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MN GOP PRESS RELEASE: “REP. LAURA BROD & SEN. BETSY WERGIN SUBMIT LETTER TO LEGISLATIVE COLLEAGUES REGARDING AL FRANKEN’S HISTORY OF DEMEANING WOMEN”
By Michael Brodkorb | June 2, 2008
St. Paul- At a Capitol press conference, Rep. Laura Brod and Sen. Betsy Wergin today announced that they are sending a letter to their legislative colleagues regarding Al Franken’s long history of demeaning and degrading women in his “satire.â€Â Noting that Franken’s January 2000 Playboy column was not an isolated incident, Rep. Brod and Sen. Wergin cited several new examples of Franken’s tendency to objectify and insult women.
A copy of the letter from Rep. Brod & Senator Wergin is below:
Dear Colleagues,
As you know, much has been made the last several weeks over a Playboy article written by Al Franken. This article, which Franken’s campaign spokesperson claims he does not know whether Franken was paid for or not, is demeaning, degrading and an insult to all women.
Mr. Franken’s article perpetuates myths and stereotypes about women as objects and playthings – mere robots – to be used for pleasure and then essentially discarded when done.
Recently, a number of leading Republican women wrote a letter to Mr. Franken condemning his article, and demanding an apology. Enclosed, please find a copy of a letter sent to Mr. Franken regarding our concerns.
In Mr. Franken’s column, he also jokes about his 12-year old son on the internet “researching a report on bestiality and using the Internet “to download some effective visual aids.”
While Mr. Franken may have thought this is funny, as legislators, we know all too well the dangers that our state’s children face while they are on the internet with child predators, and subject matter which is offensive and repugnant.
We have many issues of concern with Mr. Franken, and clearly, we are not supporters of his campaign. However, we believe that our shared vision and goals for our state transcend party lines and that some things are just simply too shocking to excuse as “just a joke.”
Furthermore, Mr. Franken’s column is not an isolated incident.
Attached to this letter are other “jokes†that Mr. Franken has made over his career that continue the type of objectification and shocking representation of women and girls. Mr. Franken’s humor ranges from skits and jokes about killing baby girls to murdering lesbians.
And, Mr. Franken can’t let go at demeaning the average woman in America. He also drags down women of leadership in his own party. In jokes where he talks about sexual acts on Senator Barbara Boxer and Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and imagines Attorney General Janet Reno as a lap dancer, Mr. Franken shows that no woman is immune from his degradation and humiliation.
These are not jokes made by a teenage boy in the locker room with his friends. These are jokes made by an adult man who has made his living this way, and only now, as a candidate for the Senate, wishes to be taken seriously.
We believe that Mr. Franken’s jokes, comedy and degrading humor about girls and women, and comments about children downloading bestiality, also ought to be taken seriously.
Thank you for your consideration and for taking the time to read this letter and the enclosed articles and examples.
Sincerely,
Rep. Laura Brod
Sen. Betsy Wergin
AL FRANKEN: IN HIS OWN WORDS
Franken Ridiculed Plight Of Afghan Women. “The event, co-hosted at the W New York Hotel by Glamour magazine and the Feminist Majority Foundation, attracted such A-list women as Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, Melissa Etheridge, Marlo Thomas, Glamour editor in chief Bonnie Fuller and Al Franken, who bombed at the podium, especially with such jokes as, ‘Why don’t we focus on what Afghan women can do? They can cook, bear children and pray. As I recall, that was fine for our grandmothers.’” (Mitchell Fink With Lauren Rubin, “Liza Wants To Be A Hit, Just Not A Huge One,” New York Daily News, October 20, 1999)
Franken Pretends To Kill New Born Daughter At Baby Shower. “AL FRANKEN: My wife came with her sister first and I was going to bring the baby. My other sister-in-law came with me. So I got a doll the exact size of the baby and swaddled it – I told Franny I was going to do this – and there’s like thirty women, and I walk in and they’re all going like, ‘Ohhh . . . ahhhh,’ and I was walking in and I hit the baby’s head on this piece of furniture and I go up in the air and I come down with everything, everything, going into this doll, so that there is no way I didn’t kill the baby. And the screams, the screams! TOM DAVIS: The scream that came out of these women, it just made everyone’s hair stand on end. They just witnessed this man kill his newborn baby. To this day, I’ve never heard a more terrifying sound than all those women witnessing this baby being killed by its father. AL FRANKEN: And then my sister-in-law Carla walks in with the real baby.” (Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller, “Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests,†2002, pp. 157-158)
Franken Wrote Skit About Murder Of Lesbians. “[Franken and Davis] created a parody of TV cop shows called ‘Ex-Police’ (sometimes they called is ‘X-Police’) in which Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray played rouge cops who had been thrown off the force for excessive violence…In one episode, they barged into an apartment shared by two women and, assuming they were lesbians, battered one and murdered the other. ‘Another homosexuality related death, they said as they walked out. The sketch provoked dozens of outraged letters from gay groups and other who wanted to know what was so funny about killing homosexuals.” (Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, Saturday Night; A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, Beech Tree Books, 1986, p. 161)
