That’s ageist. Some of the most liberal people we have are Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. let’s judge people on their ideas not a number. look at all the older progressives who took to the streets today !! where are the young people?
That may be true, but we're talking about a 6-year term a few years from now. Part of the reason we're in this predicament is due to a failure to adequately mentor the younger generation coming up. (I'm in the older generation, btw)
At least nine separate women have accused Franken of groping them without consent, and the best he's ever mustered is the non-apology "I'm sorry if they felt..." I promise there are lots of people with great politics other than yet another mediocre white man.
At the time I checked on all those claims and decided to stand with Al Franken. Over-eager Me Too movement. Al was good at grilling in commitees, if he has the gumption to return, I would welcome him even while not sharing his pro-Israel bias.
So a Roger Stone connected playboy model that worked with Al in doing racy USO shows that were identical to the pic that everyone lost it over were enough to destroy Al's career. No thought put into the allegations at all, just guilty by association. Political correctness gone amuck....
That's not an accurate summary of the allegations. (They should have been fully investigated. Even if you believe all the claims, that should have happened.)
Does Franken respect women now? A replacement for Gillibrand needs thought. Just running "D" in blood red, MAGA flag plastered houses in rural upstate NY (once referred to by a demographer as the "Appalachia of the North") is a feat. Watch the Stefanik replacement race first. Gillibrand had help.
That whole Al Franken thing was an odd hiccup. Compared to the crazed antics of many sexually charged politicians Al’s dip into impropriety seemed like a toe in the ocean. His reaction seems a sign of his remorse. The others just deny, lie and carry on.
I live in NY. All I can promise is I will do whatever I can to make sure both Gillabrand AND Schumer are primaried OUT. We need fighters, not cowards. New Yorkers are NOT cowards.
Weirdly, there was no way to “make him resign.” He would have had to be expelled by a Senate supermajority following the results of the ongoing ethics investigation. All I can presume is that Gillibrand kept giving him noogies until he couldn’t stand it anymore.
Okay, thank you. I’ll see if the New Yorker clears up how one senator can unilaterally eject another senator from the Senate against the latter’s will.
Since nobody has made that (straw man) claim, you might be disappointed. The actual steps leading to his resignation, however, are explained in that article. And it was written by Jane Mayer. Have you heard of her? She's not exactly a slouch wrt investigative journalism.
You might want to scroll back a little bit if you think nobody’s claiming that Gillibrand forced Franken to resign. Or maybe ask Jane Mayer to do it for you. I hear she’s no slouch.
Gillibrand is silent on all those sex offenders in this administration… she’s not at all offended. I do not forgive her for forcing out Al. It was bullshit
Yeah but look at Bernie, drawing more crowds than anyone. To me it's a strong message from someone who truly believes it and people see that Bernie has believed this throughout his political career. A lot of younger politicians right now just standing on the sidelines collecting a paycheck.
I agree with you on the age of our representatives; however, when they are pushing to right message it is less important how old they are. Another thing that differentiates men like Bernie and Walz is that they embrace the youth. They are coalition builders. Our current old guard just hoarded power.
They don’t depend on us poor souls to support them.
They all feed at the same oligarch money trough. They all, dems as much as repubs, represent the oligarchy, not us. We need new, young, disciplined leadership. Dump the old corrupt politicians.
I can think of about 20 of them to get rid of and replace with Franken ..can't believe what we ran him out for considering people were willing to elect a rapist who brought a bunch more rapist with him importing some from Romania
This excoriation of the Dems that voted to keep the courts working and not give absolute power to the baby king does bring back memories of how Franken was removed. Let’s not make the same mistake twice.
I am going to vote against Gillibrand. She is so spineless and always goes with the flow. Shame on her and shame that she voted yes yesterday. She is a very weak person. I also remember what she did to Al Franken.
The man, decades ago when he was a comedian, took a "funny" photo pretending he was going to fondle a sleeping female acquaintance. The Dem Party expelled him for the infraction
Trump is currently rampaging thru the US govt destroying Rule of Law, Free Speech & NATO and 10 Dems want to work w/ him
Yeah. She could resign. I hear a lot of reps are getting annoyed that their constituents are wanting to talk to them. If we ramp that up maybe they’ll admit they don’t really want to represent their constituents & resign.
I suppose she _could_ resign, but I don't see any indication from anything she's ever said/done that would suggest she might. She's got power, she wants that power. And I wish people would "follow the money" wrt to her. (See crypto, for example.) You know that she used to be a tobacco lawyer? Yuck.
A good reason to have her many constituents ask to speak with her and air their grievances, call her repeatedly & visit. Hound her until she listens and/or resigns.
The values of young people need a Bulwark. I see lots of young people supporting all kinds of brown people regardless of their crazy religious ideas. Think Islam specifically.
Btw, I am half white, half Pacific Islander. Non religious, too.
As a lifelong New Yorker, the only thing keeping me from leaving the Democratic Party is voting against both of my senators in primaries. I look forward to either joining a new party or being part of a New Democratic Party.
