Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

I was promised a recession.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

This fight is for everything.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Everybody saw this coming.

Cole is on a roll !

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

You are here: Home / Stanley to Ford: Drop Dead

Reader Interactions

231Comments

  1. 1.

    Yarrow

    He is such an ass. Glad to see him have some consequences for something for change.

    Please let Evan Bayh be next:

    I’m okay with that but I’d really rather a sitting Republican Rep or Senator be the next scalp.

  3. 3.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)

    What kind of misconduct? Sexual or otherwise.

  4. 4.

    danielx

    Evan Bayh is an ass, but I suspect Susan would cut off his tiny shriveled grapes if he stepped out of line.

  5. 5.

    Yarrow

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.):
    From the above linked article:

    At least one woman, who is not a Morgan Stanley employee but interacted with Ford in a professional capacity, was interviewed by Morgan Stanley’s HR department as part of the investigation.

    In two interviews with HuffPost, the woman alleged that Ford engaged in harassment, intimidation, and forcibly grabbed her one evening in Manhattan, leading her to seek aid from a building security guard. The incident took place several years ago when Ford and the woman were supposed to be meeting for professional reasons. Ford continued to contact her after the encounter until she wrote an email asking him to cease contact.

  7. 7.

    patroclus

    Maybe now he can start running ads again where he stands in front of a church and tells me I can’t ever get married.

  8. 8.

    Roger Moore

    Please let Evan Bayh be next:

    I would rather a whole bunch of Republicans be next, but that’s just me.

  10. 10.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.): I read this as sexual misconduct, given the zeitgeist

    Yashar Ali ?‏Verified account
    SCOOP: Former Democratic Congressman Harold Ford Jr. has been terminated for misconduct by Morgan Stanley. I spoke to one of his alleged victims.

    but if Mr “Get Serious On Entitlements” was caught with his mitts in some widow’s mite, that would almost be more fitting. Not that it would shift the discussion on Morning Joe

  12. 12.

    mai naem mobile

    Not surprised. He always came across as a sleazeballish. Wondering if Cantor will ever come up. He ran to Wall Street after Congress and he looks like a sleazeballish too.

  13. 13.

    Michael G

    The actual best article on Balloon Juice was “C.R.E.A.M., DeMint”, for the title alone.

  15. 15.

    kindness

    Hopefully this sticks a shiv into Ford’s pesistant 3rd Way OpEds. What a wanker that guy is.

  17. 17.

    mai naem mobile

    I would like dbag Holy Joemomentum to be caught up in one of these scandals, for old times sake. Hen we can replay the tut tut Lewinsky speeches.

  18. 18.

    Eric U.

    I have a whole lot of theories about sleazeball politicians and sexual misconduct, but most of them have no basis in reality and would be unfair to the sleazeballs in question. That being said, I can hope.

    Ford always seemed like a Republican tool.

  19. 19.

    Cacti

    Harold Ford is a prick, and his firing seems to be for good cause.

    But the tone and timing of this post is exhibit A for the sickness that infects the party as a whole.

    We’d rather rejoice in seeing heretics punished than in winning elections. The opportunity to feel smug is our guiding principle.

  23. 23.

    Cacti

    @John Cole:

    Or Joe Lieberman.

    Au contraire, blog host.

    Joe Lieberman once scolded Clinton’s dong.

    He’d be a perfect candidate in the current Dem party.

  24. 24.

    Millard Filmore

    @Roger Moore:

    I would rather a whole bunch of Republicans be next, but that’s just me.

    I would like to see that settlement list Congress is keeping.

    #outThemAll

  25. 25.

    mai naem mobile

    I know this sounds gruesome but once Al Franken got to multiple accusations he became like one of those seriously wounded animals you see in Nature documentaries. It was just a matter of time before he got taken down by the hyenas. I really thought he was at least Veep material.

  26. 26.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    48 hrs after Russia is banned from this coming Olympics, US government says it may not participate.

    Washington (CNN)Whether US athletes will be able to attend the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea remains an “open question,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Wednesday night.

    NBC News‏ @NBCNews
    13m13 minutes ago

    JUST IN: Press Sec. Sarah Sanders: “No official decision has been made” on US participation in the Winter Olympics

    Putin says “JUMP!” and Drumpf says “how high”

  28. 28.

    No Drought No More

    I tend to post at only a few sites. Esquire and Charles Pierce blog is one, but I just received this message when I tried to post there: “Insufficient Permission You do not have the necessary permission for the specified Page to perform the requested action”.

    So I’ll post my deep thought here instead:

    COVERUP COVERUP COVERUP COVERUP COVERUP COVERUP COVERUP COVERUP COVERUP.. STONEWALL STONEWALL STONEWALL STONEWALL STONEWALL STONEWALL..

    … BY THE ANTI-AMERICAN POLITICAL RACKETEERS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY:

    TPM: “House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) showed no interest Wednesday in further investigating claims a whistleblower brought to the committee’s Democrats about promises former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn allegedly made to a business associate about gutting Russia sanctions that been hindering the associate’s business project”.

    REPUBLICANS ARE AIDING AND ABETTING THE ATTACK BY A FOREIGN POWER UPON THE SOVEREIGNTY, AND VERY LIFE, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

    REPUBLICANS ARE THE MORTAL ENEMIES OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.

    SO, CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS TOOK AL FRANKEN’S SCALP TODAY. SUFFICE TO SAY, NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM HAS DARED ATTACK THE MORTAL ENEMIES OF THEIR RANK AND FILE WITH EVEN 1/10TH THE ENTHUSIASM. THAT SAID, AND TO THEIR CREDIT, I’VE NOTICED FOR THE MOST PART THEY’VE STOPPED REFERRING TO REPUBLICANS AS COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS.

    BEING A RANK AND FILE DEMOCRAT TODAY FEELS A LOT LIKE BEING REPRESENTED IN CONGRESS BY CASTOFFS OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    Speaking of hacks, for anyone who wondered where the phony “deficit hawks” at Fix The Debt went off to after Trump was elected…

    They’re back! Part of the coordinated campaign to increase the deficit and then gut Medicare and Social Security:

    Maya MacGuineas‏Verified account
    @MayaMacGuineas
    Follow Follow @MayaMacGuineas
    More
    Dear media friends, I propose not using the word ‘gutting’ when referring to reforming entitlement programs – which is definitely needed and can come in many different forms. That seems an unfairly loaded term.

    can someone explain to me how it happened that we heard NOTHING but deficit handwringing when Obama was president and then this propaganda was turned off like a spigot the second Trump took office? Why were these Right wing hacks given what amounts to tens of millions of dollars in free advertising on cable tv?

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @mai naem mobile:

    I really thought he was at least Veep material.

