This man is toast. Once you are in the position of offering numerous individual admissions or denials to allegations of sexual harassment, your time is limited. Is it fair that the serial vagina-grabber will remain in office, at least for the foreseeable future, and the pedophile from Alabama will be elected to the Senate, while Franken will be forced out? Of course not.
I’ve maintained a wait and see position regarding Franklin, but this seems to be well past strike three, and there’s no crying in baseball despite my sadness.
Still calling BS on this.
He’s out. Then i look forward to KACs new excuses why her master and Roy Moore shouldn’t be held to the same standard.
Still waiting for the investigation–you know, “presumption of innocence”? That said, Franken isn’t stupid, and if he sees it all going south he’ll get out before the whole sorry tale emerges and turns him into a punchline.
As I’ve said for a few weeks now, I was skeptical of the Tweeden claims, but these other claims establish a common pattern. All unrelated people saying the same thing: groping. Al is a groper. That’s all that needs to be said. Pelosi set the standard by getting Conyers out. Now, Al has to follow. If it were Tweeden alone, I’d defend Al. All the other stuff…nah.
To paraphrase Dave Chapelle (who used this line in a comedy sketch to come to terms with the downfall of his idol, Bill Cosby): He gropes but he saves; he saves but he gropes; he saves more than he gropes, but he still gropes.
I agree that the Senate ethics hearing should go forward, both in fairness to Senator Franken, and to create a precedent for the sad day when Roy Moore is elected to the Senate. And while presumption of innocence certainly applies in criminal cases, I don’t give it much weight in the political arena. I certainly don’t give Trump and Moore the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t know. I have been calling BS on the previous ones but this is an accusation from a Democrat not a Trump supporter. Of course, it pales next to the least of the Trump accusations–it relies on an interpretation of what he was intending to do, not what he actually did—but still this is bad.
Yeah, each of them heard what the person before them said.
So what? He finally denies one and you want to believe it for partisan reasons?
Unnamed former aide. who knows who this person is and the idea that Franken would of said that is BS to me.
Gov Dayton get ready. You’d better damn well nominate a woman - Lori Swanson is kickass!!
Al, please: Just say you’ll resign when Trump does. The accusations are similar and Trump also admitted (to Billy Bush on tape) to the behavior.
It’s fine to observe the moral principles, but it would be nice not to be the only ones affected.
Are they unrelated? I wonder how many of them have Stone or one of his allies in their contacts?
I still smell a rat on this one. Conyers is another story, but this just looks and feels way too much like a professional hit job.
Considering how some people (including me) were concerned about Franken’s earlier statements that seemed to lack an explicit denial of the accusations, this statement of his is rock solid in its denial (especially since it’s not couched in a “sorry if you felt that way” sense).
I should add: I think his earlier statements about Tweeden and the supposed butt-gropes were hedging in part because Franken has not been one to outright dismiss accusations by women and didn’t want to be lumped into the category of those who flat out silence the alleged victims (looking at you, GOP). But it’s also one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t situations.” How do you deny allegations without silencing the accusers? If he called Tweeden and others liars, he’d be berated. If he gave a version of “Sorry if my actions made you feel that way” he’d be accused of not outright denying the claims (which is what has happened with him thus far). I’m not sure what the correct course of action is.
But I’m glad he flat out denied this latest claim.
Al, I voted for you, twice, proudly and without reservation. You did a lot of good work in the US Senate. I think you can look back on your tenure as a person who made an honest effort to make the United States a better place.
But please go away.
Time to go, Al. At this point there’s a real chance he could lose the seat to a Republican in 2020, whereas the governor could appoint a fresh Dem now.
@grack The GOP will always find a fresh villain, but that doesn’t mean we should reflexively excuse bad behavior in turn. I said it before and I’ll say it again: 2018 will be a wave election for women. Franken might not be up for three years, but he’s become an anchor.
Franken denied the allegation in a statement to Politico.
“This allegation is categorically not true and the idea that I would claim this as my right as an entertainer is preposterous. I look forward to fully cooperating with the ongoing ethics committee investigation,” Franken said.
I believe Franken here. And I still think Tweeden brouhaha + one alleged butt-touching at a state fair ≠expulsion from the Senate, particularly when you consider that he is the only one of those accused who has the vociferous support of women who have worked with him.
This is an obvious campaign to oust the man who got Sessions in trouble. There are more women who have come out in support of Franken, especially those who work with hm in the Senate, than the women who come up with these bullshit accusations.
The only thing that galls me more is the silence of the women who work for Republicans in the House and Senate. They are enablers and they are party over country. Direct your anger in that direction.
These bitches are weaponizing the #metoo thing and are doing great damage to the women who have serious and real grievances. We can’t let that happen for the sake of the woman who have come forward with real harassment and sexual abuse experiences. If we don’t protect those women from this bullshit we’re really going to have a problem .
So there is a two fold strategy here - try to get rid of Franken and delegitimize the women with real accusations of sexual harassment and sexual abuse. That is what should piss you off.
I’m almost positive the Tweeden one was a hit job , given her political provocations and lagging career
The me toos? Don’t know