White nationalists and Twitter bots fueled the war against Al Franken and the Democrats fell for it

[Soph0571]

A group of fake news sites, white nationalists and far-right fake Twitter accounts were reportedly behind the campaign against Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), and Democrats fell for it.

According a report from Unhack the Vote, while everyone was focused on the Russian meddling of the 2016 election, another campaign was being run out of Japan. Leeann Tweeden’s initial allegation against Franken was quickly turned into propaganda after being hinted at by Trump ally Roger Stone.

------------------

Just days prior to Democrats calling for Franken to step down, the fake news sites republished a article from a smaller site by Ijeoma Oluo, urging women and activists to stop their defenses from Franken. “Dear Al Franken, I’ll Miss You But You Can’t Matter Anymore,” was its title. Thousands of fake Twitter accounts then ensured the article spread.

From there, Senate Democrats, lead by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) went on the attack and demanded Franken resign.

[link:https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/white-nationalists-twitter-bots-fueled-war-al-franken-democrats-fell/|

[hlthe2b]

1. Denial is not just a river in Egypt...

You could show Gillibrand this evidence until the cows come home. She is so dug in with her own self-righteousness on this issue that she is apparently literally unable to see that she was manipulated. I forgive politicos for making mistakes during the course of their career--I surely did HRC and on occasion Obama. But, this does not bode well for her political future, IMO. Refusal to distinguish between types and severity of sexual "misbehavior" that continues to today, is to me a real red flag for poor judgement--political AND moral.

[chuckstevens]

2. + 1000

[Baitball Blogger]

6. +1001

[Hortensis]

120. Post #116. "RawStory pulled the article because it contained bullshit."

I'm copying Greyl's post up here for additional visibility.

Raw Story:

Editor’s Note: We’ve discovered several issues with this article and have removed it temporarily while we do further research. Thank you for your patience.
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/white-nationalists-twitter-bots-fueled-war-al-franken-democrats-fell/

Check out this Snopes article, and pay attention to how Louise Mensch will keep spreading the divisive manure.
https://www.snopes.com/2018/02/19/bots-force-al-franken-resign/

This doesn't mean there's necessarily no validity to this topic, but we need to consider the sources. This entire topic, after all, is about using misinformation to make fools of us.

Note that Newsweek, a journal with a good reputation to protect, failed that test also. Their journalist didn't check the information adequately and it got past editorial review to publication. But it's corrected now.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Yes, binary / all-or-nothing / puristic thinking is fallacious thinking. . . . . nt

[Roy Rolling]

27. It's co-conspirator?

False choice. The fallacy of all-or-nothing thought is always accompanied by false choice. They go hand-in-hand.

[spooky3]

48. And willingness to believe questionable allegations

without investigation and evidence was very concerning.

[onlyadream]

65. EXACTLY! NT

[EffieBlack]

78. Hear, hear!!!

[ananda]

94. I know.

Gillibrand should rot in political hell for what she
did to Franken!

She is dead to me.

[xxqqqzme]

119. Agree+++

n/t

[oberliner]

4. This is Raw Story stealing content to generate hits to its ad-filled website

Here's the non click-bait original version:

https://medium.com/@unhackthevote/the-voty-twitter-botnet-and-the-attack-on-senator-al-franken-by-the-alt-right-army-36860deebea8

[hlthe2b]

5. These news "aggregators" get by with a lot ... I can't get your link to work, however...

[oberliner]

8. The link doesn't seem to be clickable

But maybe cut and paste this whole thing into your browser:

https://medium.com/@unhackthevote/the-voty-twitter-botnet-and-the-attack-on-senator-al-franken-by-the-alt-right-army-36860deebea8

Hopefully that will work!

In any case, I would encourage people to read the original work at that non-ad filled link, if possible.

[hlthe2b]

10. Try this link:

https://www.unhackthevote.com/our-research/the-voty-twitter-botnet-and-the-attack-on-senator-al-franken-by-the-alt-right-army/

[oberliner]

12. Yep - I was about to post that as well!

Great minds think alike.

