Al Franken Situation: What Do You Guys Really Think Of It?

Because there is a picture. Not a huge Franken fan, but think it is overblown (at least in terms of the picture). Creepy, but in a joking way and in a public setting - posing for the pic. Hard to say what he did in terms of unwanted kissing, etc., but the witch hunt is getting a little out of control.

There are 7 Dem Senate seats coming up in 2018 which are in states won by DJT, in some cases 10-20 points.

They need this to go away in the next 2-3 months, if they want to use the real ammunition of Roy Moore, DJT etc.

If it doesn't go away, he should resign, esp if Roy Moore is elected.

The accusations themselves are flimsy. The kiss was part of the script. The, "grope" involved no touching, and is clearly a joke.

How do you make it stick that AL is electing a hebephile to the Senate, and POTUS is a sexual predator?

I don't think he got a good feel through that bulletproof vest.

run with the wom wrote:

I don't think he got a good feel through that bulletproof vest.

Fingertips touched. No squeezing. No palms of hands. No grouping. A dumb photo-op blow out of proportion by a conservative commentator, Leeann Tweeden, who has appeared on Fox many times, and who has a cohost who writes columns for Breitbart. ... Her problem is one of credibility. If she claimed the photo was inappropriate that would be fine. But she is claiming something--grabbing, grouping--that should have woken her up. ... Now, where are the rest of the photos that Trump tweeted must exist (#s 2-5 ...)?

Each situation needs to be judged on its own facts. I think what Franken did is wrong, but not comparable to some other accusations of late. I don't think this should be lumped with Weinstein, Louis CK, etc.

There needs to be distinctions between (1) honest and innocent misjudgment, (2) creepy behavior that's not criminal, (3) assault and/or battery (unwanted touching) that's criminal, (4) rape and (5) anything involving underage persons. There also needs to be distinctions between the employer-employee context (when one has power over another) and when they're both on an equal footing.

Franken's conduct was wrong, but I'd put it in the (2) category (I think there's an unwanted kiss but I doubt any prosecutor would prosecute that if he weren't a public figure). Roy Moore is (3), (4) and (5).

Sick Of It All wrote:

Why is this woman that said he kissed her getting any airplay at all?

Turnabout is fair play in the political world.

He's declared himself superior to others, been their judge and jury, so he deserves to be pilloried.

What's more, I never found him funny!

Are frankens hands touching her in the photo? We need to have distinctions. People are calling him a groper. I know he kissed her without permission but I'm not convinced he's touching her in that photo. Still and weird.

is it true she is a breitbart contributor? oh man, that is classic

the photo is in poor taste and was inappropriate, but do i think he is groping her - no. It was dumb joke, a bad one... but was she traumatized over it? I doubt it. After all, he is clearly posing for camera and not actually 'grabbing' and he gave her the photo.

the kiss part - who knows what the reality is.

this one and the george h.w. bush claims seem a little overblown to me... would i do either of those things? never. But do these deserve to be in same line as harvey weinstein or spacey allegations - no.

visualaidshelp wrote:

Because there is a picture. Not a huge Franken fan, but think it is overblown (at least in terms of the picture). Creepy, but in a joking way and in a public setting - posing for the pic. Hard to say what he did in terms of unwanted kissing, etc., but the witch hunt is getting a little out of control.

That's fine, I don't necessarily disagree, but ask yourself if you would say the same thing if it were are republican senator. Be honest.

It's creepy, but probably no grosser than lots of comedians behave. The things that pass for comedy are frequently just being gross and transgressive and people applaud and pay money to see it. I expect it carries over into off-stage behavior. If you add in rock musicians and other entertainers, I'm sure that stories like Franken's or worse are a dime a dozen.

You would hope that standards of behavior are higher for elected officials than entertainers. I doubt that is true anymore in the US. All that matters now is whether someone has an R or a D after their name. People on your team are excused and people on the other team are condemned.

Why isn't the person who took the picture held accountable. He or she is party to sexual assault as well.

This and other situations leave a bad taste in my mouth. Sure, al was playing dirty. But if this was such a bad thing, why wait 11 yrs later to say anything? Because this and other females like her are nothing more than money grubbing whores. She used her looks to get a head in life and mingle with well to do people she probably would not have met otherwise. Nothing wrong with that. Where she sets herself a part from a real woman is that she kept it in her back pocket until the right time and exploited someone with power, fame, and money. The one line she said that will forever bother me is that she said she wouldn't tell because she didn't want to jeprodise her career. That said it all. Her career meant more than her credibility or self respect.

Sorry, but this woman told on herself. She told the world her priorities. Money and fame meant more to her than doing the right thing and at the right time. When I was growing up, if any man did something wrong to the women I knew growing up, they got handled then and there. Seriously, where are those kind of women now? You can't be the victim and the Victor in the same story. Well maybe now you can.

Not right but who knows the context of the phone. Don't see this comedian coming undef fire...Imagine if a guy posted that? Equality only counts when its to the advantage of the people.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheEllenShow/status/923230978419474434

Next we will be hearing of movie stars who filmed sex scenes with people that they moved left when they should have moved right and grazed them in the wrong manner.

Nothing but a cash grab for these slipping personalities muddled in waters of a few legitimate cases

Roger Stone (works for Trump) knew this was hitting the press before it did. It's clearly a conservative play against him that they planned, probably in response to the Roy Moore thing. Franken was a comedian for years and I'm sure he has a huge rap sheet of stuff they can twist into being inappropriate. It's the epoch of hypocrisy coming from the same guys who got "grab'em by the pu$$y" Trump elected. Just like Trump's constituents didn't care it's likely that Franken's constituents will care even less. If they do then it better be for more than this clearly biased and blown out of proportion stunt.

Are you a girly man male feminist?

If so, you contributed to this

50 men attacked starting with Bill O’Reilly

Some are innocent some are guilty.

A picture is worth a thousand accusations.

Girly man male feminist??? WTF is that???

I guess you have to put it in context with all of the other guys.

Trump has several accusers of sexual assault and denies it all.

Roy Moore has several accusers being sexually inapropriate and denies it all.

Harvey Weinstein has several accusers of sexual harassment and owns a bit of it but denies anything non consensual.

Louis CK had a handful of women say he did pervy things and he owned up to it.

Franken has one accuser and he owned up to it.

The biggest accusation is that he tried to force a rehearsal kiss before a performed kiss.

So I think if every public figure had every failed or unwanted advance publicized the noise would be deafening and we would tune it all out.

my2cents wrote:

It's creepy, but probably no grosser than lots of comedians behave. The things that pass for comedy are frequently just being gross and transgressive and people applaud and pay money to see it. I expect it carries over into off-stage behavior. If you add in rock musicians and other entertainers, I'm sure that stories like Franken's or worse are a dime a dozen.

You would hope that standards of behavior are higher for elected officials than entertainers. I doubt that is true anymore in the US. All that matters now is whether someone has an R or a D after their name. People on your team are excused and people on the other team are condemned.

It's worth noting that he was a comedian, and not a public servant, when this picture was taken. So I really don't see the point of an ethics investigation. I would have a different stance if he was a senator at the time.

But, I agree with your point. I don't like how when the accusations against Moore came out, a lot of Democrats responded with "You see? Republicans are morally bankrupt!" instead of "This 30-something tried to pick up high school girls at the mall, and that shows weird judgment, regardless of political affiliation"