But in summing up his credo Friday night, sometimes through muffled sobs, liberal satirist Al Franken didn't just flay the usual band of conservative boors, he lauded traditional American values.
Not that he didn't take plenty of potshots.
“He is not good with language,” Franken said in perfect deadpan. “For example, when he called the war on terror a crusade. That wasn't smart. He apparently wasn't aware that there were these crusades that the Muslim world cares about very deeply.”
And while a night of Franken wouldn't amount to much without some mention of Rush Limbaugh's colossal rear end, Franken's gospel Friday was an earnest one.
“I think we've got them beat on values,” Franken said of Democrats versus conservative Republicans. “These people don't care about anything. They've become so corrupt, they just care about their own power, and it's time we got rid of them.”
Franken talked in detail about his dad, whom he described as a beacon of traditional American values.
In 1993, when Franken's dad was dying of cancer in Minneapolis, a rabbi came to visit the family and meet with the dying man, someone he'd never met.
Dubious of the rabbi's intentions, Franken reluctantly invited him into the house and asked his father if he wanted the company.
“Well, I don't really know him. But if he feels it'll do him some good,” Franken said of his dad's response.
“And that's my dad,” Franken said. “When it comes to traditional American values, I look to my dad.”
Franken emphasized the importance of well-founded family values, distinguishing those values from the religious right's misguided emphasis on a “culture of life.”
Championing the United States as a religious democracy, Franken said “religion has flourished in this country because we have kept church and state separate.”
Franken then boasted of his two children, whom he said embrace his value system.
“They are kind, smart, funny and they do good things,” he said. Franken said he and his family embraces the “pursuit of justice and good. And I think somewhere in there is God.”
Reporter Tristan Scott can be reached at 523-5264 or at tscott@missoulian.com
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