Fresh off his highly publicized grilling of Sonia Sotomayor regarding fictional defense attorney Perry Mason, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., has announced that he will be forming a Senate Detectives Fan Club Caucus.
Franken said the intent of the caucus was to raise awareness of television's and literature's great detectives and provide a forum for discussion over which were the greatest. He wants to hold monthly trivia nights, murdery mystery dinner parties and set up games of "Clue" on long nights when lawmakers must stay past dinner.
During Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination hearings, Franken noted that growing up they both watched the show with their families. Technically, Mason was a defense attorney, but every week with only one exception he would prove that his client was innocent as well as identify the guilty culprit. Although Sotomayor was deftly able to handle questions from GOP senators about her "wise Latina" comment, she failed to name the one instance in which Mason didn't win.
Caucuses are typically formed to raise awareness of issues as well as to advocate for legislation. Franken said that he wanted to garner support for a "Supercool Fictional Detectives Day" but Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said he would filibuster any such attempt. "Tom said it was a frivolous waste of Congress's time, but we pass resolutions congratulating Pee Wee league teams. We even have a National Lighthouse Day on August 7," said Franken huffily.
Technically, there is only one officially recognized caucus in Franken's chamber, the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. Franken's caucus would join the couple dozen other unofficial caucuses.
Because Franken is the most junior senator, his clout is minimal and it will be hard for him to distinguish himself legislatively, said Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar at Brookings Institute.
"He's one of hundreds of voices on the health care debate and he's at the very bottom of the totem pole," Mann said. "I can't say that a caucus to boost awareness of detectives who aren't even real will be consequential for the country but it's certainly a way he might be able to draw attention to himself.
Franken said he'd been polling other senators about who their favorite detectives are. A couple of female senators are attracted to other female detectives; Sen. Stabenow, D-Mich. cites Jessica Fletcher of the television series Murder, She Wrote, while Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said Agatha Christie's Miss Marple was her favorite.
Children can sometimes play a factor. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., the mother of tween twin boys, said that the tales of Encylopedia Brown and the Hardy Boys were favored books series during their childhood.
Columbo, whose namesake character was played most recently by Peter Falk, was a popular choice, cited by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
But it was a Brit, Sherlock Holmes, who garnered the most support, with ten votes, according to Franken's informal poll.
Yet no one would cop to liking Dame Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot as their favorite, "probably because of his ridiculous mustache and overall fussiness," said Franken.
Some newer detectives made the cut as well. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an Independent from Connecticut who caucuses with Democrat said that he liked Robert Langdon of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, both of which were adapted into movies with Tom Hanks playing the lead role.
And Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said that Dr. Cal Lightman of the new Fox series "Lie to Me" was his favorite. Lightman is based on the real life Paul Eckman, a pioneer in the study of emotions and facial expressions. A snide GOP aide said that if Kerry had half Eckman's ability to read emotion he might not have lost the 2004 presidential campaign so badly.
Franken is not the only freshman senator who wants to form a caucus that might have limited appeal. Sens. Roland Burris, D-Ill., and Ted Kaufman, D-Del., have apparently discussed forming a Senate Placeholders Caucus for lawmakers who -- either by choice or for other reasons -- will be ending their term soon. Burris and Kaufman, who replaced Barack Obama and Joe Biden by appointment after they assumed the presidency and vice presidency, have announced that they will not be running in the 2010 election to take over their seats.
Burris and Kaufman reportedly extended an invitation to Republican Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning, who announced that he would not be running for re-election due to insufficient funds. Bunning's fellow GOP Kentucky senator, Mitch McConnell, also the most powerful Republican of the Senate, had offered less than lackluster support for Bunning's reelection campaign.
An aide to Burris said that the invitation was not well received and that Bunning turned red, growled at them, and threw a stack of papers at him. "He is a baseball Hall of Famer so he can really throw," said the aide. "Kaufman got a vicious paper cut."
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
MTV Movie Awards to Give Prize for Best Weight Gain
Hollywood starlets who pack on the pounds for art will have the opportunity to compete for a golden popcorn trophy at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards: Best Weight Gain.
The network already includes unconventional categories that have never been contemplated by the more staid Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Hollywood Foreign Press, which hand out the coveted Oscars and Golden Globes. MTV bestowed 2009 trophys for "Best Kiss" to Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson for Twilight and "Best WTF Moment" to Amy Poehler in Baby Mama for peeing into the sink.
