How Awesome is Al Franken?

[Stan]

I don't know all the details but the gop party never liked Moore. That made it easier to denounce him at the first scent of a scandal.

[Mike]

[Stan]

The national (non-executive) gop was negative pretty quickly. The state level gop wasn't.

[Phoebe]

It depends a lot on how their ethics investigation is run and what the possible penalties are. I wouldn't rule out that being an appropriate way of doing things with Franken. And this is depressing but let's look at it another way: if the standard of having engaged in some creepy kissing activity or dubious workplace harassment is going to be resigning from office, how many people are going to have to resign? I mean, I'd love it if we had 100% non-harassers in office, but I'm not sure the country is ready for the mass turnover in every sphere of life that would be required to eradicate everyone who's done a Franken-level offense. Seriously. I'm guessing your numbers on that are huge. I'm not sure I could even keep track of the people who have actually touched my body in some obviously sexually intended way without my consent. Like, did these people take part in the normal 20th century dating rituals of America? Odds are good there are problems aplenty.

[Mike]

@Stan

Not as quick as the left on Franken. There were three or four national Republicans denouncing him immediately. It took until Franken to build up momentum and get the majority on board.

Either way, the GOP is in a bind. They hate Moore and really don't want him in the Senate, but they also REALLY don't want a Democrat. If Moore would pull out of the race, the GOP has a good shot at winning this with a write-in campaign for Luther Strange or Jeff Sessions. If Moore stays in and they run a write-in, they've just handed the seat to a Dem. If Moore stays in a wins... then they have to figure out how to deal with Moore.

[Phoebe]

I thought someone said this here but maybe not, maybe it was at work:
The obvious play they're trying to make is to get Moore out of the race, because they never liked him and he reflects poorly on their party, and then get a Sessions write-in campaign or actually nominate Sessions through some other rules, leaving Trump to appoint a new attorney general who will dismiss the Russia investigation.

I don't think the party leadership of either party feels the slightest twinge of sadness over any of this s***, except insofar as it reflects negatively on the party. With the exception of some good apples sprinkled here and there (one hopes), people in these offices are incredibly ruthless. They're making decisions all the time that have to do with life and death and they know it. I don't think that whether one person was groped or another person was kissed is even the slightest problem to them except insofar as it affects a larger political issue.

[mimekiller]

Honestly of the entire group that this has happened to lately(Louie, Sulu, SNL senate man, Harvey casting couch wenstien) I think HARVEY is really the only one that's never coming back. Everyone else can ride it out and crisis management this into a slap on the wrist.

[mimekiller]

So what do ya'all think about PENCE and his philosophy now about not meeting women alone that are not his wife. Beyond the fact I'm still 50 percent sure he's still blowing dudes behind arbys with a gimp mask at on at 3am it seems like a great way to avoid this kind of nonsense.

[Phoebe]

It remains one of the stupidest and most offensive things I've ever heard of.

I don't even want to know why you put the word Sulu in that sentence.

[mimekiller]

[Phoebe]

Others with same problem are in NYT, WaPo, etc. People: this is not a photo of groping. This is a photo of someone being a gross, offensive ass for fun. It's different, and the difference matters! Are these people collectively blind? Look at photo. I'm not wrong on this. And I gotta tell ya, it actually rises to the level of annoyance. I would not wish bad things on people for being so foolish, but I kinda wish they could somehow travel in a time capsule of my life and figure out what the difference is for themselves.

Oh look: , but it reflects a pathetic reality. Attempted statutory rape and touching young teenaged girls in a repeated pattern is actively being conflated with NOT groping an adult woman and coercing her into workplace-harassment kissing. Fuck this.

[mimekiller]

al franken is 5'2 and going to be president

[mimekiller]

what would you call this? http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/20/politics/ ... index.html

[Phoebe]

Why do you ask?

[mimekiller]

[mimekiller]

Honestly thought AL was going to ride this out but it looks like he will resign by the end of the week, sad!

[Phoebe]

Ugh. Maybe his knowledge of these truths is why he said he didn't want to run for president someday. Not that the bar wasn't lowered, but still. At this point he is a prominent Democrat occupying a position that could be better filled by someone else who has a shot at a helpful political future for our nation, beyond the fact of already disgusted by the whole thing for moral reasons.

[DMDarcs]

Al Franken's resignation should add more to the thorn that is Roy Moore.

[bralbovsky]

We live in hope.
What I believe should have happened is that Franken should have served as the model for developing some due process. It's a legislature for crissakes, legislate. Decide when and if he should resign, and what the process and consequences need to be for others who did less, and others who did more.
Decide whether he loses his pension. Whatever

Sadly, what I expect will happen is a collective "Thank God that's over." and people who are otherwise moral, or at least sorry, will continue to resign when discovered, ad hoc, while people who have no scruples whatever, will continue to lie and deny and vilify and conspire and harass and abuse and assault, and gleefully get to stay in the government. On our dime. Spreading their filthy ethics like cholera until the place smells worse than it does now, and nothing but bleach and fire will make it right.

I fear there might not be enough time or ammunition to solve this.

[Phoebe]

Sadly I wonder if the reason the other Democratic senators are so keen to have him out is not because they are pure and pious defenders of women, but because his state governor is a Democrat who will safely appoint another one.

The rest of the Hypocrites are so far beyond saving it's not even worth assuming they have a decent normal honest bone left.