The molester has stayed long enough. FRANKEN BE GONE!! The less this is tolerated in Congress the harder it will be for Trump to stay in office.

I can't agree. George HW Bush has been outed as not even HIDING his ass touching, and nobody is saying a word about it moving forward.

Let Franken learn from this. We can't afford to lose him.

@2: Could be that there are differences between a sitting senator, and a 93 year old private citizen confined to a wheelchair.

@2: we can totally afford to lose Al. He is a media darling because he comes up with pithy quotes, but he has been a mediocre Senator. Amy Klobuchar has been a much more productive and effective, for instance. Governor Dayton can easily find someone who doesn't feel entitled to kisses and gropes from their constituents.

Franken could consider resigning only when Moore drops out of his race and the Orange Turd is flushed from our White House. The Democrats' purity countered by Republican immoral power-grabbing is the game the Thugs rely on. And it works.

Oh c'mon. Inappropriate touching? Sure. Inappropriate touching for the purpose of sexual gratification, or in any way that contributes to a hostile environment for the person on the receiving end? Nope. If Franken's resignation is the answer, what's the question or problem? Neither zero tolerance for transgressive behavior, nor meting out of judgement in the court of public opinion serve the cause of justice.

@7: Why do you think you get to decide for people what is appropriate touching for them, or get to decide what is a hostile workplace for them?

Who are you?

can't afford to lose him? come on, minnesota is a deep blue state, with an extremely deep bench of incredibly capable women who could replace him
you need to recognize two things: firstly, frankens usefulness is shot. no matter what he tries to do this will haunt him forever. secondly the Ds credibility on the issue will be shot because we let him stick around.

Waiting for Moore or Trump to be gone before Democrats tell Franken to get the fuck out is like not picking up the dog turd on your own carpet until your neighbor's garbage takes itself out.

So the Senate will lose Al Franken, and gain Roy Moore. Laws will be passed that harm women in real, tangible ways but at least the Democrats can tell the pregnant teenager who loses access to birth control and can no longer find an abortion provider within 200 miles that they maintained their moral purity, right?

Symbolic Victories - it's all democrats do.

The best chance to make sure Roy Moore doesn't win is to show the voters there's a difference between Republicans who tolerate fucking creeps and Democrats who don't. Take a moral stand against Al Franken and maybe enough people in Alabama will be inspired to turn out for Democrats. If Democrats keep acting the same as Republicans -- "he might be a creep but he's OUR creep", then they won't bother to stick their necks out to make a change.

And why are you so dense about "losing" Al Franken in the Senate? As if without him we can't have a majority? How many fucking times to you fuckers have to be told that if Franken would just to the decent thing and resign, his appointed replacement WILL be a Democrat. We lose nothing. The winner of the next Senate term for Franken's seat WILL be a Democrat. IF Democrats take the moral high ground. Cynically tolerate this creep for the sake of politics and voters in Wisconsin might decide Democrats are no better than Republicans and then the seat really will be at risk.

Get it through your head: We DON'T NEED FRANKEN. His seat WILL REMAIN DEMOCRATIC if he resigns. The biggest obstacle to a Democratic Senate is AL FRANKEN.

What part of that do you guys not understand?

@10

Ha, well said.

By coddling Franklin, the dems enabled Roy Moore, demonstrating a political double standard, if they had acted immediately, they would have drawn a line in the sand and Moore would be on the other side,,,,by waiting this long, it has the look of “just politics.”

If Franken resigns, he could become a campaign point in Alabama: "Democrats clean house, Republicans run sex predators."

I do want the ethics investigation, though. Will resigning stop it?

@14: coddling? how long do you think this has been going on? it's like 2 weeks.

and "double standard"? franken grabbed adult asses and frenched an adult woman without permission. moore stalked 8th graders. not equivalent.

saying that's a double standard doesn't make it true.

I wonder if Maria Cantwell is once again showing eastern Washington she is not a Seattle liberal by NOT calling for Franken resignation.

It was obvious Franken is hiding some things when his initial apology could not deny the pic, yet claimed memory loss to the backstage shenanigans.
Other than that I'm with Ph'nglui....

I don't see Moore, Trump, and Franken as comparable. Trump = straight up predator. Moore = snakehandler whose religion dictates he marry someone too young to have been corrupted by secondary education. This is typical libertarian religious freedom of the type Ron Paul espouses. Franken = asshole.

So when will Congress call for Donald Trump's head? Seriously, he's a rapist > add that to treason and every other crime he's committed since campaigning for President and there is so much garbage it could fill the White House to every crevice. SO WHEN WILL CONGRESS ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING TO REMOVE DONALD TRUMP FROM OFFICE?

Well, he's resigned.

Hmmm...these "tough talkin' lady heroes" were pretty silent when Pedo Ed Murray was accused.

Who is on the short list for his replacement? There apparently is a deep bench, but haven't seen anything yet.

He's gotta go. But don't delude yourself it won't cost the progressive agenda. Because it will.The world of politics doesn't run on principle. It doesn't. It never has. Activism runs on principle. Politics is machine like and about tenacity, momentum, and process. Losing senior members of the senate will cost us. Even for the right reasons.

The repubs are loving this--the dems doing the work for them: equating Franken's behaviour with Moore's.
As Max said @17 the difference is stark. Why is everybody so quick to conflate the two? Did I miss something about Franken molesting 14 yr olds? I don't think so...

As for "inspiring people of Alabama to turn out for Democrats by canning Franken" --that's nothing more than wishful thinking (I wish it weren't!).
Canning Franken is nothing but canning Franken, it ain't turning no votes in Alabamy.

fuck, I hate politics

It's a culture that needs to go, progress will follow sooner or later.

@ 25
Quite a few of us have said it all along.

Katie has been stepping up. I've noticed. Good on ya, kid.

My landlord is very happy with this outcome. Oh look- yet another rent increase!

Well said #12!

Republicans are laughing at democrats.

I am too.

I guess I finally understand the expression "if you're a republican under 30 you don't have a heart. If you're a democrat over 30 you don't have a brain."

Democrats are being naive and brainless about this.

So. The facts about what would happen when Franken resigns just don't matter.

At this point, he is going to resign at his scheduled press conference. And then, his replacement will be appointed. Prepare to have your mind blown. His replacement will not vote to take away anyone's healthcare because they will not be a Republican. I guess when this happened a lot of people will feel surprised, but you had it explained to you several times.

I'm beginning to understand what life was like during the reign of Sen. Joe McCarthy.

@37,
And in the future, when a democrat who's done the same things as Franken, but is in a republican state with a republican governor, and upon resignation will be replaced by a misogynistic, homophobic republican... do you still call for resignation?