    He had repeatedly said he had no intention of running for higher office. Perhaps knowing about this stuff in his past explains why.

  37. 37.

    Humboldtblue

    Who the fuck cares about this bullshit? You just lost another fucking battle to the media and the GOP and you’re fucking concerned about Harold Fucking Ford?

    Fuck the Democrats. Fuck Gillibrand and McCaskill, fuck Schumer and the entire fucking Clinton family forevermore. Fuck these assholes, they don’t represent me or the issues that are important to me. Their fucking corporate fealty and complete and utter inability to run a national party that has impacts on local, state and federal elections and issues means they are nothing more than a fucking sideshow.

    Name one fucking thing the DC Democrats have done that was created from liberal policies and ideals since Clinton was sexually abusing an intern in the White House? Name one, and don’t dare come at me with that fucking corporate blowjob that is fucking healthcare because they couldn’t even get that fucking passed without bowing down to their corporate masters.

    Yeah, Doug, let’s all have a fucking party about some news about Harold Fucking Ford, that’s the fucking ticket, man we’re going places now.

    Feckless cowards, scared of their own fucking shadows and desperately trying to walk a line between not angering corporate donors and not angering the white supremacists of the GOP and not angering the corporate owned media and this is what we’re left with.

    Fuck this noise and fuck the Democratic party.

  38. 38.

    scav

    As for the Olympics, it may be a teeny bit of a proactive move given the number of athletes not showing up at the White House. All those anthems being played with knees present? Anyway, fun to speculate.

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Personally, I just want someone – anyone – in the media to ask how Repubs are getting away with giving $1.5 in tax breaks to corporations and the rich, then turn right around BEFORE THE TAX-CUT BILL IS EVEN THROUGH CONFERENCE! and claim that we have to ‘tighten our belt’. Say what now? I can think of 1.5 trillion additional belt notches’ we can add back before having to ‘tighten’ – aka cut – anything.

  40. 40.

    JCJ

    @Roger Moore:

    There have to be way more than 151 varieties, though.

    Dude! There are so many generations of pokemon! According to google there are now 802 pokemon.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    Subscribe to My Newsletter‏Verified account
    @mattyglesias
    Am I understanding this right?

    Paul Ryan’s current position is:

    1) They will block the automatic Medicare cuts induced by the passage of their tax bill.

    2) Next year, he’ll try to get congress to pass Medicare cuts.

    That’s because the plan is to screw people now in their 40’s and 50’s instead of screwing current retirees. They’ll put off the pain to protect the older, whiter GOP electorate and rob younger people.

    So Collins wasn’t really lying. She was misleading a large group of people, but not the voters she most relies on – which works out great for Collins.

  44. 44.

    Dave

    @Yarrow: One thing that was always clear to me is Ford despised Obama because Obama was everything Ford pretended to be. He seemed to feel that Obama cheated him somehow and like toany couldn’t tell the difference between himself and the real deal.

  45. 45.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Kay: Same goes with ISIS and terrorism. When Obama was president a day didn’t go buy without some chicken little story on ISIS, Syria, Drooooonez, Mosul. Now it’s like they never existed.

  46. 46.

    No Drought No More

    Daily Kos:

    “..In addition to the Uranium One deal, Republicans are also making a run at Mueller’s investigation from other fronts.

    Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has introduced a resolution demanding Mueller’s resignation because he was running the FBI at the time the Uranium One deal was originally investigated and Mueller, according to Gaetz, acted to protect Obama and Clinton. Gaetz was back on Fox this week, pressing the idea that the FBI “deep state” hates Trump.

    Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-FL) introduced legislation to limit the length of Mueller’s investigation to six months and prohibit the investigation from looking at any information from before the day Trump announced he was entering the presidential race.

    Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC)—the head of the Freedom Caucus—demanded an investigation into the FBI over how it proceeded on the Hillary Clinton emails and how it launched its investigation into the Trump–Russia connection.

    Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) reversed his earlier support for a bipartisan investigation, sent letters to the FBI demanding information about their investigation of Uranium One, and sent letters to both the FBI and the Department of Justice demanding information about an FBI agent who appears to have said favorable things about Clinton. Grassley also demanded to see information on how the FBI came into possession of the Steele Dossier.

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell denied that there was any need to protect Mueller from being fired.

    Senator Chuck Grassley (yes, again) went much further, suggesting that any attempt to stop Trump from firing Mueller would be unconstitutional”.

    ALL REPUBLICANS- NO EXCEPTIONS WHATSOEVER- ARE POLITICAL RACKETEERS, KILLERS (see: 2003 war in Iraq), AND FINALLY TRAITORS, INTENT UPON THE DESTRUCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF OUR INHERITANCE.

  47. 47.

    GregB

    Speaking of outrageous. News that anti-corruption warrior Mohammed bin Salman was the purchaser of that 450 million painting.

    A necessary reward for his brave fight against corruption.

  48. 48.

    Humboldtblue

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    Why do I have to campaign for Jill Stein? What fucking good did campaigning for Clinton do? What fucking difference did making phone calls and canvassing for Clinton make? Why the fuck can’t you admit that the fucking Democratic party as it stands now is ineffective and utterly worthless for those who desperately need solid liberal answers to life-altering questions and problems?

    Now take your Jill Stein jab and go fuck yourself with it while you die from a preventable disease you can’t afford to get treated. Maybe Kirsten fucking Gillibrand will send you some fucking aspirin.

  49. 49.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Dave: How galling. Obama was the first black president of Harvard Law. He come from nothing. Ford inherited his rich daddy’s congressional seat and repeatedly funked the bar exam.

  50. 50.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    My wife was in D.C today with her class and saw Franken resign. She was in tears. USA! USA!

  52. 52.

    Mary G

    I hate Santa Ana winds. Raymond Chandler was right:

    There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    @B.B.A.:

    Anyone wanna complain about “MUH DUE PROCESS” this time?

    I’m a little unclear here. Are you for or against due process?

  55. 55.

    Humboldtblue

    @MJS:

    There is nothing your simple ass is going to do to change it and as we have seen for 30 years, there sure as shit isn’t a fucking Democrat in DC who will either. But you keep pretending you’re part of the resistance and that THIS TIME the Democrats are going to get it right and actually make inroads into changing national politics.Now run the fuck along you simpering bint, you’re the fucking problem.

  56. 56.

    Dave

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): And that’s assuming Moore does win. I think that’s likely but my no means certain. I have huge issues regarding how everything with Franken has played out think it’s highly likely that at least some of it was ratfucking by bad-faith actors. We need a process for this not a new a satanic panic where a massive double standard will be enforced but that said it’s not the end of the world. I will be very pissed off if Moore wins but ultimately who should I spend that anger on. Democrats for still failing to play hardball or bad faith GOP actors?

