National Public Radio sells itself as the source and summit of political civility. That's fake news. NPR loves character-assassinating liberals....like Al Franken. He was given almost 50 minutes of book publicity on Tuesday for his tome Giant of the Senate, with NPR host Terry Gross gushing "It's the most brilliant book I've ever read."
On Tuesday night’s All Things Considered, Franken was awarded a five-minute book-promoting interview, with softballs like this:
SCOTT DETROW: Franken was in a position to be uniquely puzzled by President Trump's march to the White House. He had worked so hard to show voters he was taking governing seriously. Trump barely tried at all. Add that to the fact Franken once wrote a book about conservatives called Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them.
AL FRANKEN: This campaign, it just seems like we were in the post-truth era, and it doesn't matter.
DETROW: You write that you worry the liars had won. Do you think that is the case?
FRANKEN: Well, I hope that this is cyclical and we'll be in an era of neo-sticklerism very soon.
And on Tuesday's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, there was another 44 minutes of Franken gush, like this little exchange about his demonizing Attorney General Jeff Sessions:
FRANKEN: But people give me tremendous credit for all this. And it's like, "Franken knew exactly what he was doing. He's playing three-dimensional chess."
TERRY GROSS: (Laughter).
FRANKEN: "And he's obviously four moves ahead of everybody else." No, I was just asking him would you recuse yourself? And I think he pivoted to not answer that question.
And this one about Fox:
GROSS: So I'm interested in your reaction to Bill O'Reilly being forced out of Fox News to Roger Ailes, now the late Roger Ailes, being forced out at Fox News.
FRANKEN: Schadenfreude is such an ugly thing.
GROSS: (Laughter). Any other way you care about them? (LAUGHTER)
FRANKEN: You know, I mean, the culture they set up there was pretty ugly, evidently. And I feel like Bill O'Reilly is an angry guy for some reason. And this just will make him a little angrier, I think.
And this seals the deal: Gross is completely in the tank!
GROSS: I've read a lot of political memoirs.
FRANKEN: (Laughter) I like the way you said it. I've read a lot of political memoirs.
GROSS: Yeah. I mean, most political memoirs - if I can generalize for a moment - are very shall I say circumspect. And...
FRANKEN: I think they're very calculated.
GROSS: Yeah, calculated, often dry. And, you know, with like talking points.
FRANKEN: But mine, Terry, is very...
GROSS: Yes. No, yours is really funny.
FRANKEN: ...Entertaining.
GROSS: And it actually is very entertaining. And I think, you know, whether anyone agrees with you politically or not, like, a joke is a joke and funny is funny.
FRANKEN: And it's honest, don't you think?
GROSS: It's the most brilliant book I've ever read, I'm pretty sure.
PS: Back in 2003, NPR's ombudsman ruled that Terry Gross gave a dramatically different (hostile) book interview to Bill O'Reilly compared to Al Franken two weeks before. Her bias is ever-lasting.