Franken To GLBT Group “You Don’t Have To Pay Me; All You Have To Do Is Send A Girl To My Room” – “At Least Two.” “Comedian Al Franken returned to his hometown Saturday to address the annual fundraising dinner for the Human Rights Campaign, a national GLBT lobbying organization. ‘”You don’t have to pay me; all you have to do is send a girl to my room,”‘ Franken said he told the HRC. ‘And they did. But she turned out to be a lesbian. Great! Next time you do that, could you at least send two?’ (J.H.)” (Rick Nelson; John Habich; Claude Peck; Chris Riemenschneider, “Item World: Local News And Views,” Star Tribune, September 28, 2001)
Franken Jokes That “For $25″ Janet Reno Will “Come To Your Table And Do A Lap Dance.” “Al Franken, the comic whose stale material cracks ‘em up at the White House and who (he says) works out of there when he’s in town, retailed a howler at Miss Reno’s expense at the recent dinner of the White House Press Photographers Association. ‘The Democratic National Committee is coming up with a novel way to raise money,’ he said. ‘For $50,000 you can get a waltz with the first lady. For $25,000, you can dance a tango with Tipper. And for $25, the attorney general will come to your table and do a lap dance.’” (Wesley Pruden, “A Curious Gallantry At The White House,” Washington Times, March 28, 1999)
Franken Jokes About Senators Hillary Clinton & Barbara Boxer. “Well, if Dick Cheney were here, I’m sure he’d tell you all to go f*ck yourselves. In the interview about that, he said, [impersonating Dick Cheney] ‘ah, it made me feel good. Ah, I don’t regret it, it was just a little misreported, not that I did say ‘Go f*ck yourself,’ but what wasn’t reported was some of the other stuff I said. I told Barbara Boxer to eat me, I told Hillary Clinton to sit on this and spin, it’s about time someone said that to her.’â€Â  (“Al Franken: God Spokeâ€, New Video Group, 2007, 11:53)
Franken Says Now That Arianna Huffington Is A Liberal – They “Can F*ck Now!” “Air America host Al Franken seemed to be in heat when he saw columnist Arianna Huffington Thursday night. Invited by the Creative Coalition to present her with a Spotlight Award, Franken reminded everyone that, during the 1996 campaign, the two collaborated on a Comedy Central routine called ‘Strange Bedfellows’ – in which they’d trade barbs while tucked between the sheets. Back then, he recalled, Huffington was a Republican ‘acolyte’ of Newt Gingrich. But now that he’s ‘converted’ her to liberalism, Franken felt it was time they really did the deed. Pulling the Greek beauty onto the bed in Esquire’s Astor Place show-condo, Franken bellowed, ‘We can [bleep] now!’ A giggling Huffington managed to fend him off.” (George Rush and Joanna Rush Molloy, “Bill’s Grip ‘N’ Grin With Petra Poses A Problem,” New York Daily News, November 14, 2005)
Franken Jokes about Porn and Jobs. “Most people don’t realize how many jobs are created by one porno film. Of course, we immediately think of actresses and actors. But what about the technicians who do the lighting and sound? Porno films provide many of the crucial entry level jobs that are so important to expanding our workforce. And how about the fluffer? Don’t know about the fluffer? Well, let’s see. How do I put this? The fluffer is a woman, usually, who works off camera. Her Job is to keep the male actor aroused. And she does this, I am told, orally. Hey, it’s a job!” [at the bottom of the page] “Mr. Franken is a regular contributor to Juggs Magazine” (Al Franken, Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot, 1996, pp. 74-75)
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3 Responses to “MN GOP PRESS RELEASE: “REP. LAURA BROD & SEN. BETSY WERGIN SUBMIT LETTER TO LEGISLATIVE COLLEAGUES REGARDING AL FRANKEN’S HISTORY OF DEMEANING WOMEN””
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June 2nd, 2008 at 2:53 PM
State Representative Laura Brod & State Senator Betsy Wergin:
“These are not jokes make by a teenage boy in a locker room with his friends.”
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I think that part of the aforementioned comment(s) about a TEENAGE BOY is that it has been six (6) Republican WOMEN, who previously wrote a letter, and now it is two (2) Republican WOMEN.
Democrat Betty McCollum made comments along with males Tim Walz, & Kieth Ellison. In addition, Betty and Kieth represent some of the CITY areas or urban areas of Minnesota.
There also seem to be myths about some of the people who live in the larger city neighborhoods of Minnesota.
What kind of joke does Rep. Laura B. & Sen. Betsy W. think that a teenage boy do makes in a locker room?
Were they referring to a YMCA locker room, a PRIVATE SCHOOL locker room, or some other kind of locker room?
The two (2) WOMEN have the “teenage boy” making jokes [probably] in the area where he changes clothes, is nude, showers, etc. in front of other males.
It seems to me that a Minnesota teen-age boy [13-17] could tell jokes in the kitchen, at the ball park, or outside the Republican National Convention.
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:47 PM
Al, I’m begging you. Go back to the comedy. It’s what you do best.
June 4th, 2008 at 11:22 PM
[...] Representatives of Planned Parenthood even thanked Representative Brod and Senator Wergin for the letter they released earlier this week. [...]