I’ve actually surprised myself a bit by how viscerally I have reacted to news today that Senator Al Franken, whose presence in the Senate is certainly on balance a benefit to women, has succumbed to pressure MOSTLY FROM HIS OWN PARTY and announced his pending resignation from the Senate. We would not be here if it weren’t for the fact that Alabama may well next week elect a man who has done much worse (For me the involvement of children is a huge red line in these matters.) with the full support of the GOP starting with their leader who has a lot of issues of his own in this regard. We just HAD to be holier than thou to prove a point, didn’t we? Thing is, with the exception of a couple of obnoxious and ham-handed attempts at “whataboutism” the pressure for the resignation did not come from the GOP. Instead, Democrats decided to once again fight with one hand behind their backs and throw a Senator under the bus at the same time the GOP was circling the wagons.
Franken had been a model for how one should behave when facing such allegations. He called for the ethics investigation himself, said he would co-operate, and apologized. Even if we stipulate to all the allegations, from what I can tell they were on the mild side and at least some happened years ago, prior to his political career. If there are criminal matters just prosecute them as such and resign upon conviction, but if we are outside the statute of limitations legally that should be the case politically as well. If politics were the concern at least decline to seek re-election rather than be replaced by an appointment not chosen by the voters. If there is any question about the allegations (and I believe he has denied the most recent one, a denial all the more credible IMO since he was willing to admit to others), then innocent until proven guilty (though in politics maybe not beyond a reasonable doubt) should apply. For those trying to make a comparison with the private sector, that doesn’t really work since constituents are the collective boss. If he sought re-election they can take that into account, but it should be their call. Another Dem would also be justified primarying him in this scenario. If actions are so egregious as to warrant censure or expulsion that’s fine too, but only following some semblance of an investigation or hearing.
With friends like these…:(
The best response to this comes from progressive journalist Lindsay Beyerstein, on her Facebook page:
“We can’t be the Anti-Sexual Harassment Party and have an unrepentant serial ass-grabber in our caucus. We just can’t. What Franken did was relatively mild and should have been survivable if he’d actually expressed remorse. Instead he played a bunch of “I don’t recall” games until everyone finally got sick of it.”
Well, I think she greatly mischaracterizes Franken’s response. Plus, except in the most extreme circumstances it’s the voters and not the party who get to decide who is in the caucus.
I really don’t understand these calls for due process. HE’S NOT BEING DENIED DUE PROCESS!!! There’s no criminal conviction coming down, no civil decision without a trial, there’s no vote to expel him from the Senate without a hearing. There are lots of calls from the public for him to resign, which have become calls from his colleagues for him to resign, and he’s now finally doing the right thing. If he wanted to stay and deal with an ethics investigation he could and he could get some due process there.
Your analogies to criminal proceedings are improper.
He’s choosing to leave his prestigious, public job and now can go back to the private sector to seek redemption.
6 6’s for Doubleman. Gov. Dayton has three fantastic progressive women with statewide victories under their belt to choose from. The story ends and we can now focus on stopping Moore. The Dems cleaned house, the RNC is funding a pedophile.
So you’re more concerned about politics and optics that fairness to the accused?:(
What, then, are we to say about your use of the word ‘accusers?’
Hypocrite.
Technically, yes, but he was getting a whole lot of pressure to resign. If his colleagues cared about process they would be calling for hearings BEFORE leaping right to calls for resignation.
He’s gone. Move on.
Side note: Kinda funny to see those words “Move on” now given how MoveOn.org was founded as a way to accept the actions for which Clinton should have resigned.
It was censure and move on, which I ultimately came around to not liking either since it would still acknowledge how we got to that point. The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy thanks you for carrying their water:(
That was a pretty cheap shot, Christopher.
If we can’t second guess Dems just because they happen to be targets of GOP attacks, there’s not much reason to comment here.
I do believe how we found out has to be part of the equation.
Enjoying your victory, are you?:( Moving on from an injustice is more easily said than done, especially when I fear for the precedent.
I agree with Christopher that we have lost all sense of proportionality on this issue by equating what Franken allegedly did with what Moore and Trump have been accused of doing.
There are many victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment who are very upset about the way in which Franken’s fellow Democrats, particularly in the Senate, turned on him on this issue without making any distinction between serious instances of abuse and less serious ones.
What the Democrats have essentially done is to muddy the waters on what really constitutes sexual harassment, and have ultimately trivialized the issue. Some Democrats in the Senate also appeared to have conveniently cleared paths for themselves for the 2020 presidential campaign by getting Franken out of the way.
I disagree with Christopher only in his comment that it was Democrats alone who brought about Franken’s resignation. The Republicans appear to have played an underhanded role in this, particularly in the way the news of the first accusation from Leeann Tweeden was publicly reported. There are a lot of unanswered questions here.
I’m aware of the circumstances surrounding the Tweeden accusation. My point was that the public calls for resignation in light of that and other accusations seemed to come almost entirely from Dems.