Al Franken accused of kissing and groping radio host. Will resign.

[Zorba]

From a political long game view though his resignation removes a piece from the board that can be used against the Dems and will further widen the gulf Republicans are finding with women voters.

I am not saying these accusations are false, but now that dems have set the precedent, what is stopping republicans from creating many false accusations against top democrats? Or democrats that aren't in safe districts. Don't think republicans are above that for one second.

In ideal world resigning is probably the right thing to do, but in the world today it is going to be used as tool to get rid of threatening democrats, so republicans can stay in power and continue to dissolve the rights of women and minorities.

 

[Starbuck1975]

You're new to politics, are ya?

Not new, just curious as to how much collateral damage you suffer before giving up on hitting the real target.

 

[jackstar7]

Not new, just curious as to how much collateral damage you suffer before giving up on hitting the real target.

There's no "real target" except all of the people who can't act responsibly in positions of power, at work, or really just in any social situation at all.

You deciding for others that Trump and/or Moore are the "real" targets is for you. It doesn't actually apply to anything outside of your head.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I predict that this will be Al sometime tomorrow.

 

[Starbuck1975]

There's no "real target" except all of the people who can't act responsibly in positions of power, at work, or really just in any social situation at all.

You deciding for others that Trump and/or Moore are the "real" targets is for you. It doesn't actually apply to anything outside of your head.

So we're good with accusations establishing guilt?

 

[jackstar7]

So we're good with accusations establishing guilt?

I've seen you engage honestly. Why this?

 

[Bitek]

Amazing. The R's get all the heads they call for while supporting the likes of Trump, Moore etc...

Mind-blowing situation, but I'm really disappointed in Franken. WTF, it's not that hard to not be a creep and get all handsy with women.

Was it worth it? So much potential to be thrown away.. goddammit..

I do not like that some of the accusations came unvetted, but there is still enough dirt there to be untenable.

Meanwhile the Gop elects child molesters into office, rallies around them, and attacks the victims. Shameful.

Good God, where are we as a nation that moral victories translate to electoral loses?

 

[Starbuck1975]

I've seen you engage honestly. Why this?

I don't care for Al Franken or Hollywood eliticism. I should be delighted that the #metoo movement is taking some of them out politically.

What I care for even less is social media vigilantism and McCarthyism. Donald Trump is President largely because of how quickly these unregulated platforms can disseminate information.

Do some of the men getting ensnared in this movement actually deserve it? Probably. Do I want to live in a society of Twitter kangaroo courts? No.

 

[sportage]

I still say all of this is just setting the stage to get Trump.
Falling on their sword, setting precedent they assume all politicians will be held to.
Judged by.
But that little plot won't work as planned.
In the end we will have Franken resigned along with many others, while Trump the sex predator continues on in the oval office and Roy Moore sits in the senate deciding your moral legalities.
And that is the way it will be.

 

[Zorba]

I still say all of this is just setting the stage to get Trump.
Falling on their sword, setting precedent they assume all politicians will be held to.
Judged by.
But that little plot won't work as planned.
In the end we will have Franken resigned along with many others, while Trump the sex predator continues on in the oval office and Roy Moore sits in the senate deciding your moral legalities.
And that is the way it will be.

Yup.

Don't forget they went after the guy who asked the question that made Sessions recuse himself, leading to Mueller. There may be truth here, but it sure feels like a hit.

 

[K1052]

I am not saying these accusations are false, but now that dems have set the precedent, what is stopping republicans from creating many false accusations against top democrats? Or democrats that aren't in safe districts. Don't think republicans are above that for one second.

In ideal world resigning is probably the right thing to do, but in the world today it is going to be used as tool to get rid of threatening democrats, so republicans can stay in power and continue to dissolve the rights of women and minorities.

While possible I'm skeptical that's a practical strategy. I mean you'd require a fair number of civilians who don't have any linkage back to Republican operations to make credible accusations and not have them be uncovered as frauds in the resulting investigations by news orgs. This is also legally fraught if they come forward publicly and are proved to have lied while conspiring with others.

If the attempt by Project Veritas is anything to go by I don't think it would work.

 

[zinfamous]

I am not saying these accusations are false, but now that dems have set the precedent, what is stopping republicans from creating many false accusations against top democrats? Or democrats that aren't in safe districts. Don't think republicans are above that for one second.

In ideal world resigning is probably the right thing to do, but in the world today it is going to be used as tool to get rid of threatening democrats, so republicans can stay in power and continue to dissolve the rights of women and minorities.

I tend to agree with this. Just look at these boards:

republicans: "These are just accusations! Show me the facts!" All in defense of credible sexual predators and child molesters...that are republicans. "Rapist! Get rid of him! how immoral!" In response to a democratic ass-grabber.