[Kingofalldems]

43. Didn't you post just a bit about Sen. Frankin?

These are some of them:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029855958

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029860381

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029864792

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029865792

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029882230

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029889741

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029942034

[oberliner]

57. Absolutely - even more than that

It was very frustrating that there was so much resistance to what I thought was a very reasonable perspective.

Namely:

1. Franken behaved poorly (which he admitted)

2. The RW took advantage of the situation for their own benefit

In fact, it seems like the RW did more than just take advantage of the situation, but set out from the beginning to coordinate a take-down of Franken - and would use legitimate op-ed pieces from liberal writers (like the one cited in this reporting) in order to do so.

[stonecutter357]

121. lol you fell for IT !

[oberliner]

122. These two things can be true at the same time

1. RW forces pushed this with the help of trolls, bots, and other nefarious actors in an attempt to bring down Franken

2. Franken behaved poorly and apologized

Reading the details from the article about how fringe RW groups manipulated social media and pushed this story and to the point that it led to virtually every single Democratic Senator calling for Franken to resign does make me sick as well.

Here's the apology (per Salon):

Dear Leeann,

I want to apologize to you personally. I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture, but that doesn’t matter. There is no excuse and I understand why you could feel violated by that photo.

I remember that rehearsal differently, but what’s important is the impact it had on you and you felt violated by my actions and for that I apologize. I have tremendous respect for your work for the USO, and I am ashamed that my actions ruined that experience for you. I am so sorry.

Sincerely,
Al Franken

https://www.salon.com/2017/11/17/leeann-tweeden-reads-al-frankens-handwritten-apology-on-the-view/

[demmiblue]

9. That article was posted on DU.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029953172

[oberliner]

14. It was a legit op-ed but used nefariously

In the piece, Farb makes that point:

We began to suspect that this legitimate opinion piece published by theestablishment.co had been weaponized for political gain by dozens of twitter accounts

[kcr]

75. Like hell it was n/t

[wishstar]

11. NY Times' Michele Goldberg Editorial "Franken Must Go" on Nov 16th probably had more impact

The NY Times front page editorial plus Chris Cilizza's political piece in CNN on the same day titled "Al Franken's absolutely awful apology" undoubtedly had a great deal of influence among mainstream Dems, more than the viral right social media onslaught.

[Cosmocat]

15. Either way

it was bullshit.

People need to WTF up to these quick moving tides of public opinion and know that most often they have malicious under pinnings, and most often lead to regrettable outcomes.

[Beartracks]

118. That's what democracy and due process are supposed to do!

That is, mitigate the direct will of the masses, protect us from mob rule and knee-jerk decision-making.

========

[dsc]

20. I had no idea Cillizza had written a piece about that

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/05/AR2009080502394.html

I guess we will temperance lectures from Limbaugh next.

"Mouthpiece Theater" was designed as a sendup of pompous punditry, with Milbank, the paper's Washington Sketch columnist, and Cillizza, a White House correspondent who writes The Fix blog, appearing with oversized pipes and smoking jackets. But its comedic style drew catcalls from online critics, which intensified after Friday's episode about the kind of beer various politicians might drink. Milbank said he couldn't reveal to whom President Obama would serve a brew called Mad Bitch Beer, which was followed by a brief shot of Clinton.

ad_icon
"I regret that we put up that image," Milbank said Wednesday, "and while I highly doubt the secretary of state has seen 'Mouthpiece Theater,' I would be honored to have the opportunity to apologize to her over a beer."

Cillizza agreed that the plug should be pulled, saying: "We'd hoped the self-deprecating humor of me and the irreverent humor of Dana would combine to make something funny and interesting and on the news. It wound up not working. . . . Ultimately it wasn't funny."

The Clinton joke, Cillizza said, "was inappropriate, over the line and highlighted the broader problems with the show. I'm personally apologizing on The Fix. It's not consistent with the Post brand, but more important to me, it's not consistent with the Fix brand I've worked to cultivate -- insider, straight-dope journalism that tries to shoot down the middle."

