This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on January 29, 2007 11:24 AM.
The previous post in this blog was Bad to worse?.
The next post in this blog is Just a kiss away.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
That's... o.k., because he's good enough, he's smart enough...
Al Franken's leaving Air America, the lefty radio network that's been looking for (and apparently has now found) a buyer. Franken's to be replaced by Portland's own Thom Hartmann.
Comments (17)
(And also because he's running for Norm Coleman's Senate seat in 2008.)
I'll miss him. Even without Katherine Lanpher (with whom he'd developed quite a good chemistry) I appreciated the way he brought the funny along with the passion.
I hope he runs for Senate. I hope he wins. That would make the subject matter of his book Why Not Me? rather ironic.
I've always enjoyed Thom Hartmann for his passion and his thought process. Clear thinker, clear speaker. He will be a much better voice for the true progressives in the Country than Franken.
Few people are as well equipped to serve the public discourse as Hartmann. I am happy that others will have a chance to hear him!
I got a chance to meet Al Franken and walk a few hundred yards with him through the same backhall that Richard Perle had walked only weeks before. I told him about it and said that having him there after Perle was like an exorcism - like lifting a curse. Al Franken repeated Richard Perle's name slowly and bitterly, then said, "What a f*cker."
That was a funny moment - at least it made me laugh - but I also thought while I was walking there with him that he had real courage to speak out like he does. I mean there were a lot of people around at one point... I just felt even being close to this guy was sort of dangerous. Imagine if you had Bill O'Reilly stirring up the right wing against you, so I was impressed with Al Franken for his bravery.
I also love him as a comedian. When he went to Iraq and appeared for a huge group of American soldiers, his first line was, "Anyone here from out of town?" 6 words in and he had already gotten a huge laugh. At the performance I saw, he did a world class Rush Limbaugh impression right at the beginning and the crowd just relaxed. He's a huge talent.
Now, on the other hand, one of my best academic things was getting a 760 on the Math SATs in 11th grade. I didn't even take the test again my senior year.
My pride in that was really hurt when I read Al Franken got a perfect 800 on his Math SATs. That sort of makes me like him a lot less. In fact, disregard the first part of this. I now hate Al Franken.
Franken will make a great senator. I can't wait to watch him go after Coleman. 'Ol Norm is already taking a few Gordon Smith-esque steps to the left. Especially on the war. That said, I don't think Norm will be ready for Al.
As for Hartmann...
*Ugh*
Al was entertaining. Thom just isn't. Listening to him, I feel like I'm in a college lecture where the prof is just reading from a textbook. I guess he's great for the true-believers, but we're going for hearts and minds, people.
Erin Hart should have had an AA show long ago. She'd dance circles around Hartmann.
And the reason KPOJ's ad rate is so high, is that they kill KXL in the key 25-54 demographic of college-educated people with money, while Larsy is still aiming at the Depends crowd, on their way back to get that GED.
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (17)
(And also because he's running for Norm Coleman's Senate seat in 2008.)
Posted by Dave J. | January 29, 2007 11:27 AM
Doggone it, people like him.
Posted by Jack Bog | January 29, 2007 11:30 AM
Good for Thom, he rocks! :-)
Posted by Lev Koszegi | January 29, 2007 11:58 AM
I'll miss him. Even without Katherine Lanpher (with whom he'd developed quite a good chemistry) I appreciated the way he brought the funny along with the passion.
I hope he runs for Senate. I hope he wins. That would make the subject matter of his book Why Not Me? rather ironic.
But he'd be a corker of a Senator.
Posted by Samuel John Klein | January 29, 2007 1:09 PM
I've always enjoyed Thom Hartmann for his passion and his thought process. Clear thinker, clear speaker. He will be a much better voice for the true progressives in the Country than Franken.
Few people are as well equipped to serve the public discourse as Hartmann. I am happy that others will have a chance to hear him!
Posted by joe adamski | January 29, 2007 1:44 PM
I got a chance to meet Al Franken and walk a few hundred yards with him through the same backhall that Richard Perle had walked only weeks before. I told him about it and said that having him there after Perle was like an exorcism - like lifting a curse. Al Franken repeated Richard Perle's name slowly and bitterly, then said, "What a f*cker."
That was a funny moment - at least it made me laugh - but I also thought while I was walking there with him that he had real courage to speak out like he does. I mean there were a lot of people around at one point... I just felt even being close to this guy was sort of dangerous. Imagine if you had Bill O'Reilly stirring up the right wing against you, so I was impressed with Al Franken for his bravery.
