And I'd like someone in "the Franken wars" point out that SATIRE IS, TECHNICALLY, CRITICAL OF ITS SUBJECT. And this is reinforced by dozens of Franken's female colleagues standing up for him.

The deeper issue is cultural. America loves the arts, but hates its creators.

That they wouldn’t show Sean Hannity or Roger Stone, who, “uh,” helped her spread her tale. Franken was a mensch, took a bullet for the team, and the little dears hereabouts still can’t bring themselves to wonder if perhaps, just perhaps, that Tweeden might either have been embroidering OR OUTRIGHT LYING.

Wait for their response here in Five, Four, Three, Two..,

I don't care one way or the other because it was NOT that serious. I actually had a 20-something tell me he was a pedophile.

The lack of insight and critical thinking that goes into maligning someone over a joke, a mistake - or whatever - is scandalous.

To be honest, I keep toying around with the idea that this generation lacks critical thinking?? Or maybe it's just social media (that there has always been a lack of critical thinking out there, it's just now we can convict someone in the court of social media).

I don't know. But it's terrible.

against a male on-stage (granted, she was fully-clothed), I see no reason why Al Franken only pretending to grope Tweeden gets Al crucified when when there was no physical contact.

dry humping him, then he pretended to zip up his pants, in a USO show.

but, it was more than a bad joke - 7 other women came forward, including at least 2 that were Democrats.

If it was just the joke, it would have been over. He apologized for it and Tweeden accepted his apology and it would have been the end of the story. But, more women kept coming forward.

i still think it was just not of the same order of magnitude as others that went down.
if i was his wife, ida whooped his ass. if i was his boss, ida made him clean the toilets for a while.
but he has served a sentence in the wilderness, and i think it is time for him to reintegrate into society.

that runs on Saturday afternoons where he interviews politicians and activists about current events.

Jon Stewart or Keith Olberman could pick up that show.

If he's going to be back in the Senate, that's the only route available to him. (Unless, of course, a senator from his state dies and the governor appoints Franken as the replacement pro tem.)

Klobuchar probably won't get the nomination but she could be picked as the winner's running mate, or maybe land a cabinet position (she might be a good AG). If that happens the governor, a Democrat, could certainly appoint Franken. I'd love for that to happen.

Frankly I'd love to see Klobuchar get the nomination. She's not my FIRST choice (Warren), but she might be my second. She'd be amazing. She'd also make an excellent AG. And getting Franken back in the senate would be great!

Gathered from his excellent podcast.

He feels that the Dems need a designated hitter to call out bullshit I. All the hearings rather than lpolitely letting the Lying liars’ lies lie.

I was with Al and Franni over New Year’s, and she is as supportive of him as she always was. She knows full well that the women who “came forward” had no truthful allegations to offer, and has never wavered in the slightest in her support for Al. When you have been with them one on one (or two on two) you know neither of them is faking their devotion to each other.

thank you for your refusal to take them seriously.

There were several women, not just one. There were women from opposite sides of the political spectrum, the vast majority of whom were either public or personally known to those who reported their stories, and many were reported to others contemporaneously.

While I don't believe he should have resigned, it isn't because the women weren't truthful. I believe they were. I also believe that Franken was oblivious enough that he truly was unaware these relatively mild transgressions (in the grand scheme of sexual assaults) were not welcome. I've been in nearly identical situations to those described, and my offender truly was oblivious (we had extensive conversations about it after the fact - and now he is painfully aware and helps other men understand that some things they believe are welcome are absolutely not - even when the women involved put up with it to avoid making a scene, at the time.)

Similarly, I have no reason to suspect Franken's wife supports him. The person who touched me inappropriately was married, and his spouse was instrumental in encouraging him to reach out to me and find out why I was giving him the cold shoulder. We are (now) all three good friends. Boundary issues does not necessarily have any impact on the matrimonial relationship.

I am going to say that I believe that Franken was ratfucked.