  59. 59.

    Chyron HR

    @Humboldtblue:

    We are all very, very sorry that you turd partiers pushed your “Democrats are the lesser of two evils” con too far and let the GOP take over, but now actually you need to wait for the Democrats to get back in power and start fixing things before people will start falling for it again.

  60. 60.

    Cacti

    @Dave:

    I will be very pissed off if Moore wins but ultimately who should I spend that anger on. Democrats for still failing to play hardball or bad faith GOP actors?

    Democrats for failing to play hardball.

    Republicans have a winning formula and don’t care if makes you angry. Democrats are the only group capable of knocking them off their pedestal, but it won’t happen as long as the national party keeps considering purity politics an acceptable substitute for winning elections.

  61. 61.

    MJS

    @Humboldtblue: And here I thought the passage of the ACA saved lives. In fact, I’m sure I saw testimonials to that fact directly from those who lives were saved. And from the parents of children whose lives were saved. You would have preferred they die, obviously. As for your internet tough guy routine, yawn.

  63. 63.

    Brachiator

    @Jeffro:

    Personally, I just want someone – anyone – in the media to ask how Repubs are getting away with giving $1.5 in tax breaks to corporations and the rich, then turn right around BEFORE THE TAX-CUT BILL IS EVEN THROUGH CONFERENCE! and claim that we have to ‘tighten our belt’.

    The GOP knows how to play to a stupid crowd, their base, and to the media.

    They claim that the tax cut will magically pay for itself in terms of increased economic activity and GDP growth. At the same time, they argue that the $1.5 trillion blows up federal debt and requires that we cut Medicare and Social Security in order to demonstrate fiscal responsibility.

    Related to this: Rich people deserve their tax cuts, but poor people are greedy moochers who deserve nothing.

  66. 66.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Humboldtblue:
    How about you go kill yourself since you’re bound and determined to self-immolate. There are some things I don’t like about the current Democratic Party (ObamaCare is a stepping stone btw. The true goal is universal healthcare. Even with a DEM majority that was the best that was going to get passed. The Overton window has shifted too much.). I’ll never really give up on it. You have to be the change in the world you want to be.

    Also, nobody’s forcing you to read a blog. It’s not that important so go take a walk outside or something and relax.

  67. 67.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    can someone explain to me how it happened that we heard NOTHING but deficit handwringing when Obama was president and then this propaganda was turned off like a spigot the second Trump took office?

    IOKIYAR.

    Its a law of nature at this point where no matter how insane it is, it gets no traction among the general voting public no matter how loud we shout it from the rooftops.

  68. 68.

    Cacti

    @Brachiator:

    They claim that the tax cut will magically pay for itself in terms of increased economic activity and GDP growth. At the same time, they argue that the $1.5 trillion blows up federal debt and requires that we cut Medicare and Social Security in order to demonstrate fiscal responsibility.

    That doesn’t even address the biggest part of the scam:

    Social Security and Medicare have their own dedicated revenue streams from payroll taxes, and have dick to do with deficits created by income tax cuts.

  69. 69.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Cacti:

    Republicans have a winning formula and don’t care if makes you angry.

    I would think they would care if they got shot as a result

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    @GregB:

    Speaking of outrageous. News that anti-corruption warrior Mohammed bin Salman was the purchaser of that 450 million painting.

    A necessary reward for his brave fight against corruption.

    Huh? That’s not what I read.

    The New York Times reports that it was purchased by Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Sau, a Saudi prince.

    Has there been a further clarification?

  71. 71.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @B.B.A.: I’m sure Morgan Stanley’s HR and Legal departments exercised due diligence before firing someone with a big contract and a public face, not out of the goodness of their heart, because after all they’re heartless, but to protect themselves from law suits.

  72. 72.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Humboldtblue: Um, where in this mix of news stories did something germinate that led to ranting about “corporate masters”? Are “corporate masters” known for being hypersensitive about sexual misconduct?

  73. 73.

    TenguPhule

    @mai naem mobile:

    I know this sounds gruesome but once Al Franken got to multiple accusations he became like one of those seriously wounded animals you see in Nature documentaries. It was just a matter of time before he got taken down by the hyenas.

    Buffalo form a ring facing out around their young and females against predators.

    Elephants defend their weak and wounded. To the point of chasing after lions who kill one of them just so they can trample it to death. Few lions attack a herd of elephants willingly.

  75. 75.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Kay: This is my hobbyhorse now: when Republicans say “deficit” they mean “welfare.” Republicans by definition can’t aggravate the deficit because they don’t believe in giving Those People welfare, which _everyone knows_ is what “the deficit” is. :/

  76. 76.

    Roger Moore

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Um, where in this mix of news stories did something germinate that led to ranting about “corporate masters”?

    It’s always about corporate masters for some people. They can’t accept that their ideas don’t win out because they haven’t convinced enough people, so they believe in conspiracy theories about how all of the Democrats’ leaders are a bunch of corporate sellouts.

  77. 77.

    TenguPhule

    @Cacti:

    Social Security and Medicare have their own dedicated revenue streams from payroll taxes, and have dick to do with deficits created by income tax cuts.

    Want to bet they steal the revenue to fund more tax cuts?

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    @Cacti:

    That doesn’t even address the biggest part of the scam:

    Social Security and Medicare have their own dedicated revenue streams from payroll taxes, and have dick to do with deficits created by income tax cuts.

    Good point. The Republicans love to push this image that the federal government is funded by one big pot of money, stolen from rich people who struggle hard to make their money, and is squandered on foolish lower class spendthrifts who are too lazy to do anything for themselves.

    And even crazier is the reality that the current tax system has not prevented the wealthy from amassing even greater wealth. As a story from yesterday points out:

    Record inequality: The top 1% controls 38.6% of America’s wealth

    The richest 1% of families controlled a record-high 38.6% of the country’s wealth in 2016, according to a Federal Reserve report published on Wednesday.

    That’s nearly twice as much as the bottom 90%, which has seen its slice of the pie continue to shrink.

    The bottom 90% of families now hold just 22.8% of the wealth, down from about one-third in 1989 when the Fed started tracking this measure.

    For the richest plutocrats, too much is not enough.

  80. 80.

    Gin & Tonic

    @FlipYrWhig: Actually most corporate HR departments are, in fact, both sensitive about sexual misconduct and much more tolerant of sexual differences than our government is. “I’m not baking a cake for those fags” may work for a small business, if the SC says it’s OK, as they likely will, but “I’m not working in the next cube from that fag” at a Fortune 500 company gets you walked out the door by security.

  81. 81.

    The Moar You Know

    Cole had his Schaivo moment, guess I had my Franken moment. Went down to the registrar’s office over lunch break and switched my party registration from “Democratic” to “No Party Preference”.