I also love him as a comedian. When he went to Iraq and appeared for a huge group of American soldiers, his first line was, "Anyone here from out of town?" 6 words in and he had already gotten a huge laugh. At the performance I saw, he did a world class Rush Limbaugh impression right at the beginning and the crowd just relaxed. He's a huge talent.
Now, on the other hand, one of my best academic things was getting a 760 on the Math SATs in 11th grade. I didn't even take the test again my senior year.
My pride in that was really hurt when I read Al Franken got a perfect 800 on his Math SATs. That sort of makes me like him a lot less. In fact, disregard the first part of this. I now hate Al Franken.
Posted by Bill McDonald | January 29, 2007 1:58 PM
Franken will make a great senator. I can't wait to watch him go after Coleman. 'Ol Norm is already taking a few Gordon Smith-esque steps to the left. Especially on the war. That said, I don't think Norm will be ready for Al.
As for Hartmann...
*Ugh*
Al was entertaining. Thom just isn't. Listening to him, I feel like I'm in a college lecture where the prof is just reading from a textbook. I guess he's great for the true-believers, but we're going for hearts and minds, people.
Erin Hart should have had an AA show long ago. She'd dance circles around Hartmann.
Posted by Chris Snethen | January 29, 2007 3:19 PM
You have a point there. I enjoyed Thom but he can get a bit dry, and he's way too nice to insane people sometimes (MHAO).
Look on the bright side...maybe we'll finally get Mike Malloy back, if they can make room in the evening sked for him.
Posted by Samuel John Klein | January 29, 2007 3:31 PM
Al Franken's leaving Air America,...
Leave out the Air then we've got news.
Otherwise, yawn, who cares? No one listens to the network anyway. No one I know does, anyway.
(With apologies to Pauline Kael.)
Posted by rr | January 29, 2007 4:57 PM
Heya rr.
Fact: Air America is SOARING past KXL in the Arbitron ratings! KOPJ is now a Top Five station in Portland, jumping 20 or so spots in two years.
Fact: KXL is plummeting down the ratings ladder, two or three rungs at a time, in a race to the bottom.
Try www.oregonmediainsiders.com or pdxradio.com for latest Arbie numbers.
Or call KXL and ask 'em yourself. They are easy to understand, once you get past all their crying and moaning.
Posted by Daphne | January 29, 2007 5:49 PM
No one listens to the network anyway. No one I know does, anyway.
Maybe you should get some new friends.
Posted by John Rettig | January 29, 2007 6:30 PM
JR,
No, thanks.
But thanks for being concerned.
(check out irony and my parenthetical statement some time)
Daphne,
Greetings, we come in peace!
I tried to check out the Arbitron ratings for KOPJ but couldn't find it.
Posted by rr | January 29, 2007 9:13 PM
Thom's great!
Posted by Jeff | January 29, 2007 10:25 PM
Heya rr. Here's alink to r-and-r!
K-P-O-J is now the 6th rated radio station in Portland, before they subscribed to Air America they were... 26th.
http://tinyurl.com/235okq
And the reason KPOJ's ad rate is so high, is that they kill KXL in the key 25-54 demographic of college-educated people with money, while Larsy is still aiming at the Depends crowd, on their way back to get that GED.
Someday.
Posted by Daphne | January 30, 2007 3:59 PM
Franken is going to the land of irrelevance where his pumpkin head Rosie O'Donnell look alike azz belongs!!!
Posted by Jim Golden | January 31, 2007 6:17 PM
Q. If Gopher from the Love Boat (Fred Grandy) can be a Congressman, why not a former SNL cast member?
A. Governing requires a different skill set than sniping.
Posted by Mister Tee | January 31, 2007 7:22 PM
One of these days, LIARS, * POW ! POW ! *POW*POW*POW* !!!, two in the head, three in the heart. As we say in Joysey.
Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom.
Punish the Right-Wing LIARS, By Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com. Posted January 31, 2007.
And for Thom, people are talking the talk ... Thom Hartmann to Replace Al Franken on rescued Air America Radio, by Rob Kall
... taking names who's walking the walk.
In the final analysis, maybe, it boils down to the essential common denominator: Rash Lamebrain is a big fat idiot. Liars Larson is a big fat idiot.
And the rest are either with 'em, or against 'em ... hands? ... show of hands, please? ... hands? ... anyone? ... anyone? ...
Posted by Tenskwatawa | February 1, 2007 11:14 AM