So he really could go fuck himself when he discusses apologies.

[hexola]

37. And they are immune to Russian influence?

You can't isolate one or two pieces as if they were created without - or outside the sphere of - any undue influence.

We all have the same internet...!

[certainot]

47. democrats continue to ignore talk radio, which provides a huge part of the buzz and

is well coordinated to reinforce and amplify all these events.

franken has been a target for hate radio since air america. if his supporters had heard the buzz on the radio and been able to quantify it gillibrand wouldn[t have had a chance - the response to her should have been

"that's what limbaugh said, but...."

[uponit7771]

59. +1

[ms liberty]

98. You are right. Keep reminding us! n/t

[kcr]

76. Chris Cilizza? If he's considered an influential voice of Dems, we are in big trouble n/t

[SunSeeker]

88. Totally agree. nt

[EricMaundry]

13. Remember when attacking Leeann Tweeden on DU was denounced ...

... as "slut shaming?"

[rainlillie]

19. Yep.. too bad

no one listened to us when we called bullshit on the story.

[hexola]

40. The Media never reported the relationship with Tweeden and Trump Jr and all the tweets

This was discovered sort of after the fact - but Im sure a lot of DUers sent them to the media - I never heard a peep.

Did anyone report this?

[hexola]

41. Russians...

Dividers...

[spooky3]

54. Hers is the one complaint that seemed reasonable to me

and she specifically said she did NOT want him to resign. It was the outrageous reaction that was nuts.

[RandomAccess]

70. Some of it was. And that's STILL worthy of denunciation. There was plenty

of opportunity to go after the other facts without slut-shaming.

[a kennedy]

16. I AM STILL FURIOUS OVER THIS.......

DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN, DAMN!!!!!!!

[rainlillie]

18. I am too.

[pazzyanne]

30. Count me in!!!

We lost one hellofan advocate for truth and justice and for what? Because people leaped on a bandwagon without doing further research and waiting for the FACTS to come out. I am still angry about this, both with the Democratic Senators that piled on this allegation about Al Franken and with the damage that was done to a basically decent man.

[certainot]

52. if democrats didn't routinely ignore talk radio they would have been able to associate it with

the screaming on the radio about franken, which is what 90% of swiftboating is based on, and it would have lost it's steam.

liberals cannot collectively say they are getting any of their favorite's backs as long as they let 300 assholes on the radio lie about them all day and never say shit back

[rainlillie]

17. I knew it was bull$hit!

Too bad folks fell for it. Gillibrand is my Senator, after this debacle she lost my support.

[tavernier]

29. She will not win the primary.

She showed us who she is and too many of us saw it.

[DownriverDem]

21. Many were fooled

Not me. I'm a Dem and knew that the Dems were way more better than the repubs or any 3rd party candidate that didn't have a chance in hell of winning. I look at what the party stands for. repubs offer me nothing. I wish Franken would run again!

[lark]

24. He totally can never run again, which was their intention.

Some made really sure of that. He wasn't given a chance to clear his name and has been pronounced guilty by people for their own political advancement.

[rainlillie]

26. Exactly!

[blue-wave]

86. lark, I respectfully

disagree. I believe that this new revelation opens up the opportunity, if played right, for Al to run again. And I bet he'd win with margins larger than his previous wins. There are enough Americans waking up to the manipulation within our society that with this story alone, Franken could ride a huge blue wave.

[lark]

89. I wish you were right.

Dems came down on him like a ton of bricks and declared he's a molester, how can he ever recover from that? Do you see self-righteous Gillibrand, Harris or Sanders saying they was wrong, fuck no. Frankens photographer already said those photos were changed, they didn't care one bit and still don't. Mancin is the only one who has apologized for not listening to the truth, the others got the same info as him and still stand by running him out on the rails.

Regretfully still think he can never run again.

