[Editor’s note: Newsweek has retracted this story. As such I’m demoting it from the front page. — Charley]
Information is starting to come out that a coordinated alt-right-wing plot was carried out last year to bring down Al Franken.
According to Newsweek magazine, it turns out an army of white supremacist bots was launched to take down Franken from websites in Japan that were reportedly created a day before Leeann Tweeden went public with her initial accusation that Franken had groped her in 2006.
Also on the day before Tweeden went public, you may recall, one-time Trump advisor Roger Stone predicted that it was soon going to be “Al Franken’s time in the barrell.” Within two days of Tweeden’s public accusation, the effort to bring down Franken had become “a Russian intelligence operation,” according to Newsweek’s account of research done by a tracker of Russian social media called The Alliance for Securing Democracy.
As I stated in a post last year in which I suggested that Roger Stone’s involvement in the takedown of Franken was being overlooked, I wasn’t trying to excuse Franken’s admittedly inappropriate behavior before he became a U.S. senator. That doesn’t mean, however, that it doesn’t matter who went after him or how they did it.
There are many even on the left who have dismissed the circumstances surrounding the Franken takedown because, they maintain, the right result was obtained, I would argue that is the same argument put forth by Donald Trump and his allies to dismiss the Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee in 2016 as part of the Russian interference in the overall election.
Even some Bernie Sanders supporters went along with the argument that it somehow didn’t matter that the Russians had hacked the DNC computers because they supposedly came up with information that the Democratic primary process was rigged for Hillary Clinton.
But of course it does matter where all this information came from and who was behind it. That’s why Robert Mueller is investigating Trump’s alleged collusion with the Russians.
There’s more and more smoke here every day; and the information about the effort to get Franken has revealed even more smoke, providing further verification that there’s quite a fire burning underneath.
If the attacks were fact-based, and this is a fact-based blog . . .
I’m a little torn about this one. The bots are clearly intended, with great effect, to change the *tone* of conversation, as well as to introduce scurrilous claims.
I’m pretty sure that this knowledge would not have changed my mind about Franken: that he’s not anywhere near as bad as others, but still should have resigned. But that’s probably the same as most people who were exposed to the propaganda. The goal was to change the *intensity* of opinion as much as the content. I’m darned sure this was the case vs. Hillary in 2016, and it was wildly successful.
The goal was to “change the intensity of opinion?” It seems to me the goal was, and still is, to subvert our democracy.
which of course is a mirror image of every right wing meme of the past 20 years, ie., that it doesn’t matter if what we say is true or based on facts because we are bad people who are trying to hurt America. Or of the Catholic hierarchy who attacked the motives of the people exposing child abuse.
Facts are facts.
What if a carefully orchestrated and amplified attack is run that includes surfacing every possible indiscretion by a liberal, but not one against conservatives? It wouldn’t then matter how “morally“ write the accusations were, it would leave our democracy crippled.
How many conservatives who had not been systematically attacked and routed out would remain in office. What then? Would you propose systematically going after conservatives? Or shutting down the operations going after the Liberals? Or just let them run amuck?
I’m for exposing “every possible indiscretion” and not covering up anything. I’m certainly not for covering up indiscretions for political reasons.
This isn’t about covering up; it’s about due process and proportionality. Dems seemed to think the only way they could be credible when complaining about the abuses of Roy Moore was to throw one of their own under the bus. I for one do not believe that everyone who forgot his manners needs to be condemned to unemployment.
Al Franken did much more than “forgot his manners”. He is hardly “condemned to unemployment”. I don’t think Mr. Franken was “thrown under the bus”. I think credible accusers came forward and described unacceptable behavior.
I agree that we need due process and proportionality. In my view, we saw just that with Mr. Franken.
Hey welcome back man.
I strongly disagree that those accusations, most of which he was even man enough to admit to, rise to the level of pressuring him out of the Senate. For my extended thoughts see http://bluemassgroup.com/2017/12/a-sad-day-for-due-process-and-proportionality-al-franken-throws-in-the-towel/
The above post is exactly why I accused you of having a blind spot on sexism as bad as your blind spot on racism. Again, I am not accusing you of being racist or being sexist. I am simply saying you do not readily recognize it when it is staring you in your face, and it is a problem you should acknowledge and work on. I say this as a long time fan of your presence on this blog and someone who shares your regret our paths never crossed at the Stammitschs. I like you a lot, but this is an area where I want to see you to grow.
