On Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:06:04 -0500, "Ed Pawlowski" >
wrote:

>
>"Gloria P" > wrote in message
>>
>> Al Franken is a bright, compassionate, literate, well-rpoken guy.
>> Minnesota could do worse. The gov could appoint one of its
>> prominent citizens (like Jesse Ventura?) to the post. Yike!
>>
>> gloria p
>
>I don't live in your state so I'm not interested in the local politics, but
>my opinion of him differs. I always thought he was a pompous ass. That
>opinion is based on his TV appearances as a humorist as well as self
>appointed basher of the opposing party. Maybe his campaign speeches were
>better.
>
Basher he is. This is from his 2004 book "Lies and the Lying Liars
Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right"

[begin quote]
Rich Lowry is an editor at National Review. If you watch cable news,
you've probably seen his head talking here or there, arguing the
conservative position on some issue of the day. He's pretty young, I'd
say about forty now. He's not bad, as these guys go. Fairly
articulate. He even enjoyed a run as a semi-regular on The NewsHour.

One area where Lowry seems paleo-conservative, though, is in the realm
of gender politics. When Massachusetts governor Jane Swift had twins,
he called for her to step down. I agreed, but that was because she was
a Republican.

As you may have figured out by now, I'm a bit of a C-SPAN junkie, and
a couple of years ago, late at night, I caught Rich talking, I think,
to some College Republicans. He was saying that Democrats had
"feminized" politics. In fact, by making it okay for politicians to
cry, Lowry said that we Democrats had "sissified" politics.

There seemed to be only one thing to do. The next day, I called the
National Review and got Rich's direct line. I remember the
conversation very clearly.

RICH: Hello

ME: Rich, Al Franken. How do you do?

RICH: Fine. To what do I owe the honor of your call?

ME: Well, I saw you on C-SPAN last night talking about how we
Democrats had sisified politics. So, I thought I'd challenge you to a
fight.

RICH:...A fight?

ME: Yeah. I figure the loser gives a thousand dollars to the winner's
charity.

RICH: Where...where would we fight?

ME: In my parking garage.

RICH: Parking garage?

ME: Yeah.

RICH: What would the rules be?

ME: No rules. It's like Fight Club.

RICH: Fight Club?

ME: Yeah. No weapons or anything. The first to say "uncle" loses.

RICH: You want to fight me in a garage? With no rules?

ME: Yeah. If you win, I have to give to some nutty right-wing cause.
If I win, you have to give to...I don't know, NARAL or Emily's List.

RICH: Can I ask you something?

ME: Sure.

RICH: Do you fight a lot?

ME: No, I have actually never been in a fight. But I wrestled in high
school and I'm pretty confident I could beat you. Then again, I'm
fifty and have a bad back. But I think I could take you. At any rate,
I just don't want this "Democrats have sissified politics" to stand.
So, I want to fight you.

RICH: Can I take a day or so to decide?

ME: Sure. Take your time. I just figured that anyone who said that
Democrats had sissified politics would kind of have to fight.

RICH: I understand. How about if I sleep on it?

ME: Absolutely. I'll call you tomorrow.

RICH: Okay, sure.

It was an extremely satisfying phone call. Sizing Lowry up on TV, he
seemed just a tad on the wimpy side, which had only been confirmed by
his reaction: terrified. I was just a decent high school wrestler, but
I was convinced I could take him down, then basically punch his ears
till he called "uncle."
[end quote]

It goes on, but in the end they decided to just have a nice lunch
(OBFood). Now this may be pompous and self-appointed and all, but
taking macho posturings from a chickenhawk in earnest is also pretty
funny.
--
modom

ambitious when it comes to fiddling with meat