR website, followed by the comments of FR readers. Sickening. Only someone with Al’s courage and humor could endure such an experience. DLebovic may have a point. I’m not sure there’s any point in confronting such a strange, twisted person as Ann Coulter in this way—especially when it’s not getting any press coverage.
— bragova Apr 5, 10:20 PM #Using their own words against them. Now if only others would do so. Coulter was just outclassed. Way to go Al.
Peace.
HI Al, Nice to see your posts here and at Huffington’s. I think you are just what the democrats need, an intelligent, rational, not overly emotional person who stands up and has the guts to say what he thinks but without getting crazy like so many.. well ,, like me lol.. I can’t help it. i’m continually enraged by these reich wing shitcases.. (see , told ya )
Will check in often to read your rants.. I also wish I coulda been there to hear you speak.. and I would have brought a pie for Ann :)
— BJ Apr 5, 11:26 PM #Al,
Thanks so much for standing up against the tide of insanity.
Jeff
— Jeff Joseph Apr 5, 11:52 PM #Once again Al, thanks for making me laugh. I owe you many times over.
— Fred X. Quimby Apr 5, 11:53 PM #I wonder what “special ingredients” might have found their way into her coffee that night…...
— garryowen Apr 6, 12:03 AM #Al, you’ve got an ego as big as Dallas and as a recent “hate mail” writer pointed out it does get in the way occasionally, but you are an honest man and you know your stuff and you’re fighting the good fight and I can’t think of anyone who could have settled Ann’s hash better than you did.
— Toyo Apr 6, 12:12 AM #Great Speech. Very funny and yet makes the point u re trying to make.
I loved it.
One thing though. Iraq’s PM is IBRAHIM AL-JAFAARI not Mohammad.
Ann Coulter is a despicable human being. And I say that not because I’m some invective-tossing liberal. I say that because, well, she’s a despicable human being. Franken gave some great examples of the putrid mound of lies and distortions she produces, and there are hundreds more where those came from. I’d feel sorry for the dupes who buy into her breathtakingly dishonest schtick, but they deserve her. Her crap is so easily exposed, the only audience for it are those who seek to be deceived.
— minnie mouse Apr 6, 12:50 AM #Because someone needs to speak out against this rubbish. Al Franken isn’t going to change the tide of American thinking alone, but as a bulwark against this particular BS spewer, he’s more than capable.
I’ve not agreed with everything he’s ever said, but thank God he’s pushing his talents and abilities for the good of other people.
Great speech, Mister Franken. And after a speech like that, you deserve to be called Mister Franken. Please keep up the good words. You articulate for a great many people, right and left.
— Frank Apr 6, 01:18 AM #If everyone ignored her, do you suppose she’d go away? Why not try it; if it doesn’t work you can always find new ways to humiliate her with the truth.
— Overt Acts Apr 6, 02:00 AM #On the telegraph sex… that was a lot better than the telegram sex… It just didn’t catch on – you know… “Kiss me. STOP. Hold me. STOP. Hug me. STOPâ€?
— chuck Apr 5, 09:24 PM #
You da man Chuck! Stop. That made me silence my chortling whilst everyone’s asleep!!! Stop.
— dd Apr 6, 02:19 AM #heck if anyone at the PAC could get me a DVD copy of this (if one was recorded) and the mentioned prior DVD i’d convert it to a compressed video format for iPod and general consumption. :-) if not that i’d suggest the PAC does it and posts it on the iTunes music store. they could do it for free or have a fee to help raise money for the PAC. :-D
— Todd Apr 6, 03:07 AM #“You are not even funny anymore.
What does it feel like to go to Iraq and know that you are perfectly safe because the last thing the enemy wants to do is injure even a not funny liberal that is helping them and not his country’s troops.
— not al franken”
Yup, I can just picture the insurgents sitting in their bombed-out homes in Baghdad, watching DVD’s of Al Franken (during the few hours they have electricity, that is), saying, “Ahmet, have you seen this Stewart Smalley bit?”