What can I say – I believe in fairness, which I thought was a progressive value. I take each case on its merits and try not to use it to make a broader point.
I do not see how Franken was treated unfairly. The people who were treated unfairly were the women he groped. He is wealthy, has supportive family and friends and will do just fine. The woman who said she quit politics because of the way he treated her is not doing fine. Neither are the women who came out and accused him who’s names were dragged through the mud and attacked on the internet. Even now the first accuser is being accused in another thread of being a pawn for Russia and the Republicans. I think it is time we all move on from Al Franken, and the way to do that is accept that he took one for the team so the party could remain credible on womens issues. Trading a woman senator in MN for Doug Jones n the Senate was a fair trade. The people of MN certainly seem to agree with me, as they give her higher ratings than they gave Franken at the height of the crisis. This helped the party and helped women. The only person who was ‘hurt’ by the ordeal was the man who brought it on himself by acting like a boor.
Also the fact that your sympathy immediately goes to the rich, powerful, straight white male who was accused and fears he was not given due process outweigh any concern you had toward his victims is exactly the blind spot I am talking about. The victims should matter first. That is what real fairness and accountability looks like when it comes to what #MeToo is trying to accomplish.
Why is Rep Blake Farenthold still in office? Why is Trmp still in office?
Given that their alleged and proven instances of sexual misconduct seem to be much worse than former Senator Franken’s.
I’ve wanted Trump impeached since he fired Comey, but for reasons related to the conduct of his official duties. I for one have actually not called for his resignation over pre-presidency sexual misconduct.
“Why is Rep Blake Farenthold still in office? Why is Trmp still in office?”
The easiest answer is that they are members of a party who’s voter base has never strongly identified with feminism or womens rights and does not care to identify with those issues now. They answer to a Republican Congress which has made no qualms about fighting equality for women tooth and nail from the board room to the clinic. No equal pay, no equal access to health care, no paid family leave. This is a party that is overtly hostile to the needs and interests of American women.
Our party holds itself to a higher standard. There was no way we could credibly say the GOP was hypocritical for defending Moore and defend the predators in our own ranks. Even though nobody, and I mean nobody, on this blog or the wider left of center ever argued they were guilty of the same conduct. The argument was always that we held our own officeholders to such a high standard that we would remove them. To the extent that the polling shows the worst demographic for Trump and the Republicans is white women coming back to us after deserting Hillary that should prove the electoral necessity of this strategy if the moral argument does not already.
But you ARE implying exactly that equivalence you deny when you suggest we can’t call out Moore without dropping Franken.
That’s not how equivalence works. Saying we needed to drop Franken over a minor offense to be spotless enough to critique Moore for a major offense does not imply the offenses are the same. It implies that one party will have zero tolerance toward all misconduct toward women while the other party defends pedophiles and rapists. Makes it a far easier choice for women to back one of those over the other than a party they said “sure we got some gropers, but they got pedophiles”. Yes it’s holding our party to a higher standard and being twice as good, but we ought to be, since we are the party that cares about women.
It just feels to me like another example of circular firing squad, knife to a gunfight, or whatever metaphor you want to use for Dems scoring unnecessary own goals.
This diary seems to conflate several independent threads.
Al Franken behaved in unacceptable ways. He has not denied the accusations. There were several accusers and the episodes took place over an extended period. In my view, his resignation was required. Actions have consequences.
A second and independent thread is that Russian actors are clearly doing all they can to manipulate and disrupt our electoral process. The indictments only confirm what most of us have known all along.
A third fact is that America and our allies have routinely been doing very similar things in Russia, China, and elsewhere. Propaganda and misinformation campaigns are a staple of intelligence efforts and have been for a very long time. Technology changes — the underlying motive does not.
My take is that we already have most of the needed regulatory and legislative framework needed address what’s happening here. To wit:
1. We already know that yelling “fire” in a crowded theater is not constitutionally protected speech. In my view, knowingly using megaphones like Facebook and Twitter to spread intentionally-created lies that are known to be lies can be regulated under the same rubric. We need to admit, however, that this standard applies to false and misleading advertising just as readily as it applies to fake news planted by evil Russian bots.
