Gary Hart, Elliot Spitzer, John Edwards, Anthony Weiner, and Al Franken

[Yavin4]

All tough, strong Liberals that fought for our cause with passion and conviction, but we discarded them from the party outright. Yet, none of them did anything close to what Trump has done, and is doing.

[still_one]

1. Edwards and Weiner are scum, and the only one's they fought for was themselves. On the other

hand, Hart, Spitzer and Franken were true patriots

[IluvPitties]

2. Agreed!

[WePurrsevere]

3. I agree with you. I'd certainly vote for Spitzer again if he ran. nt

[MBS]

27. Agree that Edwards and Wiener are scum.

Hart and Spitzer were at least complex cases; although they messed up, you are right that they at least were and are patriots.
But Franken was undeservedly thrown under the bus. His departure is a real loss to the Democratic party.

[Eliot Rosewater]

29. Spitzer was public enemy # 1 to the cons on Wall Street.

He had come after insurance companies and others and the founder of Home Depot, the little nazi fuck, came after him to destroy him because Spitzer was all about prospecting consumers.

Al Franken is either the smartest senator ever to serve or one of the top 3, from an IQ count. Too bad he was railroaded.

[demmiblue]

4. Anthony Weiner is a nasty p.o.s. (and I strongly supported him in the past).

So is Edwards.

Al Franken's name shouldn't be written in the same sentence.

[lame54]

28. Weiner was given a 2nd chance...

And was coming back

Which makes him twice the idiot

[treestar]

5. It is ironic that those standards

are applied to the evul libruls but not to the right-wingers who espouse them!

[hlthe2b]

6. What is not like the others (except for his passionate fight for liberal causes)?

Did Franken have an affair? No
Did Franken engage prositutes? No
Did Franken pay off others to cover for his sexual escapades? No
Did Franken sext photos of his privates to young girls? No

So, Franken, a nationally famous comedian, posed as though about to grope (yet from onlooker's report that he did not touch) a sleeping woman for a photo while on a COMEDIC tour for USO AND perhaps touched the lower back of women posing for photos during his time on the campaign is equated to the above? That Franken apologized for behavior taken as offensive and took responsibility for it, whether it was as portrayed or not--when all the others did NOT....

This damn well infuriates me. And progressives are the ones doing it.

[tonyt53]

8. You nailed it!

[mythology]

9. You are intentionally understanding what Franken did

He is accused of groping multiple women. He apologized for his behavior toward women. Intentionally understating that because you like Franken doesn't change that.

[hlthe2b]

11. Those accounts are not validated but some 'progressives' bought it

hook, line and sinker to destroy Franken.

And to them, I say SHAME ON THEM.

[hlthe2b]

15. I'll clarify Since you say I am "intentionally understanding" what Franken did--yes absolutely

yes. I am INTENTIONALLY UNDERSTANDING. I only wish more were INTENTIONALLY UNDERSTANDING.

My earlier response was assuming that you may have meant 'intentionally MISunderstanding' or 'underSTATING'.

Regardless, my post stands.

[blake2012]

24. fuck that. accused? it is weak sauce. Notice Trump was accused of unwanted physical contact by many

women but is in office.

Franken isn't accused of affairs. There's no actual corroborating evidence to buttress the claims of a few women. It is bullshit and you know it.

[MBS]

30. THANK YOU.

Franken really is the tragic exception here, and it will be hard for me to forgive those Democrats who chose to make a specious, opportunistic moral argument (yes, I'm talking to you, Kirsten Gillibrand) for his demise.

I miss his intelligence, wit, and determined patriotism in the public square.
A real loss for our party and our country.

[Trumpocalypse]

7. So we have higher standards then they do.

Not a bad thing.

[NewJeffCT]

12. It's not just that, though

Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner were HUGE stories with lasting impact in the media over days and weeks and months. Other than Trump and Stormy Daniels, his affairs and other sordid allegations have been in the news 24 hours or so and then faded. The same with other Republicans that had affairs - Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Vitter, Newt Gingrich, etc. It's a story for a day, and then goes away.

[Trumpocalypse]

36. Damn liberal media ;-) nt

[Greybnk48]

10. Al Franken was a bogus hit job.

He doesn't belong with this group of cheaters and, in Weiner's case, freaks.

Al Franken did nothing. Knock it off.

[ooky]

14. +1

[blake2012]

25. EXACTLY!!!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

32. +1

[OnDoutside]

13. There's something inherently wrong with including Franken in that list.

[NCTraveler]

17. There is a lot wrong with this.

Your point included.

[Yavin4]

18. Franken is included as a Dem that was pushed out due to a "scandal" n/t

[blake2012]

26. AGREEED!!!!

[demmiblue]

35. There is also something inherently wrong that so many have recced this thread.

Anthony Weiner posing in his underwear with an erection, with his young child next to him, and sending/sexting it to a random woman on Twitter who is not his wife (among other nastiness).

[NCTraveler]

16. You can add a long list of Republicans as well.

This is uncharted territory.

Seems this is little more than a way to put Frankens name next to some sick men.

The manner in which you use the word "discarded" is very strange.

[JI7]

19. Al Franken does not belong with those others and neither does Gary Hart

Gary hart had an affair and Franken was a right wing hit job.

[SharonClark]

20. Disagree with your premise

"All tough, strong Liberals that fought for our cause with passion and conviction"

"Liberals"? Yes
"Tough, strong"? Not quite sure what that means.
"fought for our cause with passion and conviction"? Only Franken for sure. Maybe Hart despite his arrogance. The rest are creeps.

[Yavin4]

21. Spitzer was known as the sherrif of Wall Street before the collapse

As NY AG, he led several investigations into Wall Street malfeasance. Edwards campaigned on economic fairness. He coined the phrase, "Two Americas". Weiner made impassioned speeches on the floor of the House for various causes.

[loyalsister]

22. quantifying objectifying women on a scale of what is less bad is silly

I recently talked with someone who ranked dehumanizing language (ie. colored is less bad than the n-word). Rather than take a position that the attitudes that inspire belittling language is a problem, they see it as okay when it's expressed gently.

All that you illustrated is that supporters having low standards for the behavior of powerful men when it suits their agenda is nothing new.

[ProudLib72]

23. Al Franken is what comes from mindless zero tolerance based on rumors

We are SO pure we destroy our own. The smarter thing to do was to let him be investigated so his name would be cleared and we could tell the RW to fuck off and stop lying. Instead, they got to laugh in our faces as we dismissed one of our top senators.

[MBS]

31. " " " " "

The loss of Franken was really a tragedy, and undeserved. He ASKED to be fully investigated, and his congressional colleagues wouldn't even give him the favor of due process.

[poboy2]

33. Why is Franken even in this collection? He was politically ASSASSINATED by Roger Stone. Poor OP-nt

[dameatball]

34. I would be happy to see Franken run for office again at some point.

In fact I was surprised that he resigned fairly quickly. That makes me wonder if he was just tired of the whole mess and wanted out....or....regretfully, maybe there were other things he just wanted to make go away or at least not deal with them. Sometimes, damage to family is something that makes you say "To hell with it."