Quotes from Al Franken

Some good things did come out of the scandal. Husbands and wives started having frank discussions about what does and does not constitute adultery. For example, my wife has told me that she feels that oral sex is adultery. Which I guess explains why we haven't had any since we've been married.

I also discovered how much I could learn from listening to other people's stories—even people who at first blush didn't seem like the kind of people you could learn much of anything from

I compensated for this by absorbing as much

My point is, the Senate is filled not just with lawyers, but with old white men. Chapter 28 The Angel and the Devil Actors often claim not to read their own reviews.

Unions gave us the forty-hour workweek, the weekend, and the middle class.

Franni knew I loved these tours, but one year she said to me in frustration, "You don't see Bill O'Reilly going on USO tours." "That's not fair, honey," I said. "He has no talent.

Once you even acknowledge that there is a line, that there are things you shouldn't be allowed to joke about, that there are words that can't be said no matter the context, you're selling out the very idea of comedy.

Reporters would just use the most interesting (and, usually, unhelpful) sound bites in my lengthy responses to their questions, instead of writing about the message that we wanted to get out that particular day.

Mike Mansfield had a saying: "It only takes one senator to make a scene. But it takes more than one to make a difference." Okay, he never said that. I made it up.

Some readers might think that because I am so successful, I have never made a mistake.

Yes, Roger Ailes, who actually was very funny and who, as far as I know, did not sexually harass anyone during the two hours he was with us. Between

right wing's most common techniques—including the deceptive use of statistics.

You're not supposed to have to be rich or lucky to have a chance to do great things. Opportunity is supposed to be for everyone. And that's why I'm a Democrat.

I think Gore would have been a great president, may well have prevented 9/ 11, and would not have sent us to war in Iraq based on manufactured evidence. And he'd have addressed climate change, which to me is the greatest existential threat facing mankind.

I've always believed that it's possible to discern true statements from false statements, and that it's critically important to do so, and that we put our entire democratic experiment in peril when we don't. It's a lesson I fear our nation is about to learn the hard way. That's

Mitch McConnell's innovation was in using it constantly to slow down things that did have bipartisan support, just to make sure as little as possible happened that Obama could get credit for. You

The future belongs to those who are passionate and work hard.

Third: Become an advocate. By which I mean, pick an issue that means a lot to you (immigration, mental health, clean water) and look for an organization that's doing work on that issue. Join. Give them your email address. Go to the meetings. Become a foot soldier. You'd be surprised how quickly foot soldiers in these organizations can become

if you can say something that is provably false, and no one cares, then you can't have a real debate about anything.

So Franni and I teamed up with Mike and Diana Enzi to start a tradition of throwing pizza parties and ice-cream socials for these kids. Pages are generally not allowed to initiate conversations with senators, so Mike and I give them an opportunity to ask us questions like, "Is being a senator as much fun as being on Saturday Night Live?" or, in Mike's case, "Is being a senator as much fun as being an accountant?

Phone calls make a difference. Letters make a difference. Emails make a difference.

showing up in person makes the biggest difference of all

Become a foot soldier.

How could that be what America chose?