Puncturing Cheney Spin With Humor

Last week, in an appearance on the Letterman show, Al Franken did a marvelous job of breaking through the ridiculous White House spin that Cheney’s hunting accident was not as big a deal as the media has made it out to be. In his signature fashion, he did so simply by asking for a show of hands from the audience: “who has ever shot a friend in the face?” No one in the audience raised their hands (though they did laugh), but the moment became even more memorable when the band’s entire horn section raised their hands. Franken, the former longtime writer for Saturday Night Live, has moved back to his native Minnesota, the base from which he now produces his Air America radio show. And he's also seriously considering a run for the U.S. Senate. To some, that might seem an odd fit for the funny man, but we could do a lot worse: like about half of the right-wing Republicans currently in the Senate. With these intellectually challenged Cro-Magnons (to say nothing of their humor deficit), the joke's actually on their constituents, and indeed the entire country.