The rationale for best weight gain, which will include male and female categories, is to honor thespians brave enough to purposely and authentically mar their images for their work. Fat suits will be an automatic disqualifier unless they are deemed to add less than five percent bulk to their bodies. That means that Gwyneth Paltrow's turn in Shallow Hal as a 300 pound obese woman would not qualify, nor would Julia Roberts's flashback to her chubby days in America's Sweethearts.
Examples of possible past winners include Renee Zellwegger for her turns in Bridget Jones's Diary and the sequel, as well as Sylvester Stallone for Cop Land. Zellwegger twice gained around 30 pounds to play the title character and is considering doing so again for a third Jones movie. The famously fit Stallone gained 40 pounds to play a paunchy local sheriff in a role that brought him significant acclaim.
Actors who added inches in this year's movies include Denzel Washington in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Meryl Streep, who portrays Julia Child in Julie & Julia.
The network already includes unconventional categories that have never been contemplated by the more staid Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Hollywood Foreign Press, which hand out the coveted Oscars and Golden Globes. MTV bestowed 2009 trophys for "Best Kiss" to Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson for Twilight and "Best WTF Moment" to Amy Poehler in Baby Mama for peeing into the sink.
The rationale for best weight gain, which will include male and female categories, is to honor thespians brave enough to purposely and authentically mar their images for their work. Fat suits will be an automatic disqualifier unless they are deemed to add less than five percent bulk to their bodies. That means that Gwyneth Paltrow's turn in Shallow Hal as a 300 pound obese woman would not qualify, nor would Julia Roberts's flashback to her chubby days in America's Sweethearts.
Examples of possible past winners include Renee Zellwegger for her turns in Bridget Jones's Diary and the sequel, as well as Sylvester Stallone for Cop Land. Zellwegger twice gained around 30 pounds to play the title character and is considering doing so again for a third Jones movie. The famously fit Stallone gained 40 pounds to play a paunchy local sheriff in a role that brought him significant acclaim.
Actors who added inches in this year's movies include Denzel Washington in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Meryl Streep, who portrays Julia Child in Julie & Julia.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Sotomayor Avoids Controversy In First Day of Hearings
Despite protesters' best efforts to derail the first day of Sonia Sotomayor's hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, her path to become a Supreme Court Justice appeared clear.
The first interruption was by Norma McCorvey, better known as "Jane Roe" in the Supreme Court abortion case, Roe v. Wade. Since the landmark 1973 case, McCorvey has switched her views on abortion and become staunchly anti-abortion. As new Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota began his opening statement Monday, McCorvey started yelling, "You're wrong Sotomayor!"
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., tried to gavel the room to silence. But as the Capitol police officers moved to arrest McCorvey and another anti-abortion protester, nine people sitting in seats reserved for the public and clad in black sweat suits unzipped their jackets, pulled out guitars, violins, trumpets, a vihuela, a flute and a guitarron and started playing Cielito Lindo, a popular mariachi song.
It was not immediately clear the intent of the group and whether the musical interlude was intended as a sign of support or opposition for Sotomayor. But another member of the public, apparently unrelated to the group, yelled mockingly, "Is that the kind of music you listen to, oh, wise Latina?"
The mariachi band was soon escorted out, as was the unidentified male referencing Sotomayor's controversial remark that "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
Some conservatives have used that remark to label her a "reverse racist" and charge that she engages in identity politics.
As senators switched from opening statements to questions -- with Democrats asking laudatory rhetorical questions and Republicans skeptical rhetorical ones -- new members in the public seating section suddenly stood up and started chanting, "You can't mend it so end it!" Clad in pink, they were easily recognizable as members of anti-war group Code Pink.
Sotomayor has not ruled on any cases involving the Iraq War, but Code Pink has been disheartened by Obama's slower-than-hoped for withdrawal of troops from Iraq and the increased military presence in Afghanistan.
The nation-wide audience for the Sotomayor hearing proved irresistible to the group, as it did to two men in the last half of the hearing, who stood up on chairs and started kissing and groping each other. Although Sotomayor's back was to the PDA-inclined couple, a visibly distracted Sen. Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican of the Judiciary Committee, interrupted her testimony and demanded that the two men cease their inappropriate behavior.
One staffer for Leahy was heard to sigh to an aide to Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., "Great, someone trying to make a point about gay marriage."
