I suspect she is mentally I'll.

Thanks to our rush to judgment in the Senate, we will never know.

I think we had two Republican operatives who lied.

One opportunist looking for 15 minutes

Four made up stories by God only knows.

And one mentally ill woman

And, sadly, yes.

I had to stop visiting the metafilter discussion site because the moderators have gotten so sensitive to the "triggers" that bother certain victims or oppressed groups that even when we are discussing completely unrelated topics everything is a minefield of unwritten rules and forbidden words and phrases. I am certain a lot of those people firmly believe we should support the accusers despite so much evidence that they are either mentally ill or politically driven hacks. I even see their point but in a practical sense I don't see how you can successfully run a discussion site, much less a political orgnaization, on that kind of unrealistic basis.

I remember her saying something about gaining weight. She may have been hypersensitive socially because of an irrational fixation on her physical appearance.
In that case, anything coming in her direction could have seemed intrusive/threatening--certainly an arm around her waist. She blew this way out of proportion and perhaps encouraged by the false accusation by Tweeden and the vague anonymous accusations that followed--making her situation feel like an appropriate one to include.
She felt kinship amongst the bunch of low-level me-tooers already attacking Franken.

Of course the above only makes sense if she thinks her situation was real. She might have been lying.

Until she didn't!

And now it's suddenly "never mind!"

Hey, there may be a very reasonable explanation. But it looks like a pattern of jumping on a movement. #metoo

The entire FRanken thing is turning out to be a travesty in MHO. THis is what a rush to judgment and an adding on does to you. As leader, Schumer should've gotten hold of this thing and at least insisted the process and investigation work.

A lot. Told him so via email and fb.

But it is now apparently and all you have to do is accuse that’s the proof. Who will be next? Scary stuff.

Conyers. Moore. Trump. The surrogacy guy. The playboy in duckie pajamas guy.

Republicans weren't kicking him out without one.

then I have no problem with that. If the guy is asking for an Ethics Investigation, but is forced to resign without one, that I have a problem with.

However, in the end he decided he could not continue.

With more than half of his own caucus shunning him, he would not be able to get regular work through the Senate committees and regular procedures. Franken could have made a stand against a few of his colleagues, but he saw that he was wearing the pointy hat at a witch hunt and could not prevail.

He said he would resign sometime in the upcoming weeks.

He can ride it out, if we insist on finding the truth through proper ethics investigation hearings - under oath.

A former Republican Governor of his state Arne Carlson is calling for the proper investigation. He thinks it might have been a right wing hit job.

I want to hear and see Tweeden, Menz and DuPuy under oath. And the anonymous ones who were allegedly made "uncomfortable" during photo ops. And that army sergeant who thinks her boob is in the middle of her back. I won't be satisfied with anything else at this point. I want the truth.

Instead of insisting on one, the Democrats in the Senate forced Franken out.

I have tried to come to terms with this but I can't.

This was a mistake.

The defenders of these actions are driving me crazy. These thin, weak accusations that are most likely a GOP hit job appear. Dems not only refuse to defend him but force him out for political expediency. But it's ultimately Franken's fault because "he could have stayed if he wanted to." What the hell?

The public shunning was political theater designed to leverage a public image of the Senate Democrats.

It backfired.

Huge miscalculation. Put the whole Democratic Party in a much worse position.

We've been tagged publically as so easily manipulated by a "ratfucking" trick we'll throw away a Senate seat. Made targets out of all of our elected peeps, pissed off the Dem voters and badly mistreated a decent human being.

Total FAIL.

Justify what happened in any way. Very dangerous precedents are being set here.

"humor" making jokes about hugging someone. I can see it now, giving a friend a hug and joking "that's not meant to be sexual harassment" coming from one of them.

Making fun of the whole thing.

There might have been legitimate concerns against Franken, who knows, but she was the biggest fraud and opportunist by far. That putting your arm around someone for a photo can be mentioned in connection with the me too movement is ridiculous and indeed an insult. She was looking for ways to advance her career and one can only hope that it backfires.

Besides railroading a really good man, she has made a mockery of all the women who are victims of real sexual assault. By Dupuy's standard, I've been a victim of sexual misconduct many times and have probably committed it as well. I guess we should all just quit touching other people entirely.

to trivialize what sexual assault is. This accusation seems to be an example.

I do not mean to minimize this woman's experience of discomfort.

In my youth I was undeniably groped several times. The circumstances were not like Al Frankin's accuser's events.

