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.
-- Al Franken (chapter 5)

Importance: This candid quote not only provides a damning criticism of the Bush years, it also sheds light - at an early point in the book - on Franken's views on climate change.

We broadcast the show from atop the historic Foshay Tower, which when I was a boy was the city's tallest building, smugly thrusting its antennae into the innocent Minneapolis sky. But modern skyscrapers now tower above the once proud Foshay, which cowers meekly among the indifferent glass and steel.*• I've submitted this paragraph to a middle school writing contest.
-- Al Franken (chapter 8)

Importance: This quote poetically reflects two cornerstones of an otherwise political memoir: humor and personal experience. A...