But you will discount the experiences of the 8 women who have indicated Franken behaved simillarly toward them, without their consent? Half of them publically sharing their identities, of the remaining half - half known to reporters. Some of them democrats.

Do I believe he should have resigned? No. I believe he should have invested time and energy into exploring his physical interactions with womeon in a way that gave women the freedom openly share any discomfort they have regarding such contact. (And following that should have made any appropriate behavior modification).

But he chose to resign. I support everyone making the decision that is right for them in such circumstances. (I would also have supported a decision to stay, had he made such a decision.)

People who know me here know better, so I will not bother with a tedious defense.

Women who come forward with legitimate gripes have my complete support

Those who only "come forward" when it suits a certain agenda do not, at least not automatically. I do not know the women who claim that Al "molested" them. I do know Al. I know he was completely blindsided by the accusations, as well as the fact that they were taken seriously, especially seeing as how the first and most prominent of them practically admitted she was a Republican plant.

I may spend a lot of time in France, but I do not subscribe to their "guilty until proven innocent" legal code. If you know any of his accusers and have more reason to believe them than Al, I'm all ears ("they came forward" does not cut it). If it is only from blog posts, then I will continue to favor the stated version of the person I know and trust over the statements of people I do not, especially when their complaints fit a convenient right-wing agenda.

as the photo op in which Franken was accused of the same thing was also blindsided by the fact that I was deeply offended. I was offended enough that I completely stopped speaking with him. The fact that he was blindsided is largely my point.

I don't believe Franken was being intentionally offensive - men are not always aware of when behavior that they perceive as just ordinary affectionate contact crosses the line.

As for suiting a right wing agenda, I'm sure you are aware that there were Democrats, one of whom was fairly deeply embedded in the democratic political system, among the 8 women who came forward.

Many women never come forward. Many only wrestle up the courage to come forward when they believe their experience might finally be believed because others are speaking publiclly about similar experiences. Women are "supposed to" just put up with or laught off such experiences - they're really not all that bad is the common wisdom. Whether you believe the women or not, you should recognize that happening in this thread - it was "just" whatever, there was only the one accusation by a republican operative, or only that one and 3 other anonymous ones - when the reality is that there were 8, with only two truly anonymous ones. It is challenging for women to trust that they will be taken seriously when they come forward EVEN when the abuse is as significant as rape. These incidents, aothough still unacceptable, are minor compared to rape.

I find trivializing the women who came forward - and insisting that their gripes are not "legitimate" because they don't fit the DU political narrative is offensive, which is why I address it every time I see it happening.

You adhered to BNBR (Be Nice Be Respectful) where I didn't restrain myself.

I had a lot of on-the-job diplomacy training

If you were his spouse you would have whooped his ass?

Really.

grabbing a 'handful of flesh' while giving a woman a side hug during a photo, and 'groping' a breast during another photo.

Plus three 'unnamed' accusers.

I'd say a good apology should clear this up because he's done no more than what Biden has been accused of, and no one's holding that against Biden. Nor should they.

To me, the fact that Franken supposedly acted a bit inappropriately by squeezing flesh merits an apology but if you're gonna make him resign over that, then quite a few people who lived through the same years when Franken supposedly did these things will ALSO have to have their careers destroyed.

In fact, it can be a real 'reign of terror-esque' bloodbath. Who is going to be Robespierre?

And don't get me wrong - neither Franken nor anyone else should EVER grope someone. Ever. So, in short, if he never does it again, can't we forgive him and put him back in elected office?

Trump's an accused rapist, for God's sake. While respecting people who don't like close contact, hugs and the like, and upholding their wish never to have it done to them, we've got to see that due process is upheld and when appropriate the punishment fits the crime.

And, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Ask Senator Gillibrand, who had to back out of her presidential campaign for that reason. Franken didn't get due process and she led the attack.

for the photo as a joke! He was the best and the night he resigned I was so distraught and told my husband that I was going to be upset and there was nothing he could do but let me be upset. It was so heart-wrenching and disturbing when the Republicans get away with actually sexual abuse. Those women could have just said something to let Al know that they didn't like that. There was none portrayed as a power control touch.