But the motivation turned out to be primarily commercial. After being physically pulled out of his liplock, Sacha Baron Cohen yelled effeminately, "Everybody, come see my fabulous new movie Bruno!"
The first interruption was by Norma McCorvey, better known as "Jane Roe" in the Supreme Court abortion case, Roe v. Wade. Since the landmark 1973 case, McCorvey has switched her views on abortion and become staunchly anti-abortion. As new Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota began his opening statement Monday, McCorvey started yelling, "You're wrong Sotomayor!"
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., tried to gavel the room to silence. But as the Capitol police officers moved to arrest McCorvey and another anti-abortion protester, nine people sitting in seats reserved for the public and clad in black sweat suits unzipped their jackets, pulled out guitars, violins, trumpets, a vihuela, a flute and a guitarron and started playing Cielito Lindo, a popular mariachi song.
It was not immediately clear the intent of the group and whether the musical interlude was intended as a sign of support or opposition for Sotomayor. But another member of the public, apparently unrelated to the group, yelled mockingly, "Is that the kind of music you listen to, oh, wise Latina?"
The mariachi band was soon escorted out, as was the unidentified male referencing Sotomayor's controversial remark that "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
Some conservatives have used that remark to label her a "reverse racist" and charge that she engages in identity politics.
As senators switched from opening statements to questions -- with Democrats asking laudatory rhetorical questions and Republicans skeptical rhetorical ones -- new members in the public seating section suddenly stood up and started chanting, "You can't mend it so end it!" Clad in pink, they were easily recognizable as members of anti-war group Code Pink.
Sotomayor has not ruled on any cases involving the Iraq War, but Code Pink has been disheartened by Obama's slower-than-hoped for withdrawal of troops from Iraq and the increased military presence in Afghanistan.
The nation-wide audience for the Sotomayor hearing proved irresistible to the group, as it did to two men in the last half of the hearing, who stood up on chairs and started kissing and groping each other. Although Sotomayor's back was to the PDA-inclined couple, a visibly distracted Sen. Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican of the Judiciary Committee, interrupted her testimony and demanded that the two men cease their inappropriate behavior.
One staffer for Leahy was heard to sigh to an aide to Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., "Great, someone trying to make a point about gay marriage."
But the motivation turned out to be primarily commercial. After being physically pulled out of his liplock, Sacha Baron Cohen yelled effeminately, "Everybody, come see my fabulous new movie Bruno!"
Friday, July 10, 2009
Pilot Detours to Iowa After Passenger's Disparaging Comment
A United Airlines cross country flight from San Francisco to Boston had an unscheduled stop in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday after a pilot decided to make an emergency landing after hearing a passenger's disparaging remark about "flyover country."
According to the co-pilot, the pilot heard a man in business class say to his traveling companion something to the effect of, "Thank God we were able to change to this direct flight. There's a reason it's called flyover country."
"I had gone to the bathroom when he overheard the remark but when I came back he was totally steaming," said the co-pilot. "He was muttering something about how he was sick and tired of coastal elitists looking down at salt of the earth folks. I didn't really pay attention to him, though -- I just nodded, because he was always getting agitated whenever he perceived someone dissing the Midwest or South."
The pilot, whose name has not been released, is a native Iowan and recent divorcee, according to sources.
According to shaken passengers, the plane began its descent an hour and a half before expected, with little comment from the cockpit other than a request to "fasten your seat belts and bring your seats to an upright position."
"The flight attendant didn't even have time to come by and collect my cup and pretzel bag, so I just stuffed it in the seat in front of me," said May Davis, 64. "When we landed the pilot said, 'Welcome to Des Moines, Iowa, where it's a beautiful 83 degrees.' We were all scratching our head and even the flight attendants looked really confused."
According to the co-pilot, the pilot started fiddling with the controls shortly before reaching Iowa and said that they might need to make an emergency landing, even though "from as far as I could tell everything was working fine. But when I tried to tell him that I didn't see anything wrong, he flipped out and questioned my credentials. I wasn't really sure what to do but I didn't want to start a physical altercation with him so I figured so long as we landed safely, everything would be okay."
The pilot has been suspended without pay pending further review of the alleged mechanical problems and is undergoing psychological testing. The plane's so-called "black box," which records all communications in the cockpit, has backed up the co-pilot's side of the story.
