Now the comedian turned author is combining his two roles. Last week he took to the airwaves on America’s first all-liberal radio network, Air America. His goal seems to be to provide a little therapy to the millions of Americans who despise President George W. Bush, but have until now felt unworthy of a radio forum of their own. He spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Adam Piore last week. Excerpts:
PIORE: So, what are you up to?
FRANKEN: I’m hoping to get a foothold in this terrain of talk radio. It’s so right-wing, so filled with misinformation and hate. Rush captured a huge audience in the early 1990s, and there are now a lot of imitators. A lot of right-wingers like these shows, but there are people out there who listen to it because there’s nothing else. We’re trying to offer an alternative. Right-wing talk radio doesn’t appeal to people’s better side. It appeals to their angry side. There’s reason to be angry sometimes, but they’re angry at the wrong things.
Like what?
Well, the credibility of this president, first of all. Today we talked to Joe Biden of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about how Americans are perceived. We’ve lost the support of the world. Poll numbers have gone through the floor. We talked to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who spoke to a lot of economic issues–how this administration is trying to roll back regulations to the point where government disappears and the country is run by economic and corporate interests.
But you’re a comedian. You’re also going to make people laugh, right, like with spoofs on famous figures?
Today we reported on a drum solo performed by the Queen of England. We had a veteran BBC correspondent file reports from the Albert Hall in London, describing it. We had her in the third, fourth and then fifth hour of the solo, a la the old Ginger Baker. It was, ah… really stupid. We also had an ad for our president. He wants to get rid of gay marriage, yet he evidently doesn’t care about terrorists getting married. He’s weak on terrorist marriage, because unlike gays, terrorists can breed.
What’s been your best moment in the past couple of days?
Comedy? No, the best moment for me was [former White House antiterrorism chief] Richard Clarke. I said, “You’re a hero of mine,” and he said, “You’re a hero of mine.”
You’re no fan of the Bushies. What do you dislike most about them?
I asked Paul Krugman, “Has there ever been a tax cut during a war?” And he said not only has there not been a tax cut during a war in this country’s history, but there’s never been one in the history of the planet in a time of war. We’re going into this huge deficit, and these tax cuts are going primarily to those at the top. And the Bush administration also has tremendous credibility problems. There’s just a tremendous amount of corruption.
Is there anything you like about Bush?
I think the fact that he didn’t plant weapons of mass destruction speaks well of him. You know they considered it. Maybe they were afraid they would get caught.
If you could give the president one piece of advice, what would it be?
The good advice: don’t be afraid to not be yourself. The bad advice: be yourself. My other advice might be: read.
How’s John Kerry doing?
Well, he took a vacation and he took some hits. Then when he came back, we had this explosive Clarke testimony in the Senate. And now he’s having shoulder surgery. He’s sort of stuttering.
Some of your radio rivals seem to be starting a whispering campaign, saying you’re mentally unstable.
The New York Post wrote that I body-slammed some guy at a Howard Dean event. Two stories written by another conservative columnist about me had to be retracted. That’s what these right-wing guys do, try to smear you. It’s too bad.
Why are Democrats such wimps? Why don’t they fight back?
Like I say, when you fight back they try to smear you. But Sen. Paul Wellstone fought back, Michael Moore fights back and Paul Krugman fights back. We may be less belligerent, but I don’t know if belligerent is necessarily a good thing. Being able to stand up and fight, though, is.
