I didn’t think this was real at first, but apparently it is:
Not the typical morning commute… pic.twitter.com/kJIOQeqsIK
— A. Mutzabaugh CMT (@WLV_investor) December 6, 2017
Y’all be careful over there!
In other news, Time recognized “The Silence Breakers” as its “Person of the Year” today, honoring a movement comprising mostly women who’ve refused to stay silent about sexual harassment, which has sent shock waves through entertainment, media and political power circles.
So, #MeToo is having a moment, but one of the NYT’s most notorious Beltway hacks put her own spin on it via a tweet about an article in her paper on Harvey Weinstein:
So Hillary, married to an alleged sexual abuser, took $ from an alleged sexual abuser to help her defeat an alleged sexual abuser and ended up losing partly b/c of an alleged sexual abuser. https://t.co/8nHzvLvbV1
— Amy Chozick (@amychozick) December 6, 2017
That seems to miss the point rather badly, so I’ll spell it out: Hillary Clinton aspired to a powerful office in an environment that was and is shot through with misogyny. The remarkable thing about the #MeToo movement is that it is revealing the scope of the abuse across industries and organizational charts.
The lesson we should take away from that isn’t “Whoa, how ironic that Hillary was dealing with human garbage at every turn!” It’s that it’s way past time to take out the fucking trash.
Anyhoo. Open thread.
Trentrunner
Al Franken must resign:
A former Democratic congressional aide said Al Franken tried to forcibly kiss her after a taping of his radio show in 2006, three years before he became a U.S. senator.
The aide, whose name POLITICO is withholding to protect her identity, said Franken (D-Minn.) pursued her after her boss had left the studio. She said she was gathering her belongings to follow her boss out of the room. When she turned around, Franken was in her face.
The former staffer ducked to avoid Franken’s lips. As she hastily left the room, she said, Franken told her: “It’s my right as an entertainer.”
“He was between me and the door and he was coming at me to kiss me. It was very quick and I think my brain had to work really hard to be like ‘Wait, what is happening?’ But I knew whatever was happening was not right and I ducked,” the aide said in an interview. “I was really startled by it and I just sort of booked it towards the door and he said, ‘It’s my right as an entertainer.’”
Trentrunner
Kirsten Gillibrand:
germy
Betty, it’s Time (not newsweek) that featured the silence breakers.
Betty Cracker
@germy: Thanks! Will correct!
germy
Interesting all the Weinstein enablers getting exposed. Particularly his allies in the press.
Major Major Major Major
@Trentrunner:
Even in pied form you are wrong.
rikyrah
THANK YOU
Jerzy Russian
That Chozick tweet is 100 pounds of stupid in a 10 pound sack. As far as I can tell, the increased character limit on Twitter has resulted in over a factor of two increase in the stupidity (as in the case above stupidity can be highly nonlinear).
Chyron HR
“Hillary [tried to] defeat an alleged sexual abuser”
That BITCH! I’m GLAD we destroyed America rather than let it fall into her clutches.
Kay
I don’t know of course but my personal appreciation of the huge influence of racism in this country was much expanded by Obama’s presidency. How he was treated. Hit me right between the eyes.
I didn’t see it clearly until I saw it and it took having a black person as president for me to see.
So maybe these things are connected. Maybe Clinton’s run contributed to an environment where women spoke up. just a thought .
dr. bloor
One does not simply drive into Mordor during rush hour!
rikyrah
I will continue to say this : they’d sell their mothers to Lucifer for those tax cuts.
The politics behind the GOP’s reversal on Roy Moore
12/06/17 10:45 AM—UPDATED 12/06/17 11:13 AM
By Steve Benen
…………………………………..
Steve in the ATL
I’m in LA. The local news has been covering nothing but the fires. Many homes destroyed, horses killed. I’m not close to the fires but looking at the window at certain directions I see a LOT of smoke. Of course, that could simply be our local juicers addressing their glaucoma.
Mike in NC
Fat Bastard has a sad that he didn’t make the cover of TIME magazine. Maybe he’s holding out to be named “Greatest Man of the 21st Century”. In the meantime, he’ll make sure people that dine with him get no ice cream at all while he gets three scoops. Take that, world!
low-tech cyclist
This. Totally this.