    I’ve been a registered Dem since my 18th birthday way back in 1984. This hurts. But I can’t support this party anymore.

  84. 84.

    AnonPhenom

    @Yarrow:

    I’d really rather a sitting Republican Rep or Senator be the next scalp.

    I think Trump has made them immune to that ever happening (for those reasons) again.
    You can only force someone to resign if your constituency actually cares.
    The Right clearly does not (see; Moore, Roy)

    …this has clearly become ‘just a Dem thing’
    Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  85. 85.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Yutsano:US senators serve at the pleasure of a gender specific cabal of their fellow party members. Were in the Constitution is that?

  87. 87.

    Gin & Tonic

    @The Moar You Know: Took what, all of two months from the “#MeToo” movement’s origin, to Roger Stone’s figuring out how to use it to split the Democratic party. That’s incredibly impressive.

  88. 88.

    bemused

    First time I ever noticed Ford, watched him for a bit and thought, eeew, some nasty vibes around that guy.

  90. 90.

    Cacti

    @TenguPhule:

    Want to bet they steal the revenue to fund more tax cuts?

    I have no doubt that they will try.

    The end goal is to loot the store for the rich. Always has been.

  91. 91.

    TenguPhule

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    US senators serve at the pleasure of a gender specific cabal of their fellow party members. Were in the Constitution is that?

    I believe its going to be inserted in the next Constitutional Convention as soon as Republicans have a majority needed.

  92. 92.

    John Revolta

    @TenguPhule:

    Elephants defend their weak and wounded. To the point of chasing after lions who kill one of them just so they can trample it to death.

    Donkeys, OTOH, just act like jackasses.

  93. 93.

    eric

    Franken would not have had to resign had he been quarterback of the Steelers…..

    But seriously, let’s not ignore Franken’s agency in his resignation, just as it is Moore’s agency that keeps him from dropping out. No one is “making” Franken drop out. There was no way that the GOP would have allowed an explusion vote given the current climate and Roy Moore. Franken gave in for his reasons. He could have made every argument made here about due process and the rights of the voters of Minnesota, but HE chose not to do so. Just as the republicans would not have forced Al out, the republican would not have just quit.

  97. 97.

    Cacti

    @The Moar You Know:

    Cole had his Schaivo moment, guess I had my Franken moment. Went down to the registrar’s office over lunch break and switched my party registration from “Democratic” to “No Party Preference”.

    I’ve been a registered Dem since my 18th birthday way back in 1984. This hurts. But I can’t support this party anymore.

    I feel ya.

    I’m still a Dem, but what they lost today is my time and money, until they earn it back. I have no interest in fighting for a party that won’t fight for itself.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Same goes with ISIS and terrorism. When Obama was president a day didn’t go buy without some chicken little story on ISIS, Syria, Drooooonez, Mosul. Now it’s like they never existed.

    And the health scares! Remember how they flogged ebola? They tracked that poor nurse down when she was riding her bike because they wanted to lock her into quarantine.

  102. 102.

    eric

    @TenguPhule: wrong. he quit. he could have stood tall and said “i will await the ruling of the ethics investigation. I know who i am as a man and I know i did not do the things I am charged with. Further, the things alleged are distortions of reality offered for political gain and I wont give in. If that puts my principles before my duty to party, then country and principles first….”

    He did not. I am not saying he is “wrong,” I am saying that he gave in.

  103. 103.

    Cacti

    @John Revolta:

    Donkeys, OTOH, just act like jackasses.

    Donkey doesn’t really work for Dems anymore. Donkeys are stubborn and not easily moved if they don’t want to be.

    The 21st century Democratic mascot should be the Jellyfish. No brain, no heart, no spine.

    Just drifts wherever the current takes it.

  105. 105.

    eric

    @Major Major Major Major: why not? He is standing up for due process and truth even if it makes his own party uncomfortable. that is a real and legitimate stand to take. He chose to step down for HIS reasons.

    I believe that Al Franken is a real patriot and HE decided to resign for reasons HE believed best. But, he made the decision.

  106. 106.

    rikyrah

    @Cacti:

    I’m still a Dem, but what they lost today is my time and money, until they earn it back. I have no interest in fighting for a party that won’t fight for itself.

    Because they fall for the bullshyt

    EVERY DAMN TIME!!

    AND, THEY ARE STILL PHUCKING SPINELESS.

  107. 107.

    Humboldtblue

    @Chyron HR:

    Oh go suck a dick you mewling clown. Tell me again about how Democrats have managed to lose thousands of seats at the state level and can’t even begin to sniff a simple majority in Congress?

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:

    How about you go suck the same dick that asshole above is sucking you assbag. Nobody forced you to read my fucking comment, and yet here you are with some more mealy-mouthed bullshit about “we’ll win next year”. If you haven’t noticed you clueless fuck, the immolation was done to us by a national party that gets fucking pantsed on a near daily basis. But yeah, you’re gonna get’em next time.

    @Gin & Tonic:

    And here comes your fucking dumb ass with some bullshit about Bernie Fucking Sanders. Go fuck yourself with a copy of “It Takes a Village”. The only thing more useless than the national Democratic party is your commentary.

  109. 109.

    TenguPhule

    @eric: One man against the world is the stuff of heroic fiction, not current reality.

    Once the party showed it had no loyalty to him, he owed it nothing further.

  110. 110.

    Kay

    SOURCES: @CNN and @washingtonpost working on exposing 20-30 congressional members 4 sexual harassment. #DC

    You knew there would be more and there would have been more no matter what Franken did or whether he was set up.

    and all of congress knows it’s coming

  111. 111.

    FlipYrWhig

    Somehow between here and my FB feed I have friends who are upset because discarding Franken is why Democrats suck, and others who are upset because defending Franken is why Democrats suck.

  113. 113.

    Barbara

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    JUST IN: Press Sec. Sarah Sanders: “No official decision has been made” on US participation in the Winter Olympics

    Sometimes it’s something incredibly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things that opens people’s eyes. Way back in 1982, James Watt was taking a meat axe to the Department of Interior and liberals and environmentalists were howling at the moon in anger, but his downfall only came about after he disinvited the Beach Boys from the Fourth of July concert on the mall because they were “unamerican.”

    Why exactly wouldn’t American athletes participate in the Olympics? Even Russian athletes are not being banned as individuals, they just can’t participate under the Russian flag.

  115. 115.

    ruemara

    @FlipYrWhig: These folks are unhinged. And, once again, I am so glad they weren’t part of the civil rights movement because I’d still be subject to Jim Crow.

  116. 116.

    eric

    @TenguPhule: he owed the voters that sent him there, not the senator from NY. I am not absolving the actions of others, I am simply pointing out that Al too could have shown a spine and what it means to be a person of small-d democratic principles.

