Comments

1
Clinton should have been denied the nomination in 1992 (yeah the other Clinton) Trump should be removed from office and Franken should step down. And the clown from Alabama should be removed from office and sent to prison in Alabama
3
What would you say if Minnesota's governor was Republican?
4
Yep--he should, immediately.
5
"Due process"? This isn't a court of law. His rights aren't being violated. There's photographic evidence of him doing something absolutely inappropriate, as he has now admitted.

Yes. He should step down.
7
@2: "Due process" for what?

8
@6: Oh, you got that one in before mine posted. Never mind, you clearly only believe accusations (of which there is photo evidence and a confession to) on a partisan basis, and therefore any opinion you have can just be tossed into the trash. Thanks for letting us know!

Also, you should actually read the woman's account about how he grabbed her head and forced his tongue into her mouth as well. Or is that just all in good fun too?
10
I bet there's plenty of politicians in Minnesota who haven't allegedly sexually harassed a colleague.

Possibly, yes, but have you been paying attention to what's going on in the Minnesota Lege?
11
Zero tolerance. If they do this kind of bullshit they all should go.

Franken needs to resign. Trump needs to resign. Probably thirty others will need to resign.

The problem of course is liberals will eventually be the only ones demanding accountability and the right will just keep stonewalling on rightwing offenders and, naturally, going after liberals offenders as a distraction.
15
@12: Wow, you aren't too bright, are you?
16
Interesting moral quandary. We have someone who has admitted and apologized for vulgar conduct that occurred before they were elected to public office. So some are demanding that even though the ethics committee has not reviewed the complaint, the complaint along should be reason enough for Senator Franken to resign. The logic seems to be that since the governor would appoint another Democrat, we should throw Franken to the kerb on principle.

Meanwhile, we are trying to recapture the Senate, have an admitted sexual predator in the White House, and a pervert who chased high school girls while a prosecuting attorney. The latter only facing calls from his own party to step down when it became obvious he was slipping in the polls, and the only hope the GOP has is one of theirs mounting a write-in campaign after Moore drops out.
17
Haha!!!

Elliot Spitzer (D) sleeps with prostitutes and gets thrown out of office.
David Vitter (R) sleeps with prostitutes and gets re-elected.

John Edwards (D) has an affair and gets thrown out of office.
Mark Sanford (R) has an affair and gets re-elected.

Anthony Weiner (D) engages in sexual misconduct and gets thrown out of office.
Roy Moore (R) engages in sexual misconduct and... ??? (gets republican support at least)

Al Franken (D) gropes a woman and the democrats call for him to leave office.
Donald. Fucking. Trump (R) gropes a woman and GETS ELECTED PRESIDENT!

@13 is almost correct. That's not what the democrats slogan should be... that's what the democrats slogan IS.

Haha!!! Fuck democrats and fuck this country. Enjoy living in a company-town theocracy, but hey, at least you have your "values" to wipe your asses with! Ha! Republicans are laughing at you. And now I am too. You all deserve what you get!
20
I think this isn't going far enough!

We should do full investigation of every single person who has public exposure greater than town dog catcher and if they are found being inappropriate in any way they should be immediately forced out of their job and their reputation ruined so that they can never work again anywhere.

Politicians, comedians, sports figures, every single one of them.

Does that mean everyone will live in terror? Of course.

But terror is nothing but justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is thus an emanation of virtue.
21
@19,

How many leaders are known for their strong morals vs. how many leaders are known for their brute force and ruthlessness.

You've got people fighting for your interest but you'll send them away if they don't live up to your high standards. Meanwhile, your enemy is shoring up his defenses with lying, conniving, brutes who'll tear your moral leaders to shreds.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that's the way it is.

Humans are barely, barely, evolved past apes. Stop pretending we're more advanced than we are.
23
Is there one man that isn't a pig? I am so sick of non-apology apologies. I am so sick of men doing whatever they want to females of all ages - raping infants, children, teenagers, women. Groping whomever they please. Saying nasty sh*t that gets the off and laughing and telling females they have no sense of humor. I am 100% over men. And it seems like every single one is a pig. Everyone who claims #notallmen really means #notallmengetcaughtandhavetopretendtobesorry And if one more talking head starts talking about WHOEVER in the past did something, without first talking about the rapist and pussy grabber who wants to f*ck his own daughter (and has proudly stated so) I am going TO LOSE MY SH*T AND GO ON A KILLING SPREE. I am at the end of my rope, the end of my ability to deal with this - from female relatives, female friends, female co-workers (former, as I no longer work), female acquaintances, and the reams and reams and reams of female strangers. Yes #everyfemale Yes #allthetime Yes our society is so sick and disturbed and violent and stupid, the world would be better off if humanity simply ENDED NOW. PERIOD.
26
@24,

Did you not read what I posted?
27
@blip
What about severity? If this is his only offense (which I admit, findings of offense are like cockroaches in that there are never just one) would being censured by the Senate and Franken compensating the woman financially be sufficient?
28
Just hit the news, the victim says she accepts his apology.

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/360709-…
30
why have we suddenly agreed that the universal action is to throw your career in the trash no matter the actual severity of your offense? Weinstein and Spacey are on a completely different level from Louis CK or Franken, taking all allegations at face value.
31
Senator Franken should not resign. He should apologize, (which he has done) and have bozos yell at him from Cable News about how he is a horrible person, this should last one or two news cycles..
33
Lets just bind Franken up and throw him in a pool and see what happens. If he sinks he can stay.
36
@32,
democrats are effectively the women’s political party
Not white women, they voted for Trump
37
Never happen.
38
He apologized (and what Our Dear Rich thinks of the quality of the apology is of absolutely no importance). She accepted the apology. We move on. That's how things work in the adult world.