Men waited until I was cornered and undeniably put their hands on me in an sexually inappropriate manner. There was no way to make any sort of ambiguity about it.

I understand that women have been victimized in the worst kept secret for years and its decades past the time to stop it. I also understand there will be men accused unfairly or over accused in what they actually did or were meaning to do. But we need to hear the accusers and not finding ourselves judging them because we love and need the accused on our side.

If my place in this discussion is inappropriate to anyone, I will gladly self delete it.

You have as much right to comment on this as anyone else.

I think people need to understand the distinction between "groping" and a "pat" and "sexual assault". Are all unacceptable? Sure. But whereas two of those are purposefully harassing. I fear there is a lot of grandstanding going on right now and it's sad because it detracts from the veracity of women who suffer very real sexual harassment, attack, abuse of power for sex, etc. Sadly when we go for zero tolerance we often disregard the need for degrees and judgment. Does an accusation of a pat on the bottom during a photo op equate to forcing a teenager to touch genitals or be touched? Does that pat on the bottom equate to bragging about one's practice of groping women by their genitals or being "on her like a "bitch"? I really think perspective is needed.

This was bound to happen. The error was giving it too much media attention. Was that by design?

I was sexually assaulted as a preteen. Later I had inappropriate encounters with a doctor and a teacher. I am 53 now and at times in my life it was hard to deal with these things in my past, but the past 20 years or so I have been proud of myself for not letting it ruin me mentally or emotionally, and that is hard. With all of this coming to light, I was starting to drift toward letting the awfulness of those memories drag me down again. If a pat on the butt can be a reason for a person to lose their job, then what happened to me was even worse than I thought.

I was hoping for Franken to use his place and the situation to start a campaign to educate men about what is okay and what is not okay, especially in the workplace. That is what we really need right now. Cutting Franken off did not really create progress with this issue.

wow.

Tina Dupuy is a Democratic public figure, and more public in the last week. As I understand it, and please correct me if I am wrong, but attacks on Democratic figures are prohibited on DU.

and placing your hands on someones waist for a photo happens all the time. If that is the threshold for sexual assault, then I myself have committed dozens of assaults.

And in a thread here, Tina has stated the only reason she came forward is to provide legitimacy to the other Franken accusers.

I refer you to Dupuy's article:

"He immediately put his hand on my waist, grabbing a handful of flesh. I froze. Then he squeezed. At least twice."

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/i-believe-frankens-accusers-because-he-groped-me-too/547691/

Her quote there sounds like hyperbole.

And wouldn't grabbing that much flesh in your hand hurt the other person? I just asked my girlfriend to try it and she yelped out in pain and discomfort. Wouldn't the other people there notice?

Tina and Tweeden are F-List celebrities trying to boost their image. They are willing to appear in front of millions on news shows, but testifying to an ethics committee would be "to difficult" for them (Tina's words)?

I swear that I am the only person who remembers the Duke Lacrosse Team case. Those young men's lives were ruined for years by a woman making false accusations of sexual assault. After that, I swore that I would never judge anyone on if they sexually harassed/assaulted anyone until I saw proof. And yes, that goes for Roy Moore as well.

standard to Trump and Moore?

because I believe in due process. I am sorry that you do not.

flesh of young women to take a photo.

She would have cried out in pain if he had, or at least made an unmistakable movement. Try "grabbing a handfull of flesh" around someones waist, you will see what I mean.

I'm sure i would not want to hang out with you and your family, Don Quixote.

Not even close.

Let's not continue the ridiculousness. That is a bullshit, made up accusation by someone looking her 15 minutes.

No one gropes a waist.

And if she's a public figure so am I.

She is not a Democratic public figure. She is not a politician, just an F-List comedian/writer.

Being on TYT does not mean that you are a Democrat. Nor as I said in another response, she is not a politician, so that rule doesn't apply.

Also, a Democrat would believe in due process.

Reasonably criticizing a “Dem public figure” in violation of the rules, why don’t you alert and let a jury decide?

Your arms must be killing you from all the reaching.

She is the focus of umpteen DU threads. I think that is also evidence she is a public figure. Do you think you are smearing the integrity of a Democratic public figure?

The rule for not attacking public figures only applies to politicians because they have declared their political allegiance. Are we even sure that Tina is a Democrat?

She smeared her own integrity a long time ago, and is not helping her case now.

So what's the real issue, here? that she had body image problems and his hand on her waist made her feel fat?

It sounds like she has serious emotional issues that need to be addressed.

Ah so many rules, I just can't keep up.

I responded to her in another thread. She says she came forward to provide legitimacy to the other Franken accusers.