They may represent NY, but they sure as hell don’t represent us anymore. This is embarrassing. I’m sure they’re thinking because they have so much time before they’re up for re-election they’ll be fine. Wrong.
I want to see them both primaried when their turn at re-election comes, then kicked to the curb. Chuckles has been a sitting Senator since 1998, so it’s time. He’s done some good things but boy did he let us down this time.
I agree 100%. I don’t believe Gillibrand is much better either. She’s seems so much more out of touch. She’s never really struck me as up to it. Her social media is utterly out of touch. That may seem unfair, but when we’re being taken over like we are, to not be addressing it is almost criminal.
Franken should never have left. Considering who we have in the Oval Office now -- and his cohort of sex pests -- Franken's actions seem increasingly less important than his voice was in Congress.
Yes. This big-tobacco-representing attorney pushed him out on a fake “me, too” basis. Transparently a set-up. Why? She thought she would get the presidential nomination (LOL) and saw him as a competitor. She’s no progressive. Used to have a name for people like her-corporate Republicans.
That's awesome. And he could have quickly and repeatedly and publicly said "No."
Ideally. we don't want somebody who was assigned to tobacco litigation while in private practice, or somebody who had eight women accuse him of inappropriate behavior, in our caucus. Let's replace the former, too.
... and the fact that years later there are still so many people seething over Franken being "forced out," and blaming women in particular for it, makes me wonder how we can be angry at Senate Dems selling out our so-called principles. Oh no he was replaced by another Dem how will we ever recover.
Okay, whatever. He did not want to be a distraction to the party. He was an actual progressive. She’s never been, and she’s not alone. The corporate friendly have taken over the party since Clinton introduced the DLC.
We don’t need another old white man with some serious baggage. There are other — preferably progressive young women not beholden to corporate interests — who can successfully primary both Schumer and Gillibrand.
@keithedwards.bsky.social Could you please cover some of the work @electiontruth.bsky.social is doing. They have found some undeniable evidence of election interference and vote manipulation. The American people really need to hear about this. 🙏🏻
I don’t know what was worse her jumping on him in an cynical attempt to raise her Q score or him resigning. Both terrible examples of putting themselves before the American people.
As a Minnesotan, I have said as much recently. What he did was gross, but not nearly as bad as the stuff the….entire executive branch has done. That said, Tina smith had his seat currently, and she’s retiring. But I agree with many here. We need more voices from younger Gen X and Millennials.
IMHO that photo was staged by both of them in an attempt to be funny in a way that was maybe at the edge of humorous when it was taken but didn’t age well. It was then cynically deployed against him. Gillibrand shouldn’t have gone after him so viciously, and he should have apologized and stayed
Best idea I have heard today. In a long time actually. He basically resigned for a paper cut by today’s standards. (He should have not resigned in the first place IMO)
Schumer made his staying untenable. Rather than simply stand for a solid investigation (which was what Franken was pleading for and frankly what the rest of us deserved to have, too), he gave Franken an ultimatum.
Weirdly Schumer was all about "due process" wrt Menendez. After multiple indictments!
AL FRANKEN!!!! He could save the world with his flawless combinations of intelligence, humour and delivery. His family would kick his ass but he would be perfect, as he was before!
I would rather have a man with principles & who admitted to a mistake than a politician who betrayed her oath of office, the constitution, and her constituents.
We all make mistakes.
Gillibrand swore an oath to the constitution, & bailed out on it. I've never made a mistake that disqualifying.
If he was a Republican he wouldn’t have been facing an ethics inquiry. Besides, perhaps that would be a better argument if we didn’t have a convicted felon who was also found liable in the E. Jean Carroll case as our current president 🤦🏻♀️
Comments
https://www.nydailynews.com/2017/11/30/army-veteran-says-sen-al-franken-groped-her-while-she-was-stationed-in-middle-east-in-2003/
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/06/al-franken-accusation-sexual-harassment-2006-281049
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/06/al-franken-tina-dupuy-sexual-harassment-282894
https://www.thecut.com/2019/09/another-woman-says-al-franken-groped-her.html
I find this a useful run-down:
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/07/defending-al-franken-for-real/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken?page=2
But we need younger voices.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/the-case-of-al-franken
They all feed at the same oligarch money trough. They all, dems as much as repubs, represent the oligarchy, not us. We need new, young, disciplined leadership. Dump the old corrupt politicians.
2) Bernie's in the collage.
Trump is currently rampaging thru the US govt destroying Rule of Law, Free Speech & NATO and 10 Dems want to work w/ him
she’s a great counterpoint to the idea that we need more women in power .
Jesus Christ, let it go. He was a sex pest.
But yes, get rid of Gillibrand.
Btw, I am half white, half Pacific Islander. Non religious, too.
I'm hoping Franken will run again.
Poetic Justice
Ideally. we don't want somebody who was assigned to tobacco litigation while in private practice, or somebody who had eight women accuse him of inappropriate behavior, in our caucus. Let's replace the former, too.
Weirdly Schumer was all about "due process" wrt Menendez. After multiple indictments!
We all make mistakes.
Gillibrand swore an oath to the constitution, & bailed out on it. I've never made a mistake that disqualifying.