The movies that we all watched before the me too movement especially the earlier ones had always showed men playfully touching, pinching etc. Yes very annoying and should not be tolerated but it was excepted as a societal norm, uggggggg! Men needed to be corrected but not put out of their job!!!!!!!

With everything you said. I was so pissed when Franken got railroaded out! It's one of the reasons I couldn't bring myself to support Gillebrand. My hubby was pissed too. We both know what real sexual assault looks like (it looks like the orange menace), and Franken ain't it!

The playing field is not level.

There is a big difference between an unwanted hug and an unwanted grope of your breasts, and yes, it is 'serious'.

accused of groping a breast?

Tweeden can go fuck herself. She absolutely loved all the attention she got when all of that went down. And she hurt a very good man.

to whom I responded, tonedevil.

before making false accusations.

Not six.

Four publically identified by name. Two whose identities were known to the reporters who wrote the stories, and only two who were completely anonymous.

I agree - it merits an apology - AND - a sincere (not necessarily public) effort on Franken's part ot understand why he was apparently so oblivious to the boundaries he was crossing. But I don't believe it merited resignation from the senate.

Assuming he has engaged in that self-reflection process and learned from it, I would have no problem voting for him.

Puts everything into context (and it is not as bad as you think). You can also listen to her interview w/ Terry Gross on the topic.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken

before, is beyond sketchy.

Brilliant, CaptYossarian! Absolutely brilliant!!!

Democrats can counter with Trump and his former good buddy Epstein, who set him up with Melania, our first “lady.”

A) He has many similarities in his relations with unwilling women.

B) Scott Baio wasn't elected for anything either. Yet he caused about 15 minutes of air and noise pollution at the convention in 2016.

Fitting since Reptilians operate a lot from their enlarged amygdalae, which are the most primitive (and reptilian) part of the brain determining fight or flight responses. Neurons were found in the amygdalae that are responsible for fear conditioning related to the struggle for survival. Fear conditioning is an associative learning process by which we learn through repeated experiences to fear something. Our experiences can cause brain circuits to change and form new memories. Thus, Reptilians have evolved from more moderate and reasonable Republicans. Sad.

He even talks slowly, just as you'd imagine a talking turtle would.

he is a human being with ALL the foibles and weaknesses we all share and exhibit daily. We need all allies on board and manning the big guns. Time to take him out of the shame room, please. Your last line sums things up perfectly.

But I am sure Franken should again enter the political arena. He's a really good person and stories abound about how he's gone out of his way to help many of his constituents.

Franken has something a lot of politicians DON'T have - he does actually care for the people he represents.

If he runs again, he'll be reelected handily.

He is not interested in rejoining the Senate as long as the cowards that chased him out are still there. However, he is interested in some kind of elective office. Maybe Governor of Minnesota? I don’t blame him about the Senate. Even now, I refuse to support any of the Senators who publicly joined the calls for him to resign. After falling for that Republican scam, there isn't a one of them I’d want to see in the Oval Office.

Tim Walz, as our governor and the position is not term-limited. If Walz wants to keep the job and run for subsequent terms he's likely to keep winning. I don't think Franken would ever primary Walz; that's not how he rolls. I get why Franken might not want to go back to the Senate considering the back-stabbing he got. IIRC, Klobuchar was the only candidate/Senator who didn't stab.

But both he and Franni are still REALLY stung about how he was thrown under the bus by his fellow Senators. Some have apologized in private, but not a one of them has had the guts to publicly come out and say they were wrong, and regret it.

even if the opportunity arose - although there might be something satisfying about returning, kind of a fuck you, I'm back, and you craven assholes owe me an apology.

He's bigger than that. If their apology isn't forthcoming of their own volition, then he isn't the type to demand it.

But that's why I don't run for elective office, and he did.

