Mediaite Contributing Editor Larry O’Connor recently penned an opinion piece on Mediaite.com. An excerpt of his latest article, In 2006 Al Franken Was An Influential Political Talk Radio Host, Not ‘Just A Comedian’, is below:
“He was a comedian then, not a Senator.” How many times have we heard that from the media over the past 24 hours in describing Leeann Tweeden’s allegation that Al Franken forced himself on her and groped her in 2006?
He was just a comedian, we hear. He wasn’t a Senator. Just a comedian. But he wasn’t. He was, in fact, an influential political talk radio host who used his program to build a national base upon which he launched his 2008 senatorial campaign.
Franken hosted his three-hour talk show on Air America, the liberal talk radio syndication enterprise launched in 2004 with Franken’s The O’Franken Factor (Later The Al Franken Show)as its most prominent program running from 12-3PM ET, directly opposite Rush Limbaugh.
The program ran right up until Franken launched his campaign for Senate and he interviewed politicians and pundits and thought-leaders from the left like Bernie Sanders, Howard Fineman, Lawrence O’Donnell, David Brock and Paul Krugman. He would rail against then-President George W. Bush, the war on terrorism, Republicans, conservatives… it was a lot like his time in the US Senate. [Read More]
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