2. We already know that a long and growing list of behaviors apparently practiced by the current administration and enabled by their GOP corroborators is illegal. To wit — money laundering, bribery, obstruction of justice, etc., etc., etc. Anybody who took even a cursory look at Trump University has no excuse at all for claiming to not know that Donald Trump is a liar and a fraud. The laws are there. The question is whether we have the discipline and moral courage to enforce them.
3. We already know that Donald Trump and the GOP are consciously and intentionally pandering to the most evil and most base instincts of our culture and electorate. The agita about illegal immigration is perfume sprayed on the stench of xenophobic prejudice. Writers like Robert Riech, Charles Blow and Paul Krugman have made this case over and over again — there is NOTHING new about today’s GOP, its techniques, or its fundamental corruption. The GOP has demonstrated for at least three decades that it HAS no principles to betray.
Al Franken was forced to resign because he treated women in completely unacceptable ways. In my view, the motivation of those who sought to bring him down is irrelevant. He did what he did. A key difference between we Democrats and the GOP is that Al Franken stepped down. Roy Moore did not, and Donald Trump has not.
It is clear that Russian agents disrupted the 2016 election. There is every reason to expect them to do likewise in current and future elections. We must take that threat seriously.
It is growing increasingly clear that the current administration and its legislative enablers is actively obstructing the investigation of a long and growing list of crimes committed by the administration and its supporters.
In my view, we face the most grave existential threat to America that I can remember in my lifetime, far worse than Richard Nixon and Watergate. Far worse because during those years, the GOP was still committed to the rule of law.
I am unwilling to shed many tears for Al Franken. We have much more important issues to face.
Fantastic comment Tom. Welcome
Back!
As I stated in my post, my intent was not to excuse Al Franken’s behavior. Personally, I believe that he shouldn’t have resigned over those allegations, or at least should have stayed in the Senate until the Ethics Committee could investigate them.. But that wasn’t the point of the post.
My point was simply that when allegations like those are made, it is important to know what the intent is of those who are spreading them.
We know that Russian actors and entities are still involved in trying to meddle in our elections and Russian bots are still being launched on Facebook and Twitter to influence American opinion on a range of issues.
The fact that this same network of Russians and white supremacists went after a sitting Democratic senator last year and presumably tried to alter the makeup of the U.S. Senate is important to know. There are some who seem to argue that as long as the information about Franken was true, it doesn’t matter who was spreading it.
Nobody is making that argument. We are saying that Franken was clearly guilty of misconduct, and that this misconduct was going to be exposed in the post-Weinstein media environment regardless of the Russians. I think you undermine an otherwise interesting argument and very valid concern of further Russian electoral interference by bringing it up to defend Al Franken. Your own statement bringing up the weak talking point that he should have waited until the compromised Senate Ethics committee (the same one that used taxpayer dollars to pay off victims) ruled on him demonstrates that you were using this to defend Franken and not just bring up the Russian issue. So of course those of us who felt it was just that Franken resigned would take issue with that. It does not automatically mean we do not share those same concerns about Russian interference. It just means that the ‘victim’ in this case was a pig who would’ve been exposed regardless of what the Russians did.
The more important question is, are these the same Russians spreading misinformation about Senator Donnellys ties to Mexican businesses? The same Russians who may still be actively coordinating with the Trump campaign against its domestic enemies? The same Russians the Republican Congress is doing everything in its power to prevent exposing, even though their former members who are now the DNI Director and CIA Director, respectively, are arguing it is very real and still a threat to our democracy? Those are important questions, and as someone who strongly agrees with you that our government and our party is not doing enough to counteract these threats, I really wish you had not undermined your thread by bringing up a disgraced pariah and defending him.
I think you’ve misconstrued my post and my comment in response to SomervilleTom. I’m not defending Franken in in either one. I said parenthetically that I happen to believe he shouldn’t have resigned, but I made a point of saying that was not the point of the post.
But I will say that I think it is unfortunate that you and other Franken detractors fail to draw what I think are clear distinctions between the behavior he was accused of and the behavior of people like Weinstein and Trump himself. Lumping all of these cases together and condemning them equally strikes me as ideological thinking.