[lark]

22. K&R

[AllyCat]

28. Shouldnt every campaign and elected official have someone to botcheck

Online “news”? Shouldn’t the media have that? Cannot believe Democrats fell for this crap.

[sinkingfeeling]

31. I emailed everyone of the Democratic Senators, Chairman of the DNC, and the DSCC telling

them they were being played and begging for an ethics hearing before driving Franken out. They all lost my financial support.

[enough]

32. Why Franken? Because he was the person among all the Democrats who knew how to

slash the opposition with powerful wit, while knowing when and where to use it for the most impact.

We have several good spokespeople, but nobody who can do what Franken was doing.

[mythology]

35. Why Franken? Because he couldn't keep his hands to himself

It wasn't just one woman, it was multiple.

[TheCowsCameHome]

38. "Due Process" certainly confirmed that.

Oh, wait...........

: :

[spooky3]

56. Agree nt

[stonecutter357]

50. so you fell for it ?

[kcr]

79. Many really don't like to admit when they're wrong. Even to themselves n/t

[wellst0nev0ter]

106. You believed stories from three trumpanzees

And four anonymous sources whom Franken never had a chance to face.

The only one I actually believe is Tina Dupuy, who says she felt uncomfortable when Franken held her at the waist when they were posing for a photo.

Yeah, that's where we are.

[kcr]

123. No, I support Al Franken

I also think Tina Dupuy is the worst of them. She's full of shit. Sorry for butting in and causing confusion, but I'm still so angry.

[wellst0nev0ter]

129. Ah sorry, I read your post wrong

message still stands for all who stand with the lynch mob

[mythology]

125. Ironic. Franken himself apologized

Did he fall for it?

Oh and speaking of falling for it, the article in the OP has been found to be fraudulent. Good job on proving that yes, people do have a hard time with accepting things they don't want to.

[kcr]

126. The weaponizing of "apologies"

If that aspect of the pitchfork crowd doesn't show what it's about.

[rzemanfl]

51. Anonymous "multiple" for the most part. n/t

[nadine_mn]

62. right - bullshit

oh wait you are right -my bad. He put his arm around someone's waist for a photo. And those anonymous accusers somehow disappeared once the mission of getting him to resign was accomplished.

[pandr32]

71. Exactly

He did nothing wrong and accusers disappeared the minute the smears worked.

[Denzil_DC]

74. Well, evidently there are a few still around on DU! n/t

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

77. Not only did the accusers pretty much vanish, but...

The near-steady flow of accusations dried up the day he announced his resignation.

[pandr32]

80. Correct

Funny as in strange, isn't it?

[Jakes Progress]

83. You are woefully uninformed.

That is what happens when russian and white nationalist twitter bots are you main source of news.

[zentrum]

33. Bring him back.

Now. We need him. He's one of our best Democrats.

[TheCowsCameHome]

34. It was a hit job, and we had inside help.

[dalton99a]

69. Yep.

[Farmer-Rick]

36. Anomomous accusations and mostly right wing accusers

Letters by coworkers saying how he did not act the way a handful of right wing women claimed.

After I found out about Russian interference in our elections, I stopped jumping on the band wagon and learned to think for myself. So, I never believed the campaign against him. So, it was really sad he gave in to them and resigned.

I knew he was being railroaded and so did so many people here.

I'm so glad I'm a member of DU.

[mountain grammy]

39. Maybe Tina Dupuy will return to DU and

tell us why she played her part in taking down Al Franken.. Russian$$$ Tina?

[NCTraveler]

42. Seems Franken was to biggest to fall for it. He resigned.

This is like saying all Sanders supporter fell for propaganda from the right and Russia. Rawstory is getting really bad and is a force for division. Putins goal.

[NurseJackie]

46. I think he saw it as a losing battle that would cause deepER divisions...

... if he insisted on the ethics investigation. In my opinion, it's clear to me that he cared more about the future of the party, than he did for himself. (That's my best guess.)

Rawstory is getting really bad and is a force for division.

