the only way this Franken thing makes sense

[ProfessorPlum]

Is if he knows he is guilty, and knows of more serious things he is guilty of.

Either Roger Stone already has that information and is blackmailing Franken (and all of the Dems) with it, or Franken knows something that Stone doesn't that would come out under investigation.

The possibility that Stone knows something bad about Franken and hasn't blasted it far and wide yet defies our experience with Stone.

So let's assume the second thing is true - that Franken has some thing in the past that Stone doesn't know about but which Franken assumes would come out- he did something during SNL days or something, and had to pay a woman some money to settle a suit. Whatever he did would have to be worth losing his job for.

So, Franken goes to the Democrats in the Senate and says, "look, this is going to look bad. To make it seem like Democrats give two shits about women and sexual harassment, why don't the rest of you kick me out? It will make you seem righteous on this issue, and it will spare me having this bad thing come out in the open, and also make me a bit of a martyr because it will seem like I lost my job (and disenfranchised millions of Minnesotans) over a couple of anonymous accusations and some GOP lies."

That's the only scenario which even starts to make sense, and even that doesn't make sense. Unless it is really a horrible thing that is being covered up. And even then, Franken should have due process and see where it all leads.

Just does not compute. Don't go, Al.

[ollie10]

1. If there was something that big...

Thr Rs would not have held it back

[ProfessorPlum]

3. yeah, exactly

It would have to be something very big that the GOP doesn't know about.

[4139]

2. My memory not so good, didnt Harpo Marx goose ladies in the movies?

I wonder if he use to do it as a comic gag?

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Not unless Franken is a better actor than we thought-- he looked really broken up..

when he made his little speech.

I would like to think that he will be resurrected and run again when the dust settles.

[LisaL]

5. Don't believe that for a second.

It's the climate created. You have to believe all the accusations so therefore all accused must be guilty.

[mn9driver]

6. Franken resigned because a majority of his democratic colleagues in the Senate told him to.

I have my own opinion about the judgement and spines of those people. And there are a lot of people just like me who have the same opinion.

This incident will have serious consequences down the road. Consequences far beyond anything Roger Stone imagined.

[LisaL]

7. That's exactly right.

Not sure why some feel the need to make it into something else.

[ProfessorPlum]

8. it's pretty much Franken's duty to tell those idiots to pound sand

for the sake of the republic. If there is really nothing much to these allegations.

why do they get to say who MN voters have representing them? _None_ of them (well, ok, one of them) live in MN.

[LisaL]

10. If most of your colleagues tell you to go take a hike,

how are you going to feel?

[ProfessorPlum]

12. If I'm Franken, I'm not going to disenfranchise the voters in my state

because I haz a sad.

It doesn't add up.

[Thor_MN]

19. Franken has not resigned yet. Please don't support that concept.

It part of the "He must have been guilty to have resigned" meme. He announced that he will resign, until that point he is still Minnesota's senator. His reason was that he could not be effective while fighting a lynch mob. So now he has time to be effective at what he does, as the lynch mob no longer has a cause.

[delisen]

9. Would someone put his wife/family through the pain

for the reason you suggest? or would he simply have resign without the humiliation of the public demands for his resignation?


It seems to me that this event was choreographed in 2 parts with the intention of demonstrating zero tolerance, and then to be able to use that stand to draw a clear line between Democrats and Republicans, pressure Republicans to cast out there own accused or look like hypocrites, and to make visible again Trump's treatment of women.

It was a "Caesar's Wife" political tactic, designed to capture the emergent and intense demographic of younger women, and aimed at the 2018 election cycle. There is now one highly visible example of the difference between the two parties.

They put their much touted outreach to the white male rust belters on hold, figuring they are sufficiently disenchanted with Trump to stay home in 2018.(or will be after the reality of the Tax Bill kicks in). They figure that the rest of us have no where else to go anyway (we are already in the bag-and desperately want a Democratic congress.

It may have been a brilliant play, except perhaps they underestimated the pushback from the us-the naive voting "rabble"
who believe in fairness, and due process, and so the things got messy.

The Senate Democrats have become Rugby players (well we wanted them to toughen up) and they may succeed at their new game.

[LisaL]

11. And it's not going to be possible to win by appealing to one subset of population while alienating

other subsets of population.

[hlthe2b]

13. I am old enough to remember a time when people would sacrifice themselves

For what they deemed to be the honorable cause. I have also known people whose honesty compelled them to self doubt over even what they thought to be scurrilous accusations. As a comedian, it isn’t hard for me to imagine this latter issue with Franken.

These kind of people must be in such short supply now that the premise is inconceivable to many. Not to quote the ultimate antithesis to this, but...sad...

[ProfessorPlum]

16. good point

but we can't afford that kind of nobility right now. Time to kill Nazis, and we can reflect on how we treat people later.

[flotsam]

14. 30 upright virtuous souls vs 1 scummer

or 1 honorable gentleman vs a stampede of spineless PC crusaders and opportunists? I have my beliefs...

[ProfessorGAC]

15. But Begs The Question. . .

. . .why promote the notion of an ethics investigation in the first place? He would have had the knowledge you suggest before he ever mentioned an investigation.

[ProfessorPlum]

17. That's a great point

I guess i'm just left with Franken bent over backwards to validate his accuser's feelings, got hit with a couple more mild complaints, and his colleagues are morons.

[JI7]

18. It would have come out during the election against Coleman