Good post!

...thought it fit the situation.

when so many on your side are pressuring you to resign there is little chance of being able to do anything .

anyway until at least 2018 in the Senate.

Has he?

It's not as if he could get away with changing his mind.

I'd have worded the thread title to reflect the fact that he's still technically in the job, but how much does it really matter that the title speaks of AL's departure in the present tense?

However, people only hear what they want to hear and I'm disappointed in the number of people here that insist that he has already resigned.

Odd, isn’t it?

Fingers crossed.

he was way too progressive. Way too harsh to the GOP.

And that's my theory.

I don't think the Sessions thing went over with the corporatists. They didn't know who he would take on next.

New DCCC and DNC rules or the like. Otherwise I've been getting a hinky feeling that it's the rising wave. The women in question have an agenda and I'm not sure it's good for everyone.

And which women "in question"? All of them?

What, do you think there's a conspiracy theory we all hatched during teenage sleepovers to get certain unnamed women with a secret agenda elected to do all of this?

Got it.

Sherrod Brown was wrong to ask him to step down.

Got it?

Sanders is a member of the Democratic Caucus.

I still disagree and find it interesting you could only come up with 3 names.

corporate interests are very interested in shutting him up about that.

Let’s not forget he was at first apologizing. I do not think he knew where this whole thing would go, but he had a pretty good idea where it would most likely go.

We are predictable as a party. We are always undermined for that reason.

Hey, let’s stand up for David Vitter coming back.

We never protect our own. Look at what we allowed them to do with ACORN.

for the way she felt. What we would typically call a non-apology apology if it were made by a republican.

But here we are, saying that he apologized and resigned, when he has really done neither.

Even in saying we never protect our own, there's rewrites of what actually happened to maximize the damage...

Insufficient confession is proof of guilt.

I think he knew that there was no way for him to stay even if they allowed an ethics investigation. When you are abandoned by almost everyone what can you do?

It seemed like Franken was willing to work with an ethics committee but I think he eventually decided that the waters were too tainted due to the media circus that had developed around the accusations.

It’s the Salem Witch Trials of the 21st Century, without the trials. ANYONE can just make an anonymous accusation and bingo, the politician is gone.
And nothing happens if an accusation turns out false, the politician is still gone.
Franken should simply wait it out, there will be a point where no one even believes the stuff anymore or even cares, and he can keep FIGHTING FOR US.

looked bad. I winced when I saw it. And, it was a perfect storm: Leeann is a Trumpster, thought she had some goods on a prominent Democrat in the Senate and saw her chance.

I wish Franken had let the Ethics Committee to investigate before announcing he would resign. Or perhaps there was lots of stuff in his life as an entertainer that he felt would distort the story.

an investigation. So don't put it on him.

He took a bullet for them, for sure. God, it is depressing...

thing that came to mind when I was shown the photo was it looked like a comedy skit. If this woman was truly offended, I believe it would have come out sooner. Remember how hard repubs fought to keep that seat from Sen. Franken after he was elected?

like a guy who had no idea he would become a senator. And this crew in control of the WH, Senate and House, are doing their best to take down a good Dem. senator by using our own #me, too surge. Much to watch, going forward...

With MeToo, some people started talking about revisting Clintons predation. If anyone could have protected Al, he's the one. "I know what a sexual pretator is like, I once was one. Al is not."

She was not a teenager being stalked by a guy in his 30s.

boys will be boys. To claim that a powerful man is the victim of a subordinate 22 yr old is like white people claiming that they are on the receiving end of racism.
Sexual misconduct lies on a continuum.

You trying to assign your point of view to my words is offensive.

Clinton had a position of authority over her. It was an inappropriate relationship between consenting adults.

But calling Bill Clinton a sexual predator is rewriting history. It's none of our business what happened between consenting adults.

Roy Moore is an accused sexual predator. Donald Trump is an admitted sexual predator.

Al Franken is NOT a sexual predator.

was a victim. You are implying that a 22 year old woman cannot have agency when there is a powerful man around. I strongly disagree. Monica knew what she was doing. More power to her.

the phone conducting business is not exactly a great standard to weigh these things by.

Labeling him a sexual predator for getting a BJ by a willing, adult participant is hardly accurate.

It is not the same as stalking high school aged children.

That is NOT predation.

Whatever that is.

His own colleagues told him to go.

Moore wins. Franken still leaves. Moore is seated over the objections of Democrats. They are ignored by Republicans.

Republicans have a good laugh at Democrats, and continue to win elections while Democrats wonder why their high road strategy isn’t working.

Tell me what you think the "low road" looks like.

As currently being practiced by the Democrats, the “high road” is being driven by grievance politics. This kind of politics energizes only the most leftward edge of liberal voters. Ironically, Franken is one of the most liberal Senators we have. Under the bus he goes.

Interestingly, the “low road” being practiced by the Republicans is also grievance politics. In this case Roy Moore is running on the idea that white fundamentalist Christian men are an oppressed and endangered class. The voters in Alabama are likely to consider this idea more important than the idea that he is a nasty pervert.
And again, this strategy energizes only the most rightward edge of conservative voters. But there are a lot of them in Alabama. He will win.

Grievance politics can only win national elections when the grievance so obvious and widespread that it cannot be ignored by the big chunk of voters who do not embrace either edge. #MeToo has the potential to be that, but not when it appears to be an angry mob. Deliberation has a place here. Due process has a place here. The right to defend oneself has a place here.

Without those things, the activists who disregard everything but principle will leave the majority of voters cold. And we will continue to lose close races that should not be close in the first place.

Obama did not win on grievance politics. He won on the politics of hope. Franken was elected on the politics of hope. What Democrats are setting up for in 2018 is nothing like that. They need to figure it out or it will be another ugly election, characterized by all the potential liberal voters who decided to sit it out.

but, yeah

I think it’s why he didn’t resign immediately.

while Democrats wonder why."


THIS^^^^

He did say he would soon, he's not gone now. Or is this decision set in stone?

If he does nothing, he remains Senator.

If Moore is elected and seated, he might just go silent for a while. Of course, the trolls here would reactivate and whine, but only time will tell.

Let the voters decide in 2020.

If Franken does resign, I have been disenfranchised by a handful of people that can not vote in Minnesota.

I don't mind being on the losing side of a fair election, but to have my votes stolen by people that are not residents of the state really angers me.

I am not a MN voter, but this situation would gall me more than it already does if I were. A bunch of Senators should not be telling a duly elected legislator to resign and he should not be resigning.

And I’ll apply this to His Orangeness as well. Or would if he had actually won the election.

Funny how the Trump "election" didn't make me miss him as much as this. Bartcop would have said "But noooooo.........insert hypothetical beatdown of moralistic posers that only get more Repigs in power." If ten percent of the opposition to the republican party had his grit and wits they damn sure wouldn't control all the houses.

And may never know what went on behind the scenes. It is *possible* that "the gang" weighed the options and felt that a drawn-out investigation could do more harm than good if some or all of the accusations were true.