It's a very click-baity site. It takes forever for a single page to load because of all the unrelated ads. I avoid it.

[NCTraveler]

49. I think he got railroaded.

Completely fucked. We are worse off for it. I just won't negate his own role in it as a meant to attack others.

"it's clear to me that he cared more about the future of the party, than he did for himself."

I think he was one of the most thoughtful people in DC. One of the most intelligent. He was becoming a lion of the senate, if not already at that point.

We lost.

[NurseJackie]

55. "We lost."

Those two little words sum it up perfectly.

[Bluepinky]

44. Im still angry and disgusted about this as well.

We lost one of our best progressives for no reason. It’s also telling that Franken is so honest and kind, he apologized for things he didn’t do, in case his actions made anyone feel uncomfortable. The right took his words and pronounced him guilty, saying he confessed to everything accused of.

Meanwhile, we have a sexual predator in the Oval Office who claims that every woman is lying. The deplorables can point to his denials and say “He hasn’t admittted anything, he’s innocent.”

Being a decent person gets you nowhere in Trump’s America.

[NCTraveler]

53. There you have it.

"he apologized for things he didn’t do"

That isn't the positive you are making it out to be.

[Bluepinky]

64. What do you mean?

I don’t think he needed to, but he’s such a nice guy, he apologized if he made someone feel uncomfortable. Other people took that as an admission of guilt for everything he was accused of, even though he denied some of the accusations and asked for an ethics investigation.

[NCTraveler]

68. He was in one of the greatest deliberative bodies in the world.

Full of power players. Nothing but cut-throat.

"Other people took that as an admission of guilt for everything he was accused of"

Never would have seen that coming.

[Initech]

45. No doubt those assholes Cernovich and Posobiec played a part in this.

[PatrickforO]

58. The lesson we can learn from this and things like it is this:

Always...

ALWAYS...

Ask who will benefit. From anything anyone puts in front of you.

Who will benefit and who is benefitting.

Then make your decision.

Too many good Dems got on that bandwagon without asking that. Results:
- Republicans were able to get rid of Al Franken, a powerful voice demanding accountability.
- They had the additional benefit of watching us split into two camps over the matter.


Let's not do that anymore, shall we?

[suegeo]

60. Were basic background checks done on accusers?

More extensive investigations could have turned up bank accounts in Cyprus, filled with rubles in the name or alias of accusers. Property on a tawdry golf course in Florida now in the name of Tweedon.

He was my senator, now we have to defend a seat in times of the Russians hacking the voting machines and propaganda targeted at the rubes up state.

Al won the seat earlier in a close, long recount. He is an innocent man, and my vote was stolen from me. And will like be stolen from me again by the grand old putin party.

[WhiteTara]

61. She wanted to get her presidential opponent out of the way.

[TheCowsCameHome]

66. Yes, it's like putting the "K.G." in KGB.

Absolutely disgraceful.

[WhiteTara]

67. It was. He was definitely on his way to becoming

a very influential senator and candidate for president. I'm not thrilled with KG at all. KGB...oooh harsh.

[getagrip_already]

63. We knew this as it happened - Hamilton 68 called it out as it was happening

It was even posted in DU.

Nobody listened, especially those out for franken's head. To them, it was helpful.

And that is the evil in this methodology. It amplifies what people already think and overstates the issue. It's a feedback loop that once started, takes off on its own. The bots just push the cart over the hill. Gravity causes it to pick up speed.

Until we can stop the feeds, we will suffer the negative effects.

Can we start our own bot farm?

[rzemanfl]

72. Here is an actual post from that time period, word for word.

Copied by yours truly because the poster is no longer with us, at least under that name:

Franken was spot on about the mock grab photo, expressed perfectly.

So what does the left do? In his defense, throw up naked pictures to try and shame her. It was stupid. No different from, what was she wearing and too many on the left jumped in both feet.

Franken had it handled. That left did not help him or us.

That's the sort of thing we saw here during the Franken rat-f**king saga orchestrated by Roger Stone, et al.