Re the Mordor exit, I’ve driven that stretch of road in better times. My grandparents, who departed this mortal coil quite some time ago, lived nearby. Didn’t cost an arm and a leg back in the early 1950s when they moved there.
MattF
So, who writes the stuff in the pie filter? it’s good!
schrodingers_cat
Trollrunner is back.
Kay
I love how people are like ‘The national enquirer is negative? !”
no shit – it is literally fake news. They thought it was positive and wholesome? the PBS Newshour for the grocery line?
AliceBlue
@Trentrunner:
I’m sorry, but this story does not pass the smell test. “It was very quick and I think my brain had to work really hard.” Seriously? Her brain should have worked a little harder on this b.s. As a commenter on TPM noted, “it’s my right as an entertainer” is too stupid a line to come out of Franken’s mouth.
I think it’s worth noting that, unlike the others, Franken is denying this.
Major Major Major Major
@rikyrah: apparently the high tax state R’s who voted for the initial bill in the House are now balking at removing the SALT deduction, and the senate bill accidentally left the AMT intact or something, so if they lose in AL they might not be able to just pass the senate version through the house (like Dems did with the ACA after scott brown won).
oatler.
It’s orgasms all the way down.
schrodingers_cat
@AliceBlue: @AliceBlue: I expect a rant from our blog host adding his voice from the FP perch to Trollrunner’s by this evening.
Kay
@Major Major Major Major:
wouldn’t that be the best? Plus- the Alabama senate candidate is a child molester so it’s really a win/win for America.
gvg
i think they may be too optimistic that Moore will vote the way they want. They weren’t very friendly and he was a pain to Alabama legislature. Much like the stupid Tea Party Congressmen elected in 2010, he will likely try to gain attention by demanding more purity in someway which will cause them to lose a few barely ok with this mess of a bill. His record is not that of pragmatism. not just over this one bill too.
I think the reason McConnel encouraged Trump to support Strange was Moores record as a legislative troublemaker in Alabama before teh allegations came up. He thought Strange would be easier to work with.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: PBS Newshour is not wholesome, it just pretends to be. They are the cauliflower pizza crust of news.
NorthLeft12
Betty, thank you very much for the above. That is an excellent one line summary for all of us.
This is probably cold comfort for Mrs. Clinton, but I believe her defeat, and the way it happened, has motivated and energized millions of women, and a smaller number of men, to fight for what Hillary fought for and stop accepting a toxic status quo.
Cheryl Rofer
Jim, Foolish Literalist
among other things, all of this “alleged” stuff: trump’s assaults were not alleged, they were bragged about, on tape. The idea that Hillary knew about Weinstein because “everybody knew”… as with Cosby and Bubba, “everybody knew” that Weinstein was an adulterer and a pig, that’s not the same as finding out later he was actually a rapist. They had a quasi-social/quasi-professional relationship. The idea that she should have known all about his conduct because they went to the same big crowded parties once in a while is ludicrous.
and, of course, the idea that Clinton is responsible for her husband’s conduct, much less her donor’s, and still less that man she tried to warn everybody about…. that is just weapon-grade stupid
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
Me too :)
But. This is over. If he doesn’t resign they’ll kick him out. I say this as someone who thought he should run for Prez. I liked him but it’s over
bemused
Bruce Bartlett just tweeted, Democrats are so stupid. Easiest thing for Franken to say is he will resign when Trump does.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: @bemused: I think Rs get votes because they are fighters unlike Ds who run at the first sign of trouble. If they get Franken’s scalp, they are not going to stop at that.
Yarrow
@gvg:
Yep.
Besides that tweet being creepy as hell (Is the Amber Alert system in D.C. in good working order?), it’s also a signal that if he gets to the Senate he’s going to be a pain in the ass, especially to Mitch McConnell.
CaseyL
I honestly never expected to see the eternal, everyday, ubiquitous denigration of women to launch such a cleansing fire.
This is a powerful issue celebrating a powerful movement.
Mike E
@Mike in NC: he’s #2! Yuuuge
The Moar You Know
@Kay: They don’t do “fake” news unless it is speculative and passes libel tests – but irrelevant news. “Celebrity news”. TMZ does it far better.
