Al Franken Quotes

Al Franken is an American comedian, writer, and politician. He served as a United States Senator from Minnesota and was known for his witty humor and satirical commentary. Franken's transition from comedy to politics brought a unique perspective to his role as a public servant.

When you encounter seemingly good advice that contradicts other seemingly good advice, ignore them both.

I think Clinton fatigue was a real thing. It's just hard to get comfortable with Gore - it was hard for him to project who he is, the person people know in private.

The institutions that we've built up over the years to protect our individual privacy rights from the government don't apply to the private sector. The Fourth Amendment doesn't apply to corporations. The Freedom of Information Act doesn't apply to Silicon Valley. And you can't impeach Google if it breaks its 'Don't be evil' campaign pledge.

I think that the default for collecting any kind o... -Al Franken

I think that the default for collecting any kind of personal data should be opt-in consent.

When I first started writing for television in the seventies and eighties, the Internet didn't exist, and we didn't need to worry about foreign websites illegally distributing the latest TV shows and blockbuster movies online.

Apple has long been a leading innovator of mobile ... -Al Franken

Apple has long been a leading innovator of mobile technology; I myself own an iPhone.

Discovering the context

This quote acknowledges Apple's role as a prominent innovator in mobile technology and expresses personal ownership of an iPhone. It implies a positive view of Apple's technological contributions and highlights the popularity of its products among consumers. It reflects on the speaker's affinity for Apple products.

Minnesotans lost their jobs because the credit rating agencies didn't do the only job they're supposed to have, the only job they had, which is to give accurate, objective ratings to financial products.

Progressives, in a way, are the new conservatives.... -Al Franken

Progressives, in a way, are the new conservatives. We want to conserve what we fought to build.

The next thing I am doing is moving back home to Minnesota and getting involved in politics. I'm looking at a run for Senate in 2008, but in the meantime I am focused on knitting together the progressive network in the upper Midwest.

No one is more sensitive to the issue of overeatin... -Al Franken

No one is more sensitive to the issue of overeating than the creator of Stuart Smalley.

Call-time has renewed my faith in the need for public financing of elections. 'Call-time' is where I as the candidate, sit in a room with my 'call-time manager,' and a phone. Then I call people and ask them for money. For hours. Apparently, I'm really good at it.

We need to prepare our kids for a 21st Century eco... -Al Franken

We need to prepare our kids for a 21st Century economy, and we're not doing it with our schools.

Veterans report that service dogs help break their isolation. People will often avert their eyes when they see a wounded veteran. But when the veteran has a dog, the same people will come up and say, 'Hi' to pet the dog and then strike up a conversation.

I've never understood why we would want to deny all the joys - and the challenges - of marriage to anyone. Which is why I think any loving, committed couple - gay or straight - should be able to get married.

My dad didn't graduate from high school, ended up being a printing salesman, probably never made more than $8,000 a year. My mom sold real estate and did it part time.

The Fourth Amendment doesn't apply to corporations... -Al Franken

The Fourth Amendment doesn't apply to corporations.

My spiritual life is... sometimes I have access to it and sometimes I don't. When I do have access to it, it's usually a sense of my understanding what the best course of action or the best thing for me to do. By best, I mean when I have a real sense of doing the right thing and doing good for people and the connected universe of everybody.

There is - I mean - I found early in life that righteous indignation is a little off-putting, and so I try to couch it with humor.

The Minnesotans I talk to are really concerned about what the future holds for their families. They're trying to pay for health care and send their kids to college, they're worried about declining home values, they're scared for a loved one they have serving in Iraq.

I think the Internet has developed at this incredibly rapid pace because of net neutrality, because of the free nature of it, because a YouTube can start the way YouTube started.

Minnesotans know the difference between the job of... -Al Franken

Minnesotans know the difference between the job of satirist and the job of senator. And so do I.

It's the Power of the Almighty, the Splendor of Na... -Al Franken

It's the Power of the Almighty, the Splendor of Nature, and then you.

Most Americans don't think about antitrust law when they look at their cable bill, flip channels on TV, or worry about what their favorite website knows about them. But they should.

The civil rights movement was very important in my house, and then Vietnam was very important 'cause there were two boys, so I came of age during a very heated political climate.

The right wing has had a radio apparatus for years and years, so they've had minor leagues - they've had local rightwing guys who've become national rightwing guys, and who build slowly, and that's how it goes. We haven't had that. It isn't like we have a farm team.

Bill Clinton is the greatest president of the 20th... -Al Franken

Bill Clinton is the greatest president of the 20th century because I played touch football with him.

And I think that being able to make people laugh and write a book that's funny makes the information go down a lot easier and it makes it a lot more fun to read, easier to understand, and often stronger. So there's all kinds of advantages to it.

If we have George W. Bush as president, we're going to go back to the kind of policies we had when his father and Ronald Reagan were president.

To make the argument that the media has a left- or right-wing, or a liberal or a conservative bias, is like asking if the problem with Al-Qaeda is do they use too much oil in their hummus.

When people talked about protecting their privacy when I was growing up, they were talking about protecting it from the government. They talked about unreasonable searches and seizures, about keeping the government out of their bedrooms.

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