According to the co-pilot, the pilot heard a man in business class say to his traveling companion something to the effect of, "Thank God we were able to change to this direct flight. There's a reason it's called flyover country."
"I had gone to the bathroom when he overheard the remark but when I came back he was totally steaming," said the co-pilot. "He was muttering something about how he was sick and tired of coastal elitists looking down at salt of the earth folks. I didn't really pay attention to him, though -- I just nodded, because he was always getting agitated whenever he perceived someone dissing the Midwest or South."
The pilot, whose name has not been released, is a native Iowan and recent divorcee, according to sources.
According to shaken passengers, the plane began its descent an hour and a half before expected, with little comment from the cockpit other than a request to "fasten your seat belts and bring your seats to an upright position."
"The flight attendant didn't even have time to come by and collect my cup and pretzel bag, so I just stuffed it in the seat in front of me," said May Davis, 64. "When we landed the pilot said, 'Welcome to Des Moines, Iowa, where it's a beautiful 83 degrees.' We were all scratching our head and even the flight attendants looked really confused."
According to the co-pilot, the pilot started fiddling with the controls shortly before reaching Iowa and said that they might need to make an emergency landing, even though "from as far as I could tell everything was working fine. But when I tried to tell him that I didn't see anything wrong, he flipped out and questioned my credentials. I wasn't really sure what to do but I didn't want to start a physical altercation with him so I figured so long as we landed safely, everything would be okay."
The pilot has been suspended without pay pending further review of the alleged mechanical problems and is undergoing psychological testing. The plane's so-called "black box," which records all communications in the cockpit, has backed up the co-pilot's side of the story.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Bush Finishes Clearing Crawford Ranch Brush
Former President George W. Bush has finished clearing all the brush from his 1,600 acre ranch in Crawford, Texas.
During his presidency, Bush often sought refuge at the Prairie Chapel Ranch, considered the Western White House. He was often criticized for spending too much time at his ranch and not enough time attending to domestic problems and world matters. Among his favorite activities were biking and clearing brush.
At the insistence of former first lady Laura Bush, who prefers yoga and socializing to whacking down trees and torching them in solitude, the 43rd president bought a residence in the tony Preston Hollows Dallas neighborhood, where they spend most weekdays. But Bush is still able to spend considerably more time at the ranch than during his presidency.
"Now that he doesn't have to receive multiple daily briefings from the CIA, his chief of staff, economic advisers, etc., he has much more time to engage in activities near and dear to his heart," said a friend. "He's also very hard-working, and sometimes he'll even work right through lunch."
But after eight years of presidency and nearly six months of being an ex-president, there is no brush left to clear. "He just sits around and mopes and it's driving Laura crazy," the friend said. "It's getting so bad that he's started clearing trees that are young and shouldn't be cut down. It looks like those pictures of Brazilian rainforests that have been subject to slash and burn clear cutting."
The former first couple is considering buying another ranch or expanding their ranch by buying the adjoining land of their neighbors.
Bush is not the first ex-president to spend excessive amounts of time on a hobby. Bill Clinton reportedly filled his post-presidency hours by doing thousands of crossword puzzles.
Clinton had long been an avid fan of the New York Times crossword puzzle, even writing them in ink. But after his presidency he had to resort to TV Guide crossword puzzles and even got his aides who flew commercially to collect airline crossword puzzles in order to satiate his appetite for them.
During the filming of Wordplay, a movie about New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Schortz, the director even asked him to leave the set after he kept harassing Shortz to create him another crossword, complaining that "the ones in USA Today are crap."
During his presidency, Bush often sought refuge at the Prairie Chapel Ranch, considered the Western White House. He was often criticized for spending too much time at his ranch and not enough time attending to domestic problems and world matters. Among his favorite activities were biking and clearing brush.
At the insistence of former first lady Laura Bush, who prefers yoga and socializing to whacking down trees and torching them in solitude, the 43rd president bought a residence in the tony Preston Hollows Dallas neighborhood, where they spend most weekdays. But Bush is still able to spend considerably more time at the ranch than during his presidency.
"Now that he doesn't have to receive multiple daily briefings from the CIA, his chief of staff, economic advisers, etc., he has much more time to engage in activities near and dear to his heart," said a friend. "He's also very hard-working, and sometimes he'll even work right through lunch."
