Kauffmann on Franken

I think Stanley Kauffmann gets it right in his review of the new Al Franken movie:

"Franken's facile assumptions are not much help to the liberal cause, and, second, that he preaches to the choir.... no one but an already convinced liberal could want to hear Franken."

I used to like Franken a lot. His attacks on Bill O'Reilly were fresh at the time; or more specifically, O'Reilly's threats to sue Franken yet again exposed what an asshole O'Reilly is. His books are all right too, sometimes funny, sometimes pedantic. But I think he peaked in about 2002. I find his radio show on Air America pretty intolerable. I don't like being part of the choir being reached to. He's not really funny anymore and for a guy as smart as he is, he doesn't really think very deeply about political problems.

I have a theory that when certain people leave the liberal movement and become wingnuts, it's like losing weight--we are more healthy and feel better. The Neocons are a good example of this, as is Christopher Hitchens. Al Franken is not like this. But he's hardly the most nutritious political food we can eat either.