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In reply to the discussion: The silence left by Franken leaving is deafening. [View all]DFW
(54,325 posts)This guy knows EVERYBODY, and had just been with Al Franken. He knows Gillibrand, and, for that matter, most of the Senate. He said Gillibrand is out for the 2020 nomination, and doesn't care whose body she has to trample to get there.
He also said the allegations against Franken were complete Republican packaging (he works at a conservative Republican outfit), and are anything BUT credible. Franken's apology was a blanket attempt at a defense against a broadside of accusations for something that wasn't true in the first place. He had been taken completely by surprise by the whole thing because there was no truth to them. It was just a distraction tactic during the Alabama Senatorial election to try to distract from Moore's perversions. That is the reason why he didn't understand he needed a defense against them.
Franken's final decision to resign only came when the governor of Minnesota jumped the gun and appointed his successor before he had even decided to resign. Enough was enough, but the whole thing was a lucky bulls-eye for a Republican dirty tricks team shooting in the dark blindfolded.
Where Gillibrand is on especially shaky ground is when she alludes to "credible" allegations. They gain artificial credibility when people of her standing jump on the bandwagon. A hearing and critical interrogation of the "witnesses" and "victims" would have produced a lot of backtracking and very vague memories. That is why his tormentors were not eager for any such processes to take place. Those of his Democratic Senate colleagues that regret their action obviously cannot now come forward and say so without great shame and embarrassment, and Franken is too much of a "Mensch" to try to force the issue.
Now, I can't reveal from whom I got this, and therefore it carries diminished weight for anyone who is skeptical, and that is fair enough. But I wish that anyone with such healthy skepticism would train their skeptical eyes with equal sharpness on the details of Al Franken's accusers, and see if their allegations don't dissipate like fog in the sunlight once some serious scrutiny is turned upon them. There is a very good reason none of Al Franken's tormentors wanted such scrutiny turned on his accusers. The bandwagon they had all jumped on would have quickly lost a wheel or two.