Al Franken Builds on the President's Car Story

[bigtree]

Sen. Franken at the University of Minnesota Saturday October 23: http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/105606538.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3iUec7PaP3E77K_0c::D3aDh_47cQiU47cQU17cQ_bDaEP7U




SEN. FRANKEN:"I think the analogy that the economy was a car in a ditch when he took office that he uses is just a little too static. Here's my analogy, which in my opinion is both more kinetic and, frankly, far more accurate.

When the president took office not only had the car gone into a ditch but the car had flipped over and was rolling down a steep embankment. We, the American people, were in the back seat and the Bush administration had removed all the seat belts. So we were all flying around the interior of this car, as it was rolling and flipping and careening down this steep embankment heading to ...a 2,000-foot cliff. And at the bottom of that cliff were jagged rocks and alligators.

Now at noon on January 20th, 2009 as the car was careening toward the cliff, George W. Bush jumped out of the car. President Bush jumped out of the car and President Obama somehow managed to dive in through the window, take the wheel, get control of the vehicle, just inches before it went over the precipice. And he and Congress starting inching this wrecked (car) back up the embankment.

Now, you can't push a car up an embankment as fast as it careens down an embankment. But we got it going in the right direction and slowly we've gotten ourselves up that embankment, passed the ditch, up on the shoulder of the road. That is what happened. That's where we are today. "





full transcript of President Obama's speech Saturday at Minnesota rally for Gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton: http://theuptake.org/2010/10/23/obama-franken-klobuchar-stump-for-dayton-at-u-of-m/

[lpbk2713]

1. I love it.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[TheEuclideanOne]

64. Same here, but can I add a few things? Starting with Every Single Republicans blocking the car so

that it can not be pushed back up the embankment? It is as though they are sitting on the car, making sure that it stays at the bottoms so that they can say, "Look, Obama is at the wheel, but it is not going anywhere!". I can also picture them forming a line around the car so that when the emergency vehicles come in to try to help the emergency situation, the Republicans are physically wrestling with them so that, yes they can rescue, but only if they can fight the people standing in their way.

[BlueMTexpat]

68. Excellent! nt

[ejpoeta]

71. they are also drinking and eating and refusing to give any to those of us in the car.

[spedtr90]

82. Link to the speech video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzlaLmHeQKY

THE ENTIRE THING IS AWESOME!

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. K&R a zillion times. What a great analogy! n/t

[Maccagirl]

3. I love Al Franken

A brilliant mind wrapped in a caring soul.

[NBachers]

4. Great Visuals!

I love that Al Franken made it into the Senate, and I hope Norm Coleman is living a life of regret and obscurity.

[onehandle]

5. Al Rocks! nt

[lamp_shade]

6. FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. I can't wait for the video clip.

[A HERETIC I AM]

7. Unfortunately, the car is all bashed to shit and the wheels nearly came off....

but it can be fixed. As many have said and as Franken alludes, it will take time.

[calimary]

8. Every time I think Al Franken can't be more wonderful, he always tops himself.

What a guy! Mongo impressed - yet AGAIN!

I expected him to be a pretty good Senator. Didn't realize he would turn out to be a FUCKING BRILLIANT ONE!!!

I thought the early testimonials about him that suggested he might turn out to be one of our greatest Senators might have been a little overblown. Man did I underestimate him.

[immoderate]

9. When he was a comedian...

I always thought he looked more like a senator.


--imm

[MineralMan]

10. I'm pretty sure that Al Franken is one of the smartest Senators.

I look forward to the next four years, and his re-election in 2014.

[calimary]

11. This really will be The Al Franken Decade!

He's really turning out to be wonderful!

[gateley]

12. Too perfect! I bet Obama was rolling! nt

[MineralMan]

13. I hear that Obama chatted with Franken later and said,

"I'm so stealing that shit, Al."

[madmax]

84. ROFL Love my Prez

[BootinUp]

14. OMG that is so perfect. nt

[butterfly77]

15. Yes!

exactly:dem:

[blondeatlast]

16. Damn, he's good. I've adopted him as my own Senator. nt

[Honeycombe8]

17. Correct analogy. Way to go, Sen. Franken. If only more Dems were that good...

at communicating.