But after eight years of presidency and nearly six months of being an ex-president, there is no brush left to clear. "He just sits around and mopes and it's driving Laura crazy," the friend said. "It's getting so bad that he's started clearing trees that are young and shouldn't be cut down. It looks like those pictures of Brazilian rainforests that have been subject to slash and burn clear cutting."
The former first couple is considering buying another ranch or expanding their ranch by buying the adjoining land of their neighbors.
Bush is not the first ex-president to spend excessive amounts of time on a hobby. Bill Clinton reportedly filled his post-presidency hours by doing thousands of crossword puzzles.
Clinton had long been an avid fan of the New York Times crossword puzzle, even writing them in ink. But after his presidency he had to resort to TV Guide crossword puzzles and even got his aides who flew commercially to collect airline crossword puzzles in order to satiate his appetite for them.
During the filming of Wordplay, a movie about New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Schortz, the director even asked him to leave the set after he kept harassing Shortz to create him another crossword, complaining that "the ones in USA Today are crap."
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Harry Potter Star Struggling to Adjust to Muggle World
After nine years of filming Harry Potter movies, Rupert Grint, who plays the character Ron Weasley, is reportedly struggling with the prospect of reacclimating to a post-Harry Potter life.
Grint, who recently came down with H1N1, or swine flu, apparently tried coming back to the set where the cast has been filming the seventh and eight movies before he had recovered, insisting that if he could just see Madame Pomfrey -- the nurse in charge of Hogwart's hospital wing -- she would be able to cure him. His attempts to self-medicate at home by eating enormous amounts of chocolate -- a common medicine for various ailments in J.K. Rowlings magical world, including encounters with dementers -- had failed to do anything more than give him a stomachache, according to his concerned friends.
In contrast, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, who play Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, have taken conscious steps to distance themselves from their characters.
In 2007 and 2008, Radcliffe played a stable boy obsessed with horses in the play Equus, with a much-talked about nude scene. His performance received positive reviews in London and New York and critics agree he has done a good job of avoiding being typecast as the most famous boy wizard in movie history.
Watson, meanwhile, intends to attend college in the United States and take a break from acting. Sources say she will be attending Columbia University in New York City, but she has declined to comment.
Radcliffe and Watson have grown increasingly concerned with Grint's mental stability and worry what he will do once the movies have finished. "He insists on being called Ron all the time," Watson fretted to a friend. "That's all very well now, when he can pretend like he's just some very serious method actor, but what about when we wrap? People will think he's mental if he goes around calling himself Ron and waving a wand."
Like his fictional character, Grint has started to express amorous feelings towards Watson, which she has not reciprocated. And he refuses to eat at the same lunch table as Tom Felton, who plays bad boy Draco Malfoy, saying loudly "Gryffindors only at this table. Slytherins eat over there."
Grint also has expressed nostalgia for the earlier years and has taken to alternately caressing and cursing a rat that he calls "Scabbers" and "Wormtail," a prominent character in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban.
Film executives at Warner Brothers, the company producing the lucrative Harry Potter franchise, have discussed Grint's mental state with director David Yates and a few fellow cast members. They have tried to keep it confidential for fear of distracting from the much-anticipated release of the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
One of the proposals currently under consideration is to allow Grint to live on the Hogwarts set for a couple of weeks after the films have wrapped. "Once Rupert sees that the floating candles and Nearly Headless Nick are blue screen magic and not actual magic we hope that will help him realize that Hogwarts is not reality," said one of Grint's fellow cast members.
Grint, who recently came down with H1N1, or swine flu, apparently tried coming back to the set where the cast has been filming the seventh and eight movies before he had recovered, insisting that if he could just see Madame Pomfrey -- the nurse in charge of Hogwart's hospital wing -- she would be able to cure him. His attempts to self-medicate at home by eating enormous amounts of chocolate -- a common medicine for various ailments in J.K. Rowlings magical world, including encounters with dementers -- had failed to do anything more than give him a stomachache, according to his concerned friends.
In contrast, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, who play Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, have taken conscious steps to distance themselves from their characters.
In 2007 and 2008, Radcliffe played a stable boy obsessed with horses in the play Equus, with a much-talked about nude scene. His performance received positive reviews in London and New York and critics agree he has done a good job of avoiding being typecast as the most famous boy wizard in movie history.
Watson, meanwhile, intends to attend college in the United States and take a break from acting. Sources say she will be attending Columbia University in New York City, but she has declined to comment.
