Al Franken | The New York Observer

With Friends Like These… Midwestern Democrats Fight Climate Policy

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:53:48 -0400

On August 6th, ten Midwestern Democratic Senators sent a letter to President Obama that began the hardball phase of creating climate policy as it moves from the House’s Waxman-Markey bill to Senate deliberations in the fall. In this letter, the Senators insist that climate change legislation must protect U.S. manufacturers from unfair foreign competition. They do not want U.S. manufacturers to face competition from foreign industries that might not have to pay the cost...

What Is Norm Coleman Thinking Now?

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:58:00 -0400

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One Way to Make the Franken-Coleman Race Even Crazier: Send It to the Senate

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:40:52 -0500

The constitutional proviso that “each house (of Congress) shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members” could well be put to the test in the coming weeks, if Al Franken ends up appealing the results of his Minnesota Senate race against Norm Coleman to the U.S. Senate.

The logic behind such a move would be obvious: If Coleman, who led by 215 votes after the initial election night count,...

If You Liked Al Franken, You'll Love Chris Matthews

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:09:46 -0500

With a run-off in Georgia set for Tuesday and a lengthy recount still ongoing in Minnesota, not all of this year's Senate races have been resolved. And yet it is a contest that won't even take place for two years that has arguably stirred the most interest this past week.

For months, it's been obvious that Chris Matthews would like to return to his native Pennsylvania and run for Arlen Specter's...

Al Franken Is Starting to Look Like Ollie North

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:05:59 -0400

The 1994 midterm election is justly recalled as the strongest ever for the Republican Party. Bill Clinton, elected to the presidency two years earlier, had spent the first half of his term giving voters reason to regret the faith they’d placed in him. Independents felt let down, Republicans were openly hostile (and unusually unified in their opposition to him) and Democrats were just underwhelmed. On Election Day, the G.O.P. won just about everything there...

Franken Cancels NYC Fund-raiser

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:03:46 -0400

In the wake of the deadly bridge collapse in Minnesota, U.S. Senate candidate and SNL alum Al Franken has suspended his big New York fund-raiser, along with all other campaign activities, according to a campaign spokesman. Here's a related message on his campaign web site. ...

Green Brothers Win! Steve, Mark to Buy Leaky Air America

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Ever since rumors began to swirl that Air America Radio might declare bankruptcy—a rumor that became real on Oct. 13, 2006—the network’s Sixth Avenue headquarters have had the slow, deflated feel of a boomtown going bust. The cluster of cubicles that were once occupied by a buzzy cadre of researchers sits partly empty—except for the bits that have been leased to a crew belonging to a new, unrelated radio venture by Jane Fonda and...

Al Gets Gore-TV

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 20:00:00 -0400

The Observer has learned that former Vice President Al Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt, an entrepreneur and Democratic fund-raiser, will close the deal to pay around $70 million to French-owned Vivendi Universal this week, making them the owners of the tiny digital-cable channel Newsworld International (NWI), moving Mr. Gore from politics to mini-media-moguldom. Mr. Gore’s group plans to transform the sleepy foreign-news outlet into a youth-oriented public-affairs channel, a jump-cut news network for...

Franken Live

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 10:38:52 -0500

Radio host, political satirist and possible senate candidate Al Franken is having a fundraiser in Manhattan on March 9th for his Midwest Value Pac. Now the only question is which gets a bigger laugh: jokes about Dick Cheney or Bill O'Reilly? --Azi...

Al Franken, Darn It!

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 19:00:00 -0500

Last Friday night, the comedian Al Franken went on The Late Show with David Letterman and said something outrageous. “George H.W. Bush, the President’s father, was the head of the C.I.A., and he has said that outing a C.I.A. agent is treason,” Mr. Franken said, referring to the Valerie Plame leak case. “It is treason, yes,” said Mr. Letterman. “And so basically,” said Mr. Franken, “what it looks like is going to happen is...

Ride the Pink Pony: Rockefeller Center, Al Franken, Ugly Purses, and Gayhem

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 06:37:00 -0400

In The Transom: Our trusty reporter sneaked into the grand reopening of the Rockefeller Center Observation Decks, where $2-million walls are caressed by hot French ladies and the head of the Landmarks Commission discusses the building's suitability for suicide by jumping; Gayhem erupts at the Roxy at a High Line benefit; does Melania Trump know that self-tanner really isn't good for a fetus?; and Thrillist launches as the ultimate cad guide. Can nutty Al Franken...

