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FRANKEN DODGES QUESTION ON TROOP BUILD-UP
By Luke Hellier | December 1, 2009
From Glenn Thrush’s blog in Politico:
Al Franken has gone from stand-up comedian to silent movie star.
Reporters who try to buttonhole freshman Franken (D-Minn.) in the Capitol hallway know the drill: Franken, presumably seeking to avoid political self-immolation through candor, gaffe or quip, scurries away and refers all questions to his press office.
The silent treatment reached an apex (or nadir) of sorts on Tuesday, when I caught Franken on the way to the Senate Democratic policy lunch to ask him the obvious question-of-the-day: What did he think of the Obama administration’s plan to increase Afghanistan troop deployments by 34,000.
Franken turned slowly to face me and pursed his lips as if to speak. Just then his body man intervened and flicked out the business card of Franken’s well-regarded spokeswoman, Jess McIntosh.
CNN’s Dana Bash tried her luck: “What do you think as far as what you heard from the President so far?”
Franken: “You gotta talk to Jess McIntosh…”
Body guy: “We run everything on the record through the press shop.”
Me: “Every other Senator we talk with, we ask a question, they answer the question.. I really find it unusual..”
Franken: “Well, give Jess a call and talk about this.”
I sent McIntosh an email telling her I planned to write up the exchange. She responded by telling me she thought it was a non-story and saying, “I would point out that you never actually call me, but I worry that you might start.”
Franken — an outspoken critic of the Iraq War and one of his parties most articulate critics of the right — has occasionally answered hallway queries, but only rarely. He does one-on-one interviews and gets on the phone with reporters from time to time.
But he’s just about the only senator to flatly refuse reporters’ questions around the Capitol these days. As he was no-commenting, at least a half dozen Senators were holding forth with gaggles of reporters and bloggers.
Rest of the post here.
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3 Responses to “FRANKEN DODGES QUESTION ON TROOP BUILD-UP”
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December 2nd, 2009 at 8:37 AM
So the election thief is just like Obama, he can’t talk without a teleprompter or a prepared statement.
What an empty suit with an empty head.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:56 AM
“at least a half dozen Senators were holding forth with gaggles of reporters and bloggers.”
And that is part of the problem. Too many elected officials who like to be on TV (Michele Bachman?) and not enough who would rather focus on the task at hand.
We elect people to govern, not become TV stars.
December 14th, 2009 at 12:48 PM
[...] reported on MDE earlier, several Washington reporters are being snubbed when looking for a comment from Senator Al Franken [...]