The National Republican Senatorial Committee put out a kitchen-sink type ad in Minnesota Monday, accusing someone of writing pornography, laughing at the disabled, humiliating minorities and demeaning women.
And I thought Republicans liked Bill O’Reilly.
But I kid the NRSC.
Okay. The NRSC was taking a shot at Al Franken, and in his Minnesota Senatorial battle with Al Franken, Norm Coleman felt necessary to call in the Marines. Um...Maroons...from Hollywood - aren’t they all out there? - to explain why Al Franken is a terrible person.
John Ratzenburger, Robert Davi, Pat Boone and Victoria Jackson. No denying we’re talking A-list Hollywood, but their
standing in show biz should not be in question. They have just as much a right to speak as they do to perform their paid gigs. But when I hear that "you are not your job" I’m guessing that more than most people, those in show biz (actors/comedians/singers) understand that when they do their job, they are most likely performing as someone they are not.
It’s their job, not who they are.
Does John Ratzenburger believe that most mailmen are blithering idiots who live at home with their moms. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’ve met John, and he’s as far from a being a blithering idiot as he is from being a real mailman.
Is Robert Davi a maniacal killer who he’s played any number of times in TV and film? I’ve been in Robert Davi’s home, met his wife and kids. Not a killer or a victim in the bunch.
When Pat Boone sang Alice Cooper’s "No More Mr. Nice Guy" in his album, In The Metal Mood, was he admitting to a dark side?
Is Victoria Jackson the boob she played on Saturday Night Live? Okay, there are exceptions, but there’s a greater point here.
In most every case, when these performers perform, they were not telling you who they were. They were displaying a talent for becoming a particular character. In Boone’s case, it worked well because he was playing against type. He wasn’t a metal rocker any more than Franken was pornographer.
Boone did his album as a spoof; a parody; a joke.
Same as Victoria Jackson did when she impersonated Rob Lowe or LaToya Jackson, both whom she impersonated on SNL, and neither of whom I believe Victoria is.
And same as Al Franken did as a comic.
Was Ronald Reagan a bad guy because he played one in "King’s Row?"
And just because he may have written the character he performed doesn’t make Al Franken any more a bad guy than Robert Davi is a washed up doo-wop singer from his movie "The Dukes" - that he wrote and starred in.
Boone was kind enough to be one of the subjects for my book, "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful...Mistakes, Adversity, Failure, and Other Steppingstones to Successful." Funny thing...so was Al.
They both spoke of how they learned from adversity to become better people. There’s plenty of evidence they both did My guess is that each of the people in that Franken is the devil commercial will learn from this one. For any of them to take what Franken did as a comic and turn it into a characterization or caricature of who he is or how he would be as a senator, is to belie their own lives and careers.
Oh, and the difference between Al Frankin writing pornography, laughing at the disabled, humiliating minorities and demeaning women and Bill O’Reilly doing the same thing?
Al Was Joking.
Award-winning TV writer, Steve Young, is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" (www.greatfailure.com) and blogs at the appropriately named steveyoungonpolitics.com