Oh Kristen

[moriah]

47. Uh, she roasted Bill before calling for Al's resignation.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/17/politics/kirsten-gillibrand-bill-clinton/index.html

Speaking to The New York Times Thursday, Gillibrand, who holds Hillary Clinton's former seat, said of whether the former president should have stepped down, "Yes, I think that is the appropriate response."

Clinton was ultimately impeached over the scandal but was acquitted by the Senate and finished his term as president.

Gillibrand's remarks are particularly noteworthy considering she was a big supporter of Hillary Clinton's recent presidential campaign. She frequently spoke in support of the Clintons and traveled to campaign events to advocate for the former first lady.

"Things have changed today, and I think under those circumstances there should be a very different reaction," she said. "And I think in light of this conversation, we should have a very different conversation about President Trump, and a very different conversation about allegations against him."

In the same interview she said she was disappointed about Al, but it was in the very breaking moments of Tweeden's allegations.

I'll be blunt here. People have posted excerpts from articles from her 2014 book on the demeaning comments she got as a female Senator. Considering she was an appointee who managed, with help, to get re-elected, it's unsurprising that more experienced male Senators would make those comments to her, compared to more senior female Senators. But it is also unsurprising that any novice politician doesn't eventually decide what they want their issue to be.

Years before now, she decided her mission was to address military and campus sexual assault. I am willing to bet money that it wasn't until Stephanie Kemplin's accusation that Gillibrand truly called for Franken to resign, but while I'm typing let me Google.

Yep, she made her post on 12/6, and the Kemplin accusation came out on 11/30.

We have a serious optics issue for that allegation being brought before the committee, because that veteran claims (and her superior officer supports her claim) that she was sexually assaulted prior to meeting Al on that tour and it was mishandled. Yes, someone very sensitive and gentle could attempt to question her to make the military look bad for failing to act, and it was under the Bush administration.

But her emotional state is highly tied up in the fact she was in the early stages of untreated PTSD when Franken encountered her. Even the potentially true insinuation that she reacted to a touch to underarm, because it's innervated similarly to sideboob, with a PTSD-driven response will look *awful*. And that's leaving out the absolutely terrible optics of someone deciding to aggressively question why the military didn't act on her allegation of the pre-2007 vaguely defined "indecent assault". That alone could have made Gillibrand decide that the investigation hearings could do more harm than good.

When it was just Tweeden and a bunch of either anonymous or obviously Trump supporters, people who aggressive questioning to uncover lies would be considered capable of answering, that was one thing. While the day the Kemplin accusations came out I spoke to military friends, Conservative and Liberal and "Libertarian", and unless she was referring to a daytime duty tent, the "tent she shared" with her alleged assailant would have been a platoon tent -- aka, they weren't bunking privately, like the CNN article about her allegation implied. And allegedly her story was contaminated by her contacting Tweeden first.

But her breaking down in tears would be replayed in loop for 2 Minutes Hate every day on Faux News.

As I said the day he offered his resignation (though it isn't effective yet and probably won't be until several negotiations are complete about his replacement), I believe and still do believe that Franken will do what he thinks is best for his state, his party, and his country. On Tuesday, we get to learn if his decision to martyr himself for the Party will make a difference to Alabama voters. I pray it did have some impact other than losing a brave voice in the Senate.

I'm not considering Gillibrand as a potential 2020 candidate. I think there are the younger voices people want in the party in the form of people that are also more accomplished.

But I also don't think this is exactly out of character with her "pet causes", so sincerely doubt she's doing this because she has a personal grudge against Al.