So why spend so much energy trying to improve the story?

You asked for a quote!

He  didn t know anything about this until late last week ? Clearly he must have known something.

Is he talking about the existence of the loan or the arrangements being made to repay the loan? From the phrase “we started to make arrangements,” I would think he’s talking about repayment.

But for the sake of argument, let’s say he’s making the claim: “I didn’t know that Air America owed Gloria Wise any money until last week.”

Here’s another way to interpret the same facts: He signed a document that listed many liabilities. Nothing in that document indicates that any of the liabilities are controversial or in dispute or under investigation. (Go look it up.)

In the audio clip you cite, Franken is talking about the whole “scandal” as reported in the New York Sun and Post and on Michele Malkin’s blog. When did the controversy over the money first surface? When did the new owners do their forensic accounting and discover the nature of the loan?

Last question: Why is it so important to hang this on Franken personally? It’s clearly an obligation of the company, not Franken personally. So why spend so much energy trying to improve the story?

Ok, it turns out he was on the board, or worked for, this Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx or something.

And he uh, borrowed (laughter) $875,000 from, I don’t know why they did it, and I don’t know where the money went, I don’t know if it was used for operations (softer, especially fast), which I imagine it was. I think he was robbing Peter to pay Paul.

And about three weeks into the life of Air America, I became an involuntary investor. I stopped being paid.

So now, we started to make arrangements, and I didn’t know anything about this until late last week, and I’m sorry, Rick, that you have to be here for this.

He “didn’t know anything about this until late last week”? Clearly he must have known something.

This is as simple as I can make it:

What is the lie?

(JWG, can you give me a link or a little more of the quote? Franken’s on-air quote from Oct. 8 would be well after he had discussed the Gloria Wise matter on the air for the first time. If Franken discussed the loan on the air in September, then turned around and pretended not to know anything about it in October, that would be noteworthy.

However, I’m skeptical that ever happened.

At least give me some indication of what “this thing” in the Franken quote you cited could be.)

I swear trying to keep a conversation on track with you is a challenge.

Franken signed the settlement agreement in 2004. In 2005, he said: “I don’t know anything about the details of the loan.”

Didn’t deny the existence of the loan. Didn’t say he didn’t know there was a loan. Didn’t argue that his signature wasn’t binding (I’m still confused about that little detour, Tuco.)

What point are you trying to make?

So he’s either a fool or a liar.

Would you accept that from a Republican?

The only statement you ve pointed to as a  lie is something you badly misquoted from an article that was later corrected because the reporter had the facts wrong.

The correction states that the original article misstated the terms of the settlement agreement.

Here’s the relevant quote from the article, unchanged by their subsequent correction:

Yesterday, Mr. Franken stood by his earlier statement. He said that, on the advice of his lawyer, Gunnar Erickson, he signed the agreement last fall that erased legal claims he had against Messrs. Cohen and Sorensen because they owed him money, but he said he did not see the list of liabilities that included the Gloria Wise transfers.

“I am not an investor, and I didn’t see this thing,” Mr. Franken, the comedian and best-selling author who hosts Air America’s daily show “The O’Franken Factor,” said.

So, what other possibilities exist other than the following:

Franken lied, or he signed an agreement on the advice of his attorney without looking at it.

Can you at least agree that it’s one of the above?

Nobody denies that Franken signed the settlement agreement. You provided a link the other day. Anybody can go and look at it.

Whether that signature is binding is not what we’re discussing. The financial health of Air America is not what we’re discussing.

You made a flat out statement that Franken lied. About what isn’t quite clear–you keep changing your accusation.

Let me make it simple for you: When do you think Franken lied? What did he say? What was the truth?

The only statement you’ve pointed to as a “lie” is something you badly misquoted from an article that was later corrected because the reporter had the facts wrong.

Try to get even one fact right, Tuco. Show us you can do it.

Best case for Franken is that he signed a document on the advise of his attorney without knowing what he was signing.