My college girlfriend’s father was one of their “reporters”; he’d started in the 1980s and retired sometime in the early 2000s. You would not believe how much money he made. You would not believe how much money the Enquirer makes. You would not believe how many people read that fucking thing. And everything they printed back then was vetted beyond belief (I can’t speak for now). They got killed in a libel suit once and decided “never again”, and made it stick. Their largest department was their legal division. Fascinating company. Current owner views himself as Trump’s propaganda arm, and is willing to lose money doing so, so that’s scary.
MattF
@rikyrah: Pretty much all of the R policy goals are encapsulated in the words ‘tax cuts’. Given that, the degree to which the tax cuts are being fucked up is rather amazing. Who could have known that writing legislation that actually accomplishes something (even if it’s something evil) can be kinda challenging. I guess they all assumed it was just a matter of holding out your hands and saying ‘gimme’. ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’.
d58826
Two unrelated thoughts :
1. that clip is h++LL in a very small place
2. time for Al to go
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: agree on all points, looks like the least credible accusation (“my right as an entertainer”) is going to take him down
two more Dem Senators have joined the initial four. Looks like Cantwell, can’t see the sixth
Matt McIrvin
@Mike in NC: He’ll get it next year, with the Kochs pulling the strings.
Feebog
@Steve in the ATL:
I live in NW San Fernando Valley, but currently on vacation in Mexico. Looks like the Creek Fire, which is the one closest to my area is not advancing. Ventura seems to have been hi the hardest overnight. I posted something on the book of faces last night and most of my peeps in the area checked in. Hoping the winds die down tonight.
bemused
@schrodingers_cat:
Barlett is right. Our Dem leaders are stupid and I add chickenshit. Too scared of Republican operatives to let an investigation happen.
different-church-lady
@Trentrunner: We shall not rest until all Democratic sex abusers are replaced by Republican sex abusers!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Harris and Murray, not Cantwell
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer: see, now I’m tending to agree with that viewpoint, but I’m glad I waited a little while to come to that opinion.
AliceBlue
@bemused:
Mr. AliceBlue has been saying this since the first accusation against Franken. And this latest story sounds so labored and contrived.
Brachiator
Even though I’m miles away, I can smell the smoke from the fires.
Yesterday, a radio news reporter recounted a very sad tale. He had talked to a man at one location, whose home fortunately had not been damaged by the fire. He saw the same guy while reporting at a new location some miles away. When the man came up to him, the reporter asked what he was doing there.
The man pointed to a home that had burned to rubble and replied that this was his parents’ home.
In less sad news, there were some nice reporting about horses who had been rescued and relocated to a safe location. Horses were being evacuated to the equine center at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.
Mike in DC
@Cheryl Rofer: That’s likely it, then. The only reason not to resign is if he sincerely knows/believes that all the claims are spurious.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think it’s a mistake to do the guilt by association thing in this “movement”. If for no other reason than it’s endless. Where does “she knew” end? Did all of the women on Fox know? Are they to blame for O’Reilly? ESPECIALLY because the victims are saying the reason they didn’t speak up was they were worried (rightly) about their careers. We were all making these trade-offs.
Lots of women knew. As a matter of fact, lots of women voted for Donald Trump and as you say, he admitted it.
different-church-lady
All bad things are Hillary Clinton’s fault, have always been Hillary Clinton’s fault, and will always be Hillary Clinton’s fault.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I didn’t dismiss the misogyny thrusted towards Hillary.
We were, of course, in the dark, as to how many of the Villager Opinion Makers were guilty of the same shyt and Dolt45, which would explain why they were against Hillary. Didn’t know, so I couldn’t take that into account.
Belafon
Hillary Clinton should have been running for president in 1992, but she had to face hurdles that hopefully current movements will remove for future candidates.
bemused
@AliceBlue:
Yup, just hasn’t smelled legit from the start in mid Nov. Definitely has a whole different feel from all the other assault guys in the spotlights.
MattF
@bemused: Meh. That feeds the ‘all politicians are the same’ narrative.
Gator90
It’s starting to appear that credible allegations of sexual harassment and/or assault are a surefire career-killer in America in this day and age. Unless, of course, one is a Republican politician.
