Again, he’s a great guy. I’m sure his staffers are supporting him. He’s not going down because of one woman who has what is a very, very trivial beef for about 10 years. Congress isn’t totally devoid of rational thought and I highly suspect they won’t “investigate”…what is there to investigate. There’s a clearly meant to be humorous photo by a man who is and was a comic and she say’s she grudgingly kissed him but didn’t like it. What the heck is there to “investigate.” She’s either smart enough to know it would be a kick to his gut and fulfill her revenge dreams or she’s dumb enough to think it wouldn’t stir the pot in D.C. Again, I’ll apologize on the thread if a bunch of other women step forward and brand him a “harasser”…I think he’s far from being a “harasser” in real life and no way is he an “assaulter” or a “rapist” or a “predator”.
@momofthreeboys I’m with you. Should more accusers step forward I will eat my words. He was a COMIC, and I’m sure that’s not the only inappropriate pic he has ever taken. He has apologized, asked for an investigation, and sent a personal letter of apology to the accuser. He has been punished enough. I just don’t see how the senate can punish someone for acts that occurred before a person was a senator. If they dig up some stuff he did while a senator then that’s a different story.
“Again, he’s a great guy. I’m sure his staffers are supporting him. He’s not going down because of one woman who has what is a very, very trivial beef for about 10 years.” This is appalling. Look at that picture and tell me he’s a ‘great guy’. He’s way beyond creepy. And it’s ‘trivial beef’? This is a sickening perspective.
He shouldn’t stay because he’s a great guy; he should stay because his offense doesn’t merit expulsion. If someone is a great guy, beloved by staffers and constituents, but in private raped a woman, then that person should go. If someone is a terrible person, and committed the offenses Franken is alleged to have committed, then that person should not be expelled from the US Senate for those offenses; they should be voted out for being terrible.
I saw the picture - he’s looking at whomever is taking it and making a mock face. For all we know she wasn’t even asleep…she says she was. It’s nothing…nothing at all that she couldn’t have dealt with one one one. I’ll just keep repeating myself for people that haven’t read the entire thread. She’s the one who took the picture public - not the photographer, not Franken not anyone else that knew of it’s existence. Think about that for a second. Think about how how she never took it to him one on one and stated her beef and now is playing the me-too card which it is. Her husband is right, it will hurt her. I wouldn’t want to work with someone who sits around and stews about something so innocuous for 10 years then stabs me in the back publically over what is really nothing at all.
Highly unlikely. Typically, congressional ethics “investigations” are completed behind closed doors. It’s where an infraction goes into a vortex, never to be seen again once the bad pr dies. Moreover, he knows with Constitutional certainty, that there is absolutely nothing that the Senate can do it him for any infraction that occurred before he was elected. (Same reason that many Reps are apoplectic about Moore – if he wins the runoff, they cannot not seat him.) The Senate can investigate all they want, but they have no authority to take any action other than a tiny slap on the wrist. Anything stronger could be challenged in Court, and likely won easily.
Now, if the Minn voters won’t to make a decision when Franken comes up for re-election, that is their right.
There goes momofthreeboys, once again blaming the victim. Sigh.
Not quite a true statement at all if you keep up or go look back at the women I did feel were actually victims. In this particular instance I don’t believe she comes close to being s “victim”
I read the first few pages this morning, and already we are on page 13, so if someone already mentioned this…I wonder if he really touched her because most women would wake up from sleep if someone was touching her breasts. If she was drugged then it would be a different story. I think the picture was in very bad taste, but I do wonder if he truly touched her. I wonder if the photographer would weigh in on it.
I think she she did take it to him. After the assault/“kiss” she told him off. That is when the bullying began.
@oldfort no he didn’t touch her which is why some of us are saying yes it was bad taste, but she was not groped.
I’ll just say this: The pendulum swing from “people don’t report harassment or assault because they won’t be believed” to “any person who reports anything is to be believed and their motives not ever questioned” has been terrifyingly swift.
I feel that ultimately it will be for the voters of MN to decide, so let’s leave it up to them. The Senate may censure him or something, but they won’t expel him for this.
It ends his presidential ambitions, but for the person who once played Stuart Smiley, they were a bit of a reach anyway. I hope he chooses to not run again rather than be tarnished and weakened by this scandal. But first, let’s let the investigation roll on and hopefully it will pull the skeletons of some other people out of the closet.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
OK, let’s move on past the “who should replace Al Franken” please. That’s well over the line of political discussion.
Interesting opinion…do you apply the same logic to Moore?
So you think some levels of sexual harassment are acceptable then?
From her own description of the events…
I’ll take the victim’s interpretation of events over your interpretation of a picture.
The hypocrisy of posters on this thread is pathetic. Some keep asking about the highly elected elephant in the room, but apparently feel the need to dismiss and trivialize the actions of the donkey (or more accurately the jackass) in the room. :-q
From what I’m hearing Al just should have just denied any wrong doing because that is what makes a difference. If you deny the allegations it’s okey dokey.
So if Roy Moore’s bad behavior had come out after the election and he had won & been seated already, I’m genuinely curious what would have happened then. And plenty of the current tweeter’s bad behavior was before he was elected – what if something comes out (maybe someone with an NDA breaks it, for example) and some egregious criminal behavior is revealed, but maybe it is beyond the statue of limitations? I’m genuinely asking, as I haven’t brushed up on all the rules for removing senators or impeachment. And I do realize that we are more focused on the Senate here, but since the question was brought up about behavior before being in office, I’m curious.
I’m also pretty interested in the border between what makes someone quit their office or a race vs not. We’ve had some people stick out some pretty bad accusations during elections and get elected. Then we’ve had others (Gary Hart, for example) who bailed out. I suppose it is partly pressure from donors that we may never even hear about (cut off the funds, and they know they can’t win or get re-elected).
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From what I’m hearing Al just should have just denied any wrong doing because that is what makes a difference. If you deny the allegations it’s okey dokey. <<
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Kind of hard to deny something when it’s caught on camera. Who knows, without the photo maybe he would have denied it.
Looks like a joke gone bad imo. He couid have said something like, “it was only locker room type kidding around.” I understand that’s a good enough excuse if you are caught on camera saying the disgusting things you do to women.
To be fair, what everyone is using as evidence of the groping, including Leeann Tweeden, is the photo we have all seen. She slept through it and did not realize it had happened until she saw pictures taken on the flight, so her words, “grabbed” and “groped”, are based on the photo, nothing else.
If you zoom in on the picture it appears by the shadows that his hands are not touching the flak vest. His left hand looks 3 or 4" too high toward her shoulder. Mimicry of groping is still inappropriate, not respectful, but less so than actual groping. Did he grab her before or after? Maybe, no idea, and Leeann herself likely does not know.