Al Franken Keynote Speaker at JJ Dinner
by Connie Wilson

Saturday, October 16, 2004

The annual Jefferson/Jackson Democratic dinner at Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, was held on Saturday, October 16th, with a large crowd of enthusiastic Democrats in attendance.

Prior to Al Franken’s keynote speech, the Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church Choir and numerous Democratic candidates performed and a number of Democrats for various offices spoke, including a long speech by Governor Tom Vilsack and a longer one by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (previous Howard Dean supporter).

The Lt. Governor of Iowa, Sally Pederson, noted, in her opening remarks, that in Dubuque, during the filming of “Field of Dreams”, there were more people hired to film that movie than “W” has created jobs for during his four years as pResident.

Leonard Boswell, Iowa’s lone Democratic Congressman (from District 3), made his entrance on a motorcycle. Gerald McEntee of the AFSCME International Union bellowed mightily as “host” of the event, but the acoustics were so bad that it was difficult to understand him.

Sharon Stone no-showed, but Vanessa Kerry (Future First Daughter) was smart, poised and savvy in black stiletto pumps. Her intelligent remarks and articulate presence (no bellowing) made her a crowd favorite, as we all waited for the star of the evening, Al Franken, to take the stage.

What follows are some of Franken’s best lines.

First, Al noted, “If Iowa goes for Kerry, you’re all gonna be nuked,” citing Vice pResident Dick Cheney’s recent speech in Des Moines as the source for this outrageous remark. He also noted that Bush would have us all become hunter/gatherers and that he (Franken) would be “fighting over a root….to the death” with the man in the front row. (Much laughter at this.)

Franken comments on the debate: “Language has never been his (“W’s”) strong suit.” (Much laughter). “The Republicans like to use ‘evil-doers’ a lot. Cheney works evil-doers in because everybody on the Republican side has to.” (This is followed by a parody of Cheney’s head and neck posturing, while saying, “Evil doers.”) Al is good. Read his last book.
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