Again I have never made that argument. I have never lumped them in together. I am saying what they have in common is an affinity for preying on vulnerable women. The way that affinity expressed itself was outright rape and assault on the part of Trump and Weinstein and minor groping on the part of Franken. Nobody here and nobody on the left who called for Franken to resign argued they committed the same misdeed. Only Franken’s defenders make that counter argument to exonerate their guy by saying he wasn’t as bad. I agree he wasn’t as bad, I never argued he committed a crime. I did argue and will continue to argue his behavior was beneath that we should condone, tolerate, or expect from a Senator who claims to be a progressive and a feminist.
We may have condoned that in the past when a Kennedy or Clinton did the same stuff, but the times have changed and we will tolerate it no longer. As a movement and a culture trying to make the world a little bit better and a little bit fairer to women.
Lastly I am with you that it is problematic Russians are targeting vulnerable Democrats and will continue to do so with impunity because the Republican party is now acting as an agent of their government in order to maintain control over ours. Liberals have been asleep at the wheel on the threat posed by Putin for far too long. For far too long we have lauded his agents as heroes for the left, whether they are witting puppets like Assange or useful idiots like Snowden and Manning. It is high time we take cybersecurity seriously and start investing in counter measures and game plan retaliatory actions to send a message that our elections are sacred and free from foreign interference. It is high time Americans of decency show the contemporary Republican party the door.
We also over learned the lesson of the McCarthy era and have been far too reluctant to publicly call treasonous behavior treason and enablers of that behavior traitors. Why the Democrats continue to be such pansies when it comes to fighting the Russians is beyond me. I am especially disappointed in President Obama who could and should have released the information on Trump when he saw McConnell was putting his party over his country. It may prove to be his greatest failure in the White House.
Even Schiff and Warner who are doing great work are going out of there way to call this non partisan and say ‘we are just trying to get to the bottom of this’. No, if a dunce like Kevin McCarthy is smart enough to utter behind closed doors the open secret that Trump was funded and aided by the Republicans than any Democrat worth their salt can publicly make the same claim. There is a reason every single Senator took away his power to alter the sanctions against Putin. They all know he is compromised. Let’s quit pretending.
the above should have read ‘aided and funded by the Russians’, but honestly who can tell the difference anymore?
Of course the Russian activity is important to know. Far more important, in fact, than whatever happened to Al Franken.
The premise that “as long as the information about [Al] Franken was true, it doesn’t matter who was spreading it” is, in fact, about as old as the premise that we are innocent until proven guilty.
There is a VERY long common-law tradition that says, to paraphrase, “The truth is a viable defense against slander or libel”. It’s the same idea.
America has long and venerable tradition of biased journalism. Call it “muck-raking”, “yellow journalism”, “propaganda”, or whatever — when completely biased journalists published absolutely true accounts of factory owners locking the doors of buildings and then setting them afire, should those factory owners be excused because the writers and their publications were flagrantly pro-union?
Al Franken did what he did. His resignation was the right thing to do with or without the Russian bots.
That’s why it is so unhelpful, in my opinion, to conflate them.
Exactly or to misleading argue conflate those who called for him to resign argued he was as bad as Weinstein, Moore, or Trump. Or conflate those of us who called on him to resign and have been warning about Russia for ten years on this blog with those who still dismiss the idea of Russian interference. We can have nuanced arguments here, I hope.
I think Franken got caught and deserved to resign for his behavior. His behavior was nowhere near as egregious or illegal as the President’s. His behavior and election has not been enabled by his party or a foreign government like the President’s. Let’s focus on stopping the next Russian cyberattack rather than worrying about foolish Franken.
I agree completely with Tom. Motives are irrelevant. The defenders of Roy Moore were operating on the theory that because liberals were involved with bringing up his misdeeds, it was okay for good conservatives to ignore or discount the accusations. That’s not an approach we should mimic.
I think the broader takeaway is that bots, trolls, and actual Russian intelligence agents will be active for the midterms and doing all they can to help Trump aligned Republicans defeat Democrats. For far too long liberals were asleep at the wheel when dealing with this threat, as I’ve been arguing for a decade now, and we were asleep at the wheel during the campaign.
It’s not Red baiting if it’s real. Russian interference is real and will continue to manipulate and influence our electoral process until we find a way to stop it.