Funnyman Maher Kicks a Still-Down Al Franken

"Let me put it bluntly to you and all of these show biz candidates. You're not good enough, you're not smart enough, and, doggone it, it completely doesn't matter that people like you. They like you now because you're an entertainer and thus largely uncontroversial. Governing is the opposite. If you think you can unite the country, you're delusional."

Though Bill Maher doesn't mention former Minnesota Senator Franken by name, he rips him with his own comedic line while ranting against the "celebrities" who are choosing to trade their name recognition and political aspirations for votes and higher offices to help lead the land.

Let them run, I say...  

We elect them -- Jesse Ventura, Ronald Reagan, the extended Kennedy clan, Al Franken, Ah-nold S., Donald Trump, all the legacy sons, and wives, and daughters, the former athletes and astronauts, etc. at our own peril.  If we voters don't like the job they do, we vote them out.

I just found it interesting that Bill Maher -- during his anti-celebrity politician rant Friday night on his political-entertainment show -- would kick Al Franken so hard when calling out the group.  Al paid his price politically for his past fame, and whether or not you think there were voting shenanigans that got him elected in the first place, he's an odd choice to be quoting when calling out dumb celebs who don't represent the people who voted for them and are unqualified for office.

The legacies -- the families holding positions of power for generations based on name stock -- those are the ones we worry about containing out here in the real world.  Those are the careerist ones we are glad to finally unseat with more popular voices who can come in and clean house of the stagnation and corruption at least, before bowing out after a term or two...

Think of them as our own Andrew Jacksons, while Mahler would be an unknown heckler sitting at the end of a bar, criticizing anyone who dared to challenge the established political order and suggest a better way...

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* Maher ruined his own chances for ever running for political office in America with his comments post 9-11.  He was right of course, in the way that our funniest political humorists dare touch truth in their work, but Maher was too cowardly to stand by what he said when he said it.  He caved.  I wonder if that eats at him while he watches other political voices rise, while he knows himself to be smarter overall but less politically appealing...

"We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, [it's] not cowardly."