Did Al Franken do anything illegal?

[Denzil_DC]

45. We just don't know what happened between the two of them.

We don't know for sure whether they were alone during the rehearsal, whose memory's more reliable, a whole scad of details. So I've been trying not to focus on that.

I've made two OPs about the whole thing: one to correct the misconception that "the photographer" on the plane had come forward and made a statement when that simply isn't as yet true, the other to ask if folks can stop accusing each other of being "Russian trolls" at the drop of a hat.

I've also upped my post count by arguing the toss with people who've been trying to claim that a woman who's been known to take some (or indeed all of her) clothes off for photos etc. at some point in her life is somehow automatically unreliable or unworthy of making a complaint about unwelcome attention or a "slut", and similarly, that her political allegiance automatically means she must be lying. Hell, Trump could try to pull that one, and probably has/will.

I've also consistently said I think it best to let Franken handle this in his own way, because he's damn smart, and in the end it's his seat that's on the line if his voters take against him because of any of this. As it happens, I wouldn't be surprised if the way he's handled it makes his stock rise beyond those who'd never have voted for him in a million years anyway.

His reaction seemed genuine, but it's also canny, as it's the best way to try to let it all die down as quickly as possible (until the ethics hearing, which may never happen anyway, and if it does, could be interesting for all sorts of reasons). People poring over photos and metadata and speculating about this and that endlessly isn't letting it die down. There's probably been more written about it on DU in the last day or two than in most of the rest of the media!

If people are saying it's not that big a deal - which is what I think (wrong at the time, but not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, not least because of Franken's response, and Tweeden herself seems to now agree) - then filling GD with posts about it is a funny way to prove that!

I can understand a sense of anger and injustice about a perceived fit-up and the comparisons with what Trump and Moore have done etc., but sometimes you have to step back and fight smart rather than lashing out - not least at those on your side about more things than not.