Will It Be Senator Franken, Finally?

At times like this, we need Al Franken in the Senate. We need more laughing. According to talkingpointsmem.com, the judicial battle between the two New York Jews whose families migrated to Minnesota--Norm Coleman, the incumbent, and Al Franken, the challenger--is about to end, with the Franken legal team ending its case earlier than expected. A ruling by the court is expected by the end of the month.

I miss Al Franken on Air America. I miss his intelligent, biting, yet human critique of the right wing media shouters in Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.

Working with "Team Franken," a group of Harvard students, Franken made mush of the Fox commentators. My daughter and I listened to the book, read by Franken in his nasal midwestern accent, on one of our mother-daughter road trips through New England. It was perfect, she was looking at colleges. Our favorite chapter: when he convinces one of the Team Franken interns to pose as a prospective student at Bob Jones University, the fundamentalist Christian college, that he affectionately calls "BJU."

The humor brought to us by the Roland Burris scandal is not funny. That's why we need Al.