Al Franken was at the Kennedy School?! Hmmmm... I guess it ain't that big of a deal to be there anymore.

Indeed.

Remember, he's allowed to lie because he's just "being funny."

Am I allowed to "be funny" since I lie alot?

Nope--cuz you don't have any Harvard stationary upon which to lie.

What strikes me as "rather ironic" is that educated folks still can't grasp the concept of irony. Excuse me. My mistake. That's not irony. That's ignorance. Irony has nuance. Franken's circumstance is more like the pot calling the kettle black, which doesn't exactly speak to a true ironic circumstance. While your readers can harumph at Franken's initial deception, let's try to remember that irony is the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning in order to get at the truth. In parallel, it can also mean an incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result. I think that's what you're trying to refer to in Franken's case. However, Franken pointed out someone's lies, then lied himself and then apologized for it. Since he lied, isn't it expected that he apologize? How is that ironic?

Semantically yours,
Nathan Callahan

I've got a post on my weblog wondering why Franken was given a paid fellowship.