No, I am not talking about American Idol. I would never watch that show and, if I somehow happened to view it by accident, I would certainly never admit it publicly.

Rather, I am talking about my actual idol, Mr. Al Franken. Al is a pretty polarizing figure, admittedly, but he is a Harvard grad (like yours truly) and he is an unapologetic elitist (also like yours truly). That second statement may have been redundant.

He is also damn funny. SNL anyone? Stuart Smalley? “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog gone it, people like me!” He has taken on the guffawing buffoon that is Rush Limbaugh with a tenacity like no one else. He even titled one of his books Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot. Genius!

I own all of his books and have read each one from cover to cover, multiple times. I briefly considered putting an Al Franken poster on my the wall in my room but couldn’t for two reasons: 1) It turns out, Al Franken posters are not so easy to find and 2) My ex is over quite frequently and likes to poke fun of my idol (I suspect he hates America).

Well, imagine my horror this morning when I was trolling the news sites and came upon this: Blogger Targets Al Franken in Minnesota Senate Race. A fellow blogger trying to take down my idol! It seemed too awful to be true.

But it is true. Some guy named Michael Brodkorb, whose sensationalist blog is entitled “Minnesota Democrats Exposed” (yeah, that’s a neutral, fact-based site, I’m sure), recently “exposed” Al for some erroneous bookkeeping that prompted him to pay $70,000 in back taxes this week.

I have two major problems with this expose. First, I’m sure this was purely an accident. Al does not keep his own books - he has people to do that. If we want to blame anyone, let’s blame his accountants. I bet they’re Republicans, too! Second, while $70,000 sounds like a lot to this average Joe, it’s a drop in the bucket for Al. Al is worth millions. $70,000 is to Al is what $5 is to you and me. It’s an easy amount to overlook. How many times have you borrowed $5 and forgotten to pay it back? Once you got a reminder, though, I’m sure you paid it back promptly. As did Al.

I think this Brodkorb guy is only trying to stir trouble before a big election in Minnesota. I implore you to boycott such obviously biased, right-wing blogging and please…leave my idol alone!