Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Giant of the Senate by Al Franken Al Franken Giant of the Senate by Al Franken. As far as I know, I’m the only U.S. Senator who was also one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live , where I worked for fifteen seasons. I’ve won five Emmy’s for writing and producing – even though Wikipedia says I won three. Wikipedia is wrong. I’m also the author of four #1 New York Times bestsellers, including Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations , Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them – A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, and Al Franken, Giant of the Senate. I also won two Grammys, which Wikipedia also doesn’t mention. But that’s okay. I served in the Senate from 2009-2018, clobbering my first opponent by a margin of 312 votes. My second time around I won by a larger margin that’s not worth mentioning. I served on the Judiciary, Energy, Indian Affairs, and HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committees where I routinely embarrassed badly prepared witnesses and was a fierce opponent of media concentration, mandatory arbitration, and Betsy DeVos. I wrote a key provision of the Affordable Care Act – the Medical Loss Ratio, which requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% (85% for large group plans) of premiums on actual health care and not profits, administrative costs, executive salaries, and marketing. If they don’t, they must rebate the difference to policy holders. Millions of Americans, very likely including you, have received billions in rebates. You’re welcome. At the moment, I am the host of The Al Franken Podcast. My political action committee, Midwest Values PAC, supports Democrats and a host of other good, non-political things. Franni and I have been married for 45 years, many of them happy. Our two kids, Thomasin and Joe, have each produced two grandchildren. All four are spectacular! Cookie Consent and Choices. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. See details. You may click on “ Your Choices ” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. If you click “ Agree and Continue ” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. Cookie Consent and Choices. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. See details. You may click on “ Your Choices ” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. You can adjust your cookie choices in those tools at any time. If you click “ Agree and Continue ” below, you acknowledge that your cookie choices in those tools will be respected and that you otherwise agree to the use of cookies on NPR’s sites. Al Franken resigns, blasts Republican hypocrisy on sexual misconduct. Facing a string of sexual misconduct allegations and mounting pressure from fellow Democrats, Sen. Al Franken announced Thursday he will leave office in the coming weeks. But Franken, a former comedian, didn't go down without taking some scathing parting shots at President Donald Trump and Republicans who have been accused of similar actions. "I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has preyed on underage girls is running for the Senate with the full support of his party," Franken, D-Minn., said in emotional speech on the Senate floor. He was referring to Trump, who has also been accused of sexual misconduct, and Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama, who has faced allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls. Trump and Moore have both denied the claims. " Today, I am announcing that in the coming weeks, I will be resigning as a member of the United States Senate," Franken said, the day after Democratic women led the charge of 35 Democratic senators who called on their embattled colleague to step down. It was also days after Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat who was also accused of sexual misconduct, resigned under pressure. In his speech, Franken, a former "Saturday Night Live" comic who made an improbable journey to become a leading liberal voice in the Senate, denied "some" of the allegations against him while saying he remembered others "very differently." Franken argued that he had "earned a reputation as someone who respects the women I work alongside every day," but that a "very different picture of me" had emerged over the last few weeks. Al Franken announces resignation from Senate, calls out Trump and Moore. He explained that as women came forward recently with allegations against men in Hollywood and in the media, he "felt we had entered an important moment in the history of this country" and "were finally beginning to listen to women about the ways in which men's actions affected them." But when "the conversation turned to" him suddenly, Franken said he was "shocked" and "upset." Franken, a two-term senator, said that, in responding to the accusations against him, he "wanted to be respectful of that broader conversation, because all women deserve to be heard and their experiences taken seriously." "I think that was the right thing to do. I also think it gave some people the false impression that I was admitting to doing things that, in fact, I haven't done," he added. A spokesman for Franken said the senator had not yet determined when his last day would be. As Franken spoke, many of the Democratic women in the Senate who said Wednesday that it was time for the lawmaker to go — including Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin — looked on, appearing visibly upset. Just a day earlier, it was Gillibrand's Facebook post that set off a cascade of calls for Franken's resignation, first by her female colleagues, and later, by senators, male and female, across both parties. Leeann Tweeden, a Los Angeles radio news anchor, was the first woman to come forward with accusations against him. Last month, she claimed that during a 2006 USO tour Franken — who was not yet elected to the Senate — forcibly kissed her while they rehearsed a skit together and later groped her on a plane. An alarming photograph backed up her accusation. After Tweeden told her story, several more women come forward to allege that Franken had groped them in public settings, prompting Franken to issue an apology as well as support a Senate Ethics Committee inquiry into his behavior. "I’ve learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women — and I know that any number is too many. Some women have found my greetings or embraces for a hug or photo inappropriate, and I respect their feelings about that," he said at the time. But a Politico report Wednesday morning was the beginning of the end for Franken's colleagues. In it, a former congressional aide to the senator said he tried to forcibly kiss her in 2006, saying, "It's my right as an entertainer." Franken denied the account, which has not been verified by NBC News, but by the end of the day, dozens of senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, had issued statements calling for his ouster. Minnesota's governor, Mark Dayton, a Democrat, has the power to appoint Franken's replacement, who would serve until the next statewide general election in November 2018. Dayton said Thursday that he will announce his decision on who will replace Franken in the Senate "in the next couple of days." From parodies to politics. Franken was elected to the Senate in 2008 in one of the closest elections in the history of the chamber, one that triggered a recount and was eventually decided by the Minnesota Supreme Court. He won by 312 votes. He was re-elected to the Senate in 2014, winning 53 percent of the vote. "It's the story of a Midwestern Jewish boy of humble roots (the first