And then there are the queers. Nothing tugs at the heartstrings of conservative America like a good gay-bash and the Bush folk were not ones to let an opportunity slip by. Franken describes some interesting Republican tactics used to nudge any swinging rainbow-haters. He describes one instance in which Bush campaigners were paid to pose as Kerry-Edwards supporters and parade signs like "Support Gay Adoption" outside of swing state voting stations (particularly those in black communities, where "moral issues" like gay marriage and abortion can be intensively divisive). Franken minimizes the effects of such stunts saying that "moral issues" as a whole were not as big a determining factor as they were initially reported, a notion supported by several political scientists whom Franken cites. However, what is clear, and this is why Franken makes Queers, one of Bush's three keys, is that whether it worked or not, the gay card was played, and played often by Bush's campaign, much more so than it was by Kerry, who didn't seem to sit strongly enough on either side of the fence.
Much of this may seem like covered ground, and for the most part it is. So why read Franken's book? Why did he even write it in the first place? Well, outside of the fat royalty checks he'll be getting, which may have played just a little part, Franken is intense in his passions. He knows how to be funny, but he also knows how to point out the deadly serious nature of his convictions. His goals to see a socially, domestically, and internationally progressive America are never in question. And it is that passion that sets Franken apart from many other political comedians today. More palatable than Michael Moore, and far smarter than the liberal potshotters taking aim at things as meaningless as Bush's grammar, Franken's voice is consistently fresh and intimidatingly wise. More than a political comic, Franken is a political critic, who just happens to also be pretty damned funny.
