Notice how suddenly there are no more allegations against Franken. Gee, what a "surprise."

[LBM20]

It was a right wing plot, and of course Gillibrand and others took the bait. The great SHAME of 2017 is the witch hunt against Al Franken. It will go down in infamy. The "victims" were mostly right wing Trump supporters whose "complaints" were a bunch of SHIT. And one so called Democratic complainer, wanting her 10 minutes of fame, actually had the temerity of claiming that Franken squeezed her waist during a photograph at an event crawling with people, and that was sexual harassment. My god. What a load of SHIT!!

And now that Franken is leaving, guess what, NO MORE COMPLAINTS. It was a bunch of shit, way too many Dems took the bait, and lookey lookey now. Suddenly no more "victims." Why? Because there never were any. Even the first complaint, though not appropriate, was a gag during a comedy tour gone wrong. And that person is a right wing Trump adorer.

SHAME SHAME SHAME! Let's learn the right lesson and NEVER let such an injustice happen EVER again!

[enough]

1. Exactly. NT

[old guy]

2. +1000

[Igel]

3. As opposed to the continuing complaints against Weinstein.

Or Spacey.

Nor Keilor.

Or many, many other men.

The goal was "justice," remarkably indistinct from "revenge" since no courts are involved and, were courts involved, it's unlikely that anybody would be found guilty; therefore courts are complicit in the oppression. In the court of public opinion, however, true fairness can be obtained: anonymous sources that don't allow you to face your accuser are a feature, not a flaw; there's no presumption of innocence and one witness to an act is sufficient; there's no cross-examination and, in fact, often even attempting a defense is seen as worsening the crime by impugning the accuracy and veracity of the victim. Any claim of libel is a priori ruled out, because the claim is necessarily always true and accurate and to investigate a libel claim would be to suppose false something that is already proven true by virtue of being published.

Franken was subject to that 'court.' Others were, too. Some--many? most? all?--were probably guilty of the claims, but the extent to which were illegal is an open question. Not everything bad is illegal; not everything illegal is necessary immoral.

[mythology]

13. Sadly I don't think that inconvenient fact is going to stop people from repeatedly bringing it up

Nobody else is coming forward about Roy Moore, Matt Lauer or Donald Trump either. The blind hero worship of Franken is odd. 8 women accused him of some form of groping. The odds all of them were lying is to be charitably improbably slim.

[NanceGreggs]

29. There is no blind hero worship of Franken.

He is admired due to his record of achievement – as an entertainer, a writer, and as a senator.

That lengthy record included NO accusations of sexual misconduct – until Leanne Tweedon came along, an outspoken Republican with political ties, and in an amazing coincidence, came forward just as the GOP was taking flack for defending Roy Moore.

Tweedon’s story fell apart immediately. And then the others showed up with equally implausible stories.

Throughout all of this, women who Franken had known and worked closely with for decades came forward en masse to state that he NEVER said or did anything that was the least bit sexist, or untoward.

”The odds all of them were lying is to be charitably improbably slim.”

What a ludicrous statement. Guilt or innocence is not determined by “odds” – it is determined by proof, facts, and corroboration. Franken’s accusers had none. It was “Oh, he touched my waist when we took a photo together”, or, “He touched my ass right in front of my husband and a crowd of people.” No one saw those things happen; no one came forward to corroborate their stories.

According to your reasoning, if eight people accuse someone of something – without any proof, any substantiation – the accused must be guilty because the “odds” say so. And if you’re going by “odds”, they’re on Franken’s side – FAR more women came forward to attest to his exemplary behaviour over the decades they knew him than the eight women who accused him of misconduct based on being in contact with him for a matter of minutes.

I hope you never serve on a jury. It’s your kind of unhinged non-thinking that puts innocent people in jail, and allows guilty people to go free. Ignore the facts, ignore the lack of evidence, ignore the political motivations – just go with the idea that eight people couldn’t possibly be lying because – well, you know, "the odds".

[betsuni]

32. +1

[FuzzyRabbit]

35. +2

[JI7]

38. another thing is how every single one of Franken's accusors insisted there be no investigation

and how horrible that would be.

if it's about helping and preventing what they claimed happened why would they be opposed to it ? and no other women who accused the others demanded their be no investigation.

