Roger Stone has gone mysteriously silent.
4 Likes
Let me get this straight: Even though the last three women to accuse Franken say the incident happened in public, there are no witnesses? Not only that, two of Frankenâs last three accusers wish to remain anonymous?
So, basically, any woman can come forward and say âAl Franken touched my butt several years ago,â do so anonymously, with no corroborating evidence and weâre supposed to accept that without question. Um⌠ok.
The red scare had nothing on this in terms of outright hysteria and stupidity.
36 Likes
Iâm a big Al fan and I do think the Tweeden allegations are dubious on closer review. The ass grabbing ones, however, seem like a pattern. How many more of these are there? Alâs letter leaves the door open to there being a lot more. Al has to make it right with the voters of MN and has to do right by the party. If the voters believe that this conduct is a âfiring offenseâ, then he should go. The ass grabbing by itself is not âexpelâ worthy, but the public doesnât have a very high tolerance or threshold for bad behavior. The decision will be clearer post-Moore, but all members serve at the pleasure of the public and owe some obligation to do right by the party. Al has to figure that one out.
5 Likes
Excuse me!!! If he had grabbed them by the pussy, then everything would be acceptable???
20 Likes
"I feel terribly" oddly phrased header.
Should be âI feel terribly [sic].â Someone who feels âterriblyâ or âbadlyâ needs to see a neurologist.
7 Likes
well. everything old is new againâŚevery man who works with women need to be on their guardâŚdo as PENCE doesâŚdo not be in the same space with any women/girl by yourselfâŚif you do, you stand the chance of being accused of âsomethingââŚdo not, under any circumstances, have a picture taken of yourself and any woman who is not your spouseâŚit has come to thisâŚâwar on men/ boysââŚI have sons, brothers , husband,and iâm scared for themâŚany vindictive female can accuse anyone of whatever and it is accepted as gospelâŚsoon, it wonât be just politicans, etc. who are targetedâŚ
2 Likes
You know Iâm a fan of #metoo and generally side with the accusers on this topic, but anonymous claims against politicos arenât worth pixels their printed with. The stakes are too high for anonymity. Iâm not surprised Huffpo published it, or TPM ran the story though.
12 Likes
By the present standards of Washington DC and their long history of wine soaked cocktail parties, an ass grab isnât as bad or worse than a p***y grab. I doubt there has been a single case of disciplinary action against someone in Congress for an ass grab. If you cited everyone who ever did an ass grab in DC, most of the Congress would go. Tweeden did an unsolicited ass grab on stage. Was that expel worthy? If you want to change the standard, fine, but then Trump goes first.
All that said, what I said in my post is Al is exhibiting a pattern and is opening the door to acknowledging several more incidents. Thatâs a problem and he has to evaluate for himself whether he should leave because the publicâs standard is changing. Al has to do right by the voters of MN and the party. In my view, based on a pattern such as what is emerging, he should resign.
1 Like
What?
Those of us who have worked with senators and representatives as staff when they attend large public events find these accusations against Al Franken more than a bit incredible, because the purpose is to build favor and trust. Actions and words that might offend are strenuously avoided, and the staff is present to insure that no tense situations occur. The accusations against Franken follow a meme pattern of a request for a photo, the photo, and an eventual accusation that a butt squeeze was added. The ethics committee needs to give this a thorough look.
11 Likes
I love Senator Al Franken. I admire him so much I listened to him read his latest book. Heâs great at cutting through Republican bullshit. Heâs also good at getting done the tiny sliver of legislation that can be done in todayâs toxic environment. Heâs good on the issues. Heâs been strong supporter of reproductive rights and fair pay.
I read the Huffington Post article and found it credible. (I encourage anyone who hasnât read it to do so. Important details are lost in summary.) Before the article I could uneasily explain away the accusations, but no longer. There are too many voices and it doesnât smell like a conspiracy to me.
Senator Frankenâs response that he doesnât remember these particular interactions is not a good response. Of course he doesnât remember! He takes photos all the time. I donât remember all the people Iâve ever met either, but if someone accused me of ass-grabbing I could unequivocally deny it. Thatâs just not something I do. I donât get the sense that Franken could make the same denial.
I thought that perhaps Franken wanted to treat accusers with respect and not call them liars. Or maybe he wanted to call them liars but he was stuck in a catch-22 where that betrays the liberal position on how accusations should be handled. If that were the case he should have found his courage and called a spade a spade. But I donât think thatâs the case. And now the voices are becoming a chorus.
So I think he should resign. We donât need a serial groper in the US Senate with a D by his name. We have a president that should have been rejected because he grabs them by the pussy. We shouldnât have a Senator that grabs them by the buttocks.
And the downsides are low. His replacement would be appointed by a Democratic governor. Voters would get a say in 2018, which is looking to be a good year for Democrats.
Letâs keep a clean conscience and take the high road.
3 Likes
3 Likes
Oh, I donât think Al should resign at all. Should he refrain, in the future, from grabbing ass? Yes, I think he should.
5 Likes
The women did not give their names, but said they wanted to come forward to show that Franken has had a long pattern of misbehavior with women.
Uh-huh.
He âogled her chestâ? Really? How shocking.
And the weaponizing of harassment claims by the Breitbart crowd beginsâŚ
ETA: and if youâre âcoming forwardâ anonymously youâre not really âcoming forwardâ are you?
13 Likes
What, in your opinion, should be the threshold for resignation? Please be specific.
2 Likes
A little perspective is needed here. First of all, we know Franken was set up because Roger Stone bragged abut doing so, the day before Tweedenâs accusations went public. Part of the setup is to continually leak accusations against Franken to make it seem as if he is a serial assaulter. Weâre watching Roger Stoneâs ratfucking in action.
Why? To directly counter and thus soften the accusations of 9 women against Moore for stalking/harassing/groping/attempting rape upon children, to the point where public officials warned against him. Is this in any way similar to Frankenâs actions, even assuming the worst? Of course not, but the slime machine is making you think so.
Hereâs anther huge difference: Franken immediately acknowledged his actions and asked for an investigation to clear the air. Moore (as well as almost every other accused sexual offender like Cosby, trump, Weinstein, etc) are all denying everything and threatening to sue their accusers.
See the difference?
21 Likes
Where are we going, well there are options.
The problem with âoglingâ is was it an ogle, or a glance in passing. Too easy to make the claim, let it burn out there and it could be totally innocent. I think ogling will have to be a non-player in salacious scandals.
5 Likes
No, weâre not.
And the same silly statement can be made about women.
2 Likes
I have no patience for sexual harassment. My first wife seemed to attract the types who behave that way. In one of several instances (and this is not the worst of them) a kid was peeping at her at two in the morning through a window. She was terrified. I attempted to go outside to find the person, but she would not let me go out doors. I looked out our living room window and saw the kid. Before I knew it, I was pulling my arm back in the house, looking at my hand and wondering why there was no living room window pane and why the screen was distended about two feet from the casing. I also noted that I could see the whites of the perpâs eyes all the way around the iris.
Franken should have known better. I really like him, but he should have known better. He should not lose his job, but he is accountable for his behavior.
Except IOKIYARâŚ
2 Likes