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Tom Brokaw says Dems railroaded Franken: The people who sent him to Washington were left out of the decision
David Edwards
07 Dec 2017 at 14:33 ET
MSNBC contributor Tom Brokaw responded to Sen. Al Frankens (D-MN) decision to step down by noting that he had been driven out by his Democratic colleagues without a say from the people who elected him.
There was on the part of the Democratic Party a determination and a rush, if you will, to have the senator resign and so they didnt have the burden of trying to defend him if they go forward, Brokaw said, while acknowledging the evidence against Franken.
I do think that those in government and those of us in this business as well have to agree to a kind of codification of what is objectionable and how people should be held responsible for it, he explained. When you stop and think about as he raised the Moore case and the president of the United States, those are entirely different kinds of charges of abuse.
But in Al Frankens case, there was still enough murkiness that a lot of people could not make up their mind, Brokaw pointed out. Finally, what I would say is, the people who sent him to Washington were left out of this decision. The voters of Minnesota really had no role in it.
He was driven out by members of his own party and by his own conscience, the veteran broadcaster concluded. We are in a transformation, not just in this case, but the kinds of people we elect to office, the man that we have in the Oval Office right now in an era the likes of which I have not seen before.
Watch the video below from MSNBC -at link
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/tom-brokaw-says-dems-railroaded-franken-the-people-who-sent-him-to-washington-were-left-out-of-the-decision/
SharonClark
(10,014 posts)blueinredohio
(6,797 posts)bluestarone
(17,030 posts)doesn't sound like Al Franken wanted to fight on
PatSeg
(47,586 posts)Hopefully others in the mainstream media will wake up to what is happening in the Senate.
panader0
(25,816 posts)They sat the voters elected Trump, even after allegations about his conduct.
Why then, is it not up to the voters of Minnesota to decide about Al?
I am ashamed of the Dem senators who railroaded this fine civil servant.
Bibluca
(63 posts)Maybe there's something the insiders know that we don't?
Maybe Franken was given an ultimatum, to leave or have further actions exposed? I don't know, I'm just theorizing why someone like him would cave so easily.
yagotme
(2,919 posts)He did cave rather quickly, (though, he still left himself an out, I believe). Maybe he knows of some "evidence" that hasn't been outed yet, and is worried that it will put him out in a dishonorable way.
And, Bibluca, Welcome to DU!
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Where there is no discernment among the allegations or the accused or the accusers. They are being lumped together.
Only the wise and the real leaders are able to discern the difference among these different things, and have the cajones to speak up about it.
So far, I'm not seeing much of that. So far, it's pretty much jumping on the bandwagon, no questions asked.
Before I vote in the future, I will ask: What did you state at the time of the Franken accusations? Did you say you thought he should resign? Did you say he did the right thing, when he resigned because he was ousted?
Because if you followed the crowd, you are not a leader. If you were afraid to go against the mainstream, then you are not a leader.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,192 posts)I guess if I was from Minnesota I'd be even more pissed.