I had the above post saved as an image in an email I sent.

[lancelyons]

73. There are a BUNCH of russian trolls out there still trying to sow discord with Democrats.

They are picking fights with other democrats.

Trying to push blame on other democrats like Gillibrand.

Be aware of this. On TheHIll while trying to debunk threads, 1 in every 3 russian troll messages posted there where quickly deleted.


Dont fall for the democrats fighting the democrats.. Its all troll stuff.. Fight against that..

Stand United.

[Progressive dog]

81. Yup, the vast majority of Democratic Senators

are looking at white nationalist web sites to get their orders for the day.
What awful propaganda, probably being fed by Russian bots and white nationalists-then picked up by the sort of main stream media. I guess Franken fell for it, too, since he's the one who resigned.

[Blue_Tires]

82. The GOP is too lazy to do their own ratfucking these days??

A decade ago they would have been *ALL* over this...

[Mountain Mule]

84. We Dems want to be so pure that we might as well commit seppuku and be done with it

No need to worry about the repugs and the pussy grabbing traitor in the White House. We'll just go ahead and destroy ourselves in the name of optics. I was extremely upset when Franken just resigned and I'm more upset now.

Did Cheeto just throw in the towel and resign? Has the repug party demanded that he do so? Of course not.

PS I think Al Franken should run in the next election. I bet he would win.

[blue-wave]

85. Well, duh!

Another example of the Democratic Party circular firing squad.

It was obvious to anyone with the most remote amount of cognitive thinking skills that something was rancid about the Franken smear campaign. And in D.C., I'm sure they had MUCH more information that was passed around through word-of-mouth than we in the general public were exposed to, so they likely knew something smelled really bad. So Gillibrand fell for the reichwing smear tactics. How wonderful!! We lost one great senator and might lose another (her) because of it. When will the Democrats learn to not fall victim to the reichwing crap attacks? Wake the f*#!k up!!!!!




(Reposted from another thread cause I feel sooo strongly about this!! Wake up Democrats!!!)

[LiberalLovinLug]

92. That was worth repeating

[Honeycombe8]

87. Makes sense. I thought it was manipulation at the time. Seemed obvious to me.

Any politician who didn't recognize that is either too stupid to be in office, or too self-serving (because getting rid of Franken helped clear the way for a few other).

I know who they are. I have a list. Did you save the list, too? I think there are about 30 of them. I don't have to worry about voting for them locally, since my state is red. I only have to worry if one of these guys runs for President and wins the Primary. That's a long way off, tho.

[malaise]

90. Wow - maybe Al should run again

Crazy shit

[madville]

91. Why did Al have to resign but the Senators give Tom Carper-DE a pass?

That doesn't make any sense on the surface, a guy that admitted to hitting his wife gets a pass but Al is railroaded out.

I wondered if Al was just secretly not liked by his Democratic Senate colleagues.

[annabanana]

93. Roger Stone should be packed in a hyperbaric chamber for the next 5 years

That guy is nothing but trouble.

[madville]

95. I wouldn't even know what was on Twitter or Facebook

If it wasn't for the TV media and news websites regurgitating all the shit-posting there it 24/7.

[Mr.Bill]

96. I honestly think his decision to resign

was family driven. I have no proof, but it would have been perfectly reasonable for his wife to say she's had enough, and for him to respect that. Still sad, though, but I will respect that his decision was what was best for him and his family.

[wellst0nev0ter]

108. Once Franken Lost The Useful Idiots

Like Gillibrand who shivved him instead of sticking up for him, it was over. I'd probably quit too, especially after they took that waist-grabbing allegation as proof that I'm a sexual predator.

[SergeStorms]

97. SOME "Democrats fell for it".

Others, who had their heads screwed on tightly, knew what was going on. I'll be the first to admit, when the news first hit I was cursing Franken's name. After I found out the facts about the supposed "sexual misconduct" (and that took less than a day) I was back in Franken's corner, and actually increased my monthly donation to his re-election campaign. That's now a thing of the past due to the Democrats (and you know who you are, Kirsten Gillibrand) who never bothered to get the facts straight in more than a week!