The senators who are running for president and who called for Franken's resignation, include Warren, Bennet, and Sanders. Klobuchar publicly agreed with the outcome, although she didn't publicly call for Franken to resign. I only mention Bennet because he is still taking campaign contributions, although I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't know anything about him until 5 minutes ago.

Geez, unless you support Biden, that doesn't leave us with many choices, aside from a former mayor from South Bend, Indiana (a man who I think doesn't have any more experience than the current office holder in running a country). I'm not counting the billionaires because I would hope that we have had our fill of them! Anyone else isn't even on my radar at this point.

When he dropped out, I no longer had a preferred candidate, still don't. I could live with Biden, Buttegeig or Klobuchar. I have met Biden and Klobuchar, but can't say that I know them to any real degree. As for the elimination of the other choices, I hear you, but my sentiments are what they are. Warren, Sanders, Bennett, Booker, Harris and Gillibrand all disqualified themselves off my list when they publicly called for Al's resignation. No one who publicly did what they did to Al and can't publicly apologize is someone I can support for the Oval Office, period. I knew about Bennett, but never thought of him as presidential material.

As for mayor Pete, as a well-spoken, multilingual intellectually curious, willing world citizen, I think his lack of experience is something he could overcome quickly. My problem is that I don't see in him the necessary cynicism that an incoming Democratic president will need to deal with the likes of Mitch McConnell. An incoming Democratic president needs to know before the inauguration that McConnell is every bit as much a menace to our country as Putin. Hillary knew it only too well. Biden and Klobuchar have been in the trenches with them long enough to know what to expect, too. The Taliban may have been more heavily armed, but they were amateurs in the field of pure evil compared to our Congressional Republicans. Hell, I can speak in public, and not only can I speak Norwegian, French and Spanish better than he does, I can speak six other languages, and you don't see me running for president (besides, if I won, I'd just say, oh, crap, NOW what have I done?). His being gay will turn off the religious nut cases, but they were never on our side to begin with. I see no big losses there, though I also don't forget the margins by which we lost (supposedly) Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania last time. He is a combat vet, which doesn't impress me in particular, but some on the right will like that. He is also apparently genuinely religious, which, in turn, turns me off, but doesn't bother me to the point of making it a prime factor.

At the end of the day, I am less worried about Biden, Buttegeig or Klobuchar as President than I am as any of them being our candidate. But the way things look to me today (and that could change tomorrow), one of them will be. Why Jay Inslee wasn't good enough, I still don't get, but that is now water that has long since flowed into Puget Sound.

As for having your fill of billionaires, I wouldn't know. I don't ever recall our having had a billionaire as president. A charlatan who claims assets of $5 billion and has debts of $7 billion (or whatever the true stats are) seems to be a poverty case to me (I'm talking material wealth now, not wealth of spirit, though Trump seems to have zero assets there as well). The fact that his creditors don't want to admit that the emperor has no assets only prolongs the fiction that his debts to them are assets. Putin and Deutsche Bank are playing Raquel Y Vidas, and won't peek inside the sealed chests of "the king's gold." If Trump had a true positive net worth of billions, he wouldn't be so desperate to use the presidency to amass money. America goes along with the fiction because who the hell knows why? It's true: in America, steal $100 and you're a criminal. Steal $100 million, and you're a hero. The only thing I know about Bloomberg is that he really did make the money he has. Great. Go buy Fiji or something. If he wants to run for president, try something other than "I made a billion dollars!" To be fair, I think he is trying not to focus on his money--maybe it's enough that everyone else will--, but just what he IS trying to focus on, I haven't figured out yet. I'll listen first.

Interestingly enough, I'm in Dallas for 2 days, and had my annual physical today. My personal physician, who is 63 (I will be 68 in March) said he was changing the structure of his practice so he could work beyond 65. He looks and feels way younger, and said that modern medicine and a better diet (should you decide to accept it) had made it possible to live a much longer professional life than before.

but I certainly miss him in the Senate right now. he would have been a leader toward Trump's conviction.