IOKIYAR, all the way down.
rikyrah
@bemused:
LET THE INVESTIGATION HAPPEN
Amir Khalid
@Trentrunner:
I simply don’t see why you keep on insisting that Al Franken MUST GO NOW. Suppose he did go, and then the Senate Ethics Committee were to find he did nothing serious enough to warrant resignation in disgrace. (From what I know of the accusations against him, this seems fairly likely.) What then?
rikyrah
@bemused:
Absolutely on point.
A Ghost To Most
@schrodingers_cat: One-trick pony insists on showing us his one trick.
Msb
The video put out by Time brought tears to my eyes.
The bashing Amy’s stupid misogynist tweet is getting on Twitter brought joy to my heart.
tobie
@AliceBlue: I commented in the thread below and will post again that I think this latest accusation is deliberate smear.
What’s a “little too on the nose” for me is the accuser’s comparison of Franken to Trump. The following statement is an overt effort to shame liberals that could only be dreamed up in a right-wing PR firm:
“Hearing Donald Trump say essentially the same thing that Al Franken said to me, which was ‘It’s my right as an entertainer,’ that was a real trigger.”
You’ve got the implicit smear–hey, Dems, speak up about Al as you did about Donald, and she even managed to include an allusion to ‘trigger warnings.’ Last but not least: why does Politico identify her as a Democratic aide when she worked for Franken before he was ever in the Senate?
Kay
I’m suspicious of the timing of the Franken allegations but they could have come after him on a real vulnerability.
Politically timed to take out a prominent and effective opponent of Sessions doesn’t = untrue
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I don’t pay a lot of attention to Savannah Guthrie, but she doesn’t strike me as stupid, and she wept about her good friend Matt Lauer, who later reports suggest is a fucking rapist. Katie Couric said she did not find Lauer’s behavior, he liked to pinch her butt, offensive. That “nobody knew/everybody knew” line isn’t so clear as these stories tend to suggest, or state flat out, once things blow up.
Yarrow
So when is this Ethics investigation of Franken supposed to start? Is it already underway?
Tata
I wonder how many craven opportunists of a certain political bent are thinking to themselves, “I was alone in a room with Al Franken once.”
Brachiator
@gvg:
Moore will safely vote against anything proposed by Democrats. That’s enough, for now.
rikyrah
Re Franken:
Banana in the tailpipe.
EVERYTIME I read one of his ‘ incidents’, I go ‘ REALLY’?
Shyt don’t make sense.
Let me make this clear, in care you don’t see it.
THEY WANT FRANKEN TO RESIGN BECAUSE FRANKEN ASKED FOR AN ETHICS INVESTIGATION.
IFFFF Franken Resigns, then NO Ethics Investigation.
If there is a FRANKEN Ethics Investigation, then how the phuck you NOT gonna have a ROY MOORE ETHICS INVESTIGATION (if he gets elected)?
See the Banana in the Tailpipe, you craven, weak muthaphuckas!
different-church-lady
The Democratic Party is about to subtract a second alleged sex offender from their congressional rolls.
The Republican Party is doing their damnedest to add one to theirs.
Anyone calling for Franken to resign without noting the second fact is a tool.
Miss Bianca
@bemused:
Yeah, this. FUCK this virtue-signalling when we are IN A FUCKING WAR ZONE.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I agree
i’ll flat out admit I was no profile in courage
I walked off a job when I was sexually harassed. Didn’t tell a soul – I actively worked on forgetting it almost immediately.
Kelly
@MattF: I’m quite hearten by the news of the tax cut screwups. That coupled with the money I’m saving on my 2018 health insurance due to the CSR screwup has me thinking the next few years maybe better than I feared if only due to incompetent villains.
MattF
@gvg: Moore is devoted to publicizing and promoting Moore, and nothing else. He’ll continue to do what he does best, and if anyone finds it surprising, they’re idiots.
Nelle
I’m perturbed and wondering if there is something wrong with me. Four or six senators, women, are calling on Senator Franken to resign. And I’m not agreeing. Why resign before there is an ethics investigation? I understand he was wrong. But while Trump sits in the White House, why are we purging some of our best spokespeople over what are admittedly wrong, but more minor offenses? It seems that we are unilaterally disarming in a war and wanting to win on nobility points. Someone clarify this for me. (By the way, the last man who assaulted me is in prison for life as a violent sexual predator. I know serious from minor.)
d58826
OH sweet FSM Der Fuhrer is claiming that the economy can grow at a 6% rate. And that 100 million people will re-enter the work force because of his policies.
