What the fuck, Al.
Mr. Franken, you were seemed good enough, smart enough, and goddamn it, people liked you. Why?
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That’s it. At this point I’m OK with a blanket ban on men in government until we figure out a better screening process.
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If being a gross groper can take out a popular senator, it should be able to take out a wildly unpopular president.
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I agree wholeheartedly, but I’m already seeing people defending Franken by pointing out that many prominent Republicans did things that were even worse. Not good enough. The whole lot needs to go.
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He was one of the only ones I could tolerate, god dammit.
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I’m willing to sacrifice a few favorites if we can get to all of the real bad ones. They’ve GOT to go.
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Jesus Christ.
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Fucking hell.
Time to clean house. And Senate.
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That’s what the Republicans were doing at us in the first place.
Agreed. Don’t leave the job half done just because we agree with the politics of some of the abusers.
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I’m more of a fuddy-duddy old “innocent-until-proven-guilty” types. It’s kind of the reason we have this whole “trial by jury” and “right to face their accuser” thing.
Don’t get me wrong. I have NO doubts whatsoever about the endemic rate of entitled men sexually assaulting women. They’re rat bastards. They SHOULD get it right in the balls for it.
But I’ve been deeply suspicious of the court-of-popular-opinion success of this recent movement - Particularly in these days of Russian trolls and partisan hackery - Not to mention President Caligula’s worn-out “I didn’t do it, HE / SHE / THEY / IT did it” defense every time he gets caught with his dick in a scandal.
There is nothing those who want to defuse this movement would want more, than to strip it of any integrity and momentum - But not before THEY’VE used it to smear anybody that stands in their way.
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I’m even fine with the idea of revisiting the decades-old claims of sex crimes by Bill Clinton just as long as that doesn’t distract us from dealing with the sex offenders who are actively seeking office or are currently in office.
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Did you not see the photographic evidence of assault in the article? This isn’t a he-said she-said thing, dude.
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- “Innocent until proven guilty” is for courts of law. That’s literally the only time when it’s the correct standard of evidence for evaluating a claim.
- A trial by jury is only required if you’re trying to put someone in jail, not expose them as a sexual assaulter.
- Al Franken hasn’t even disputed the central claims of his accuser. He merely said he remembers the incident differently.
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I’m sure, twenty years down the pike when Trump’s justices destroy yet another precedent, we’ll look at this era with…
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I saw it. Have you ever heard of someone taking a photo and “re-contextualizing” it to suit their agenda ? Like, for instance, when the Romney campaign chopped up and edited Obama’s comments to create the Frankenstinian “You didn’t build that” scam ?
We don’t know if that wasn’t a pic of a bunch of comedy writers or anything else, indulging in some currently-ULTRA-taboo horseplay. I’ll wait for some substantiated evidence - And, yes, it’s because I have a harder time believing that somebody like Franken would do something like that.
But, if he did - Then out the fucking door with him. No favorites on EITHER side. - If for no other reason than that’s EXACTLY how the current crop of degenerate republicans play the game. The old “WE-can-but-YOU-can’t” tactic. I HATE that tactic and the gutless fuckers that wallow in it.
Just be sure that this is REAL, and not a hit job concocted by somebody who wants to get rid of a liberal Dem who sits on a lot of consumer-protection and investigative committees. Remember, if you will, what was revealed about the infidelities of damn near EVERY senator who was buddying up with Ken Starr.
Sexual “horseplay” with unconscious people is “ULTRA-taboo” for good goddamn reason.
Franken doesn’t even have the excuse of being young and stupid. This wasn’t some drunken college freshman hopped up on hormones and social pressure from other frat boys, it was a 55-year-old man who had literally written entire BOOKS about holding people accountable for their actions.
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Is it relevant to ask whether he’s actually touching her or not in that picture? If I had to guess, I’d say he’s not making contact, which would make it not groping.
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