Meh, then again, maybe Kirsten will pick up the slack. I don't watch that much TV so maybe she has been pushing for Trump's conviction and I just missed it?

i listen to his podcast, and recommend it.

It wasn't a "bad joke". He behaved badly. He knew he behaved badly. He resigned rather than cause a bigger scandal that would distract from what the R's were up to, which, quite frankly, was the right thing to do.

Can we please stop making excuses for folks who think it's ok to abuse their power at the expense of women?

We shouldn't give folks a free pass of forgiveness just because they are on "our" side. The GOP already does that & I'm tired of having to "forgive" that kind of misconduct just because it's convenient to someone else.

We should demand better behavior of our politicians, particularly when a problem is as endemic as sexual harassment.

Sincerely,

A woman who has been sexually harassed at multiple jobs & told to "let it go" because the boss was well liked by non-victims




*goes back to lurk mode*

that Mr. Franken was not an elected official when the incident occurred. He was a comedian putting on edgy shows that often used humor with sexual innuendo. And so was she.

* There are multiple accusers spanning years, including elected officials & aides.

* "edgy" comedy doesn't make molesting sleeping women ok

He never touched her. The photo makes that clear.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken

Some folks are just misinformed.

I'm going to quote some of it on this thread.

That Fresh Air interview was an eye opener for me.

Some of us would love to read stuff, but everywhere we go there is a toll-gate kind of paywall.

If one is on a fixed income we can’t afford all the fees.

But, sincerely, thank you for trying to get the word out there !!!

did you hit a paywall?

Fresh Air doesn't charge, either.

The first five for free every month, once I-use them up I’m dead in the water

You aren't saying whether you tried, Pops.

Just flipped up an ad to subscribe....

Sexism begins as a "harmless" endorsement of male superiority and it is a bad habit that too many men still carry on without question. The jokes and careless bodily intrusions are forgiven way too easily and it is exactly why Trump's history was easy for way too many voters to dismiss. The defensiveness based on personal or political agenda is where it all begins.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken?verso=true

A remarkable number of Franken’s Senate colleagues have regrets about their own roles in his fall. Seven current and former U.S. senators who demanded Franken’s resignation in 2017 told me that they’d been wrong to do so. Such admissions are unusual in an institution whose members rarely concede mistakes. Patrick Leahy, the veteran Democrat from Vermont, said that his decision to seek Franken’s resignation without first getting all the facts was “one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made” in forty-five years in the Senate. Heidi Heitkamp, the former senator from North Dakota, told me, “If there’s one decision I’ve made that I would take back, it’s the decision to call for his resignation. It was made in the heat of the moment, without concern for exactly what this was.” Tammy Duckworth, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, told me that the Senate Ethics Committee “should have been allowed to move forward.” She said it was important to acknowledge the trauma that Franken’s accusers had gone through, but added, “We needed more facts. That due process didn’t happen is not good for our democracy.” Angus King, the Independent senator from Maine, said that he’d “regretted it ever since” he joined the call for Franken’s resignation. “There’s no excuse for sexual assault,” he said. “But Al deserved more of a process. I don’t denigrate the allegations, but this was the political equivalent of capital punishment.” Senator Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, told me, “This was a rush to judgment that didn’t allow any of us to fully explore what this was about. I took the judgment of my peers rather than independently examining the circumstances. In my heart, I’ve not felt right about it.” Bill Nelson, the former Florida senator, said, “I realized almost right away I’d made a mistake. I felt terrible. I should have stood up for due process to render what it’s supposed to—the truth.” Tom Udall, the senior Democratic senator from New Mexico, said, “I made a mistake. I started having second thoughts shortly after he stepped down. He had the right to be heard by an independent investigative body. I’ve heard from people around my state, and around the country, saying that they think he got railroaded. It doesn’t seem fair. I’m a lawyer. I really believe in due process.”

Former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who watched the drama unfold from retirement, told me, “It’s terrible what happened to him. It was unfair. It took the legs out from under him. He was a very fine senator.” Many voters have also protested Franken’s decision. A Change.org petition urging Franken to retract his resignation received more than seventy-five thousand signatures. It declared, “There’s a difference between abuse and a mistake.”