I’m curious, what flavor of Republican Kool-Aid is your favorite?
— Cranky Media Guy Apr 6, 03:44 AM #What’s amusing about the posts is that most of you have already condemned Ann’s reply before you read it. I guess preconcieved notions are OK as long as you are on the right side? Just a thought.
— jpbreon Apr 6, 03:58 AM #What side does one have to be on to recognize Ann Coulter’s style and bile – and expect nothing less than the norm from her?
Political ideology and ‘side’ doesn’t enter into it. She makes a living off of being as shrill as is possible, and distorting the truth at every available opportunity.
Yes, the “she has a penis” jokes get old – but I hardly think dismissing her before she opens her mouth reflects a ‘side’...other than ‘not braindead’.
— joe Apr 6, 04:35 AM #Holy Toledo, Al sure ripped her a new one! Just wish I was there to see that vile bag of wind and diarhea try to slither her way into the corner. Is she still getting banged by that idiot Mike….or Mat Drudge? If not, I have an extremely eligible Cocker Spaniel just waiting to find the perfect mate.
— Carlo Apr 6, 05:08 AM #Thank you Al!
Al, you’ve done plenty at the current level. Do us all a favor a lift your aim a bit. Get away from Coulter and her type, and start aiming 2 levels higher. Get the attention of the power brokers, stop going shoulder to shoulder with the pundits. You are so much better than that.
It’s time to reclassify who you are, what you can become, in the eyes of a grateful public.
— Chance Apr 6, 05:40 AM #~also via Huffpo –
She drank her coffee? oh,dear.Clearly- Ann has never been a waitress.
— elion Apr 6, 06:31 AM #For those who ask “Why validate Ann’s existence by debating her?” I would just like to point out that one person, constantly pusing one-sided lies and propaganda, unanswered, is far more dangerous than one who does so and is then exposed for the lies she told.
If no one stands up and points out her bullshit, it tends to stick to the wall, rather than slide off.
Al is doing a public service by dissecting Ann’s lies and revealing the truth behind it, so the next time one of her devotees hears her talk, he can take it with a slightly larger grain of salt.
Unanswered, let alone to do her dirty work, Ann is like a cancer cell. Without treatment, it would spread far faster and wider than with treatment.
Al is the treatment.
Yeah, we all know Ann is lying, and we can prove it. Anyone with a TIVO or a VCR can simply back it up and note that her lips are moving, and ergo, she’s lying.
Marlowe
— Marlowe Apr 6, 08:21 AM #What I cannot fathom is why anyone would want to debate Coulter. You only give more exposure to the likes of one who will slander and degrade anyone with a shred of integrity and honesty.
— Robert FC Apr 6, 08:30 AM #Al, the only reason I don’t want you to run for president is that the right wing nut cases would have you assassinated, probably on orders of the White House.
— Nofoolhere Apr 6, 08:37 AM #Absolutely terrific statement Al!
And good for you for taking on the challenge – one could say debating an unmedicated schizophrenic isn’t quite fair, but its important for someone to point out Ann’s condition.
That was excellent. Add my voice to those clamoring for audio or video of the entire debate.
— Kate Black Apr 6, 09:06 AM #Do we really give a darn what Al has to say? He is about as truthful as Dan Blather. If anyone looks to this guy for the truth heaven help us.
— Tony Apr 6, 09:08 AM #Slink on back on your Freeperville Trolley, Tony, none of us are buying your bs here.
— darylj Apr 6, 09:19 AM #I agree with BLebovic on the importance of taking Coulter seriously. Ignoring them has been a detriment – they’ve grown in audience and range. This speech is PERFECT. I, too, would pay to own the DVD of the previous debate, as well as this one if possible. Reading these words from Al has given me hope and inspiration. I mean it.
— muse Apr 6, 09:25 AM #A breath of fresh air in the stale confines of the repulsican culture of corruption. Thank you for speaking the truth out loud and for making people like Ann Coulter sit and listen to it! As my 23 year old daughter would say, You rock!
—