  117. 117.

    Cacti

    @rikyrah:

    Because they fall for the bullshyt

    EVERY DAMN TIME!!

    AND, THEY ARE STILL PHUCKING SPINELESS.

    As much as the Dems like to think of themselves as “the smart party,” the GOP plays them like a harp any time they feel like it.

    We have the book smarts, they have the street smarts. And street smart keeps giving book smart a wedgie and stuffing it into a locker.

  118. 118.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay: Well that was fast. But then again, they did start 24 hours after the Moore story broke, so they’ve had plenty of time.

  119. 119.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Humboldtblue:

    Tell me again about how Democrats have managed to lose thousands of seats at the state level

    In part because New Hampshire has too fucking many and skews the stats.

  120. 120.

    Barbara

    @Kay: Like I said before, one reason to insist on deliberation and due process is because what happened today will set a standard for tomorrow. At least for Dems. Taking advantage of congressional interns, female lobbyists, and lots of others is a blood sport in Congress. What Franken is alleged to have done is incredibly anodyne by comparison.

  121. 121.

    VeniceRiley

    Is that you, BernieBLEW? hahaha. Learn the word “intersectional” and don’t come back. Every woman you know knows accountability on sexual harassment will take down men on many sides everywhere. It’s is long past time for this reckoning, and I speak for many who say your agenda of “sit down and shut up until the far left gets its way on eeeevil corporations!11!!1!” smells like dog doo.

  122. 122.

    TenguPhule

    @eric: And trying to operate in the Senate with his fellow Senators turning on him was not gonna happen. Especially if McConnell held a vote to expel him from the Senate.

  123. 123.

    eric

    @Kay: and if the list is GOP heavy, then the Law of Unintended Consequences may yet kick GOP ass because of Al’s resignation.

  127. 127.

    I'll be Frank

    @Gin & Tonic: meh, it depends where you are on the pecking order. SVP’s get a stern talking to, the peon’s get the door. I once had an employee complain about a “double standard,” I assured him we had way more than 2.

  128. 128.

    eric

    @TenguPhule: There was NO WAY that McConnell would jeopardize his thin majority with expulsions over sexual “issues,” especially when there is a train wreck a-coming his way that he may well need to gut the last remnants of our safety net programs.

  129. 129.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @FlipYrWhig: to the BernieBro, there are only corporate masters. Voters are an abstraction, an excuse politicians use to explain their cowardice.

    my FB feed I have friends who are upset because discarding Franken is why Democrats suck, and others who are upset because defending Franken is why Democrats suck.

    any of them figured how it’s all Obama’s fault yet?

  130. 130.

    Peale

    @Kay: Yep. I was worried actually that all of this sudden debate about “Confederate Statues” a few months ago was being highlighted to swing Virginia. But it didn’t work or next year the “national debate” during mid-terms would have been about statues. They’ll find something. I mean that immigrant to brutally killed that lady in San Francisco that launched 1000 “immigrant crime is out of control” stories was apparently found not guilty of that particular crime last week. Crickets. Its difficult to predict what culture war issue will be consuming us next summer so we won’t vote on tax plans.

  132. 132.

    Barbara

    @FlipYrWhig: All I wish for from Franken is honesty. If he did what was alleged, say it and apologize and state his intentions. And if he didn’t, well then, stand up for himself and explain why he will or won’t resign as a result. I am not going to second guess any of this. I think he has not come across well in responding to these allegations, is one reason people have come around to believing in his culpability.

  134. 134.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not yet, but a fair number of them seem to think that Bernie Sanders is the solution. I am a longstanding Sanders detractor, which skews my view, OK, but in the not-altogether-unlikely event that Sanders gets caught up in these claims, heads are going to be popping like Scanners meets the Fourth of July.

  135. 135.

    laura

    @B.B.A.: Harold Ford jr. Had Due Process in an internal investigation and when those facts supported the allegations with a level of sufficiency, the employer terminated his employment.
    So yes, Muh Due Process….

  137. 137.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Humboldtblue: have managed to lose thousands of seats at the state level

    You’ve spent a lot of time in West Virginia, Arkansas and Mississippi, and have a keen understanding of the last fifty years of American politics, I’m sure.

  138. 138.

    Kay

    @Barbara:

    I don’t think we have enough information to game this out to that extent. Congress has more information than we do right now, which is why I’m willing to give the D senators the benefit of the doubt on tactics.

    I do it too so I’m not slamming anyone but saying we all know the ending with such a small amount of information in what looks like a tsunami seems to me premature. Franken was part of these talks – portraying him as a victim of scheming colleagues doesn’t ring true to me. They made a decision. I don’t know what they based it on. I don’t know if it was the right one.

  139. 139.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Barbara: It’s not easy when everyone smells blood. Even if they are mistaken. Ask Tookie Amirault how you get your life back.

  140. 140.

    glory b

    @eric: The Steelers thought he was valuable enough to defend.

    Too bad some of us don’t think the same.

    Like Joy Reid says, the other side gives a little push and we shoot our own soldiers on the battlefield.

    Interesting how much of the pushback I read is from people of color. Maybe we’re too cynical about the supposed benefit of the moral high ground.

  142. 142.

    eric

    @Barbara: exactly. (i always enjoy your thoughtful commentary) For me, Al’s “problem” is that he can be very articulate and forceful about democracy and true American values. Al’s voice rang loud and true about who we are and want to be as a nation, yet I did not hear that Al at any point in this debacle.

  143. 143.

    Peale

    @Kay: Well hopefully there will be SOME white christians in that group who’ll be foreced to resign. Because from what I’m seeing, its Jews 0-1, African Americans 0-1, and white Christians 2-2 in surviving these charges in Congress in the new environment.

  144. 144.

    Cacti

    @laura:

    Harold Ford jr. Had Due Process in an internal investigation and when those facts supported the allegations with a level of sufficiency, the employer terminated his employment.
    So yes, Muh Due Process….

    Without due process, we have mob justice.

    Not surprising that members of left and right fringe both scoff at it. Horseshoe theory of politics on display.

  145. 145.

    eemom

    @Humboldtblue:

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re not a Berniebro at all; rather, a normal pragmatic progressive who is just fucking furious at how Gillibrand et al fucked us all over yesterday.

    If so, I am right there with you.

  147. 147.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Barbara: IMHO he’s lost the trust of his colleagues and won’t be able to get it back, and as someone who gets defensive himself, I well realize that there are few easy ways to deny things you feel bad for doing because you do recognize the hurt they caused and know that the more you try the more you’ll get defensive and make things worse.