Except for Republican-sponsored women "coming forward," Al did not "behave badly," and he sure as hell does not "know" he behaved badly. If you know Franni, you know she'd never let him hear the end of it if he had done anything of the sort. Unless he has had a change of heart in the last three weeks, he still feels that way. That is when I last saw him and talked to him, and he and Franni were still the same devoted couple they always have been. If you have seen him and talked to him more recently than that, and he's suddenly saying something different, I'm all ears.

My wife has been occasionally sexually harassed at her jobs over the years. We know what it is when it happens for real, and we know that a real victim can never really "let it go."

At which point a Senate seat in Minnesota will open up.

Just saying.

something along the lines of, "Well, if you're going to forgive Franken, you've got to be willing to forgive Weinstein." I can hear it now. That said, I'd be willing to stomach that to get Al Franken back in the Senate - or anywhere he can be a change agent.

Anything else, but not with those people again. Even if he were to consider it, I'll bet that Franni wouldn't let him. She is, if anything, more angry with them than he is.

As for speaking at the convention, I doubt the DNC has the guts to ask him. I'm sure the Republicans would try to make a circus out of it, and I'm just as sure we wouldn't be prepared for it, and let the media spend 90% of their coverage on Al, and only 10% on the nominee.

No...we are not going to go into our convention featuring a speaker brought down by #MeToo.

It would be difficult for me to sit here and think up a worse idea...

All of which remain distinct possibilities for our party.

They are their front line pawns.
They knew they had enough smoke to create a fire. Not with the general public, but with the PC reactionaries within the Democratic party. There is no "degrees" left for any kind of sexual misconduct. Where squeezing a waist for a couple of seconds must be taken with the same sober concern as rape. Sad to see so many unable to fight back against this kind of attack.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken?verso=true

It’s silly to even pretend as though this is a topic worthy of serious discussion.

Its sad in a way, Democrats do not have many truly witty charismatic leaders/speakers like Franken. Biden can still crack a good one once in awhile, but he's slowing down. Sanders is all business, as is Warren. Its easy to scoff at the idea that a party needs engaging personalities like Franken, who comes from a comedian past. Someone that can cut through BS using humour. The value of that bullet in our arsenal is so underappreciated, and undervalued.

And that is doubly important in this age of Trump, who, in his own sick way, is entertaining to many Americans. He even acts like he thinks he is a comedian telling his mean jokes and school yard names about Democrats and journalists. Gets whole arena's roaring. No its not funny to us. But neither would Franken's humour be funny to a deplorable. They wouldn't even have the brain to understand half of it. But what it would do is engage our base and get those that are not as politically aware focus on what Republicans are doing. And vote Democratic.

Surely his "offences", do not require a life time ban do they? How long of a time out does he have to serve? We could use him. Some Democrats do not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the situation. We need all the ammo we can get.

to feature a Democrat brought down by #MeToo in a speaking slot at our convention, I’m not sure what more there is to say.

I'd absolutely love it. But too many hand-wringers for it to work. And all it takes is a small minority. The MSM would welcome any dissension in the Democratic party. And would be interviewing Gillibrand, and anyone they can find in the D party to speak against his return. And make a bigger story out of it than warranted.

I mean more to find a riding for him to run in again in November. There will be an initial outrage, mostly from Republicans. A lot of faux outrage from Laura Ingraham and others. But in the current atmosphere, with so many things to be outraged by, the MSM will drop it as a story after a few days. Call Republican's bluff. Its not Republicans that will prevent us having this weapon, its Democrats that refuse to forgive and move on.

the party that abandoned him and justice needs rehabilitation.

but I'm glad it's happening at all.

Wasn’t he the one that got this whole Trump thing going when he was questioning some Republican in a senate hearing???

His time out is over, get him back in there.......

He is interested, but doesn't quite know what to run for.

