Mad_Machine76
Mad_Machine76's JournalRepublicans excel at ferretting out ANYTHING
that might appear to be "bias" against them and spinning it into a golden web of lies that justifies their nonsensical allegations of persecution and witch hunts, which, in this case, seems to be trying to practically declare any investigation of Trump "biased" if there are any known or self-proclaimed Democrats involved in the investigation in any way (and by any degree of separation). Apparently, the concept that one can be a member of an opposing political party and still be a professional at their job doesn't seem to occur to them.
My hat's off
to all of the Jones voters whom showed up the polls for him and fought through what appears to be some pretty ugly Jim Crow-esque voter suppression tactics to cast their votes. Fighting voter suppression needs to be made a top priority but it's great to know that there is still force in overwhelming numbers.
Yes
Gillibrand- along with most of the Senate Democratic Caucus- ran him out of office without allowing for a more thorough examination of those allegations through an ethics investigation that HE requested. None of the charges seemed, at least to me, serious enough to warrant Franken's immediate resignation/removal from office. Ethics investigation? Absolutely. Reprimand or Censure? Fine. Resignation/Expulsion? NO. I'm surprised that no other option but pushing for his resignation was even considered. And the severity of the charges matters more to me than the number of them.
I'm dumbfounded as well
It seems like they panicked and then all leaped to push for his resignation either because they thought Franken was becoming a political liability for Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate race and/or the Democratic Party (even though what Franken and Moore are accused of are VASTLY different things) or they felt like they had to kick him to the curb to solidify our moral superiority over the Republicans. Either way, it was a bad move for all kinds of reasons, not the least of which that it establishes a precedent, at least for Democrats, that may make it impossible to continue serving in the Senate (or Congress) if enough accusations of impropriety - even if unproven- accumulate against a sitting member. Gillibrand and the others thought they might have thought that they were doing the right thing by embracing the #metoo movement but it may turn out that the cost they paid- pressuring Franken to hurry up and resign without an investigation- to show their solidarity with #metoo may be too high in the long term.
Agreed
completely boneheaded and tone deaf move that will likely accomplish nothing except establishing an impossible precedent for future accusations against Democratic politicians that will help make it easier for Republicans to de-rail any Democratic politicians deemed by right-wing Republicans or other political opponents to be troublesome to their interests or annoying. And the best part for Republicans is that Senate Democrats have demonstrated that, if there are enough accusations of wrongdoing or impropriety, the Party will do the Republicans' dirty work of getting rid of them.
I disagree
I think that we can agree that the allegations are credible and worthy of concern without also saying that we think he needs to resign. There is a palpable difference between what Franken has been accused of doing and what Moore has been alleged to have done (with a lot more substantiating evidence) and Franken has made some apologies and voluntarily agreed to submit himself to an ethics investigations. The two cases are simply not the same. In our desire to confront this problem, do we now remove consideration of severity from consideration and treat everything as equally bad, wrong, worthy of resignation, etc?
Profile Information
Name: Mara Alis ButlerGender: Female
Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana
Home country: USA
Current location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Member since: Sat Feb 28, 2004, 12:13 AM
Number of posts: 24,821