Yawn Darts - heraldblog - @ 20six.co.uk

Yawn Darts

I listened to Al Franken over the internet this afternoon, and I fell asleep. I'm sorry, Al, but the show is really, really, really boring. Maybe the problem was that you were interviewing Richard Clarke, who was repeating accusations and anecdotes I've already heard. Clarke is soft spoken, and I had to strain to hear his words at times.

But the biggest problem, I think, is that you're trying to hard to be fair and balanced. You're too nice. Nuance doesn't work on talk radio. When you throw a punch, such as when you attacked the GOP for it's tax cut lies, you talked about the three different types of averages, "mean, mode and median." That kind of fancy booklearning is fine for NPR, but it doesn't work on the AM band.

You're too nice, Al. And too smart.

I think liberal talk radio is a great idea, and I really want you to succeed, but you're going to have to make sacrifices. You have to dumb down.

Fortunately, you're Al Franken, not Al Gore. People love your Stuart Smalley Schtick. You can do it. Try a little comic conceipt. Do voices. Play the gullible "everyman" who buys the administration's tortured explanations for why tax cuts for the wealthy are good for the rest of us. Or that drilling for oil in Alaska will solve our energy needs. Or that Rick "man on dog" Santorum is "an inclusive fellow."

You can do it.

2.4.04 22:42

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