Al was run out of Congress based on some pretty flimsy allegations. The big damage was the Leanne Tweeden photo, of which Al was guilty of posing for a staged (I think probably with Tweeden's active participation) photograph of a bad joke - "Al Franken groping the ungropable". This was followed up by a number of women saying "Oh my God, he touched my butt while we were having a photo taken at the Minnesota state fair".
In the name of a political assassination, might well there not indeed be a number of women willing to lie or at least distort the truth to eliminate a good and powerful democrat Senate voice?
And with all the people with all the cameras at the state fair, wouldn't you think that someone might of captured a photo or video of Al doing something bad?
I believe the women. #MeToo (it wouldn't be too hard to make the software turn hashtags into links)
Especially considering what we are seeing of the "women of the Trump cult" involved in the January 6th affair, and the women of the Republican party in general, I again assert that there is no shortage of women who would gladly lie to assist in a political assassination.
#MeToo can be abused.
I am not at all denying that there is large amounts of male bad behavior directed at women. But I think the charges against Franken were at the minimum badly blown out of proportion, and actually much closer to baseless slander and libel. Or something like that.
Franken was a powerful voice against Republican stupidity and he needed to be rid of.
ADDED BY EDIT - I invite all to go back to Message 278 and read what was being said back then.
Moose
Edited by Minnemooseus, : ABE
Professor, geology, Whatsamatta U Evolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment.
"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer." - Bruce Graham
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith
"Yesterday on Fox News, commentator Glenn Beck said that he believes President Obama is a racist. To be fair, every time you watch Glenn Beck, it does get a little easier to hate white people." - Conan O'Brien
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable." - John Kenneth Galbraith
It says something about the qualities of our current president that the best argument anyone has made in his defense is that he didn't know what he was talking about. - Paul Krugman (as stolen from Chiroptera's signature)
"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes" - Ronald Reagan (1984)
"I know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things, but I'm highly ignorant about everything." - Moose
quote:Look, I was way too handsy to the point of molestation, I used my position to take liberties I never should have, and I'm very, very sorry. To all the women I've treated badly I apologize from the bottom of my heart and promise it will never happen again. I know an apology is not enough. There's nothing I can do to make it right. But I want you all to know how very sorry I am and that I am a changed man. —Something Al Franken Could Say
"Look, I was way too handsy to the point of molestation"
- I think this goes to far. I think it would be more like:
"Look, I may have been carried away in expressing physical affection (hugging), to the point that it was a social faux pas"
"I used my position to take liberties I never should have, and I'm very, very sorry."
Somewhere up-thread there was testimony from the women of Saturday Night Live and from the women of Franken's Senate staff, that Franken was proper in his behavior towards them. "Taking liberties" toward potential voters (at the State fair) is not taking liberties toward women he had power over. In that case, it was the women who had some degree of power over him.
Franken was stuck in the environment of the "believe the women" of the "me too" movement. Even if he believed they were lying or at least distorting the truth, he couldn't really state such.
At looking at what we see in the women of MAGA, I'm totally confident many would gladly lie to adversely affect one of the Democratic party.
At the state fair, Franken was accused of touching butts during photo shoots. I'm sure there were massive numbers of photos taken of him from various angles. Has there be any photos of a Franken hand on a butt? Not that I know of.
Al's Person: His father. Al's Place: The Saturday Night Live writing room. Al's Thing: A painting of him and Tom Davis.
Not a political content episode, rather an exploration of Franken's early life and time at SNL.
Moose
Professor, geology, Whatsamatta U Evolution - Changes in the environment, caused by the interactions of the components of the environment.
"Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer." - Bruce Graham
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." - John Kenneth Galbraith
"Yesterday on Fox News, commentator Glenn Beck said that he believes President Obama is a racist. To be fair, every time you watch Glenn Beck, it does get a little easier to hate white people." - Conan O'Brien
"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable." - John Kenneth Galbraith
It says something about the qualities of our current president that the best argument anyone has made in his defense is that he didn't know what he was talking about. - Paul Krugman (as stolen from Chiroptera's signature)
"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes" - Ronald Reagan (1984)
"I know a little about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things, but I'm highly ignorant about everything." - Moose
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