Franken gone

Senator Franken resigned his Senate seat today.  His successor will be chosen by a Democratic Governor

It hurts when one by one the champions of all  that matter fall by the wayside..........a victim  of their misdeeds

Let's hope their Republican counterparts do the honorable thing

author said:

Senator Franken resigned his Senate seat today.  His successor will be chosen by a Democratic Governor


It hurts when one by one the champions of all  that matter fall by the wayside..........a victim  of their misdeeds

Let's hope their Republican counterparts do the honorable thing

Yeah, well, I’m afraid THAT ship has sailed...

A self-appointed cabal has nullified the votes of Minnesotans. Many members of the cabal were his fellow Democrat Party members. I refuse to use the word democratic in connection with these persons. The voters never got their chance to decide whether a dumb stunt more than 10 years ago, before he was a senator, should be disqualifying. And it was their decision to make. Not the Senator Palpatines who just subverted our democracy so brutally.

No kidding that ship has sailed. 

"Nice guys finish last".

Looks bad for the home team

Gotta agree with this.

brealer said:

A self-appointed cabal has nullified the votes of Minnesotans. Many members of the cabal were his fellow Democrat Party members. I refuse to use the word democratic in connection with these persons. The voters never got their chance to decide whether a dumb stunt more than 10 years ago, before he was a senator, should be disqualifying. And it was their decision to make. Not the Senator Palpatines who just subverted our democracy so brutally.

why not say something like " I will resign when the Senate refuses to seat Moore"?

brealer said:

A self-appointed cabal has nullified the votes of Minnesotans. Many members of the cabal were his fellow Democrat Party members. I refuse to use the word democratic in connection with these persons. The voters never got their chance to decide whether a dumb stunt more than 10 years ago, before he was a senator, should be disqualifying. And it was their decision to make. Not the Senator Palpatines who just subverted our democracy so brutally.

Not arguing about whether or not he should have resigned, but it was more than one dumb stunt.

he didn't resign today.  So I suppose if the voters of Minnesota want him to stay, they have a couple of weeks to rise up in indignation.

I believe the people of Minnesota probably aren't going to object to Franken's reservation.  Does anyone think he made his decision without a quick poll of voters in his state?

he was allegedly handsy during photo ops--years ago. Not nothing but WAY not what the Senators Palpatines were trying to make out. Again, the voters should have had their chance to decide how much weight to assign these allegations. 

he has 7 accusers.

Now, how and whether he should have resigned is a different story. But we certainly can’t demand Republican resignations yet see Democrats resigning for the same behavior as unjust. Pure hypocrisy 

brealer said:

he was allegedly handsy during photo ops--years ago. Not nothing but WAY not what the Senators Palpatines were trying to make out. Again, the voters should have had their chance to decide how much weight to assign these allegations. 

and unwanted kisses.

We are in new territory: We have quickly shifted from letting those in power do whatever they want without fear of repercussions to all "inappropriate" behavior being cause for punishment. I'm confident we'll find a happy medium over time.

dave23 said:

We are in new territory: We have quickly shifted from letting those in power do whatever they want without fear of repercussions to all "inappropriate" behavior being cause for punishment. I'm confident we'll find a happy medium over time.

But not all "inappropriate behavior" seems to be cause for punishment... 

Do you think polling now might  overweight Democrat Party extremists and underweight moderates?  Because I really do.

I do have to believe that the fact that the MN governor is a Democrat made it a lot easier for Democratic senators to grandstand on this issue.  If Franken was going to be replaced by Michele Bachmann, would they have called for his resignation?  I have to say I'd hope not.

From what I have been reading, I feel that up until last night he was not going to resign.  This could have been a good teachable moment.   One where he stands up and faces this head on, in public.   But it was his democratic colleagues who exerted an enormous amount of pressure on him to do so.  We are living in surreal times.

conandrob240 said:

he has 7 accusers.




Now, how and whether he should have resigned is a different story. But we certainly can’t demand Republican resignations yet see Democrats resigning for the same behavior as unjust. Pure hypocrisy 

Except demanding that Republicans resign doesn't make Republicans resign.  They are still supporting Trump and Moore.  He should have traded himself for Moore.