Terror Teen Takes Limelight

Wed, 27 Jul 2005 11:55:00 -0400

Nineteen-year-old Ryan Mauro, the Youngest Hired Geopolitical Analyst in North America, whom I profiled last week, reports that he'll be featured on an upcoming Daily Show segment about how American teenagers have changed since 9/11. Al Franken also has designs on the boy; he'll be a guest on August 2nd. "How cool is that?!" Ryan...

Bush Reality TV: Fishing With George!

Sun, 08 Aug 2004 20:00:00 -0400

Wednesday, Aug. 4

It doesn't get any better than this. On Friday, Aug. 6, for an entire hour, you can watch President George W. Bush sit in a boat on a pond in Crawford, Tex., and fish for bass. The Outdoor Life Network will air a very special episode of Fishing with Roland Martin , featuring the award-winning professional bass fisherman. The Bush family confidante (and official fishing pal of George père ) will be tossing out gossamer line with...

Bigmouth Strikes Again

Sun, 08 Aug 2004 20:00:00 -0400

A few dozen passengers were settling into their seats in the

Quiet Car of the Acela Regional Express as it rolled out of Boston's South Station on Friday, July 30, when a slightly rumpled guy boarded the train, a Democratic National Convention credential still slung around his neck. The man began talking-quite loudly-about Senator John Kerry's speech the night before, and how great he thought Barack Obama's speech had been earlier in the week. Did he have fun? someone...

Yogi, Go Home!

Sun, 25 Apr 2004 20:00:00 -0400

When 28-year-old Sandra Olic first left the talent agency ICM last year after spending six years there as an executive assistant, she needed a change-and a haircut just wasn't going to cut it.

"I was trying to figure out what to do with my life, like everyone else in their 20's," she said. She'd been practicing yoga since her years at Queens College, so when she heard that yoga guru Baron Baptiste was conducting a...

Al Gets Gore-TV

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 20:00:00 -0400

The Observer has learned that former Vice President Al Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt, an entrepreneur and Democratic fund-raiser, will close the deal to pay around $70 million to French-owned Vivendi Universal this week, making them the owners of the tiny digital-cable channel Newsworld International (NWI), moving Mr. Gore from politics to mini-media-moguldom.

Mr. Gore's group plans to transform the sleepy foreign-news outlet into a youth-oriented public-affairs channel, a jump-cut news network for the...

Al Gets Gore-TV

Sun, 04 Apr 2004 20:00:00 -0400

Mr. Gore's group plans to transform the sleepy foreign-news outlet into a youth-oriented public-affairs channel, a jump-cut news network for the...

Requiescat in Pace , Henny Youngman: Comedy Meritocracy Rises at Friars

Sun, 15 Oct 2000 20:00:00 -0400

Rob Reiner sat in a big beige armchair on the stage of the New York Hilton's Grand Ballroom on Oct. 6. With his moon face and trimmed beard, the actor-director resembled a black-tie Santa. And at that moment, Santa was waiting to be mugged by a puppet.

At the podium to the right of Mr. Reiner, Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, swayed like a canine cobra, connected to the arm of Late Night...

No News at the Convention, But the Canapés in Cali are Damn Good

Sun, 20 Aug 2000 20:00:00 -0400

LOS ANGELES–A young blond woman stood on the corner of Figueroa and Olympic on Monday night. It was shortly after President Clinton, at the center of a media scrum of television cameras and reporters, had finished his rousing speech to the Democratic Convention, and the pretty girl, a college student from San Diego who identified herself as Tracy, had her own little media klatsch outside the Staples Center. Dressed in beach-preppy jean shorts and...

Al Franken, a Politically Incorrect Fixture, Plans New Sitcom

Sun, 09 Nov 1997 19:00:00 -0500

Al Franken, the former Saturday Night Live writer and performer who has become the Clinton White House court jester, is a guest on Politically Incorrect . Again. "I've lost track of how many times I've been on it," Mr. Franken said. "I really like being on it because I think I'm pretty good at it and it's fun and you get the questions in advance." …

Mr. Franken has a sitcom in the can-six episodes...