Run, Al, run

Al Franken might run for the U.S. Senate next year.

Here's hoping he reprises his "Saturday Night Live" bit where he dons a small satellite dish on his head when he makes his announcement.

Al would be good for the stuffy U.S. Senate. Who would you rather listen to, Robert Byrd or Al?

Barbara Boxer or Stuart Smalley?

Al had a perfect score on the math section of the SAT. Did Ted Kennedy? John Cornyn? Any other senator?

As a comedy writer he gave us The Cone Heads, the worst movie I ever paid money to see, but he also wrote some funny bits on SNL, which he left in 1995 after Lorne Michaels inexplicably rejected his request to do the Weekend Update segment.

As polemicist, he is one of the few people who really seems to get under the skin of Bill O'Reilly, which is a major plus in my judgment.

And, of course, he gave us Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot, which I read and made me laugh, and Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, which I haven't read but nonetheless prompted Fox News to file a foolish copyright infringement lawsuit, thereby making O'Reilly look like a dope.

As an actor, he was the #1 baggage handler in Trading Places. With Fred Thompson out of office, there has been a void of showmanship in the Senate. Al can fill that void. It will be good TV. It will be good politics. The clash of ideas in our democracy will benefit.

The Senate, I believe, needs Al Franken. Go, Al, go!
[kstp.com]

Update: Franken takes a pass

Says he promised to do his Air America gig two more years.
[twincities.com]