>http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Washington_Post_franken/2008/06/18/105702.htm...
>
>Washington Post Shreds Al FrankenÂ’s Porn
>
>Wednesday, June 18, 2008
>
>A Washington Post columnist has ripped Democratic Senatorial candidate
>and comedian Al Franken for his “Porn-O-Rama!” article in Playboy
>magazine, calling him a “vulgarian at the gate.”
>
>Michael Gerson, George BushÂ’s former chief speechwriter, declares in
>his Post column that “Porn-O-Rama!” is “a modern campaign document
>every voter should read — the Federalist Papers of lifestyle
>liberalism.
>
>“It has the literary sensibilities and moral seriousness of an awkward
>adolescent nerd publishing an underground newspaper to shock his way
>into campus popularity. But, in this case, the article was written in
>2000 by a 48-year-old man.”
>
>In his article, Franken wrote that it is an "exciting time for
>pornographers and for us, the consumers of pornography."
>
>The Internet, he stated, is a "terrific learning tool. For example, a
>couple of years ago, when he was 12, my son used the Internet for a
>sixth-grade report on bestiality. Joe was able to download some
>effective visual aids, which the other students in his class just
>loved."
>
>Franken also used several crude or X-rated words in his Playboy piece.
>But the article is far from the only instance in which Franken
>resorted to vulgarity or bad taste. He once proposed a television
>sketch about a female CBS reporter being drugged and raped, Gerson
>noted.
>
>At an event hosted by the Feminist Majority Foundation in 1999,
>Franken said: "Why don't we focus on what Afghan women can do? They
>can cook, bear children and pray. As I recall, that was fine for our
>grandmothers."
>
>Gerson equates Franken’s political “satire” with the “vulgarity” of
>“The Jerry Springer Show” or misogynous rap music, saying it
>“generally expresses contempt and cruelty.”
>
>And he observes: “Franken is not content to disagree with Karl Rove;
>he calls him ‘human filth.’ He is not satisfied to criticize Ari
>Fleischer; Franken terms him a ‘chimp.’ The objects of Franken's humor
>— including political opponents and women — are not merely mocked but
>dehumanized. His trashiness is also nastiness.
>
>“Rather than lampooning the emptiness and viciousness of our political
>discourse — a proper role for satire — Franken has powerfully
>reinforced those failures.”
>
>The flap over FrankenÂ’s Playboy article and other disclosures
>evidently does not sit well with voters in Minnesota, where Franken is
>matched up against incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.
>
>A SurveyUSA poll taken last week after press reports about the Playboy
>article found Coleman leading Franken by a margin of 52 percent to 40
>percent — the largest lead Coleman has held in any recent poll.
>
>