Fuck you, Tina. You’ve cheapened the meaning of the word “assault” and helped bring down a great Senator for your lousy 15 minutes.

I'd be curious to see what she has to say if it's really her.

Hard to believe she would backstab an ally like that.

If so, that would explain a lot.

Wow, that certainly does explain tons. I didn't know that, but it does explain it.

defending Assad.

for the misogynistic atmosphere that it is and always has been. That Franken picture fit that whole raunchy atmosphere. It looked like a setup anyways, he's smiling for the camera and she's in full uniform gear. It looked like a promo picture. Nothing about that picture was out of place for the atmosphere in which it was taken. Leering, jeering parading women is the whole point of that show -- entertaining young randy men.

If she's so damaged by her experience, then she should be leading the charge to disband that show so that other women do not suffer in the future. Let's see how far she gets with that angle.

Don't know if it's still the case. What do you mean, explains a lot?

prone to believing reports of abuse & harassment.

But this one was a bridge too far. I'm sure there's a reason she made such a silly claim, but I don't know what it is. What is surprising that people fell for it...that a squeeze to the waist by someone you asked to come in close for a selfie...is groping & sexual harassment. That's just ridiculous.

It shows what a dangerous climate there is right now, with people willing to lynch other people in a whipped up frenzy, without serious thought. Very dangerous. And wrong.

I will in the future pay more attention to the details reported, rather than give them as much benefit of the doubt. This climate is such that next we'll be seeing allegations like those in the Duke LaCrosse matter. People's lives and careers can be ruined.

Already have been ruined.

…she is not the real problem. The problem is that the Dems blocked an ethics investigation which would have helped the whole country make the distinction you're getting at.

Franken should not have lost his job over her accusation (among others). That's what is blurring the line between genuine harassment and a hand on the waist in a photo shoot.

It's the Dems over-reaction that's hurting the movement, not Dupuy.

The thing is we don't know about her. She might be this traumatized person who freaks out easily because of life circumstances we know nothing of. It was the Dems job to find out about her.

Besides, the accusation of one person, ridiculous and conflating of categories as it is——didn't have any real stature. It's the Dems getting rid of him, I think, that defines her description as this act of huge harassment.

Her accusation was bullshit and has caused a good man a great deal of harm.

WTF? That is not sexual assault and it's an insult to women who have actually been sexually assaulted.

Are you a friend of hers or something?

nothing more,nothing less

some people have extreme issues and could be bothered by a hug but most would not

it appears this is all about kg becoming the losing dem in 2020

just my take

that it is.

What's happened with this now plays completely into the hands of the mockers and underminers. It's too much of a set-up to not have some nefarious intentions behind it. I see now that Dupuy appears on TYT, which explains a lot. An ex-Republican show on Russian TV that demeans the Democratic party nonstop. Hmmm.

Dupuy is explaining her VANITIES. She is not describing sexual assault or harassment. I was sickened listening to a vain woman try and hold an audience over how she was damaged because someone touched her muffin top after *she* asked for a picture. Vanities are not sexual assault or sexual harassment or unwanted touching. I was sickened by her description and her self-absorbed meanderings over her warped body image. I bet no one would noticed her fat roll. I bet Franken didn't care or notice. He scooched in for a picture and that's that. Maybe he signals to people in pictures that it's okay to get closer because -- HE'S the celebrity. Who cares about her fat roll, gads.

Another huge clue from her interview (can be seen on this site), is that she didn't want to have to explain to a investigation panel the trauma she experienced because someone touched her fat roll. Huh?? What a perfect setup. Who the hell would tell a United States Senator they have to leave their position over this tripe?? It's a huge miscalculation and a huge setback for women. (edit-poster J17 has a thread about that -- agree with their description of Dupuy's video).

Those Democrats allowed themselves to get played. Gillibrand should resign and let Hillary take that seat back. Support Democrats! Don't throw them under the bus. Potentially handing over a Senate seat to Republicans, Oh my Gawd. Taking a valuable Senator away from those who elected him! No excuses.

I'm completely gutted.

the Democratic leadership. Thoroughly disgusted. She has let the whole MeToo movement be sidetracked into a petty gossip session, and that is truly a travesty. She lost control of this entirely. Who does she think she is overturning an election in another state.

I am serious that she needs to resign and give Hillary her Senate seat back.

and is a helluva read:

A Survivors Defense of Al Franken
http://strategycampsite.org/v2/index.php/2017/11/23/a-survivors-defense-of-al-franken/