in his family to own a pasta maker) who, after a thirty-five-year career in comedy, moved back home to challenge an incumbent senator," Franken wrote in his 2017 political memoir "Al Franken, Giant of the Senate." "It’s the story of how, after spending a lifetime learning to be funny, I learned how not to be funny.” Before entering the Senate, he hosted "" on Air America, the now-defunct liberal talk-radio network, from 2004 until 2007, when he announced he would run for office. His career began as one of the early stars of "Saturday Night Live" in 1975. Franken was born in New York City in 1951 but grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, after his parents relocated there when he was 4. Franken began performing stand-up routines in Minneapolis clubs while he was in high school. He graduated from Harvard in 1973, where he met his wife, Franni, with whom he has two kids. After Franken graduated, he signed on with SNL. The first sketch he helped write lampooned President Gerald Ford, suggesting a new campaign slogan: "If he's so dumb, why is he President?" He is perhaps best known for his SNL character , a satirical parody of a self-help guru who hosted "Daily Affirmation With Stuart Smalley," which later became the subject of a film. Smalley was best known for his catchphrase: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." Franken told The New York Times Magazine that the character emerged after Franken went through a 12-step program with his wife during her battle with alcoholism. "I was trying to explain recovery through a character," Franken told the magazine. "He is a character that, at first blush, looks like kind of an idiot, but actually a lot of the stuff he's trying to talk about is true." Franken left SNL in 1995 after being passed over for the Weekend Update anchor slot, which was given to Norm Macdonald. His comedy ambitions began in the second grade. He told People Magazine in a 1992 profile that he wrote what amounted to his first comedy sketch after he watched the girls in his second-grade class perform an "insipid" version of "I’m a Little Teapot." His political interests developed at that time, too. He watched the 1960 conventions with his dad, Joe, who was a salesman and supported the Republican presidential candidate, Richard Nixon, he told People. Phoebe, his mother, who was a real estate agent, supported the Democrat, John F. Kennedy. At that young age, he told People, he sided with his father, but eventually sided with Democrats. Franken's political profile only grew after Trump's election. He sat on three Senate committees, including the powerful Judiciary Committee that is investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which helped elevate his profile among progressives by grilling Trump's nominees and castigating the president. He called Trump's inauguration "perhaps the most depressing moment I've had since I entered politics, though that record has been repeatedly surpassed since Jan. 20," according to Rolling Stone. He sparred with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, with his interactions often drawing praise from progressives and ire from conservatives — and occasionally going viral on social media. "I had a career in identifying absurdity, and I know it when I see it and it makes me question your judgment," he told Neil Gorsuch, the president's Supreme Court pick, during his confirmation hearing. Adam Edelman is a political reporter for NBC News. Dartunorro Clark covers politics, including the Covid-19 recovery, for NBC News. Al Franken, Giant of the Senate Summary & Study Guide. Al Franken, Giant of the Senate Summary & Study Guide Description. Al Franken, Giant of the Senate Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections: This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion on Al Franken, Giant of the Senate by Franken, Al. The following version of this book was used to complete this guide: Franken, Al. Giant of the Senate. Hachette Book Group, 2017. Forging a new genre of political nonfiction, Al Franken's Giant of the Senate combines aspects of a personal memoir, a modern political analysis, and a satirical, introspective look at the progression of Franken's political journey into one concise and easily digestible narrative. This narrative ultimately seeks to prove that the culmination of Franken's personal, professional, and political journeys has prepared him to navigate the uniquely tumultuous modern political climate since the 2016 presidential election. With a rotating blend of concrete policy ideas, heartfelt personal tales, and a mixture of topical and nonsensical humor, Franken and his text represent the cross-section between the seemingly different worlds of comedy and politics. Franken gives a relatively brief recollection of his upbringing in suburban Minnesota and education at Harvard before jumping into the beginning of his life as a comedian. Franken's fifteen seasons with Saturday Night Live leave him with no shortage of memorable tales, like watching his best friend and stage partner control fake blood just off-screen for a Julia Child character played by Dan Ackroyd. The SNL years had their darker moments, as well, specifically with drug abuse and addiction. Franken's wife, Franni, and friend, Tom both struggled with addiction, leaving their marks on Franken as they fought their own demons. Most importantly, however. the show allowed him to learn and develop the finer skills of political satire, Franken's favorite subgenre of comedy. After leaving the show, Franken would try his hand writing satirical political nonfiction like Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, ultimately creating a bridge between his fondness for political satire his eventual decision to run for Senate. Franken's first senate race was a hard-fought battle against incumbent Norm Coleman, a race characterized by scandals and accusations, vicious attacks ads, and an eight-month-long recount process. Franken received a crash course in political etiquette when he finally made his way to the Senate, learning the hard way that the rules that dictate comedy and showbusiness are inappropriate on the national stage. As he recalls the various lessons learned during his early months in the Senate, he also begins to delve more heavily into his specific beliefs and proposals on various issues like health care, gun control, education, and climate change. Working on these issues requires bipartisan support, regardless of how impossible Franken finds some of his colleagues, specifically Ted Cruz. However, Franken's humor mixed with his ability to acknowledge what he does not know have allowed him to enjoy and even befriend his colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Toward the end of the book, Franken seems to abandon his purpose of writing a memoir in favor of offering a scathing and honest analysis of the modern political situation. He does not hide his opinion of the sitting president, instead vowing to spend the coming months and years "protecting our children, our values, and our future from Donald Trump" (382). With this promise, Franken challenges the reader to look past the hectic present toward a better future, one in which partisan divisiveness is exchanged for commonsense policy solutions that give each American the opportunity to succeed. After all, Franken's affiliation with his party lies in the sacred principle that "Democrats aren't just the party of equality for all - we're the party of opportunity for all" (9). In order to secure this shared opportunity for generations to come, Franken sees it as imperative to resist Trump and work toward a better future.