Gillibrand is the junior Senator from my state, but she won't be receiving any campaign contributions from this guy ever again. I suppose I'd have to hold my nose (and tongue) and vote for her, but my heart certainly won't be in it.

[Hekate]

99. Godsdammit, when are we going to learn to defend our own?

And wait for legitimate investigations to play out?

[LisaM]

100. I was forwarded that article multiple times.

Ugh. I am glad that I refused to fall for the anti-Franken narrative.

[Skittles]

101. only STUPID people fell for it, and/or people who HATED Al Franken

fucking IDIOTS

[progressoid]

105. Like Al Franken himself?

[Skittles]

107. he left because he could not bear putting his family through it

FUCK the people who failed to stand by him

[progressoid]

110. So what was he apologizing for then?

I am a huge Franken supporter (have three of his books and supported his campaign $). However, Twitter bots notwithstanding, Al admitted to his digressions.

[Skittles]

111. APOLOGIZING SHOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH

HE IS NOT A PREDATOR

[wellst0nev0ter]

109. How?

He was waiting for a forum to defend himself. The useful idiots in our party refused to grant him even that much.

[Skittles]

112. there are apologists on DU for EVERYTHING

[wellst0nev0ter]

113. Damned if he Do, Damned if he Don't

What if he went full-court press and tarred his accusers as liars? Would that satisfy the doubters? ugh

[Skittles]

114. CORRECT

[progressoid]

115. I'm not an apologist for this.

I am however, amused by DU's shifting moral absolutism.

[Amaryllis]

102. What a shock. NOne of us here had ANY idea that was happening. Duh. We were talking about it

at the time.

[radhika]

103. I know many Progressive women who are deeply resentful of Gillibrand...

Not for standing up versus sexual harassment, or even calling Franken out and investigating. Duh, we are all for that. But we're also for stopping the Trump agenda overall.

How could Gillibrand and the Dem women so quickly oust a reliable voice for Progress in the Senate without DEMANDING that a set of rules be in place that would impose the same standards on all Senators, regardless of party! And for treating all bad acts - regardless of time frame and power relation - as equal and demanding the 'death penalty' for all transgressions. Oh yes, and the due-process thing.

Democrats sacrificed a valuable game piece for no benefit; Republicans hold on to their players as long as it suits their goals.

If Gillibrand thought her no tolerance campaign would elevate her brand for a national run, it may well backfire.

[orleans]

117. count me in with those "Progressive women who are deeply resentful of Gillibrand"

i'm *still* pissed at her.

and after reading this op i'm even more pissed

[Blue Owl]

104. Fuck those fucking fucks

[greyl]

116. RawStory pulled the article because it contained bullshit.

Editor’s Note: We’ve discovered several issues with this article and have removed it temporarily while we do further research. Thank you for your patience.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/white-nationalists-twitter-bots-fueled-war-al-franken-democrats-fell/

Check out this Snopes article, and pay attention to how Louise Mensch will keep spreading the divisive manure.

[kcr]

124. Snopes is not entirely correct here, though. As usual.

I don't think the claim was ever that Russian intelligence was behind the campaign. There were still bots spreading discord starting with Roger Stone, a fact they bury. So what if RawStory got one thing wrong about the timing of Olou's story? And then it ends with this:

"It is true that far-right Internet trolls tried to exploit to #MeToo movement to take out political opponents, with varying degrees of success, but this was not an unfounded character assassination; Tweeden had a photograph showing Franken smiling and appearing to grope her chest over a flak jacket as she slept."

Basically the piece amounts to It doesn't matter, beccause it wasn't a smear, in their opinion. The quality of Snopes has seriously declined.

[NCTraveler]

127. Ooops. Looks like some people got duped on this story. Who would have thunk?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210261182

[MFM008]

128. I didn't believe it

For a second.
Notice how the weekly accusations
stopped when he resigned .....