Chris
I wonder how much of that’s due to the fact that it at started out targeting a powerful man, and then several powerful men, in Hollywood, an industry that conservatives love to pretend is some sort of Vatican for liberals, and that their initial reaction was to jump on the bandwagon because the lure of “ah HA! Liberals are HYPOCRITES!” is like catnip to these people. And doubly so because the original powerful man was, in fact, a donor to History’s Greatest Monster, Hillary Clinton.
Thus, what would, if it had happened almost anywhere else (Wall Street, the Catholic Church, the military, the Republican political scene) have been met with much stronger pushback along the lines of “Witch hunt! False rape accusations! Lives ruined! What about the men?” instead saw many of these people initially supporting it and many more not standing in its way because they saw it as simply a proxy for hippie-punching. Then it sort of ballooned into more than they expected.
Major Major Major Major
@d58826: I guess he’s taking a cue from how China makes up numbers.
AliceBlue
@bemused:
In an amazingly short amount of time, we’ve gone from Harvey Weinstein raping women to Garrison Keillor getting shit-canned for patting a woman on the back for which he apologized (according to his statement, and as far as I know, the woman in question has not disputed it).
Anyone who didn’t realize that the #MeToo movement was going to be turned into a lethal political weapon by the right is a fool and an idiot. When Franken goes, which Democrat is next?
The Moar You Know
I am floored how many people, here and elsewhere, are buying obvious made-up bullshit as truth. Nobody in real life speaks like that.
d58826
I never remember a President using profanity with the ease that this clown does. Twice within less than a minute. Interesting wished every one a merry xmas. Seems to have forgotten Hanukkah. And didn’t he ignore Ramadan?.
Texasboyshaun
I’ve been through hurricanes and blizzards, but never a wildfire. That video is seriously the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. Please be safe, CA peeps.
trollhattan
@dr. bloor:
While adding that LA rush hour comprises approx. 20 hours/day, that would be a great, if lengthy bumper sticker.
Kay
@Chris:
That sounds about right. There is some pushback from conservative men here,though. i’ve heard “we can’t do anything anymore!” complaints several times. they’re always highly alert to the possibility of discrimination. Only against them though
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Who here has said they believe that story?
different-church-lady
@d58826: He is his own Ministry of Truth.
different-church-lady
@AliceBlue:
All of them, Katie.
Jager
Our house is up in a Canyon just west of the LA County line, it’s 92 years old and would go up like a match. We have fires to the east, to the north and to the west of us. So far zero smoke and clear but breezy skies. Our property is covered with big, old oaks. (I dipped about a 100 pounds of branches and leaves out of the spa. yesterday, thanks trees!) Power went out 3 times yesterday, we have a nice set of solar emergency lights all charged up and ready and a couple of solar phone chargers. We are packed and ready to go if we have to. I put a spare leash and ball in the car for Anze the Dog, so he’s ready! Mrs J has a meeting in Ventura this afternoon, I may ride over with her to see what I can see. I used to commute down the 405, it’s a bitch on normal days…still closed this morning. The Thomas Fire in Santa Paula was moving at a pace of an acre a second the other night. We have friends who live there, they’re not in the fire zone but could see it move, they were speechless.
msdc
@germy:
Also all the Franken enablers in this comment thread.
tobie
@different-church-lady: Gillibrand strikes me as someone who does not do her homework. My respect for her took a major hit during the healthcare debate when I called her office to ask if the Senator had ever considered the German and Swiss models of health insurance, which would make more sense for the US than single-payer. The aide said the Senator didn’t know about this model. Now it could be that the aide was ill-informed but I found the confession striking given that Gillibrand had put herself front-and-center of the push for single payer.
trollhattan
@Jager:
Sounds like you’ve done what you can do. Be safe and bug out FAST if the time comes.
Schlemazel
@schrodingers_cat: @bemused:
These. The dumb bastards will throw Franken overboard and the GOP will lick it’s lips at the chance to remove more fighting Dems. They will sit there with Moore and other abusers and pass more bills to cripple women but damn it we will be pure.
