I want clarification.

political party but voted for Trump as did her husband.

Last edited Tue Nov 21, 2017, 10:23 AM - Edit history (1)

there's no excuse for grabbing a woman's ass. You can demean them in other ways, obviously, but improper, unwanted sexualized contact is WAYY THE FUCK out of bounds!!

Joking about grabbing women's butts is also clearly over the line. Sorry, but that's just me.

Again, this is irrespective of what Franken may or may not have done in this particular instance, or what you think the punishment, if any, should be if he did do it.

Why is that so hard to understand... and accept?

right wing woman while her husband was taking a picture that she asked for? You can not possibly believe that. Devil's Advocate?

so, tell me where in my comments do you see me talking about Franken and that photo? I SPECIFICALLY said and repeated in my comments, that I was NOT talking about him in this specific instance.

Shall, I repeat them here for you? See my comments above AND below (for example, #'s 37, 55, 78, 182)... I've been consistent on this point.

So, OBVIOUSLY, there is no "Devil's Advocate" argument, as you incorrectly claim I made. You could not be MORE wrong. I was NOT talking about Franken or that photo, period!!

ALL I was saying is that it's NEVER funny to joke about grabbing a woman's ass, like many have done here on this thread. I don't give a flying fuck whether Franken did it or not!!! It's STILL not the least bit funny!!! These people should be ashamed of themselves!!!

So, please read my comments carefully... you will clearly see this. You wouldn't like someone putting words in your mouth... so, why are you doing it?!

Sorry if I sound a little annoyed... that's because I AM!

and don't believe either allegation...but sorry for the misunderstanding.I could not believe it..(even when I misread it). I have been the victim of both sexual harassment and assault....I survived. It is my opinion that women like Tweeden make it difficult to for true victims to be believed. She is going to be outed as a liar and that will hurt women. This is why I feel so strongly...and I am sick of dancing to the Repugs tune. Have a great day...sorry.

and my wife, who shouldn't have had to put up with all that bullshit... including the jokes about it by people here!

Anyway, I see your points... so sorry to hear what you had to go through.

All the best... and have a great Thanksgiving!

Our Oldest Son and I were there that particular day. When it came to the meet and greet and Photo Ops. The usual hand or arm around the waist was the norm. Tons of people standing in line for moment with Al,as well as other DFLers in the Venue. Never once did I observe a in appropriate grab by anyone and we were there for about a hour. Tons of banter and joke telling,but that is the norm for a Minnesota thingee.

At some point we have to ask ourselves are these event helping or not helping take our country back from the Deplorables ?

is that she and Franken were not two bible width apart.
So in her view perhaps it wasn't appropriate for her and Franken to even stand that close to each other.

where republican asked her where exactly his hands should be.

shortly after it happened is interesting.

It could be that it's easier than we think to turn up contemporary accounts of interactions like this...

And then bribe them into making this hyped claim.

Other than it was reported that she talked about on Facebook in 2010.

You claim she documented it in 2010, yet you can't see any butt grabbing from the photo.

I find that interesting.

I seriously think politicians shouldn't even go around hugging people and posting for photos anymore.

First her sister's comment about that, then her seemingly joking response about what a creep he is. It doesn't look like her reporting a groping.

I don't know if CNN cropped the picture, but if not? Most pictures like that show the whole body length, or at least from the waist up. Curious that it's been cropped right at the shoulders so you can't see where his arm is. I agree with your suggestion and add that I'd have someone I know take the picture and keep a copy of the full length of every one.

and besides that’s easy to alter

The CNN reporter MJLee refuses to verify any of these claims. I think she just called the woman and ran the story. It’s pretty crappy journalism. So can I say “oh yeah, I was t the Fair and Paul Ryan grabbed my ass, and here’s a photo of nothing as proof” and they run it. Really crappy reporting when a mans career is on the line. Facebook posts can be back dated to look contemporaneous, did any CNN techies verify them? Do they exist at all?

"Menz posted the photo with Franken on Facebook at the time, on August 27, 2010. Her sister, Cari Thunker, commented under the photo: "Sorry, but you two aren't Bibles (sic) width apart" -- a reference, Thunker explained to CNN, to how physically close Menz and Franken were in the photo.

