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by Joe Potente
First it was before a packed house at the Orpheum Theatre, then it was in front of a more intimate group at a west side home, but the general message Sunday from author and comedian Al Franken was the same: Somebody in the White House is lying and Americans will soon have the chance to do something about it.
"We have a president that lied to us about why our men and women are going into battle and that's a pretty serious thing," Franken said to a supportive audience at a Democratic Unity Fund fund-raiser held Sunday night at the home of Lynn McDonald, mother of Ben Wikler, a Madison West graduate and Harvard student who helped Franken research his recent book.
In Madison for weekend appearances at the National Conference of Media Reform and a book signing at the Orpheum, the author of the recent New York Times best seller "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" mixed genuine concern about President Bush and the nation's direction with his trademark wit.
The latter stirred up some laughter among the Democratic Unity supporters when Franken tried out some new lines that he said - in a moment of black humor - that he was planning to use on an upcoming USO tour.
Among them: "Your president lied to you and you are dying for no reason."
Franken drew further laughs when he said he would show up on the tour wearing a Kevlar body suit for protection. On the second day he said he would dress down, donning his civvies and a Kevlar vest and jock strap. Finally, he would end the tour in the style of President Bush, wearing a flight suit and a "Mission Accomplished" badge.
On a more serious note, Franken said he has actually been receiving a lot of e-mail messages from troops and their families who are "very concerned" about the United States' involvement in Iraq.
Speaking in Manhattan, Kan., last week, Franken said he was warned that he may not receive an especially warm reception in the largely conservative town.
Instead, however, he said he was greeted by an auditorium filled with 2,000 "rabid, rabid Bush haters."
This, Franken inferred, may be evidence of some sort of a nationwide political backlash away from the right.
"I'm getting huge turnouts everywhere, and there's something happening," he said.
"We've got to get the Senate back and we've got to get (Wisconsin Senator) Russ Feingold back," Franken said, speaking for Democrats. "He has proved you can do it without the special interests if he's got you guys."
According to Franken, the veneer of the president's credibility is cracked, which puts the Democrats and someone from their crowded field of candidates in a position to reclaim the White House next year.
"People say to me 'what do we do?'" Franken said. "And you just work."
As for his own work, in an interview Sunday night Franken downplayed the impact he believes his book and his speeches will have on moving Democrats forward in the 2004 elections. However, he said that the book has seemed to mobilize people on the left.
"It's made Democrats realize that we can't just sit back and take it, and it's fun to call (Republicans) on it," he said.
Some at the fund-raiser, however, including Ada Deer, American Indian activist, onetime congressional candidate and former head of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, see Franken as playing a larger role.
"It's unlimited," Deer said. "To hear his report about the reception he's gotten across the country, it was phenomenal."
Madison resident Ken-Adi Ring echoed Deer's opinion.
"I am totally, totally thrilled that Al Franken has had such an impact on the world," said Ring, a professional masseuse who offered Franken a complimentary rub down as he passed through a book signing line. "I think he stepped way out of the circle of being a comedian when he wrote this book."
Franken remains still quick to tell a joke, though.
Asked whether he would continue to be a valuable tool in the war against the Bush administration, Franken said yes - with one stipulation.
"Unless they stop lying," he said. "Then we're screwed."
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