One of my concerns is that at least 2 of those complaints are fake, they have no credibility. The others we have to take their word on. Franken promised to make amends instead of deny and attack. It appears as if deny and attack are the ‘right thing to do’ because it works. Not the message I want sent.
LeonS
@Feebog: We are currently holing up at Grandma’s as we evacuated from our Oak View Home. Went back for the pets and saw very many images like the one above. We are all safe, and reports so far suggest our home is still standing, but damn if half of Ventura looks like it was decimated. The 150 structures burned figure they have been throwing around since yesterday is going to be revise a lot more upward.
It was very weird going to the store for supplies yesterday and driving by burning buildings and huge plumes of black smoke here and there.
Kay
Maybe the Dem women in the senate are making a cold hard political decision and they see Franken as more trouble than he’s worth
that’s entirely possible. They could be right too. They’re NOT Republicans. They rely on a different group of supporters.
bemused
@Miss Bianca:
I can’t get through to McCaskill or Gillibrand DC offices, busy, busy.
I called Claire’s Kansas City office and was told he could not pass on my comments because I’m not a constituent.
Major Major Major Major
@tobie: it probably just wasn’t on the aide’s talking points.
MarkK
If they make Franken resign, I’ll change my party affiliation to Independent and never give a cent ( I’m poor put gave $100 to Doug Jones) to them again. This is insane! Before he was a Senator he tried (but didn’t ) kiss someone and so the best fighter against Trump and the fascists is being asked to resign because of possible boorish behavior??? Unreal and not one of these accusers say he harassed or assaulted them! This is an obvious hit job on the guy who caught Sessions lying and he is the best spokesman for Net Neutrality but these cowardly Democratic women want a good man, husband, and father, a sincere human being like Franken to resign?
The Moar You Know
@Nelle: Beautifully stated. It’s the Democratic way. 100 gazillion nobility points and $2.95 will get you a cup of coffee.
@AliceBlue: It’s not like Republicans care, so yeah.
When your politics becomes an exercise in virtue signaling, which I am sad to say most Democratic politics has been for years, that can easily be turned against you with no risk to the people turning it on you. You can only hurt yourself. That’s something as a party we need to stop doing. We probably won’t.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yup. Dems and Dem-leaners respond to different motivations
Also, I am currently listening to Mark Thompson interview Joy Reid. Thompson is pissed because Conyers was forced to resign and Franken, at the time they were speaking, was not. Reid is pushing back, but I think Thompson speaks for a lot of people, including members of Congress
MattF
@Kay: I have a suspicion that professional politicians don’t care much for Franken. ‘Comedian’ isn’t the usual starting point on the path to ‘Senator with a national constituency’– and although he makes a competent liberal Senator, supporting him turned out (perhaps not surprisingly) to be risky. That said, I don’t think he should resign. Yet.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’m actually not as confident that people will vote on this issue. I think there’s a large group of Democrats who consider “me too” an “elite” issue – that Democrats are “once again” focusing on “social issues” by which they mean issues they don’t care about. I’m already hearing it.
It’s hard to wrangle Democrats. I sometimes think the only thing they all agree on is the minimum wage. Hatred of Trump better hold us together because we have fuck-all else in common.
J R in WV
@d58826:
Well, yeah!! They’ll have to go back to work to get health insurance again!!! Duh…
Origuy
Apparently one of the houses burning in the fire is Rupert Murdoch’s.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I completely agree. Even if Al Franken is guilty, having an actual investigation would also show up all the Republicans (and Democrats) that are guilty of this – especially Roy Moore! – and could help clean out ALL of the waste.
Stupid, stupid, stupid for him to resign now, even if he is guilty. I am still suspicious of the timing. The investigations could be his parting gift to the Democratic Party and to everyone else who would like to see all the guilty people exposed.
JustRuss
Um, “alleged”? Christ, the man is on tape bragging about it, he doesn’t deserve the “alleged” figleaf.
Gelfling 545
I would be all for people who have committed sexual harassment being booted if there would be some means of applying it equitably. Unless a Republican is about to be marched pff in handcuffs, there is no way in hell they would resign for this. And so we have our high moral standard (and yes, it should be high) triumphing in the individual case and losing in the big picture as we end up with a Congress full of skeevy Republicans. The ethics enquiry is about as close to evenhandedness as we can manage until we work out a system for this.
