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MDE FROM THE ARCHIVES: FRANKEN SUPPORTED JOHN ANDERSON FOR PRESIDENT, ABANDONED CARTER-MONDALE IN ‘80
By Michael B. Brodkorb | September 14, 2007
UPDATE: My phone keeps ringing from people who love this post on Al Franken's support for Republican Congressman John Anderson's campaign for president in 1980. I'll keep this the top post on Minnesota Democrats Exposed for the entire day.
Please note that new posts will appear below this post.
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This is the fourth post in a series I like to call "What Every Democrat Needs to Know About Al Franken." Please check back to Minnesota Democrats Exposed for more information.
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Now that Al Franken is running for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota as a Democrat, he's praising the progressive leadership of former Vice President and U.S. Senator Walter Mondale:
"Our state has sent strong, progressive leaders to Washington—from Hubert Humphrey to Walter Mondale to Paul Wellstone, and now to Amy Klobuchar. Minnesota's public servants might not always look and sound like typical politicians, but they stand by their principles and lead by their values. That's the kind of leader I think we need more of these days, and that's the kind of Senator I'll be." Source: Al Franken Announcement Speech, February 14, 2007
But when this same progressive leader was a candidate for re-election in 1980, Franken chose to support his opponent:
"In the political candidate's rock star sweepstakes, where one small benefit concert is worth a thousand mailings, Jerry Brown got Linda Ronstadt to sing for him, Jimmy Carter had Waylon Jennings at Constitution Hall in April, and now John Anderson has Herbie Mann. And Franken and Davis.
That's Franken and Davis (Al and Tom), the offbeat comedy team seen on 'Saturday Night Live.' Last night they were all performing live from the Bayou in Georgetown at $10 a ticket ($25 for 'special patrons') for the first in an occasional series of John Anderson benefit concerts in different cities. Next week, it's James Taylor doing four one-night stands in four cities — all for Anderson's presidential bid. After that, there will be more during the summer, then Madison Square Garden in October, then . . . who knows. The White House in November? Source: The Washington Post, July 11, 1980
Republican Congressman John Anderson ran for president in 1980 as an independent candidate. Franken supported the Anderson-Lucey ticket over Carter-Mondale.
Franken now claims Mondale is "the kind of Senator" he'll be. If Mondale is "the kind of Senator" Franken would like to be, why didn't he support his re-election as Vice President in 1980?
### This post also appears on Blogs for Norm!, an online community and blog covering the 2008 U.S. Senate campaign in Minnesota. The primary goal of Blogs for Norm! is to organize bloggers who support U.S. Senator Norm Coleman.
Topics: Uncategorized | 30 Comments »
30 Responses to “MDE FROM THE ARCHIVES: FRANKEN SUPPORTED JOHN ANDERSON FOR PRESIDENT, ABANDONED CARTER-MONDALE IN ‘80”
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September 14th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Did anyone support Mondale’s re-election as vice president in 1980? Seriously, he was a key part of the worst President and administration in the history of the U.S., Jimmy Carter.
I mean, yeah, I guess Minnesota was one of the 3 or 4 states that supported that crap ticket… it’s a national embarrassment that Minnesota supported another worthless Carter administration. And I think Minn. was the only state that supported Mondale in 1984… on the other hand, Franken’s support of someone else maybe reinforces the fact that Al Franken isn’t Minnesotan…
September 14th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Who did Norm vote for in 1980?
September 14th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Jimmy was bad, but Bush will be ranked even lower.
September 14th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Tim not even in your wildest dreams will President Bush ever be rated as low as Carter!
Now that truely was a very bad president! You side will thump their drum and want the public to see President Bush as you do, but obviously the public is not buying it.
Boy, for as dumb as your side says he is, he sure runs circles around your folks on the left. I mean he was elected twice, yes ELECTED, it was your side that tried to steal the 2000 election! Not one credible source could come up with a way that Gore won without ignoring votes for President Bush, yet another lie your side tries to keep pumping out.
then let’s consider how your side now wants to say President Bush mislead them on intelligence about Iraq.
Funny how this simple and dumb man by your sides rating can keep winning elections and fooling all on the left. 
Only Paul Wellstone comes close to being as bad of public servent as Carter! Yes, lets go back to having a MISERY INDEX!! That is how bad Carter was, we had to gage how miserable our citizens were while he was in office.
