Politics 2: Electric Boogaloo — Page 523

I guess that Rocky statue in Philly is going to get covered up until this is sorted out.

This is a very promising development, assuming your last name isn’t Flynn.

Well this is unfortunate.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/us/politics/al-franken-sexual-harassment-groping-forcible-kissing.html

WASHINGTON — A growing national outcry over sexual harassment reached the Senate on Thursday, when a radio newscaster accused Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, of kissing and groping her without consent during a 2006 U.S.O. tour of the Middle East before he took public office.

Mr. Franken, who has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate, almost immediately released an apology to the newscaster, Leeann Tweeden, who said that Mr. Franken forcibly kissed her during a rehearsal and groped her for a photo as she slept. After initially apologizing without fully acknowledging all of her accusations, he then released another lengthier, more contrite statement that contested nothing.

“The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women,” Mr. Franken wrote.

“I respect women. I don’t respect men who don’t,” he continued. “And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed.”

TV’s Frink said:

Are you joking?

No. Why?

darth_ender said:

No, don’t worry. It’s alright because it was Al Franken. Just look at the Twitter comments. Doggone it, people like him!

I think you’re looking at the wrong liberals on Twitter.

It’s doesn’t have quite the same quality as Moore’s “Who Would Jesus Molest?” defenders, but I do see a lot of liberals playing Change the Subject awfully damn hard with regard to Franken. There’s about a bazillion discussions going on in liberal circles about Roger Stone and the Russian bots knowing about the allegations before they became public. Sure, it’s a politically motivated hit job. I don’t ever think that was ever in any serious doubt. But the thing is, this political hit job seems to have an actual basis in fact, making it very much different from the things thrown at Clinton by the same actors.

For crying out loud, Franken is not contesting the accusation. He’s referred himself to the ethics panel. Is that enough? No, actually it’s definitely not enough in the end, but it should be enough for his supporters to stop trying to defend him by calling the accusation “fishy”. Fishiness isn’t nearly as important as truth.

Exactly zero liberals are saying Franken groped this woman just the same way John the Baptist groped Elijah so it’s okay. But this is only because liberals and conservatives think differently. But they both have the same defend my team instinct, and sadly very little respect for the seriousness of the issue of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment (should be) a non-partisan issue, and it’s rampant in places without oversight, such as Congress. There are absolutely more Democratic congresspeople who engaged in similar and worse behavior. And more Republicans too. And I’m not particularly sad about the prospect of dirt being dug up on the lot of them.

Trumpy tweeting about Franken seems risky. He’s just begging for an embarrassing photo or video of him getting grabby with someone to magically appear.

Warbler said:

nevermind.

Yeah, it made me raise an eyebrow too, but I’m not sure I want to know either.

CatBus said:

It’s doesn’t have quite the same quality as Moore’s “Who Would Jesus Molest?” defenders, but I do see a lot of liberals playing Change the Subject awfully damn hard with regard to Franken. There’s about a bazillion discussions going on in liberal circles about Roger Stone and the Russian bots knowing about the allegations before they became public. Sure, it’s a politically motivated hit job. I don’t ever think that was ever in any serious doubt. But the thing is, this political hit job seems to have an actual basis in fact, making it very much different from the things thrown at Clinton by the same actors.

For crying out loud, Franken is not contesting the accusation. He’s referred himself to the ethics panel. Is that enough? No, actually it’s definitely not enough in the end, but it should be enough for his supporters to stop trying to defend him by calling the accusation “fishy”. Fishiness isn’t nearly as important as truth.

Exactly zero liberals are saying Franken groped this woman just the same way John the Baptist groped Elijah so it’s okay. But this is only because liberals and conservatives think differently. But they both have the same defend my team instinct, and sadly very little respect for the seriousness of the issue of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment (should be) a non-partisan issue, and it’s rampant in places without oversight, such as Congress. There are absolutely more Democratic congresspeople who engaged in similar and worse behavior. And more Republicans too. And I’m not particularly sad about the prospect of dirt being dug up on the lot of them.

Huh, what you’ve described has not been the reaction I’ve seen from liberals.

Get Sinéad back on SNL to tear up his picture.