My own very imperfect standard, which I am not recommending to anyone, is:
1. Did it happen during the campaign or while in office? If yes, resign.
2. Were minors involved? If yes, get out. Now. I’ll help you pack.
3. Was any action against the law? Resign and turn yourself in.
In other cases, we need to let the ethics enquiry or perhaps in future some other, better mechanism play out.
middlelee
The accusations against Sen. Franken have looked to me like a hit job from day one. It started with one provable photo and built on that. Everything except that photo has been an unprovable “she said.” I’m a woman. I’m happy to see that women are finally able to speak out and to be believed. I’m amazed at the numbers involved. And I don’t believe the women who are accusing Sen. Franken.
I’m not amazed at the ability of Republicans and their donors to see an excellent opportunity to rid themselves of a powerful adversary. I’m unhappy as hell that so many Democrats aren’t more skeptical. Does anyone remember Shirley Sherrod? And the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now? Do we want to add Sen. Franken’s career to that list?
El Caganer
@Origuy: Was he in it at the time? One can but hope.
jayboat
@Origuy:
Kaarma?
It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Cat48
@middlelee. I remember Shirley Sherrod, fired bc Breitbart fixed the Tape. The Tweeden person who accused Franken First was on Sean Hannity saying Shirley Sherrod was a Racist & had to go. She was sent and she was fake, I knew about it the night before bc Roger Stone tweeted that Al Franken would be in the Barrel next.
gvg
We don’t actually have the choice of Franken saying he’ll only leave when Trump does or other defiances suggested. Reliable Democratic Party voters have different standards than reliable Republican voters. If the main line of Democratic voters is unhappy at Franken, then the other elected Democrats are going to push him out. It’s not surprising that our tribe would be more unhappy with this accusation than republicans. thats kind of why they are our voters and not GOP. There are other issues that would upset their voters more than ours like being pro tax increases secretly…..
There have been other times when our team has not gone negative when the GOP has and it has to do with the way “our” voters react to non fact based attacks compared to theirs. It can’t be changed because it has to do with different party values.
I would prefer the investigation go forward, but don’t know how far it’s gotten.
Honestly I haven’t looked into the Franken stuff much yet. there is just too much going on I think is more urgent. if accusations are to keep getting results in the future, their does need to be a process with real investigations so it might be wise to start creating the policy.
middlelee
@Cat48:
I didn’t know about the Roger Stone tweet. Thanks for that as I’m getting ready to write letters to the editor in my heavily Trumpist area.
glory b
@CaseyL: Cherish it, it didn’t work that way for black people (am I bitter?).
Cat48
@middlelee: I wish there was more that I could do. I truly don’t think he’s guilty, but that’s just me. Roger Stone was tweeting under @StoneColdTruth which is the name of his blog. It’s deleted now, but the blog is still there.
glory b
@gvg: They have an ethics committee to investigate these.
Joy Reid was on the radio this morning, noting that the repubs will win if we keep shooting our wounded soldiers on the field.
She also said that they will hunker down and ride it out, because we run scared every time. Paul Ryan joined the chorus calling for Conyers to resign, he’s been silent on Farenthold.
I think Gillibrand showed she has no political strategy chops, she pushed the party into this place, every settlement, every accusation will lead to a resignation, before the process takes place.
glory b
@middlelee: I said the same thing here a while back. We keep getting played that way.
glory b
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I was listening too, I think he speaks for A LOT of African Americans who don’t want to see Conyers disgraced.
I think the MSM had Pelosi’s MTP (?) interview wrong. It wasn’t awkward and stupid, it was smoothing things over with African Americans and giving the Congressional Black Caucus time to approach Conyers.
And he is an icon, no matter how dismissive they were to that characterization. She didn’t want it to look like he was getting thrown under the bus.
Tehanu
We were just at the Getty Center last week to see the three Caravaggio paintings on loan from the Borghese in Rome, including my favorite painting of all time, “David with the head of Goliath.” I hope to God their fire prevention setup is working.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Weapons-grade stupid is their basic approach to everything.
TenguPhule
@AliceBlue:
All of em, Katie. Death by suicide.
PIGL
@Nelle: answer: the republican party is a death cult; and the Democratic Party has a death wish .