[KelleyKramer]

44. Very well said, Bravo!

[Nevernose]

39. Moores victims did NOT come forward.

Certainly not at first.

They were approached by a newspaper with a strong reputation for quality.

Same with Lauer. Garrison Keillor was “fired” from a job he’d already quit without explanation.

All of the accusers who “came forward” with allegations of Franken’s abuse are Republicans — and in the original case, actually coordinated with Roger Stone and Sean Hannity.

That’s three people, not eight, and all are political enemies.

Franken’s anonymous accusers? They approached blogging sites, and specifically authors who have fallen for sexual assault hoaxes before.

And the anonymous accusations? There aren’t any actual allegations of impropriety in them. Two counts of “Al Franken did NOT kiss me” and one count of “when we hugged for a picture, he put his hand around my waist and I’m self-conscious about my weight.” Another was “he’s guilty because he looked at my boobs in 2006.”

(Before I have to edit: the “waist woman” is on the record, with her real name, and has allegedly even posted here. The biggest problem with that is she hasn’t accused Franken of doing anything WRONG.)

These things are NOT analogous. Trump’s ex-wife accused him of rape in a deposition, for crissakes.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. Well said.

[uponit7771]

42. Factually wrong

[JI7]

43. accusations against Weinstein and Spacey did not stop after they lost their jobs/postions

[leftstreet]

4. DURec

[dalton99a]

5. Hannity and Stone accomplished their mission.

[Hav]

6. It was shameful

Tweeden was a hack and in her case it was planned. The moment she said she doesn't think he should resign unless there will be more accusers, I had a bad feeling and started to believe that she knew that more was coming. And indeed, it was already planned for the next ones to come forward.
And Dupuy was the biggest bs artist of them all. She totally fabricated her own story for the me too movement so that she could get published in The Atlantic. People who do that are absolute scum and under normal circumstances, that should have been the end of her career in writing.
Now we see people here posting that we should move on, mainly in defense of a particular Dem Senator who received most of the backlash in contrast to all the other spineless ones. But at the very least, remember those that just made it up like Dupuy and don't let them win by doing things that help their careers.

[heaven05]

7. ++++

I hope we will learn from this BIG mistake or was it just a mistake...I always felt like this was a railroaded job. Franken was on trumps case. He must have found out something intensely incriminating about the sexual predator-in-chief. They got rid of Franken very quickly also. The whole thing stinks to high heaven and the collaboration of democrats in this travesty, shameful.

[Wellstone ruled]

8. Mission

Accomplished my friends.

[KT2000]

9. this will stick with me

as my 2 senators piled on. Just the fact that he asked for an investigation and then was railroaded by his own party has made us a laughing stock. Just stupid/

[MoonRiver]

10. K&R

[kimbutgar]

11. We never heard from those other accusers or got their names only anonymous stories

Only the Leeann Reich winger and the wife who’s husband took the picture of her with Al at the fair. I doubt that story. If a guy grabbed my ass while my hubby was taking a picture of us I’d tell him immediately. Pure bs.

[TheDebbieDee]

12. Sen Gillibrand and the other Dem Senators that talked Sen Franken

into falling on his sword are on my $hitlist! If any of them win the Dem nomination for President in 2020, I will vote for him/her but NONE of them will get my primary vote!

[bathroommonkey76]

24. Gillibrand will be lucky if she gets

2% of the primary vote - I just don't see her candidacy as anything special. She sure as fuck isn't getting my vote.

[regnaD kciN]

37. Disagree...

I bet she's going to be one of the main competitors for the nomination -- and, if she becomes the final woman in the running, will play the identity politics card to the hilt. ("Kristin was a woman fighting for all women against male sexual harassment," with the implication that any male opposing her is thereby an apologist for sexual assault.)

[bathroommonkey76]

41. Doubt it.

You keep thinking that tho' - it might come true. lol

[G_j]

14. K&R

[spiderpig]

15. This whole episode has left me utterly disgusted.

And nothing moreso than the DINOs who lined up to pillary Franken. You know who you are.

OK, mods, ban me for not supporting Democratic representatives. Whatever. I am so fed up.