Carter will be seen as one of the worst president in all of American history! Not just in this century!
September 14th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
This issue here is Franken claiming he wants to be like Mondale, but on closer examination Franken worked against Mondale’s campaign in 1980.
September 14th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Let see…Jimmy Peanut-Brain presided over a period of time where interest rates soared over 20%, sat there with his finger up his arse as the farm econmony was virtually destroyed and family farms we foreclosed upon at rates that would make today look like romper-room, and had a foreign policy that CREATED the islamo-fascist problem we have in Iran.
Sorry…Bush can’t match that record of complete and utter incompetence.
September 14th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Let’s also see: Jimmy Carter, destroyed the farm economy via the grain embargo against Russia. He used food as a weapon, contributing to millions starving and suffering. He weakened America’s standing in the world to the degree that nobody took the U.S. seriously on any issue, the Soviet Union grew in power, and students in Iran attacked our embassy.
Jimmy Carter oversaw the worst administration in American history. And today, with his terrorist codling views, anti-Semitism, support for dictators and murderers, and general bad judgment is again the worst ex-President in history as well.
I can’t blame Franken for working against 4 more years of that ass-clown.
September 14th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Chestnut:
Yes, Carter wasn’t the best president, but the issue is Franken claiming he wants to be like Mondale, yet he worked against Mondale in 1980.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Carter did a poor job at domestic and international affairs just as Bush is currently doing, but he at least had the foresight to not start a “war of choice” which will haunt America in terms of lives, money and international relations for decades to come. Even though Carter had many faults, he comes no where near the level of corruption, bad judgement and sheer incompetence of the President and the cronies he selected to run our country into the ground. Bush has a legecy of failure there is no escaping that.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Yeah, I get it… Franken’s a lying, disingenuous ass. He’ll say anything to anyone at any time if he thinks it’ll help him. Simply put, he’s a jackass who’s duck himself into a hole… kinda like this guy:
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1422649-a1422741-t3.html
September 14th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Whatever Tim. “War of choice” my ass. You goddam dumb liberals are really stuck on stupid.
September 14th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Oh Timmy, drop the Kool-Aid for a minute and take off the tinfoil hat.
“…no where near the level of corruption…”
Ever heard of Bert Lance? How about how the Carter Administration killed people in Canada, due to blood inflected with Hep-C?
“…bad judgement…”
Now that Joe “Lying Sack” Wilson and his whore wife have been PROVEN to be complete liars about the yellowcake issue…
And now that your socialist buddies are getting whooped across Europe (Germany…France), and conservatives are taking back our allies…yeah, we’re sure wrong about getting rid of Saddam. Although, YOU probably miss him…and his mass graves…and a few thousand dead Kurds…
September 14th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Guys, Guys, Guys… I want you to talk about Franken working against Mondale when he said he would like to be like him, ok?
Thats what I want this forum to be about!!!
Keep the message on task, thats what I want.
September 14th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
You’re right, Lou. But I get a bit feisty when these holier-than-thou libs (see: Timmy!) try to ignore history.
Just like when Hillary Clinton said, as evidence to vote FOR moving against Iraq, that Saddam “gave aid and comfort to terrorists”. Yep…let’s not attack a country…after over 3,000 Americans were MURDERED…who is lending safe haven to terrorists.
September 14th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Do you mean Hillary Rodham-Clinton or Hillary Clinton?? It is hard to tell who she wants to be from day to day other than president.
Funny, how come Nick Coleman does not refer to her as presidentuail aspirations Clinton as he does Pawlenty?
Franken is a turd, so it just is more fun to talk about just how God awful the Carter admin was.
I wish I knew what it is about President Bush that drives our lefties so nuts.
I would bottle it and sell it to all my friends. 
September 14th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Comparing himself to Walter Mondale? Now that’s funny!
September 14th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
A few notes: That was 27 years ago. Things change. See Sen. Norm Coleman as exhibit A.
Carter blamed for Hep-C in Canada: There was no reliable test used for detecting Hep-C in blood when Carter was president. I know first hand.
Lets not talk about foreign policy and how many lives are lost. We used to love Saddam. He was given the key to Detroit. We helped the Taliban against the Russians, just as Syria/Iran are doing to us in Iraq. This things are so twisted, there is no way to blame someone. U.S. likes dictators that do what we want. We like people who have oil. Most of Africa has no good resources we want, thus…
September 14th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Mondale was APPOINTED to every position he held. He was APPOINTED AG in Minnesota in 1960, APPOINTED to the Senate in 1964, SELECTED (aka APPOINTED) VP in 1976. He NEVER won a position on his own. He was either GIVEN it or was already there.