[tabatha]

18. It pains me that all those

who will be voting Republican this time do not understand/know at least these facts.

[SmileyRose]

19. Al Franken is sexy.

[mucifer]

22. I agree. BTW I posted the video of his speech in the video section.

It starts off a little slow and half way thru he is totally smokin!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x518377

[Martin Eden]

60. Na, but Stewart Smalley is HOT. n/t

[rug]

20. Alligators!

:rofl:

[Parker CA]

21. Franken ROCKS!!!! Perfect expansion on Obama's story. Kick and Rec! nt

[Scurrilous]

23. K & R

:thumbsup:

[kentuck]

24. Al has it !

Much more descriptive!

[lunatica]

25. That's exactly how I feel about it

Even if we suffer further we are at least inching in the right direction because so many have no idea how bad things were and are. Instant gratification simply isn't going to happen. Neither is perfection.

[sofa king]

26. Wow, that Senator has a great writer.

[Taitertots]

27. We would be closer getting out, but Obama won't kick out the fat cat backseat drivers

The people that put us in the ditch to win their bets (derivatives) that we were headed for the ditch. The car is too heavy, we have to stop carrying the people who already have more than enough, and pull out some people who need help.

[hisownpetard]

28. Fantastic!!!

[Ikonoklast]

29. This guy will be in the Oval Office one day, and not as a visitor.

And Sherrod Brown will help him move in.


I'd vote that ticket in a heartbeat, and so would every Democrat I personally know.

[DemocraticPilgrim]

30. Franken's still got it in the funny department. ROFLMAFO.

[glitch]

31. Good, but I would go even farther: there are still lunatics trying to wrestle control back.

Because they think crashing the Car of State off a cliff is a good thing. Perhaps they have a bet that the car will crash, or maybe they hate the car. For whatever reason, they're still a grave threat.

[kestrel91316]

50. They hate the car for the simple reason that WE are in it.

They want us all dead and out of the way.

[glitch]

53. You are correct, IMO. nt

[Chulanowa]

32. The alligators are what makes it n/t

[Wednesdays]

45. Jagged alligators, no less.

:spray:

Cheerfully kicked and rec'd!

[treestar]

33. Good for Sen. Franken

That's a good way to put it!

[Vickers]

34. "...at the bottom of that cliff were jagged rocks and alligators"

I love that guy.

[BrklynLiberal]

35. May Sen Franken live a very long and healthy life.....

[pacalo]

36. Perfect analogy! Awesome!

[Historic NY]

37. They got it right the Republicans are car wrecks.

[jwirr]

38. He is so good. That is the true story about our nation today.

[renate]

39. This is really OT, but here's the transcript of another excellent Franken speech

From before he was a senator, so it's not political, but it's really funny:

http://www.commencement.harvard.edu/2002/franken.html

[Uncle Joe]

40. Kicked and recommended with a little theme music for the gators.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-P-Vv-TzwI

Thanks for the thread, bigtree.:thumbsup:

[Roland99]

41. Out of the ditch?? Not quite...maybe halfway up the embankment.

come, Sen...be realistic.

[FailureToCommunicate]

59. +1 (Maybe he's optimistic of progress 'cause HE has a job.)

[flvegan]

42. When does Bush get charged for the DUI?

Seriously though, great analogy. Well done.

[Tumbulu]

61. wow- that is a good point! (nt)

[Jeffersons Ghost]

43. K&R

[bigtree]

47. hey JG

:hi:

[Chipper Chat]

62. cALassic

[Number23]

44. I absolutely LOVE that. And Franken's assessement ain't all that far from the truth

Kicked and rec'd.

[malaise]

46. Freaking perfect

Thanks.

[Freetradesucks]

48. How can he not be supremely annoyed,

that his eyeglasses are so dirty? My god, I mean look at the one on the right, how can he even see through it?