  149. 149.

    lamh36

    John Lewis announces he will not attend the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum this Saturday because President Trump’s “attendance and hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed” in this museum.
    https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/938863961545543682

    Statement: “President Trump’s disparaging comments about women, the disabled, immigrants and NFL players disrespect the efforts of Fannie Lou Hamer, Aaron Henry, Medgar Evers, Robert Clark, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and countless others.”

  150. 150.

    Dave

    @Barbara: That’s really what’s galling. It’s can pretty much be assumed that a great many MoC have and continue to engage in significantly more egregious behavior than Franken has been accused of. And yet nothing. Like Gingrich crying over Bills infidelity.

  151. 151.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    I can predict one thing the “me too’ movement should be aware of- they need to bring in low wage and middle class workplaces or a large group of the population will dismiss this is as something people who make a lot of money can worry about while the toilers of the soil are just trying to keep body and soul together- I’ve already heard that it’s all upper and upper middle class women and I could have predicted that because it’s always an issue in feminism. Bring it down lower or lose that whole chunk ‘o women.

  152. 152.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @eemom: Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re not a Berniebro at all; rather, a normal pragmatic progressive

    heir fucking corporate fealty and complete and utter inability to run a national party that has impacts on local, state and federal elections and issues means they are nothing more than a fucking sideshow.
    Name one fucking thing the DC Democrats have done that was created from liberal policies and ideals since Clinton was sexually abusing an intern in the White House? Name one, and don’t dare come at me with that fucking corporate blowjob that is fucking healthcare because they couldn’t even get that fucking passed without bowing down to their corporate masters.
    mmmm….. smell the normal and pragmatic

  153. 153.

    John Revolta

    @Cacti: Mmph. A jellyfish at least will sting you if you fuck with it.

    More like chickens, at a damn peckin’ party.

  157. 157.

    Humboldtblue

    @eemom:

    Thank you. eemom. I am a staunch supporter of the Democratic party here locally and in California because they are actually effective. We wrestled away control from centrists and the GOP following Arnie’s terms and the leadership in Sacramento, even with slightly fewer women in the legislature, is still driven by liberal policies championed by extraordinary women as it relates to health care and child care, workers rights and wages, environmental issues and a hundred other things that directly impact the lives of millions.

    You want a fucking example of the complete and utter incompetence of the Democrats at the national level? Read this fucking piece by Micheal Harriot about the fucking geniuses in Alabama who thought th8is fucking campaign flyer was good idea.

    But yeah, I’m the fucking problem.

  158. 158.

    Kay

    @eric:

    and if the list is GOP heavy, then the Law of Unintended Consequences may yet kick GOP ass because of Al’s resignation.

    Right. Except it wouldn’t be the law of unintended consequences. Because they knew it was coming. Which did or did not play into their decision. I myself do not know

    I have concerns! I just don’t know enough to freak out yet. I still may! :)

  159. 159.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    I can predict one thing the “me too’ movement should be aware of- they need to bring in low wage and middle class workplaces or a large group of the population will dismiss this is as something people who make a lot of money can worry about while the toilers of the soil are just trying to keep body and soul together

    I predict #metoo is going to become a throwaway joke about elitists.

  160. 160.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t know why Democratic politicians stopped creating that dazzling array of stuff from liberal policies and ideals they were constantly doing before Bill Clinton. Southern Democrats for the first 92% of the 20th century were always all about that, right? :/

  162. 162.

    Cacti

    @Dave:

    That’s really what’s galling. It’s can pretty much be assumed that a great many MoC have and continue to engage in significantly more egregious behavior than Franken has been accused of. And yet nothing. Like Gingrich crying over Bills infidelity.

    Dennis Hastert, longest serving GOP Speaker of the House in history, was a pederast.

    And according to Mel Watt (D-NC), it wasn’t a secret either.

  164. 164.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Humboldtblue: See, thing is, it might POSSIBLY be the case that Democrats in California and Democrats in Alabama are a smidge different in belief, action, and quantity.

  165. 165.

    Humboldtblue

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Well, there’s a reason you have fucking “foolish” in your name. I notice your foolish fucking ass didn’t answer the question either. Now name a fucking liberal policy that has been championed by national Democrats and been enacted in the past 30 years that was born of core liberal ideas. Even the fucking health care bill was fucking modeled on a GOP idea. So you can take your silly and foolish ass and stand in the cock-sucking line as well, or maybe you should fucking go make another call to Gillibrand. That’s sure as shit helping to stop the onslaught from the GOP.

  167. 167.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Humboldtblue: Well, there’s a reason you have fucking “foolish” in your name.

    there’s a zinger!

    So you can take your silly and foolish ass and stand in the cock-sucking line as well, or maybe you should fucking go make another call to Gellibrand

    So. Fucking. Normal.

  168. 168.

    les

    @sylvania:

    Yea makes perfect sense. Remember that when they kill Obamacare and steamroll more garbage through with the help of Moores’s vote, which Republicans will gladly pat him on the back for. But we got our symbolic gesture of getting Franken to resign over something far less serious. And symbolic gestures are so much more important than actual laws that ruin millions of peoples lives.

    Anyone here who called for Franken to resign has lost the right to piss and moan and bitch when Republicans pass something by one vote due to that. You own that now.

    This is really getting stupid. You are aware that Franken is not the senator from Alabama, and Moore will not be taking Franken’s seat? You are aware that Franken will be replaced by a Dem, who has already won statewide office in MN? Jebus, people have gone all superman fantasy here–Al Franken was not going to single handedly save the nation, and his ability to do the good things he could do–and they were good, and he’ll be missed–was seriously hampered if he stayed.
    If you want to end the Repub majority, get off your ass and work for Dems to be elected. Pro Tip–MN won’t be the problem.

  169. 169.

    Humboldtblue

    @FlipYrWhig:

    See, the thing is is that the Democratic party on the national level is a fucking joke. But you keep pretending that they’re gonna win any day now! Maybe you should run to the phone and call a senator! They just Willie Horton’ed themselves and you are fine with that.

  170. 170.

    Barbara

    @lamh36: Regarding Pawlenty: My working hypothesis for Democrats and Republicans both is not to nominate a candidate who lost a big election. There are many examples of this hypothesis working out in practice. Russ Feingold, Hubert Humphrey in Minnesota (after Paul Wellstone’s tragic death), and George Allen. It applies to John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Hillary Clinton. Once you lose you are pretty much done. I am sure there are counter examples but when you lose there is a reason why YOU lost when someone else might have won. Your odds of ultimate success the next time around are lower, not higher.

  171. 171.

    Kay

    @TenguPhule:

    I don’t really agree with the “elite” thing. They’re “elites” in the sense that they’re media and government and movie star people so they get more coverage, but ya know, I’m not sure that can be fixed because really no one wants to read about normal people which is why we have famous people.

