09-22-2008, 10:55 PM
$tevie wrote:
Al Franken gave Lorne Michaels the idea, and Seth Meyers called him to discuss it, but Franken did not write the skit or write parts of the skit. He inspired it, essentially. I'm not sure we can expect Franken to cut off all interaction with anyone who might run with something he happens to think up.
That makes it sound like he casually burped a half-baked idea for a sketch, and he can't be expected to have any control over what NBC does with his conversation after he hangs up. What nonsense. This backpeddaling, plausible-deniability spin supports my point; even the perception that Franken played any role in a political SNL satire is something you'd think his campaign would prefer to avoid, much less take credit for, during a tight Senate race where his entertainment background is a weapon his opponents use against him. Maybe having won his party's nomination, he cleared a barrier and is less concerned about the link, compared to when he was in the primaries.
I'm just playing his campaign advisor.
Even if the link was indirect, it was highly publicized. If the sketch had actually been funny, to anyone outside the Democratic party, it could have been a harmlessly welcome addition to the discourse. Lampooning the other side's negative ads has an unintended circular irony. As his campaign consultant, I would suggest that it reflects the sour attitude of a sore loser rather than the easy humor of a destined winner.