gop members in the room, they were busy forming their speeches of praise for the Orange Ass. Truth means nothing to the gop, we all know that. Franken fought for decency in the office, and we have lost him. The gop, with Gillibrand's help, shoved him out.

all there is to it. Viva La Truth!

Maybe Senator Al will write a book a la.. "Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them"

Thank you for this, stillone

Based on his experience, he may well be right. Facts, evidence, due process, deliberation; all of these things are supposed to be qualities that Senators value and use to keep the crazies from burning the country down for their causes. Franken was railroaded because none of those things matter any more.

Now there’s one less Senator to stand in the way of extremists and zealots. And most of America is shocked at the treatment he received. As they should be.

I've never seen anything like it, in our Congress.

A real loss to the Democrats in the Senate, for no legitimate reason. A loss for the country.

When I see politicians in Congress talking about major issues, on talk shows discussing them, I think of him, how his voice has been silenced, his take on things is no longer part of the discussion. What a loss. He's not even my senator!

Unfortunately he'll no longer be in the Senate, but he didn't leave in disgrace. He will still be talking about major issues whether in his books, on talk shows, maybe he'll start his own podcast, etc. He's a strong liberal voice and I expect to see/hear more from him in the future.

and they can't do a damn thing but talk nice, because they don't actually have power. They speak eloquently and truthfully and cuttingly, and not a damn thing changes. It's poetry shouted into the dark.

Now one strong liberal voice who actually had power, who made a difference, no longer has it. That's not a positive. We lost.

If we lost for a good reason, that he really was a predator, that would be one thing. It would hurt but it would be acceptable, it would doing what was right. But we don't know if that's why we lost, because nobody bothered to look into it. Dems read some disturbing stories in the paper, and instead of investigating them, they just assumed that Jezebel and Politico have the best vetting standards in the world, and shot their foot off for optics. Because they thought "Hey,what can we lose? Minnesota has a Dem governor, so we won't have to actually pay a price, and this jumped-up comedian with aims above his station will be put back in his place as a commentator and nothing more."

Don't kid yourself into thinking Dems did this JUST because it was the right thing to do. They didn't. They did it because they thought it would make them look good and they wouldn't have to actually pay a price for it. That's not the moral high ground. Yeah, they're better than the Republicans, but that's not hard to do these days. Restrain yourself from punching sick children and you're automatically better than most Republicans in Congress.

they either don't understand the enemy they are up against, or they don't care, or they don't want to admit that their colleges across the aisle are craven, inhumane assholes. The GOP has lost all decency, & has zero commitment to the Constitution. To fight that you have to be willing to get in the ring, throw some dirt in their eyes, & draw some fucking blood. Instead, we kicked one of our best bulldogs to the curb. What does Gillibrand think will happen to women if this administration & the rot that is the GOP continue unchecked? I am so angry with the democratic party right now. They haven't put up a true fight in so many decades, even if they manage to pull some influence out of the next election, what will they do with it? Play nice & work with the other side in the name of healing the nation. Bank on it.

I still get angry every time I think about it. It's opened my eyes, for sure.

this may not be a popular stance and I may get some responses, but I am glad to see Sen Frankin go out this way. Not that I wanted him to go at all, but now he left (not quite on his own terms), but has the ability to run again. If he had stayed, and had a REPUBLICAN lead ethic committee hearing, there may have been a chance they could have kicked him out completely. Now he can clear his name, and run again, maybe even for VP or Pres.... Keep you head up Senator Frankin..... many are behind you.

I thought that, politically, it is probably the right move, especially since Jones won. The calculation might be different if Moore had won. His replacement might turn out to be good, too.

I do find it a bit ironic, if that's the right term, for an "Ethics Committee" to be run by people who have no ethics.

that such a beautiful man had been put through this by the democrats and the media's lust to lump all accusations as the same.

This whole debacle sickens and saddens me to no end.

This was wrong, wrong, wrong

at a cheap $1000/hr x 15hrs/day x 5 = $75,000/wk x 1200 stations republicon radio is worth $18MIL/day or 390MIL$ /month or 4.68 BIL$/ year FREE for coordinated global warming denial, pro republican free market deregulation and wall st think tank propaganda, swiftboating of good citizens, attacks on public education and teachers, passing voter suppression legislation, trying to repeal obamacare, attacking mueller, excusing trump, and the hate and fear used to get people to vote republican.

we even let 88 universities support 257 of those stations

Hell, you're always right on this one but nobody seems to much care or want to do anything bout it on our side. A sustained and supported campaign contacting those universities could have - at the minimum, at least some effect.

There are vast areas of this country, esp rural areas, where RW Hate Radio is all one can hear. Well, that or Jesus or country music.

It's no wonder they believe and vote the way they do.

Nt

... is a big setback that weakens and diminishes our party greatly.

The Democratic Party is dead to me. I do not know how Gillibrand got so many long-term Democratic Congresspeople to get on the railroad that pushed Al Franken off the tracks, but she did. As a result I won't be giving a dime to support the DNC. Oh, not to worry, I'll vote against any Republican candidate and for any candidate who seems capable of defeating a Republican. So the Dems pretty much have my vote locked up. But not my money. Not my heart, not at all.

We'll never know what he could have meant to our country.

I'm ready to look to actual leaders and people with solid decision-making skills in deep blue states.

This is the same type of groupthink that led us into the war in Iraq... and we're STILL wrecking the Middle East more than a decade later.