[2naSalit]

17. You noticed that too..?

[Arkansas Granny]

18. K & R

[GeorgeGist]

19. Democrats are all too adept ...

at shooting themselves in the foot.

[IluvPitties]

20. Correct. Dude was railroaded.

[Progressive dog]

21. Franken resigned

and Gillibrand and others are a majority of the Democratic Senators who actually worked with Franken. They are DEMOCRATS and still Senators. They didn't have anyone ask them to quit.

[Raine]

22. I'm not ever forgetting

the hit job on Franken and those who were involved!

[EffieBlack]

23. If I were a Minnesota voter, I'd be FURIOUS that some people I didn't vote for ran my Senator out

This was undemocratic and also just plain politically stupid.

I will NEVER forget this.

[smirkymonkey]

25. I agree! This was a total hit job and I think Franken should still refuse to resign.

And the Dems who supported this should hang their heads in shame!

[blue cat]

26. I'm not getting over it.

I think that the people saying that others should get it need to get over their need to tell others to get over it.
I'm pissed and I'm staying that way, so get over it.

[Dawson Leery]

27. Many here said this would happen.

This was a setup by some Junk Grade Celeb.

[democratisphere]

28. redumbliCONs turned off the fake sexual harrassment allegations machine once Al Franken

was going to be gone. What has happened to Al is f'ing inexcusable!

[Skittles]

30. FUCK the people who fell for that shit

seriously, they can FUCK THEMSELVES

[NanceGreggs]

31. I wonder if Ms. Gillibrand realizes ...

... how vulnerable she is.

If she declared a run for the Dem nomination, it would only take a handful of men to come forward and accuse her of sexually inappropriate behaviour to sink her chances.

I'm sure she's posed for pics with many, many men over her political career. It would only take eight of them to say she'd grabbed their butts, or touched their crotches (off-camera, of course, with no proof thereof) to put her in exactly the same position Franken was in.

What would she say to that? How could she not immediately withdraw her name from consideration based on her own "zero tolerance" policy? Would she insist on an ethics investigation when she denied Franken that right?

She wanted the "credit" for having led the noble mission of ridding the Dem party of a man accused of wrongdoing. And now she's living with the backlash of our party having lost one of its most valuable assets - and amazingly, she never saw that backlash coming. That fact alone demonstrates exactly how poor her judgment is.

[lunamagica]

33. K&R.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

34. The moral entrepreneurs of this era will be judged harshly by history

[revmclaren]

36. I wrote an Op a while ago

that explained my voting in the upcoming elections.

[link:http://www.democraticunderground.com/100210022259|

I wrote:


When I walk into the voting booth to vote in the general election in 2020, I will vote for the Democratic primary winner whoever he/she is. I will have campaigned for them, I will have phone banked for them, I will have given them 100% of my support.

That being said...

When I walk into the voting booth in my state in 2020 to place my vote in the Democratic primary, my vote will be 100% mine to make.
My vote will take into account the past actions of each of the candidates, my perceived view of their loyalty to the Democratic party, and their honesty and political experience and/or strength. I will not be influenced by the political flavor of the day or be bullied into voting against my very long and knowledgeable voting history.

Again... My vote will be my own!

...snip........


What happened to Franken will play a part in my decision at the ballot box. A lot has to be made up for me to change my mind in 2020.

[regnaD kciN]

40. I'm waiting for the first allegations against Sherrod Brown...

He's one of the most-prominent Democratic senators, a rumored presidential candidate in 2020...and from a state where a Republican governor would get to choose his replacement.

And, once the accusations were made, his fellow Democrats would have no choice but to demand his resignation without any due process...because, if they didn't, they'd be presented as utter hypocrites.

[MFM008]

45. I knew this would happen

And stated numerous times.
Except this time the repukes
Who were behind this
were aided
By a number of Senate democrats....

[pressbox69]

46. Never Forget.

This was nothing more than a modern day reenactment of the crucifixion. I wonder if his lying republican accusers will be able to spend their 30 pieces of silver in hell. I wouldn't be surprised if Gillibrand turns out to be the Jill Stein of 2020.

[Vinca]

47. The only question now is who do they target next and how does the mob react.