Menz responded to her sister on Facebook: "Dude -- Al Franken TOTALLY molested me! Creeper!" (The exchange is visible to Menz's Facebook friends.)"

That photo alone says nothing.

the post is there and visible to her FB friends.

time stamp would be actual evidence than just a photo and her claim of what she said happened.

Without further proof, that photo proves nothing.

Move the goal posts a little more!
I personally think that almost all of these stories are overblown, and maybe I’m that strange woman that isn’t necessarily offended by a “goose”, but the woman reported it in 2010, but it isn’t enough for you .
When it comes to Democrats, many here are as bad as the Deplorables that question the veracity of Trumps accusers.
After all, how many of them are Verifiable accusations?
Why are we to believe them, but not the Franken accusers?, after all I can guarantee a lot, if not all, of Trumps accusers voted for Hillary.

Yeah, it takes more than a photo that shows noting to believe her accusation.

If she has the photo she should also have a screen grab or her facebook posts as the photo shows nothing.

Come on, we're talking about a Democratic senator's reputation here.

You can't just believe stuff without proof.

Look at Tweeden's so called photo proof, and how her whole story is falling apart.

most, if not all of Moore's accusers voted for Trump. That's what they've stated - you can choose to believe them or not.

Curiously, both of Franken's accusers did as well.

Though, especially in the context of your post, I can't figure out what the fuck that has to do with any of this.

In your post, the response to her sister seems to be about them being too close.

But, she's going to get her 15 minutes. I truly doubt he grabbed her butt.

that's a common type of flippant comment made to friends or relatives.

If you are truly upset and feel violated, you don't say "DUDE!".

But, we're going exactly where we're directed, eating our own and ignoring their behavior.

And Dude is a very common expression in younger people.

doesn't say "violated" to me, it says smart ass response to sister's comment about them being too close.

If he were regularly grabbing people's butts at the state fair, someone would have said something long ago. He has pictures taken with a whole lot of people. If it was a one-time thing, it was probably an unintentional touch (not a grab).

I'm not willing to go directly into circular firing squad mode.

Especially in response to the "two bibles" comment.

Totally molested? That's not even being alleged now.

It's the flip response to the sister's comment.

Being the monolithic group we are and all. We are one sarcastic bunch, let me tell you.

sounds like sarcastic banter with the sister's "two Bibles" comment and "totally molested" (which sounds like sarcasm to me not a serious claim that she was in fact "molested&quot

This is the problem with these sorts of accusations as some of us were discussing yesterday.

I think this woman is lying. It is not because I trust Franken. It's just that I find it difficult to believe an ultra conservative who I have known from personal experience are serial liars and who actually believe their lies after a time. She may actually believe this happened. Sincerely believe it. Because that's the culture she's used to.

This is such shit...I shouldn't have even see such crap here...Breitbart would be more appropriate.

questioned about the many accusations against him, even though the women have come out AGAIN. This gives Fox etc the chance to focus on Franken and avoid discussing Trump entirely and engaging in "whataboutism" when Moore is mentioned.


Is she claiming that he's grabbing her butt in that photo (in which she doesn't look remotely surprised or startled about having her butt grabbed by a senator? Seems bizarre to me)?

You assume it's been cropped. How do you know that?

Repug and a liar...doesn't like Franken...meaningless people lie all the time.

point is that she did describe the incident in 2010. She says she told her husband, mother, and father at that time.

That's not a serious allegation. It's silly banter on facebook.

And I would love to see her put under oath and perhaps someone should tell her, you go to jail if you lie...no way Franken would do that. You have to use logic and common sense.

I don't believe it either. Her husband and her father were there. She said she was in this state: "I was like, oh my God, what's happening."

Her unstressed, un-perplexed, completely relaxed smile in the photo is making a liar of her now.

A woman can't smile that way while her butt is all of a sudden, out of the blue, being grabbed, causing her to be thrown into a panic - OMG - state.

Her face would have to register that OMG. It would be something like her brow would furrow, her eyes might narrow - or enlarge, her smile would be forced looking, if she could smile at all. Some effect of her alleged "OMG what is happening" perplexity would have to show in the picture. The photo does not remotely reflect this alleged state of mind.

