US Politics November 2017

I mean what are they going to do, demand his resignation because he did some bad shit while vocally supporting Trump, who has done the same shit? It doesn't make sense (not that that's ever stopped them before, but it makes it hard to write the opinion pieces...)

idk. I guess I'm kinda split as to whether or not he needs to resign. If he's got other skeletons in his closet like this then it would be pretty wise. problem is, that photo just looks really really bad and that's the stuff that people respond to. hence why the Access Hollywood tape got so much traction but the dozens of woman who claimed Trump assaulted them didn't.

no one reads opinion pieces man, what's going to happen is it will be all over the news

but yes of course Foxnews.com is all "sexual misdeeds of Franken, Clinton, Biden" headliners right now, not surprising

but it having any meaningful impact (ie, pushes him out of office, saves Moore's seat, passes the tax bill) seems highly unlikely to me

xp

You're right, he'll be elected president for sure

My mom hasn’t phoned me to gloat yet; that’s my barometer.

if Franken was running for re-election at the moment I'd be worried, but he isn't

goddammit, to this whole thing. i always liked franken.

regardless of what he ought or ought'n't do I fear that this is going to knock the horrible tax plan out of the headlines which is going to harm far far more people than the actions of a pervy Senator

Poor people would be less poor if they just stopped throwing their money away on food and shelter. What a bunch of dumb SOBs.

Like, I write that as a pitch-black joke but at the rate we're going, I would bet good money that some GOP human skidmark will make that exact argument within the next 6-12 months.

David Brooks is already writing a piece about the Culture of Degradation. It'll get published a day before allegations of sexual misconduct hit him.

can't wait

"President Trump and Republican lawmakers have been heralding their bill as a win for hard-working Americans"

Poor people just need to work harder, duh.

I could see dem leadership pushing him to resign to claim moral high ground re:Moore, but that wouldn't actually work bc Fox would just switch back to Clinton.

McConnell's called for an Ethics Committee investigation of Franken

I think at worst he's gonna get censured but even that may be a stretch for the Senate.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/al-franken-sexual-assault-mcconnell-congress-investigation

Less than an hour after news broke that a woman had accused Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) of sexual misconduct toward her in 2006, before he ran for federal office, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called for an official investigation into the allegations.

“As with all credible allegations of sexual harassment or assault, I believe the Ethics Committee should review the matter,” McConnell said. “I hope the Democratic Leader will join me on this. Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable—in the workplace or anywhere else.”

that was fast.

xpost

As the raised-on-the-web generation matures, how many men will meet the Good Behavior bar currently being set? Not many. Those who identify as asexual may benefit disproportionately.

(I'm not trying to "normalize" any of this shit btw. I'm pretty sure I haven't assaulted anyone, but trust me, I couldn't run for office.)

Minnesota Dems have no choice, strategic or otherwise, but to pressure Franken to resign.

Wouldn't be surprised if this leads to people naming names of other congressional harassers

Those who identify as asexual may benefit disproportionately.

They wish. (As recently as two years ago, I would've written "we wish." So there's my inevitable slide into cretinism with age.)

at last we'll get citizen legislators, about a third of them virgins.

Now would be a good time to out McConnell and his sham marriage, surely?

Minnesota Dems have no choice, strategic or otherwise, but to pressure Franken to resign.

why do they have no choice?

Because Minnesota.

I genuinely doubt Al Franken is going anywhere. Why? The magic word "comity." Senators go out of their way to protect each other, and protect the institution of the Senate. This crosses party lines.

^^^

isn't that out the window, along with the fabled "bipartisanship"?

This crosses party lines.

More so than gender lines, maybe?

Anyway, Democratic Gov. can appoint replacement prior to special election next year, which is almost certainly in the bag for dems (from this vantage point).

Personally I'm okay with throwing Franken into the fire, if that's the price of taking Moore et al. seriously.

It could potentially wrong-foot and disorient the right if the (cultural left) refused to hand them ammunition and just said, collectively: "Yeah. That was wrong too. Your point?"

The expectation on the right is that they will catch us all in a collective act of hypocrisy, and defend "ours" while pillorying "theirs." What if we just didn't walk straight into that trap?

or franken should be called on to resign because it's the right thing to do?

I don't think any decisions should be made in terms of their tactical impact on RW media, with which there is no "winning"

Franken is done. He is going to be called on to resign. None of this will bring Trump or any republicans closer to a reckoning on similar claims.

maybe I'm underestimating the seriousness of this incident but it doesn't seem to warrant his resignation imo. People guilty of way shittier stuff have stayed in the Senate and been good Senators.

idk

Mitigating factor: Franken's "jokes" about women have been in question since the start of his political career.

He is going to be called on to resign

by who - McConnell? Klobuchar? Schumer? It depends on who demands it.

by me, then

The fact that many people on the left are already calling for his resignation means he's cooked. In the current environment, with new abuse scandals dropping every day, no one is going to stomach rushing to his defense.

Story is revolting

The disrespect in the pic is beyond idiotic, I doubt I would have done anything that stupid even as a teenager

his home state is currently undergoing one of those statehouse-harassment things, touching both D(FL)s and Rs, so the rhetorical field is not favorable to a no-consequence response by local or national Ds to his groping story

he won election on a contentious recount and the Rs have had a majority in the statehouse and trump did embarrassingly ok here so it's not really an awesome time to be losing a solid D senator. : /

I just don't see it, it kinda doesn't matter how many people tweet about it - if he maintains the support of Klobuchar and the Dem nat'l party apparatus he could weather it. if he was up for re-election it would be a different story.

when was the last time a sitting Senator voluntarily resigned? I can't remember.

xp

as j. points out - the larger party is going to look at this as losing a Senate seat in a non-election year, they aren't going to swallow that easily

He should resign by the end of the day. Fuck the party.

Not the greatest choice of words Shakey

Hey Al, what's your memory of that rehearsal? Curious to know

hey it's not my fault yr mind's in the gutter!

xp

it is pretty gross and if a woman comes forward about feeling violated by a man we should believe her, full stop, none of that "well you see it doesn't seem to be that bad etc" and the man should have to deal with the consequences appropriate to what he did.

this is a good test! no one liked Harvey Weinstein, no one cared about Kevin Spacey, here's a guy who many were saying should run in 2020 and he's politically sharp and seems decent in his policies, but the people we already hate can't be the only ones who pay in this circumstance.

i don’t think he needs to resign either, but tbh i’ve never been on board with the social media “this person did a bad thing so let’s get them to lose their job” thing.

what is clear is that that photo is grotesque, he should be ashamed of himself, and he owes her a better apology than the one he’s released to the public