    Everyone can’t be famous. Unfair, sure, I guess, but not fixable. Let me tell you about my experience working at Wal Mart” will just never have the same effect as ” a president/movie star harassed me”

  174. 174.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    The ebola panic bothered me because it had this gross whiff of “from deepest darkest Africa comes a new threat!”

    Also because there are so many horrible diseases that a lot more people were and are dying from so I was wondering why they freaking out about that one. This is a country where people voluntarily expose their children to infectious diseases from the 19th century because they think it’s a conspiracy of big pharma. We have boring and stupid problems to worry about without going that far afield

  175. 175.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Humboldtblue: I’m sure that the key to victory is something something CORE LIBERAL something. I hear there used to be a lot of CORE LIBERALS representing Mississippi and Louisiana but then they just stopped one day for some reason, probably corporations.

  176. 176.

    TenguPhule

    @les:

    You are aware that Franken will be replaced by a Dem, who has already won statewide office in MN?

    You are aware that at the time the allegations broke, Franken was LEADING the Democratic resistance to against the tax bill and Net Neutrality gutting?

    Again, you’ve just replaced the admiral at the battle of Midway with an ensign fresh out the academy. Good luck trying to save your carriers.

  178. 178.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    The ebola panic bothered me because it had this gross whiff of “from deepest darkest Africa comes a new threat!”

    To be fair, there was genuine reason to be concerned. Given modern transportation networks, a potential outbreak could have proved catastrophic.

  179. 179.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Kay: That whole election was SCARY FOREIGNERS SNEAKING IN. It was Ebola _and_ the refugee children from Central America. I don’t remember terrorism specifically being part of the panic but it’s been part of the panic generally for 16 years.

  182. 182.

    FlipYrWhig

    Can it be stupid for Al Franken to resign because it became intolerable that he grabbed a handful of waist AND ALSO be stupid to bellow incoherently about corporate paymasters?

  183. 183.

    PJ

    @Barbara: Modern counterexamples are Nixon for President (1960), Reagan in the Republican primary (1976). But I admit it seems very hard for a candidate to overcome a major loss. Hillary came close last year.

  184. 184.

    hitless

    @Barbara: I obviously don’t know, but my feeling was the Franken could have been trying to not be seen as dismissive of the allegations. It’s possible he went with the “I don’t remember it that way” line in order to acknowledge that what he considered just a hand around the shoulder may have touched more accidentally, and like a good liberal did not want to dismiss the allegations out of hand. There were things he flat out said didn’t happen (propositioning someone to head to the bathroom).

    If so, it was a bad choice. This is a debacle. And it sets the stage for weaponization down the line. It has split the Democratic electorate. And you can go ask people which political party is filled with sexual predators. They will now answer the Democrats. They’ve had a congressman and senator resign because of their harassment of women. No Republicans have resigned.

  185. 185.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Humboldtblue: name one fucking thing D.C. democrats have done that came from liberal policies?

    Medicaid expansion
    Massive investments in solar R&D
    Cuban rapprochement
    Iran nuclear deal
    Dodd Frank
    CFPB
    Sotomayor appointment
    Paris accord
    Arguing in court on behalf of the US that anti-gay laws should be subject to strict scrutiny
    Eliminating privatized student loans and expanding Pell grants
    Credit card accountability responsibility and disclosure act
    Shutting down for profit colleges and requiring comparative disclosures
    Expanding overtime pay
    Gave the FDA the power to regulate tobacco
    Required chain restaurants to provide nutritional information

    That wasn’t even difficult. To remain that purposefully ignorant, you have to want to.

  187. 187.

    Kay

    @FlipYrWhig:

    That whole election was SCARY FOREIGNERS SNEAKING IN

    Guffaw. It was. I told this story here before but my middle son was in a Toledo bar and public radio came in to interview the commoners about refugees. Toledo has a Syrian neighborhood so they took refugees, which no one gave a shit about because, well, Toledo has a Syrian neighborhood and no one is scared of them.

    The reporter asked them about the refugees not knowing that they had been talking about bedbugs. They all had bedbugs. So they told the reporter they needed the bed bug crisis addressed, just playing with him. I felt like it was so perfect for that period-the lunacy and stupidity of it.

  189. 189.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @FlipYrWhig: @Kay: That whole election was SCARY FOREIGNERS SNEAKING IN. It was Ebola _and_ the refugee children from Central America. I don’t remember terrorism specifically being part of the panic but it’s been part of the panic generally for 16 years.

    It was also around that time that ISIS released the video of IIRC 20 kindapped Egyptian laborers being beheaded in Libya. I was in Colorado that fall and it was big, Gardner ran ads showing black-clad ISIS training camps, and I can’t quite recall the quote but Tweety said something along the lines of “how long until we see beheading in this country”. My pet theory is that Ebola- and terror-porn were fatal to Udall and Hagan. And Udall ran a really shitty campaign against a grinning fraud very reminiscent of GWB

  192. 192.

    les

    @TenguPhule:

    You are aware that at the time the allegations broke, Franken was LEADING the Democratic resistance to against the tax bill and Net Neutrality gutting?

    Listen limpdick: no, I don’t think he’s the dem leader, in the senate or anywhere else. Are you aware that the Senate passed the tax bill? OH NOES, without this single senator they’ll pass the tax bill! Are you aware that the Donald already put the FCC boys in place to end net neutrality, AND FRANKEN DIDN’T STOP HIM? Did you know there are more repub senators than dems? Franken has been a damn good senator, and I’m sorry to see him go. I don’t know–and neither do you–where the ethics hearings would have gone; and I obviously have more respect for Al Franken and the folks who are there than you do.
    This is about your fevered fantasies of THAT ONE SUPERMAN WHO WOULD FIX EVERYTHING, and now you’re going to sit in the dirt and eat worms. It’s not pricipled, it’s just fucking tiresome.

  193. 193.

    NobodySpecial

    @Humboldtblue: You should really try out the new buzzwords like the cool kids. Today it’s all about ‘stabbed in the back’ and ‘virtue signaling’.

  194. 194.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It makes me dismiss “threats”. I feel like I’m well on my way to saying “this too shall pass” in response to just about everything they’re shrieking about. I never liked those people who wouldn’t go along with panics because panics are exciting and now I am one of those people.

  195. 195.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Kay:

    while the toilers of the soil are just trying to keep body and soul together

    Plus soil toilers don’t want to be told they can’t whistle at women or compliment women at work for their looks.

  197. 197.

    Scotian

    @NobodySpecial:

    @Humboldtblue: You should really try out the new buzzwords like the cool kids. Today it’s all about ‘stabbed in the back’ and ‘virtue signaling’.

    Yes, so new I was hearing these buzwords used politically in American politics nationally over a quarter century ago…unless you were trying to be sarcastic in which case this is an underscoring.