She had no obligation to anyone to register a smile that depicts - there is nothing at all happening here other than a photo of me and a politician being taken by my husband, just like all the others today!

If she had been bothered, she would have automatically pulled back, winced, frowned, done something that shows in the photo she didn't like or understand what was happening. She didn't.

how anyone can defend this behavior - regardless of whether Franken should resign over it (he shouldn't) - is beyond me.

Women should be respected AT ALL TIMES... no exceptions!!

The implication is clear. This is irrespective of what Franken may or may not have done, or what, if anything, should be done about it.

Comment #1:
"Was it a cigarette butt?
I want clarification."

Shall I go on?!

Again, SO not funny, but hey, maybe it's just me. Can't believe there are those who find this crap amusing... I, for one, don't!!

Sorry.

I've told this story before here about a friend of mine, and African-American woman, who was fired For making an off color comment about a birthday cake that she said looked like "a big black dick"

When I worked with her she was always playing grab ass with the gay guys in the office. Myself, having seen how this stuff like that can go sour, stayed far away from it and warned these guys and girls to stop it.

A couple years later she was managing a branch for countrywide. She penalized one of the high producers for lying about a jumbo loan that he claimed to have locked but didn't. The market turned sour and The branch had to eat $30,000 to close the loan. The loan officer felt he shouldn't have to pay even though it was his responsibility to lock and he lied through his teeth (busted with emails) to both the customer and the branch manager.

All of the sudden this off-color comment became such an issue for this male loan officer that he had to transfer offices because of the "hostile work environment"

When she was interviewed by HR and the attorneys there was no denying she made the joke. But it was during a bunch of grab ass in the lunch room while a birthday cake was being cut.

Comments like that and Al Franken's juvenile photo don't age well. Especially when someone wants to make a big deal out of it years later.

She was fired and received no compensation or no unemployment.

to go after Franken until there is more solid evidence doesn't seem very wise or appropriate to me.


Trump is still president despite the dozen plus claims against him on the record made by very believable women.

and you obviously haven't read this thread, starting with the VERY FIRST COMMENT!!

Please cut me some slack... nothing I said SHOULD be the LEAST bit controversial on DU... but, I see that it is. (Nothing ceases to amaze me around here anymore.)

I even apologized in advance for what is, apparently, a minority view... but, yes, I'll say it AGAIN: there is nothing amusing about grabbing a woman's rear end!!

totally molested." that tells me this was over-the-top hyperbolic hypersensitive BS. Look at the photo. Does she look like she was being "totally molested." Her husband was right there. He was taking pictures with tons of people. Did he "molest" them all? This is BS.

The kid fish upon seeing a boat referred to it as a butt. Nemo proclaims I’m gonna touch the butt then he does. It’s what started his adventure.

Try having someone take a close-up picture of two people and have them not be touching.
This is an extreme stretch of sexual misconduct by any standard.

Still call this a hit job.
If they have a picture the maggot supporters
Pile on.

was even standing that close to her. M

Minnesota statutes state that "intentional touching of the clothing covering the immediate area of the buttocks" is not considered criminal sexual conduct.

I am sick of this shit. Franken is not the problem. Trump is the problem, Roy Moore is the problem, Harvey Weinstein is the problem. What Franken has (maybe) done is the equivalent of a parking ticket.

attention to all of the shit he was accused of doing -- even though the women have come out again and put themselves in front of the camera AGAIN, enduring horrible shit from the Trump maniacs. Yet here we are screaming about a cropped photo of Franken and the incident with the other woman who regularly engaged in grabbing men's asses and humping them in the USO skits in which she freely participated for years.


Yes, of course Franken should NOT have "shoved his tongue" down her throat but Franken apologized while also saying he didn't remember it that way (a softer way of saying I don't agree that this happened). I think we are doing ourselves zero favors by going after Franken (not anything like Trump, Moore, or Weinstein). The republicans are using the Franken story to avoid the Moore story.

Do it before being drug into the muck with more that may come.

Not good

When did he do it, during or after picture? And she had zero facial response? Not believing it.

No fucking way. He’s one of our best.

And he didnt notice anything.

She later says she may have voted for Franken but “she isnt sure.”

How can you not remember that little detail?

Link to tweet

And people are begging for more!