With the news of Air America's expected demise comes the contest for which media outlet has been the most aggressively clueless in ignoring this fact in Al Franken interviews. This week's winner has to be Time magazine, whose Jeffrey Ressner swaps gibes with Franken in their "Ten Questions" interview during Bankruptcy Week with toughies like this:
TIME: Who would you rather be stranded with on a desert island: Ann Coulter or Katherine Harris?
Franken: Hmmmm. I'd say Katherine Harris, because there's more meat on the bone.
Before that came the question: "You've locked horns with most of the top conservative pundits: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly. Which one is your favorite feud?"
Our personal favorite in MRC land is this one:
TIME: What's more enjoyable for you: C-SPAN or Fox News?
Franken: C-SPAN. There's some hilariously awful right-wing stuff there if you wait long enough: speeches by Tom Coburn, Phyllis Schlafly, Brent Bozell or some other entertaining wingnut. Fox News is something I have to watch; it's like homework.
It's fair to argue that Jeff Ressner didn't know Air America was going to announce its collapse this week. But it's also obvious that Ressner should have seen oodles of speculation of Air America's demise. It's obvious that they lost their New York flagship station, WLIB. It's obvious that they stayed afloat by lifting money from a Boys and Girls Club.
The interview concluded with Time asking for his campaign slogan. Franken said it's "I'm serious." Time isn't serious about asking real questions of "loquacious liberals" it likes.