[Nostradammit]

65. The light from the video camera behind him is so bright

you could probably hold the White House crystal up to it
and it would appear that way.

The senator's vision is just fine, I am sure.

[Tx4obama]

49. Would love to see a video cartoon made from Sen Franken's analogy ;) n/t

[txlibdem]

51. Legalize cloning NOW -- we need 500 Al Franken's in the Gov't

Franken says it like it is and he is absolutely right. Keep up the good work congressman!

[RoccoR5955]

52. K & R... Franken for President! n/t

[Catshrink]

54. Sen. Al does not disappoint.

We were right about him.

[Mister Ed]

55. Have I ever mentioned I love this guy?

I'll spend the rest of my life kicking myself for leaving the video camera in the car the night he took line-dancing lessons from the little girl who lived next door to me. That was plenty cute.

[Rhiannon12866]

56. K&R! Works for me, LOL.

Al Franken is a great senator! Smart AND entertaining! :patriot: :rofl:

[highplainsdem]

57. K&R

[KurtNYC]

58. and now whining on the embankment is the GOP and they want to

drive again. Just when total disaster is avoided, they want the driver's seat again.

(They want to drive back toward the precipice with all those little tea bags hanging off their hat blocking their vision.)

[TlalocW]

63. Better than mine

I've been using the analogy that we hired an idiot to fix our house and after working for 8 weeks, he had pretty much destroyed it to the point the foundation was even crumbling. We've hired a new guy to fix the original problems as well as what the last guy did, and the stupider members of our family are bitching after 2 weeks that the new guy hasn't fixed everything so that it's in a pristine state, better than before the old guy got a hold of it, and are bitching about the expense.

TlalocW

[gtar100]

66. I'm not laughing. He's all too accurate.

We haven't gotten the car back on the road yet. But we're trying despite republican efforts to continue pushing it toward the cliff.

I'm not laughing. What he said was as close to reality as an analogy can get.

[meowomon]

67. Al Franken for prez!!

Loves this man lots. Frannie, I'd turn het for your man!

[BlueMTexpat]

69. The DNC should run this part of the speech verbatim from now

until Nov 2 as part of a national ad campaign, IMO.

[AtomicKitten]

70. Leave it to BushCo to roll back the seatbelt laws in Franken's analogy!

[deacon]

72. Excellent. nt

[trusty elf]

73. I love it! K&R

"George W. Bush jumped out"

The Bush bailout:

[Hubert Flottz]

74. The most sane person in Washington, IMHO.

They hate Al because he really don't lie. The GOP can't handle any form of the truth.

Edit...Don't look now Al but I think some orange guy is trying to steal the battery out of the car.

[Mad_Dem_X]

75. Absolutely perfect! n/t

[harun]

76. Instead of admitting they were wrong, Republican's are marketing how

they will drive us back in the ditch, because it was such a nice place to be.

[NewJeffCT]

77. They're counting on their control over the media

and the tens of millions from anonymous outside groups to make people think the recession started when Obama took office.

[wial]

78. it's almost like

the Republicans don't want America to succeed, like they've invested in some other country. That couldn't be true could it? Wouldn't that be treason?

...so the Republicans have already driven off in their standards-free Chinese-Indian-made car, and it's on fire but they are actively ignoring that salient fact...

[BarryMeNot]

79. K&R

:kick:

[Jamastiene]

80. Are we there yet?

I've been holding it for a while now. :P

[YOY]

81. thank you Ian David for this one...

[madmax]

83. Parables - help the thick headed understand eom

[Iwillnevergiveup]

85. Well, Al was absolutely fabulous

and I'm gonna have to read "Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot" again.

K&R

[felix_numinous]

86. Great analogy!

Of course there are car jackers threatening to take the car, it's a RW hood, it is hard to tell exactly who they are since they are wearing masks.

[malaise]

87. Kick this back to the top

Just because :D

[Romulox]

88. Seems like he dropped all the bankers at their destinations first and foremost

A lot of us are still waiting for him to come back and pick us up. :hi:

[madmax]

89. Gotta kick it

:kick:

[malaise]

90. Kick n/t