Radcliffe and Watson have grown increasingly concerned with Grint's mental stability and worry what he will do once the movies have finished. "He insists on being called Ron all the time," Watson fretted to a friend. "That's all very well now, when he can pretend like he's just some very serious method actor, but what about when we wrap? People will think he's mental if he goes around calling himself Ron and waving a wand."
Like his fictional character, Grint has started to express amorous feelings towards Watson, which she has not reciprocated. And he refuses to eat at the same lunch table as Tom Felton, who plays bad boy Draco Malfoy, saying loudly "Gryffindors only at this table. Slytherins eat over there."
Grint also has expressed nostalgia for the earlier years and has taken to alternately caressing and cursing a rat that he calls "Scabbers" and "Wormtail," a prominent character in the third book, Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban.
Film executives at Warner Brothers, the company producing the lucrative Harry Potter franchise, have discussed Grint's mental state with director David Yates and a few fellow cast members. They have tried to keep it confidential for fear of distracting from the much-anticipated release of the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
One of the proposals currently under consideration is to allow Grint to live on the Hogwarts set for a couple of weeks after the films have wrapped. "Once Rupert sees that the floating candles and Nearly Headless Nick are blue screen magic and not actual magic we hope that will help him realize that Hogwarts is not reality," said one of Grint's fellow cast members.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Franken Reprimands Staff for Joking
On his first day as the newest senator from Minnesota, Democrat Al Franken reprimanded his chief of staff, Drew Littman, for gently ribbing one of the new staff assistants.
In an effort to appear senatorial, Franken has banned all jokes at the office and in the Capitol building by anyone representing him, including himself.
"We thought he was joking when he said no jokes," but he turned deadly serious when he heard Drew asking the staff assistant whether that the orange checked tie was something he'd gotten from his dad's closet or paid $100 for as the latest fashion," said another staff assistant who asked not to be named. "Then in the staff meeting he was frowning when the schedulers walked in laughing, and asked what was so funny."
The former Saturday Night Live comic-turned politician faced an uphill battle in overcoming public perception that he was not statemanlike enough to be senator, despite his Harvard education.
Memories of Franken's fictional SNL character, Stuart Smalley, remain fresh among Minnesotans, apparently. And during the campaign Franken -- who defeated opponent Norm Coleman by such a slim margin that he was only able to assume his seat eight months after the other freshman senators due to litigation -- was dogged by an article he wrote in Playboy magazine titled "Porn-O-Rama!."
Franken is working hard to revise his image into a worker bee politician who is ready to buckle down into the minutae of health care and the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. (Franken has been appointed to the committees overseeing the health care overhaul and judicial nominees.)
In a turn before the microphones Tuesday, Franken disappointed reporters by sticking to a meat and potatoes script, mentioning such poll-tested terms as "rational health care system," "decent day's wage for an honest day's work," and "education that prepares them for a 21st-century economy."
After ending his statement vowing to "get to work" Franken turned around, without a smile, and walked away.
In an effort to appear senatorial, Franken has banned all jokes at the office and in the Capitol building by anyone representing him, including himself.
"We thought he was joking when he said no jokes," but he turned deadly serious when he heard Drew asking the staff assistant whether that the orange checked tie was something he'd gotten from his dad's closet or paid $100 for as the latest fashion," said another staff assistant who asked not to be named. "Then in the staff meeting he was frowning when the schedulers walked in laughing, and asked what was so funny."
The former Saturday Night Live comic-turned politician faced an uphill battle in overcoming public perception that he was not statemanlike enough to be senator, despite his Harvard education.
Memories of Franken's fictional SNL character, Stuart Smalley, remain fresh among Minnesotans, apparently. And during the campaign Franken -- who defeated opponent Norm Coleman by such a slim margin that he was only able to assume his seat eight months after the other freshman senators due to litigation -- was dogged by an article he wrote in Playboy magazine titled "Porn-O-Rama!."
Franken is working hard to revise his image into a worker bee politician who is ready to buckle down into the minutae of health care and the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. (Franken has been appointed to the committees overseeing the health care overhaul and judicial nominees.)
In a turn before the microphones Tuesday, Franken disappointed reporters by sticking to a meat and potatoes script, mentioning such poll-tested terms as "rational health care system," "decent day's wage for an honest day's work," and "education that prepares them for a 21st-century economy."
After ending his statement vowing to "get to work" Franken turned around, without a smile, and walked away.
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