We don't know if Al Franken is going to be forced out of the Senate by the allegations that he did a mild version of what Donald Trump bragged of doing by Billy Bush. Well, actually, since Trump bragged about grabbing women's genitals as a privilege of being the kind of degraded royalty that show biz creates this day, I think what Franken has been accused of isn't, actually the same thing. He's accused of touching women's back side while having a picture taken with him, taking a boorishly naughty picture in which it would appear no touching happened and for having a stage kiss go bad during a rehearsal.
I will stop here and say that the reliance on anonymous accusations in the case of Al Franken is also a difference in how he is being treated as opposed to others who have had similar accusations made against them. There should be an absolute rule in the press, on the internet that unless someone is willing to put their name and their identity on this kind of accusation, those accusations shouldn't be treated as if they are credible. While there are good reasons for anonymity if the accusation is against an organized criminal, a billionaire oligarch, or someone else who might reasonably destroy an accuser, Al Franken is none of those. The accusers of Donald Trump and Roy Moore haven't hidden behind anonymity but the treatment of the cases are being handled by different rules. Is anyone surprised that the rules favor the Republicans and definitely do not favor the Democrat?
The presence of Al Franken in the Senate is, of course, a less important public affair than what the results will be in legislation and laws and in who the Senate confirms. Holding a public office isn't a right, it is the acceptance of a job to serve The People. The job that gets done, in the end, is what matters in this and if Franken is replaced by someone who will do as good a job as he would in the Senate, his Democratic colleagues calling for him to resign, that might be a justification for them doing what so many of them did yesterday.
I wouldn't make such a call unless I knew that which ever entity in Minnesota will fill that seat had someone who was as excellent in the job as Al Franken has been ready to hit the ground running. I would want to know who was going to replace him and that they were worth the price that will be paid for one of the most effective current sitting senators leaving. I would also want something that can't be had, a guarantee that the media and the voters of Alabama will hold their own Senators to the same rules and defeat Roy Moore. In the end, if Minnesota and Democrats can feel proud that they have higher morals than Republicans and Alabamans, that's useless unless the political results were worth it. A warm self-regarding feeling of moral superiority is no replacement for Civil Rights, Social Security, the ACA, CHIP, and the full range of things that Republican-fascism will destroy even as Democrats feel morally superior. There is nothing more useless than the feeling of your own moral rectitude as the Republicans trash everything decent.
If Roy Moore is elected, there will be a lot more to say on that and what it will show in terms of who voted for him.
Whoever replaces Franken, I would hope it is not someone from the world of show biz where what Franken is accused of would be considered a minor instance of amusing naughtiness, backstage hijinks. You can tell that from the pictures and footage of Leanne Tweeden groping, kissing and twerking at men onstage, to put it plainly, she did a lot more of what she accused Franken of in public and no one is calling for her to pay any price for it. She has also had ties with Republican ratfucking operations and FOX sleazes which should have been held up as discrediting her. As you can see the double standards would always seem to favor even the sleaziest Republicans and to disfavor Democrats. Leanne Tweeden is a sleaze. If she were a male sleaze the pictures of her groping men etc. would have gotten her fired from the media and show biz in the last six weeks. And she's a political sleaze, which is far worse.
If I were Al Franken and I knew there was more that I'd done that could be used by Republican ratfucker operations, FOX, hate-talk radio, I would resign. If I were Al Franken and knew most of what I was accused of was a lie, I would only resign if there was an official investigation of the accusations that would include the identification of anonymous accusers and which held the likes of Leanne Tweeden to her own pretended standards of behavior. I would also insist that such an investigation held Republicans to the same rules. If I didn't have a reason to think those were going to happen, I would be disinclined to leave until the ethics investigation is completed and a promising replacement ready to go. What he'll say, who knows?
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