I think the GOP realizes that they lose no power by defending their own over awful, immoral behavior as long as they excoriate their opponents over the same. It's probably going to get worse, and lucky for the GOP, their voter base has been well-conditioned for decades now to reach the point where they simply do not know where the truth lies unless their congresspeople and approved newscasters tell them.

 

[zinfamous]

While possible I'm skeptical that's a practical strategy. I mean you'd require a fair number of civilians who don't have any linkage back to Republican operations to make credible accusations and not have them be uncovered as frauds in the resulting investigations by news orgs. This is also legally fraught if they come forward publicly and are proved to have lied while conspiring with others.

If the attempt by Project Veritas is anything to go by I don't think it would work.

All that matters when it comes to elected officials is how people vote. The GOP base still thinks that every "Sting" from project veritas has been verified as true. They actually believe that PP is grinding up babies and selling them to meat factories. They actually believe that ACORN funded a pimp. Reality is no longer the issue. You just have to plant the initial seed in people's brains that a piece of what you believe is true enough such that other's have been shown out in the world to investigate it...therefore truth.

And then they vote.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Franken denies that he's resigning today.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/al-franken-denies-report-he-has-decided-to-resign-from-the-senate/

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Franken denies that he's resigning today.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/al-franken-denies-report-he-has-decided-to-resign-from-the-senate/

Not quite. They say no final decision has been made. He's still talking to his family etc... I'd be shocked if he doesn't resign.

 

[Thebobo]

The last one was a complaint set up by Franken himself. Deep state tactics... according to the deep state deplorables.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Not quite. They say no final decision has been made. He's still talking to his family etc... I'd be shocked if he doesn't resign.

The report was that he's resigning today. While he might reach a decision today the actual act is not written in stone to happen today.

 

[K1052]

All that matters when it comes to elected officials is how people vote. The GOP base still thinks that every "Sting" from project veritas has been verified as true. They actually believe that PP is grinding up babies and selling them to meat factories. They actually believe that ACORN funded a pimp. Reality is no longer the issue. You just have to plant the initial seed in people's brains that a piece of what you believe is true enough such that other's have been shown out in the world to investigate it...therefore truth.

And then they vote.

I don't think ACORN truthers are really flippable votes to begin with.

 

[K1052]

Not quite. They say no final decision has been made. He's still talking to his family etc... I'd be shocked if he doesn't resign.

He's scheduled to speak from the floor later today. By all accounts this is it.

 

[blackangst1]

So we're good with accusations establishing guilt?

Isnt this done all the time? For example Trump colluded with Russians. But in fairness there has just as many of these on both sides of the aisle, and on this board. Just seems normal to me. I dont like it, but it is what it is.

 

[zinfamous]

I don't think ACORN truthers are really flippable votes to begin with.

no, they aren't but enough of those in the base still believe that kind of nonsense by virtue of having heard something about it once, years ago, it sounded right enough, and then never returned to the actual issue. O'Keefe just needs to publish his fake videos once to implant the worm in the brains of the average conservative. What happens after is completely meaningless to the average conservative voter. Every instance of fake news about something that yet another evil liberal does just adds to the pile of truthiness that they store away in their brains. "Hey, I hear so many bad things about evil liberals, so some of it must be true, right?"

 

[blackangst1]

All that matters when it comes to elected officials is how people vote. The GOP base still thinks that every "Sting" from project veritas has been verified as true. They actually believe that PP is grinding up babies and selling them to meat factories. They actually believe that ACORN funded a pimp. Reality is no longer the issue. You just have to plant the initial seed in people's brains that a piece of what you believe is true enough such that other's have been shown out in the world to investigate it...therefore truth.

And then they vote.

In all fairness zin, BOTH sides are guilty of this.

 

[K1052]

We are through the looking glass here people:

 

[K1052]

no, they aren't but enough of those in the base still believe that kind of nonsense by virtue of having heard something about it once, years ago, it sounded right enough, and then never returned to the actual issue. O'Keefe just needs to publish his fake videos once to implant the worm in the brains of the average conservative. What happens after is completely meaningless to the average conservative voter. Every instance of fake news about something that yet another evil liberal does just adds to the pile of truthiness that they store away in their brains. "Hey, I hear so many bad things about evil liberals, so some of it must be true, right?"

There is an open question about the longevity of this approach. When the Young Republicans in AL pulled their support the ALGOP (olds) wanted to punish them for it and still may. Long term this is how you burn a party down to it's shittiest core with a fire started by people looking for short term electoral advantage.

 

[brandonbull]

Franken denies that he's resigning today.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/al-franken-denies-report-he-has-decided-to-resign-from-the-senate/

If he is innocent, Franken should fight the charges.