Wednesday, December 3, 2008

He will always have my vote . . .

AL Franken is still fighting (probably a losing battle) for a U.S Senate seat. I have a hard time listening to his politics, he can be sarcastic and mean when he is talking to someone who disagrees with him politically, but I have an affection for him that I don't think I can ever get past.

I loved him on SNL, our favorite skit was on Weekend Update (I couldn't find an actual clip) his report from the first Iraq War. The one where he is wearing the satellite dish on his head. THE BEST!!

But the undying devotion from me comes from Christmas 2005. Paul had just arrived in Iraq and because I still hadn't received an address for mail he celebrated his 40th birthday as well as Christmas in that horrible place, alone, without even a card. And there was nothing I could do about it. It was such a terrible feeling. You can ask Sara about the phone call from the Target parking lot one night, it wasn't good.

Paul called me about 2:00pm on Christmas Day (about 11:00pm in Iraq). He told me he had just come back from a USO show put together by and starring Al Franken. Paul sounded happy and not so homesick and told me about the show, how funny Franken is and how great it was for everyone there.

Not only did he perform but he signed autographs, talked and joked with the soldiers one on one without hurrying or trying to get out of there. He stayed until every single soldier who wanted to talk to him had had his say. . .

I will always love him for that.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You've got me teary again!

Mom in Mendon said...

Me too.