Too bad for Mr. Franken because “A party that signs a document is conclusively bound by its terms absent a valid excuse for having failed to read it.” Guerra v. Astoria Generating Co., L.P., 8 A.D.3d 617, 779 N.Y.S.2d 563 (2d Dep’t 2004). Wisconsin law: “Failure to read a contract before signing it will generally not affect its validity.” State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Home Ins. Co., 88 Wis. 2d 124, 129, 276 N.W.2d 349, 351 (Ct. App. 1979); see also Caulfield v. Caulfield, 183 Wis. 2d 83, 93, 515 N.W.2d 278, 283 (Ct. App. 1994) (“[B]y failing to read the contract before signing it, [plaintiff] was negligent as a matter of law and barred from proceeding on her claim that the [defendant] fraudulently induced her to sign the note.”)

I’ll speculate that he’s lying.

By the way, you didn’t respond to Franken’s lying about the financial health and success of Air America. Want to parse that too?

Show us where he said he didn t know that Gloria Wise had a claim against Air America. You can t.

Al Franken signs settlement agreement 11/22/04.
Al Franken says on air 10/8/05:

we started to make arrangements, and I didn’t know anything about this until late last week

The 45-page document includes a paragraph that says Gloria Wise has asserted a claim for that money.

24 of the pages are for signatures.
Page 45 is clearly labeled “AAR LIABILITIES” in which four claims are listed. The Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club is first.

Are you trying to make it sound like that one “paragraph” is hidden and easy to miss among all those pages? There are two pages that follow the 24 signature pages: Capitalization (page 44) and AAR Liabilities (page 45). There’s no way he missed them.

the reporter badly mistakes this settlement agreement among the Air America principles…

…principals…

Franken clearly lied when he said he signed the agreement, and somehow failed to catch the fact that Air America owed the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club $875,000 that was used to fund the network s operations.

Show us where he said he didn’t know that Gloria Wise had a claim against Air America. You can’t.

All you’ve shown us is your misquote of Franken saying he didn’t know the details of the loan–while he was talking about the loan itself.

Here’s the timeline, Tuco: 2004, Franken and all investors sign a settlement agreement. Gloria Wise is not a party to the agreement. The 45-page document includes a paragraph that says Gloria Wise has asserted a claim for that money.

September, 2005: The New York Sun runs an article in which the reporter badly mistakes this settlement agreement among the Air America principles for some sort of agreement to repay Gloria Wise. Within that article, the reporter quotes from Franken speaking on the air, saying he doesn’t know anything about the details of the loan. Remember, there were no details about the loan in the settlement agreement.

What was Franken discussing on the air when he spoke those words? He was talking about the loan! He explained what he knew about Evan Cohan. He explained where he thought the money went even though he had no way to know for sure.

Where’s the lie?

Isn’t it remotely possible that some people don’t want to buy without instruction from Malkin, et.al.?

I wouldn’t read the book, if it were a gift.

Comparison of Al Franken s alleged knowledge of Air America finances to Scooter Libby in 5& 4& 3&

This is a thread about Al Franken, not Scooter Libby.

I haven’t made such a comparison, and don’t need to, in order to prove that Al Franken is a completely disingenuous hack.

So it’s no surprise that Oliver loves him.

Tuco, I already demonstrated that you re MSU about this on a different thread. Want some more?

No, you didn’t. Franken clearly lied when he said he signed the agreement, and somehow failed to catch the fact that Air America owed the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club $875,000 that was used to fund the network’s operations. This was a lie in response to his earlier lies that he was completely out of the loop about AA’s finances.

Be very careful here, Quaker…

Your argument that I’m MSU seems to be that you don’t have access to the full context of the New York Sun article and are skeptical that Franken actually made this denial specifically about the settlement agreement.

If you feel so confident of your opinion, why don’t you spend the money for a New York Sun subscription?

And then explain why Franken continues to lie about AA’s health, as he did recently on David Letterman.

He still lied about what he knew about Air America s financial difficulties.

Tuco, I already demonstrated that you’re MSU about this on a different thread. Want some more?