    *SIGH*

  199. 199.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: I’ve always been phlegmatic, and now I am grown old. I’m wondering how long current dies irae will last on this very blog.

  202. 202.

    TenguPhule

    @les:

    Are you aware that the Senate passed the tax bill? OH NOES, without this single senator they’ll pass the tax bill! Are you aware that the Donald already put the FCC boys in place to end net neutrality, AND FRANKEN DIDN’T STOP HIM? Did you know there are more repub senators than dems?

    Come January 31, you’re going to see the difference between organized resistance and unorganized resistance in the Senate. And its not going to be pretty.

  203. 203.

    geg6

    @glory b:

    Same for me. Plus it’s also women of all hues on my FB page. It’s the men who are suddenly all about how the flowers of womanhood must be protected from having their waists squeezed.

  205. 205.

    Mike in Pasadena

    @B.B.A.: I wasn’t aware that Morgan Stanley is the same as the Senate. Was he an employee or a Senator? One is not like the other. Dolt.

  206. 206.

    Doug!

    @Cacti:

    I think people like Bayh and Ford are a big part of the reason why we lose so many elections. I have nothing against Ford personally other than this story. I think his brand of politics is a loser.

  208. 208.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: That’s so sad, but good for him. Not too hard to draw the dotted line to Trump finagling some sort of photo op with John Lewis, and he not having any. I hope there are a million people protesting against Trump at the event.

  210. 210.

    Peale

    @WaterGirl: Nope. We managed to take a seat and put it in play during a mid-term when our voters, even in liberal St. Paul, tend to stay home.

  211. 211.

    TenguPhule

    @Peale: But I am told by wise and respected counsel that we have nothing to worry about because we have shown the voters the strength of our convictions.

  212. 212.

    HumboldtBlue

    @NobodySpecial:

    Oooh the buzzwords like “winning elections”? Buzzwords like using the image of a black man to scare Alabama voters into voting for Jones through the use of historically racist tropes about crime? Those buzzwords? My favorite buzzword spewed by ballbags like you is “losing” and “loser” and “cutting one’s nose off to spite the face while the GOP rapes the country.” Those are great buzzwords, thanks stupid fucking internet commenter guy, you’ve been truly helpful with the buzzwords.

  215. 215.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Humboldtblue: Come on people, let’s take it easy on Humbolt, he’s living out in California under the heal of The Man Himself and the Golden State’s version of Trump; Jerry Brown.

    Some sympathy for the oppressed please.

  217. 217.

    eemom

    @Van Buren:

    stayed for the primal scream therapy.

    I will say, again, that the gentleman’s rage is entirely understandable and I share it. The Democratic “leadership” FUCKED US ALL OVER BIG TIME yesterday, people.

  218. 218.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Citizen Alan: So this is D version of the R Tax Bill – “don’t wory it will be fine, until next year’s election, and then we will all be screwed. But think of the Moral Statement!”

  219. 219.

    glory b

    @Citizen Alan: Just heard from McKay Coppins on weekly MTP, Gretchen Carlson, who is a MN native, is considering running for Franken’s seat.

    No word on what party or as an independent.

    All I heard. Now going to walk the dog.

  221. 221.

    FlipYrWhig

    @eemom: He doesn’t even know what he’s raging about, though. What does Franken stepping down have to do with “corporate” anything? Corporations told women senators to say they’ve had enough of the Franken story, and so they did it, ergo proving that no one has been liberal-ing right in 30 years because they’re all a bunch of bought-and-sold lackeys? Take HB’s statements and try to make them coherent and that’s what you get: that the problem with Democrats is that corporations… make women do… fake feminism? Um, OK then.

  224. 224.

    Emma

    @eric: I have a question. Do you remember every minute of your life in detail? Every person you’ve met or spoken to? In my misspent youth I was a Trekkie. I attended giant cons with thousands of others, I had my photo taken with total strangers, including mundanes who were fascinated by the costumes. There yellowing pictures of me in back closets in at least five states. I met a number of the actors in group settings and even had a funny kind of bonding with Mark Lenard. Do you think they would remember me among the thousands they met? Franken was a celebrity before he was a politician. There must be thousands of pictures of the man mugging for the camera with total strangers. How does he defend against random “he touched my ass” complaints from strangers?

  225. 225.

    Barbara

    @Humboldtblue: Look, I don’t like the double standard and even on her best days Gillibrand hardly inspires confidence. But Franken had the opportunity to just stand up and say, “here’s what happened.” He didn’t. I can’t blame Gillibrand or anyone else who became impatient with what seems to me to be an effort to keep rolling the ball forward. What would an ethics investigation accomplish? These were he said she said episodes and he needed to “say” his side of the story. He wouldn’t. He might have refused for really good reasons, reasons of concern for the women involved and for women generally. I appreciate that, but I do think there was an opportunity to say, “yeah, I am in this goofy picture, but I never touched her, and the kiss was really just part of the skit so I can appreciate she didn’t like it, that’s why we changed it in the actual act. These other things might have seemed inappropriate or overly close to the women, but I assure you, that was not my intent and I honestly did not do anything prurient.” I like Franken. He is probably my favorite senator. I am dismayed by all of this but I am not going to fall to pieces over it.

  226. 226.

    Barbara

    @Emma: He says what you said. I know he said pieces of what you said, but not with much conviction.

    ETA: What I really dislike about this is the idea that we should do Franken’s work for him or defend him more fiercely than he would defend himself when we don’t actually know what happened.

  227. 227.

    TenguPhule

    @Barbara:

    But Franken had the opportunity to just stand up and say, “here’s what happened.” He didn’t.

    I doubt he even remembers meeting half the named accusers. Which is part of the problem.

  228. 228.

    TenguPhule

    @Barbara:

    yeah, I am in this goofy picture, but I never touched her, and the kiss was really just part of the skit so I can appreciate she didn’t like it, that’s why we changed it in the actual act.

    He said as much about the former and so far as I can tell they did do the latter in the performance with the attempt to kiss still in it.

  229. 229.

    No One You Know

    @sylvania: No. Even if anyone did, they don’t own it, for the simple reason that we jackals had no say in the outcome. You only own what you’re responsible for.

    Now, about those votes last year…

  231. 231.

    J R in WV

    I don’t even know who Evan is that I should care about him. Humbolt, dude, lighten up a little bit, please.

    You need to learn how to be a Yellow Dog Democrat, I’d vote for that Yellow Dog on the porch before I would vote for a Republican!! Never have, never will.

    That is the choice: Democratic of Republican. Or just move to Costa Rico, or Portugal. But then I would have to learn a new language, just when I’m about to nearly have English down, after 66 years of practice.

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