When your kid has a tantrum in the store, do you call the FBI? Or do you deal with it as an internal family matter? That’s the difference between weakness and strength. One way, you give up all your power, and the other you rely on it, to solve the problem.
You’d think so, but I found someone on reddit yesterday willing to do just that: they said Franken’s reference to Trump and Moore in his resignation speech was whataboutism.
I’ve pointed out that since he was referencing the existing whataboutism voiced by Republicans, and turning it back on them, it can’t really count. Am waiting on a reply…
Are you seriously comparing Franken’s abuse of women to a kid having a tantrum?
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There are so many things wrong with that analogy. For one thing, we’re talking about adults engaging in sexual assault rather than children having tantrums. For another, the Democrats didn’t call someone else to deal with Franken. It was leaders in the party who pressured him to step down, so essentially they did deal with it as an internal family matter. And they dealt with it in a way that set a clear example for other members of the family.
You seem to be suggesting that the right thing to do in this scenario would be to take no action at all because someone else’s kid was acting even worse.
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Ok, here’s another one: when your uncle grabs your butt during the family photo shoot, do you get him fired from his job or do you put him in front of the family ethics committee for an internal review?
“I am proud I have used my power to be a champion of women” says man resigning because he couldn’t stop groping them.
I’m starting to think analogies aren’t your thing.
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As the narrative about Moore trickled out during the last few weeks, each succeeding story seemed to reinforce the idea that what he was doing was No Secret To Anybody, so if any male relatives had had the notion, it should have happened.
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It may or may not be “ok”. But it sounds as if you are saying “STFU and accept the groping. It’s in service of a higher cause”.
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Well, deck my halls. So… One day you find out your dad got permanently banned from the mall…
Nobody said accept it, or even STFU, but the choice of what to respond to, and how, and when, and why are all on the table.
Maybe just cut it out with the “family” analogies altogether. We don’t elect or appoint family members based on their suitability as a parent or child or uncle.
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Well, I’ve been saying for years, “The president is not your daddy. He’s your hired help.”
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So, your co-worker has a lot of pictures posted in his cubicle of young people he meets in Thailand…
Nope. They are definitely enjoying this opportunity, knowing that the Dems will eat their own in the process of standing up for what’s right.
I’m cynical. They’re doing this because they know that Franken and Conyers from solidly blue states and will be replaced by Democrats. The Minnesota governor will replace Franken with a Democrat. Michigan will likely vote for a Dem to replace Conyers because of Michigan’s general blueness.
By clearing house, they can show how virtuous they are (ignoring all the Bill Clinton stuff, which Republicans will never forget) and be fight against Moore with a “clean” conscious should he get elected. Franken got railroaded. He may have done these things, but he certainly deserved a chance at defending himself. Bob Menendez likely IS as corrupt as they say (and there are rumors of underage prostitutes), but no Democrats stood up during his trial and said he should resign to save the honor of the Senate.
So, I’m of the opinion that this is all a Democrat power play to take the higher ground without actually losing anything. I’m also of the opinion that the Republicans are all terrible. Basically, our ruling class is largely monsters.
I would not be surprised to see Moore get elected, the GOP Senate refuse to seat him, and the Alabama governor appoint a new Republican interim senator.
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As much as I don’t require another Republican Senator in the world, I think that’s the best option for the party. In which case, I wonder if Franken would unresign (he couched his announcement in a fairly uncertain timeframe).
Edit: I just looked it up, and it would require 2/3 majority to unseat him. I wonder if the Republicans tried but couldn’t get any support from Democrats. That would be an interesting bit of chaos.
That’s not how it works.
And even then, good luck with that. The last time it happened, in 2009, it was just tangled in red tape for a while and then the guy, Burris, eventually found his way into a chair.
Well, I not by fiat, but there is a mechanism that can refuse him a seat.
Burris was a procedural thing because the Illinois Secretary of State refused to sign some for or another. There was no Senate vote on the matter.
One aspect of this you won’t find much mention of here on BB is that there’s no love lost between the national GOP and Roy Moore.
The RNC, and McConnell, and Trump, all recognized early on that Moore would be an embarrassment to them in the Senate - they all supported Luther Strange against Moore in the primary.
But I’m sure they all were very suspicious of the allegations’ timing - within the precise window during which he could not be replaced on the ballot. A suspicion which I share.
So a replacement of Moore after the election suits the Republicans nicely.
It would be delicious to watch if the Democrats decided not to vote for Moore’s dismissal, in order to keep his embarrassing presence as the face of the GOP Senate.
Assuredly they’d have to want that outcome very badly as it would take away some of their pro-woman cred, at least among the feminists who are not governed strictly by realpolitik.
(Edit) I think an un-resignation by Franken is very much a possibility.
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