Half of me wishes he would move to New York and primary one of the two Senators there. It's not like there would be any love lost.

Come to Colorado, we have a Republican sewer scum running here,and Franken’svotes would bury him.

Then at least we would have one democrat who wasn’t a DINO like Bennett

He was incredible!

Wouldn’t it be nice to have him on the Supreme Court?

What was done to him by his Senate colleagues still burns.

he could easily have beaten Trump in the general election. Plus he would have made a great President.

I woyld love to see him/her appoint Al Franken to a good post within the administration. We need strong leaders like him.

LeeAnne Tweeden is a poisonous, partisan bitch on Twitter who would do anything to damage the Democratic party. What followed was a Republican hack job and our own party urging Franken to resign didn't help.

To me, that was the saddest part of all. When the predictable reTHug pile-on started, he was basically left swinging in the breeze with few allies willing to keep his attackers at bay long enough so that he could at least defend himself properly against the additional accusations. He was essentially guilty until proven innocent.

Maybe he was just stupid. Maybe she misunderstood. Maybe it was just a different time and he was over the line but didn't intend to be. Maybe Maybe Maybe.

In today's climate some stupid thing you did at the ripe age of 8 will be used to take you down if someone is so inclined. Everything you say and do will be used against you in the court of public opinion. You could say and do the most amazing wonderful things and someone is going to figure out how to twist it into something negative to hurt you with. That's the climate he'll have to function in if he jumps back in.

Consider that Presidential candidates Sanders, Warren, Klobuchar and Bennet all asked him to step down.

As for "a moment of forgiveness and redemption": the first question the candidate would be asked is "Does anyone else deserve forgiveness"?

In 2015, I asked Rev. Barber if he had been approached to speak at the 2016 convention. When he said no, I had words not with the Hillary camp but with the DNC treasurer. Next thing I knew, Barber was slated to speak at the convention.

Yest.he showed a lack of judgement in that moment, but not all of his comedy found the mark. It's important that someone push the boundaries, though, or we're stuck with knock-knock jokes and "Take my wife...please!"

He shouldn't have tried to push the boundaries backwards, but I honestly believe it was a terrible mistake to silence such a powerful voice for the Democratic Party.

I never saw any charges against him but cheesy jokes while he was entertaining the troops plus going in for celebrity two shots with women who didn't know how that was done. There was never actual assault and certainly never anything that rose to the level of a crime. The whole thing was beyond stupid and the overreaction was something that kept me posting elsewhere.

Guys, some of us don't like to be touched by relative strangers and I'm one of them. In addition, a power differential has us already feeling uncomfortable, so not keeping your hands to yourselves is going to set alarm sirens shrieking full volume, no matter how innocent the situation is. It's the result of a culture that has labeled men predators and women as prey. Think about that.

I doubt many men will understand just how bad it is for us, but there it is. Franken got a raw deal because of this. Other left-o men can expect the same because Republicans are ready to pounce whenever a woman mentions someone made her uncomfortable.

I'll welcome Franken back. I'm still listening to Neil DeGrasse Tyson podcasts even though flirting at a wine bar made a young woman uncomfortable. I just hope they get it, even though it's unlikely in this culture.

it was sickening seeing DUers fall for that garbage

Once accused, guilty until proven innocent.

It would be cool, to have somebody that is really good at it!

With the "Me Too" movement.

We have Moral Panics on a regular basis in this country. And they regularly destroy good people in the midst of the Panic. The Me Too movement was just such a Moral Panic.

We have not heard much of the Me Too movement lately, have we?

at least.

and poof, one of our shining and effective stars gets taken off the landscape by political hacks who used the situation to earn creds with the "me too" crowd that unwittingly opened the door for this kind of shortsighted knee jerk response to any allegation of sexual harassment.
We accuse the Trump cult and Repubics of having little to no critical thinking skills and then start bandwagon jumping when false allegations are made against one of our own. How many of our good leaders have to suffer these kind of indignities before we start going after the source, Republican Rat Fuckers?