Yes, the Democrats can say "we got rid of Franken!, we got rid of Conyers! but the Republicans stick with Moore!", except that the seats of Franken and Conyers will remain loyally Democratic while the only way currently to get rid of Moore is to let the seat go Democratic. It is absolutely reasonable for the Republicans to say no to that and prefer a pedophile to a Democrat. Once Moore is elected the Republicans can find a way to get rid of him and the seat will remain Republican.

globally, I object to the concept of senators deciding who should be a senator. so, so, so wrong. Stealing.

Definitely the worst of the 3 Kings' gifts.

unicorn_and_rainbows said:

Yes, the Democrats can say "we got rid of Franken!, we got rid of Conyers! but the Republicans stick with Moore!", except that the seats of Franken and Conyers will remain loyally Democratic while the only way currently to get rid of Moore is to let the seat go Democratic. It is absolutely reasonable for the Republicans to say no to that and prefer a pedophile to a Democrat. Once Moore is elected the Republicans can find a way to get rid of him and the seat will remain Republican.

yes, there are people who would vote for any person as long as he or she is not a Democrat.  I'm sure if it was revealed that Moore murdered a dozen people and then ate them for dinner, he'd still get elected.  "Hey sure, Roy might be a serial killer and a cannibal, but his crazy opponent thinks everyone should have health insurance!!"

Part of this ship sailed years ago when Clinton was elected even though there were more than just rumors about his behavior.   

however, trump seems to get a complete pass from the republicans -- makes you wonder if he has secret files on a lot of key republican figures.  the press has had this love-hate relationship with Trump.  He gives them a ton of material but also criticizes them for reporting "fake" news.  

Of course, Trump resigning would mean Pence would be President which to me, might be scarier. 

Agree 100 percent.  We are cleaning the party before the 2018 and 2020 elections.   We don't lose the seats and will not have to defend the accusations later.  The Republicans will have to answer for Moore and whoever else gets caught after this.

Franken's list of accusers is growing, cut the ties before its too late.

unicorn_and_rainbows said:

Yes, the Democrats can say "we got rid of Franken!, we got rid of Conyers! but the Republicans stick with Moore!", except that the seats of Franken and Conyers will remain loyally Democratic while the only way currently to get rid of Moore is to let the seat go Democratic. It is absolutely reasonable for the Republicans to say no to that and prefer a pedophile to a Democrat. Once Moore is elected the Republicans can find a way to get rid of him and the seat will remain Republican.

unicorn_and_rainbows said:

It is absolutely reasonable for the Republicans to say no to that and prefer a pedophile to a Democrat.

That's pretty great.

dave23 said:

unicorn_and_rainbows said:

It is absolutely reasonable for the Republicans to say no to that and prefer a pedophile to a Democrat.

That's pretty great.

they've already made it clear that white supremacists are preferable to Democrats in their minds.  So why not pedophiles?  Or rapists? Or murderers (shooting people in the middle of 5th Avenue)?

Uh, you are from NJ, right?  What the rest of the country thinks of as the Menendez state?  Pot, kettle etc., etc. 

brealer said:

Uh, you are from NJ, right? Pot, kettle etc., etc.

the state where Republicans have been governor for 24 of the last 36 years.

edited my post to reference our fine Senator Menendez. Is he on the "ethics" committee that will be "investigating" Al Franken?  Bleccccccch.

ml1 said:

I do have to believe that the fact that the MN governor is a Democrat made it a lot easier for Democratic senators to grandstand on this issue.  If Franken was going to be replaced by Michele Bachmann, would they have called for his resignation?  I have to say I'd hope not.

Franken’s term was to end in 2020. Due to his resignation there will be a special election in 2018. It is expected to be a competitive seat without the incumbent.

Interestingly, Klobuchar is also up in 2018, putting both the senior and junior seats in play. Republicans were unlikely to focus much on MN, instead going after the 10 seats in states where Trump won. I imagine that changes now that there’s a vacant seat.

Because he has too much class to be a dick.

FilmCarp said:

why not say something like " I will resign when the Senate refuses to seat Moore"?