Franken wants to be ANNOINTED just like Fritzy was APPOINTED. Great comparison.
September 14th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
I agree Carter was horrible which is one more reason why you shouldn’t vote for that Carter loving hippie Norm Coleman.
September 15th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Come on…that was 27 years ago. Was Franken even 30 back then? If that is the best you can do with all the air time Franken has had… Coleman has swung so far from left to right, I’m sure he voted for Brezhnev for president in 1980.
September 15th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Yeah, I think the core indictment is that Al Franken wants to be like Mondale. Nothing against shriveled windbags, per se. It’s just that Mondale is hardly someone anyone should emulate, or wish to. Hubert H. Humphry would have been a better pick… and someone moderates could respect…
Of course, HHH wasn’t a communist, agitator, asshole. … So, he wouldn’t make a very good Democrat in these times.
September 15th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Dave-
Mondale was elected to the Senate in both 1966 and again in 1972.
I would rather a senator emulate a windbag than a windsock, at least the windbag isn’t flipping direction with every breeze.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:53 am
I’m with the so what crowd here. So what if Franken supported Anderson? That was nearly 30 years ago and actually shows that Franken was smart enough to realize Carter/Mondale was a disaster. Although not smart enough to realize who the best candidate was.
September 16th, 2007 at 8:26 am
You guys are missing the point. Franken uses Mondale in his stump, and holds him up as the paragon of Minnesot politics, but actively campaigned against him in 1980. That’s not a switch based on a regard for life or an ideal reallignment, that’s a switch based on pure political opportunism. What’s more, it once again displays that Franken has so litttle regard for Minnesotans that he’ll say anything, anything to try and make them believe he’s somehow different than the venom spewing dwarf-man he’s been on tv and radio for the last 25 years.
September 16th, 2007 at 10:32 am
Did Al campaign for Reagan in 84? I doubt it. If he changed his mind about Mondale it was likely in 1984. Aside from that Al was most likely against Jimmy Carter, not Mondale.
September 16th, 2007 at 11:46 am
It’s amazing how easily Republicans forget who their candidate is. Norm Coleman was an active Democrat supporting Paul Wellstone and Bill Clinton no more then 11 years ago.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Anon, the windsock comparison, that was brilliant.
I think this is a great post though. The fact that Franken has shown zero regard for Minnesota in any way shape or form until about 3 years ago when he decided he wanted to run for the Senate is absolutely disgusting and appalling. The fact that he didnt even support the Carter/Mondale ticket in the 1980 election and now puts Mondale on a pedestal as being one of the great MN politicians is such a politician thing to do.
I really hope Franken gets knocked on his ass and sent back to NYC where he belongs.
September 16th, 2007 at 5:48 pm
You know what would be a great question, do you remember the great Halloween blizzard of 1991? No, you dont, you didnt live here ass hole.
(seriously, me and my friends still bring that up at least once a month)
September 16th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
[...] I was reading this article again about Al Franken supporting Republican Congressman John Anderson's presidential campaign instead of supporting the ticket of Carter-Mondale when I noticed another example of Franken joking about rape. "Franklen and Davis came on first with an act that ranged from political to social to unseemly — including one sketch about a hot-line for rapists, so they could call up and have someone to talk to — which drew boos and hisses. That joke was part of a larger skit on feminist issues called 'You've Come a Long Way, Buddy': 'A show about men, for men . . . our researchers are men, even our cameramen are men. Our guest today is Craig, from the National Organization of Men.' [...]
September 17th, 2007 at 8:51 am
[...] I was reading an article again about Al Franken supporting Republican Congressman John Anderson's presidential campaign instead of supporting the ticket of Carter-Mondale when I noticed another example of Franken joking about rape. "Franklen and Davis came on first with an act that ranged from political to social to unseemly — including one sketch about a hot-line for rapists, so they could call up and have someone to talk to — which drew boos and hisses. That joke was part of a larger skit on feminist issues called 'You've Come a Long Way, Buddy': 'A show about men, for men . . . our researchers are men, even our cameramen are men. Our guest today is Craig, from the National Organization of Men.' [...]