39
@8TG,
As usual, very good insights. Sen. Al Franken now accused of sexual harassment.

Sigh. This is out-of-control. Doesn’t matter what side of the political spectrum, gay or straight, men are being targeted and outted. It’s extraordinary the number politicians, celebrities, entertainers, film directors, sports figures, writers, editors etc. that are being accused. Many have admitted it as well. Some with really egregious behavior. We’re talking creepalicious (groping, flat out assault or rape) and it's recurrent behavior (Weinstein, Cosby, Wieseltier, Toback, Murray, O’Reilly, Clinton, Trump, Moore etc.)

Here’s the kicker though, Roy Moore will win the Senate seat in Alabama. And many Dems are reconsidering their support of former President Clinton.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/…

This is a clusterfuck all right.

40
So, Mein Trumpfy's gonna step down too?

Hell, I'd take that deal. How bout you, Utivich?
40
If Moore wins, Alabama should get kicked out of the fucking union. We could finally grant full statehood to DC or Puerto Rico to maintain the nice round number of 50 states (which I'm convinced is a significant and supremely idiotic reason DC hasn't joined sooner.)
41
I'm very disappointed in Franken.

And this is getting ridiculous. What he did was wrong. It was also ten years ago.

I am thrilled that women are speaking up about what has been going on. It isn't as if we haven't known -- ALL OF US. We have all been passive about the "boys will be boys" sexual "humor."

How about calling for some real change? Like, telling women the world is changing, and we need them to speak up when it happens? Push the idiots away. Speak up.

Get nasty.

We get nasty in the moment? Speak up in the moment? Make the "boys" accountable in the moment?

This shit will STOP.

It won't stop real sexual predators. But casual disrespect? "It's only a joke" disrespect? Yeah. Women throwing the stink eye and giving a shove and SPEAKING UP is what is going to stop this nonsense.

We need to start now, teaching our girls to speak up.

And stop telling our children to hug or kiss relatives and others they don't know. Stop with mixed messages about affection and duty and who has a right to touch you.
42
Dearest blip -- I do believe you nailed it -- the Culture War begins NOW....

"Anyone who thinks dems can just ignore what franken did or that the old rules still apply does not understand what is happening right now. This isn’t just a social media #trend, it is a cultural reckoning that has been decades in the making, and it’s just getting warmed up.

As women take on more leadership roles, the old boys networks will be dismantled and none of the rules we have become accustomed to will apply anymore. This will happen in relatively short order because it has been building for decades, and it has been kicked into overdrive by the election of president pussygrabber.

To put it in more concrete terms, democrats are effectively the women’s political party, so they have no choice but to hold their offenders accountable because without women they have nothing. This is even more true now than before. In VA, 12 of the 14 seats that were flipped were won by women (all 14 seats were formerly held by men). You can expect to see more of this in the next few years." --blip
43
People who have behaved inappropriately shouldn't have jobs?
44
So, Franken resigns, re-apologises (re-, re-, re-, as many as it takes), STOPS with all the groping, etc, co-writes and donates all proceeds 'The Death of Patriarchy and My Nefarious Role In It' to the right people, re-runs for office, sets his goal a little higher (if a con man* can do it, why not a reformed comedian?) and he and Frannie, e.g., become co-Leader of the Free World....

Or Elizabeth Warren.

* Can you say Trumpf U?
45
GhostDog: "But terror is nothing but justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is thus an emanation of virtue."

Sure sounds familiar ... is this from Torturin' Dick Cheney?
Okay, I'm spent
46
@38: Yes, Franken's culpability can be softened because he has a D in his title. Otherwise your predictable refrain would simply be 'Republicans are horrible people'.
47
Yes, Franken's culpability can be softened because he has a D in his title.

No, she said it was because he apologized, and his victim accepted his apology. Thus it ends, at least among adults. (If you say you still can't understand why, everyone here will quickly and easily accept that statement from you.)

And so, to paraphrase our dear lovely Mrs. Vel-DuRay, what you now think of the matter just doesn't matter.
48
Rich Smith: Yes, it does matter if Franken is actually touching Ms. Tweeden in the photo. If he's not, then his actions were gross and crass and sexist. If he is, then it's all of the above plus assault. You suggest there's no difference, because apparently all you care about is what the photo looks like. From Ms. Tweeden's perspective, I imagine there's a pretty big difference.

I'm not defending Franken. I'm opposing Rich Smith's garbage reasoning.
49
1) I'm troubled by the idea that Franken -- or anyone -- should step down because of an allegation. You could pretty well empty any place if an allegation was all it took.

2) Is it plausible that Franken behaved in the way described? Absolutely.

3) Is it plausible that Tweeden is motivated by venal political considerations? Absolutely. That she posed suggestively as a model? Sure, I suppose. But that doesn't negate her sovereignty over her own body or personal space.

4) All indications are that this is the tip of the iceberg in Congress. One argument for having all assaulters kicked out of Congress is that it could finally lead to gender parity in our national legislature, which would suit me to the ground.
50
Let me add: I"m new here (I live in Milwaukee) and I'm impressed with the quality of discussion here. Sure, it's gotten a little warm, but after 50 posts, "Hitler" or "nazi" haven't come up once!
51
@50,

You stay out of this you nazi Hitler!
52
So... people who've been inappropriate ever shouldn't have jobs? Honestly curious what the current thinking is among you fellas.
53
Honestly curious what the current thinking is among you fellas.

For elected officials, if the alleged offensive behavior is not both legally actionable and directly relevant to the job (e.g. accusations of bribery), the voters should decide at the next election.
54
To #38

Catalina: Thank you, once again and always for being the voice of sanity and reason.

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