Al Franken steps down today

[left-of-center2012]

He had asked for a hearing before an ethics committee.
Instead he was told to STFU and get out.

Some will cheer his fate.

I will not.

[bdamomma]

1. the man

was railroaded. And he didn't even have a hearing.

[IluvPitties]

6. Gillibranded should be the term.

[OnDoutside]

20. +1000

[LakeArenal]

26. Yes.. good one

[MineralMan]

2. More's the pity, I think.

Politics has no sense of scale.

[IluvPitties]

3. Victory for the right wing.

A loss for America. By the way, if Sen. Gillibrand thinks she got closer to the Dem nomination in 2020 by railroading Al, she is deeply mistaken.

[brooklynite]

4. Who is cheering?

[leftstreet]

11. GOP strategists. Gillibrand just handed them that seat n/t

[IluvPitties]

12. She is the one cheering.

[LakeArenal]

17. At our expense no less

[brooklynite]

25. Because Al Franken is the only Democrat who can win a Senate seat in Minnesota?

Might come as a surprise to Amy Klobuchar.

[Blue_true]

37. Good point.

I think that ALL of Minnesota's statewide offices are held be Democrats, but somehow Franken stepping down gives his seat to a republican. The logic jump astounds me.

[mn9driver]

5. Trading an effective and aggressive Senator for a placeholder, to be followed by a Republican.

This is the genius of the Democratic Party leadership.

[IluvPitties]

8. It is the genius of someone who wanted to take Al out of the 2020 sweepstakes.

[dalton99a]

10. Genius move, indeed

[left-of-center2012]

13. Geeze. Who would do that?

[IluvPitties]

16. Someone in NY with political aspirations of her own.

[dalton99a]

7. A sad day for Democrats

It was unfair, unnecessary, and utterly stupid

[MoonRiver]

9. ...

[NCTraveler]

14. Sad situation all the way around.

This will go down as a "how not to" all the way around. From Frankens initial response to him stepping down.

"He had asked for a hearing before an ethics committee. "

Let me tell you what always works in politics. Have a breaking "scandal" and draw it out as slow as possible while never fighting for yourself.



Best wishes Franken. I am still under the impression you are one of the good guys.

[G_j]

15. Flags should be at half mast

or upside down

[LakeArenal]

18. Not to change the subject

But I see “they” are starting on Corey Booker now. Trying to portray him as gay.
Not that anyone here would care but some will. It doesn’t matter if he is or not of course. Just anything to taint.

[Ghost Owl]

21. Booker is the Senator from New Jersey

Do they really think, even if he was gay, that that alone would cost him his seat? In New Jersey? Jersey ain't even purple, it's blue as shit.

[LakeArenal]

24. It doesn't matter what state he's from...

It doesn't matter if he is gay... If they think they can taint him they will... Franken was from MN. They didn't kick him out because he was from MN.. They kicked him out because people had presidential aspirations for him. Corey Booker has a chance on the national level so, he needs to be cut out.

[Ghost Owl]

27. You're right

I didn't consider the presidential aspects of it.

Booker being gay (or merely accused of being gay) won't hurt him in his home state, but it might affect his presidential potential country-wide (maybe not by much, but enough to maybe make the Democratic party unwilling to back him as a candidate). It's more about taking him out as a presidential hopeful, than costing him his Senate seat.

[Greybnk48]

19. I can't forgive this.

Franken was assassinated. He was set up.

No lectures please. I'm a 69 year old woman who wrote my Master's Thesis on feminism and taught it for years. I've been a women's rights activist since the 70's, blah,blah,blah. This was a right wing hit job that was ALLOWED to happen because Franken is not corrupt. He's honest. He didn't fit in.

[NurseJackie]

23. I'm right there with you... this was a hit-job. He was railroaded and...

... our party is weakened and diminished because of this.

[OnDoutside]

22. Don't go, Senator.

&list=RDbBIKSOlje7Q

[ChubbyStar]

29. Ah Yes the Hothouse Flowers

I love them, thanks for the fabulous tune. So apt.

[HopeAgain]

28. What I don't understand...

Is why he did not fight harder for himself. I just feel like he was very weak in his own self-defense and that does make me feel like maybe there is something more to this that I don't know.

Perhaps he knows that although his motives were not bad, he crossed the line with some efforts at humor?

Yes I wish there had been a full blown ethics inquiry, but in the end, it was only Franken who could make that decision.

[left-of-center2012]

30. I think he felt it would become a distraction

The Republicans would have used him as an example of "lefty wrong doers",
to take the focus off people like Roy Moore and Donald Trump.

[LWolf]

31. And some of us...

a tiny number, admittedly, will neither cheer nor grieve, having a more nuanced view, and perhaps a stronger commitment to the larger issue.

I support his request for a hearing. The response was predictable; we're talking politics and politicians, and the perceptions they want to create.

At the same time, I want no hedging, no blurring of the line, no rolling back on the issue. Not for partisan political propagandizing, but for women.

[MoonRiver]

33. Don't disagree, but the larger issue preponderance of smaller issues.

[LWolf]

34. Yes,

as are most larger issues. I have, in the last 16 years at DU, been lectured repeatedly about how my "smaller" issues don't count against the larger issue of party unity on election day.

Smaller issues like public education, election reform and finance, economic justice, and so many more. I get it. It's frustrating, though, that it's about smaller issues when it's identity or personality, and only about larger issues when it's about election day.

[riverwalker]

32. The Gillibrand Standard

Link to tweet

[IluvPitties]

35. That hurts the #metoo movement.

[MoonRiver]

36. Does #metoo want due process? I'm on their side, but don't know the answer to that ?.

[LanternWaste]

38. Due Process is not germane, as the judicial system was of no relevance in his decision to step down.

Due Process is not germane, as the judicial system was of no relevance in his decision to step down.

[MoonRiver]

39. He asked for an Ethics Investigation. Then was pressured to resign.

Those are the facts.