Al Franken.

[Voltaire2]

I liked Al. I was truly sorry he had to resign. But he had to resign. If our party had given him a pass we would have no moral authority in the Kavanaugh scandal.

We threw Al under the bus, but we did so for good reason.

[JI7]

1. he didn't get an investigation

[TomCADem]

2. So, You Are Suggesting That Ford or Leaann Tweeden Are Lying?

Just wondering. Also, there other folks who accused Franken. It was not just Tweeden.

I think what is really sad is how some folks are only supportive of victims of sexual assault when they are victimized by members of the opposing party.

[NanceGreggs]

15. We knew Tweedon was lying ...

... within forty-eight hours of her making the allegations. She said, among other things, that Franken specifically added a kissing scene in a skit in order to kiss her - and then videos emerged showing that he'd been using the same script for years when he'd performed that skit with other women.

The others who accused him were a woman who said he touched her ass - in the middle of a crowd of onlookers - while her husband took a photo of her with Franken, and a woman who said he "touched her waist" while they huddled together for a photo.

The allegations against Franken was flimsy at best, and he asked for an investigation - which he didn't get.

[TomCADem]

18. How Often Do Women Lie About Sexual Grouping or Sexual Assault?

Did Tweedon benefit from her allegations? I thought that it would be very rare for a woman to raise a false allegation of sexual assault given the blowback and recriminations, but you are saying that the opposite is true with Tweedon. If so, do Republicans have a point about the allegations against Trump, Moore and now Kavanaugh? In other words, does Franken demonstrate that woman can work together to secretly collaborate and launch allegations of sexual misconduct to bring down a person of power? Also, should we generally revisit the idea about believing women?

[NanceGreggs]

19. Tweeden was proven to be lying.

I don't subscribe to the "always believe the woman" idea any more than the "never believe the woman" school of thought.

As I said, Tweeden was proven to be lying.

[TomCADem]

20. Do women frequently lie about sexual assault? Or is it rare?

After all, didn't 7 other woman accuse Franken of similar groping? Is this a frequent thing?

I have thought that it would be very rare, but I want hear more about how the women in Franken's case might benefit from such false allegations. Perhaps there are some tale tale similarities. Would you say that we should look at the passage of time from the alleged act to the public accusation? What do you think we should look for?

[NanceGreggs]

21. We should look for credibility.

One woman claimed that Franken grabbed her ass while her husband was taking a pic of the two of them together.

Franken was a senator at the time. It was at a crowded fair, and they were in the midst of large crowd of onlookers.

Does it make sense that Franken would have chanced such a move in front of his own constituents, with the woman's husband standing right in front of them? Does it make sense that he would risk his political career by doing something that could easily be witnessed by others - especially being surrounded by people with cameras?

Funny how Franken was never accused of anything untoward by the women he'd worked with, some for decades. If he was prone to such behaviour, wouldn't it have manifested itself while he was a comedian, when he could have dismissed it as comedic horseplay?

And yet, not a single woman who'd known and/or worked with Franken mentioned anything untoward - in fact, they very forcefully defended him as being a total gentleman at all times.

Tweeden (who is very friendly with Sean Hannity) started that ball rolling - and her story was debunked within forty-eight hours.

[RhodeIslandOne]

23. Tweeden very conveniently has a relationship with Roger Stone

A man who has had his fingers in every dirty trick Trump has benefited from.

She's also a birther. Someone that divorced from reality has no credibility.

[Kajun Gal]

3. I disagree.

[NurseJackie]

4. Franken was railroaded. Denied due process.

[cwydro]

7. Yep.

Spot on.

[Voltaire2]

11. That would be 'thrown under the bus'.

Perhaps i should have said that.

Oh wait.

[NurseJackie]

13. There's no "good reason" to deny him due process.

[manor321]

5. He didn't have to resign

An investigation should have happened.

Not sure why people are confused about this. It is basic American principles.

[Zambero]

6. Regret saying you are quite correct

Franken would have been used asTeflon against any and all revelations regarding RW sexual abusers.

[Voltaire2]

8. Exactly. But the denial is strong in the responses.

[obamanut2012]

9. Wrong -- he deserved an investigation first

Dems threw him under the bus because of Roy Moore. Franken was set up by the GOP, and as usual, we finished their dirty work.

[NanceGreggs]

10. Bullshit.

Franken did not hold a woman down, and cover her mouth so she couldn't scream as he tried to remove her clothes.

The stories told by his accusers either collapsed within hours, or were totally ridiculous (i.e. "He touched my waist when we stood together for a photo.&quot

Franken himself asked for a full investigation into the allegations. Instead, he was literally hounded out of office.

Besides, the GOP don't know what "moral authority" is, being as they have no morals. They're just as happy to put an accused sexual predator on the Supreme Court as they were to put a treasonous pussy-grabber in the White House.

[Voltaire2]

12. Um did I say the situations were identical?

Nope. Not my argument. So you succeeded in defeating that straw man.

[NanceGreggs]

16. And where did I say ...

... that you said the situations were identical?

[NurseJackie]

17. You never said that. The poster is playing word games...

... to distract from his or her weak position.

[tandem5]

14. Leading by example only works on those that are already considerate.

Republicans don't care about our high ground. Kavanaugh is still likely to be confirmed and Jim Jordan will continue to lobby for Speaker with the support of the GOP.

[question everything]

22. Drip drip drip

He had to resign. Each day new allegation came and he constantly had to put out the fire. This would have interfered with his duties and, at some point, some will talk about no smoke without a fire.

Yes, he was targeted, in a similar way that Hillary was and perhaps more and unfortunately this is the price of politics and dirty tricks. And, unfortunately, so far their are better at this.

[CentralMass]

24. I disagree. The loss was far greater then then any gain