Posted on 12/08/2017 11:46:17 AM PST by Sopater
Edited on 12/08/2017 11:55:46 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Contrary to popular perception, Al Franken did not resign yesterday.
He only announced his intent to resign on a future date. Here's what he said:
"[T]oday I am announcing that in the coming weeks I will be resigning as member of the United States Senate. I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of...sexual assault sits in the Oval Office and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party."
In fact, not only did Al Franken not resign yesterday, it is my prediction that he will never resign. He will not resign until Roy Moore does – and since there is no way Roy Moore is going to do that, there's no way Al Franken is going to do that either.
This is the chief takeaway from Franken's apology-less Senate speech yesterday, a takeaway that most people have missed because they continually underestimate the capacity of swamp dwellers to deceive while appearing to tell the truth.
All Franken said what he would do is resign "in the coming weeks." That is a gloriously indefinite time frame. Franken can cram as much of the future into that phrase as he wants.
Immediately after Franken mentioned his resignation at some unknown, unspecified point in the future, he spoke of the "irony" that a president who has a "history...of sexual assault" sits serenely in the Oval Office while Roy Moore, a man who has "repeatedly preyed on young girls," is still on the ballot in Alabama.
(My position on Roy Moore has been unmistakably clear from day one: there is not one single shred of actual evidence that he did anything he's been accused of. The stories of his accusers completely unravel on closer examination. Moore rightfully should still be enjoying the presumption of innocence, and it is an absolute travesty that the members of his own party have pitched him off the boat with zero evidence of guilt. Shame on them. Shame. Shame. Shame.)
Franken's point will be, Look, there's no way I should resign when two notorious sexual predators like Trump and Moore are alive and well in the Republican Party. In fact, they should resign, not me, since unlike them, I have always been a "champion of women."
We likely won't hear from Franken again until December 13, the day after the results of the Alabama Senate race are known. What we will hear from Franken that day will be something like this: "I have offered, in good faith, to tender my resignation as a member of the United States Senate. Roy Moore, as a serial sexual predator, must do the same. In fact, I propose, as a gesture of nobility on my part, that Mr. Moore and I depart the Senate together. I will be happy to resign the same day Roy Moore does. Until then, I ain't going anywhere."
The Democrats, at that point, will be happy to say, "Hey, you know, Al's got a point here," and train all their fire on Moore and then Trump.
We have seen this charade before. In August 2007, Idaho Senator Larry Craig was busted for propositioning a Minneapolis law enforcement officer in an airport bathroom. I attended the senator's widely broadcast news conference on September 1, in which he pointedly said, "It is my intent to resign" effective September 30. Well, September 30 came and went without a peep from the senator. In fact, he never did resign. His view was that he didn't actually lie about it, because it was his intent to resign when he said it. He just changed his mind. Craig served out his term and ever since has been collecting the extra $5,000 a year in retirement benefits he got by stonewalling. "Intent" was his weasel word, just as "in the coming weeks" are Franken's weasel words.
The GOP establishmentarians, with their shameful, craven, and traitorous abandonment of Moore, have played right into Franken's hands. They've pretty much obligated themselves to try to run Moore off the cliff in order not to look like the duplicitous swamp dwellers they are.
Senator Franken should indeed resign and Moore should continue to stand tall and strong and unbending in the face of this manifest injustice. Abandoned in the hour of trial like his Master before him, Moore will have only God and the truth on his side. Fortunately for him, that's all a man needs.
Franken’s going to resign. He wants to stay on, but with every scalp, the Mewtoos take the witch hunt only speeds up. He’s done.
As far as Moore goes, he’ll be investigated by the ethics committee under oath and if there’s solid evidence of malfeasance he’ll be removed. That’s due process and people deserve due process.
Franken didn’t really admit to anything, did he? He denied some of the accusations, and said he remembered the other accusations in a different way from what the accusers said.
Franken is losing altitude like crazy....he is no longer the fair-haired Democrat he thought he was.
He’s in show business——all his contacts for big money are in Hollywood. That’s not gonna play well among the working class.
He raised $25 million from celebs then promptly gave it to a buncha Democrats (as bribes to support his political ambitions).
That’s just begging for 30 second TV ads by an opponent.
He posed for a pic cupping a sleeping woman’s breasts-——like it or not......that’s his political legacy.
Franken head fake.
Franken was just groping for support.
Call me when he draws his last paycheck.
ping
This is and always was a ploy to be used as a lever to pry Judge Roy Moore out of his seat if once seated. Gropen, er, Franken leaves only if Moore also surrenders the right to stay.
Hard to say if this will work to the advantage of the Democrats as much as they claim, because both sides then are perceived to have reprobates in office. The Democrats, having once demanded their man leave, look like hypocrites if he then remains, and they lack any kind of party discipline. Republicans, on the other hand, have been ambivalent about whether Moore should be prevented from playing out the election at all, and letting the people of Alabama decide. Should Moore be defeated on this single issue, then so far as the Re;publicans are concerned, the issue goes away. But what if Doug Jones turns out to be equally as much ethically challenged, or worse, a reprobate once in office? How has that helped the Democrats in any way, shape, form, or manner?
“Culture of corruption” is not one-sided, by any means.
Yep...that's what I've been saying too. He'll point at Moore and say if he's fit to serve so am I. Except nothing, absolutely nothing , has been proved against Judge Moore and there's no good reason to believe any of his accusers.
I believe he has gone too far down the resignation path to back out. If Moore wins and Franken backs out that would be great however. Him backing out tells the American public that he is an untrustworthy hypocrite.
There are always plenty of conspiracies over there but what feverish little brains that can be found are melting.
The 2 main theories are:
1. This was a plot by republicans to turn dim senators against one if their own. How this could be done isn't really addressed, they aren't into details very much.
2. This is a plot by Gillibrand to eliminate Franken as the possible nominee in 2020. They are really tearing into each other over that one.
ping
“He will never resign!!!”
If he does not resign, he will be pushed out. He stinks so much even the dirtiest leftists don’t want him.
Follow the dots. Now don't expect anything different.
It will be interesting to see how he spins his justification for staying but I think he will indeed try to stay. Why else would he leave the door open to that and never even intimate guilt or apology?
I don’t see how Franken survives.
He is a complete PRICK and worthless POS. The people of Minnesota should be ashamed of themselves for putting him in the senate.
His problem is he thinks he’s smart...
Ummm...this?
Conyers’ House Seat To Remain Vacant For Nearly A Year
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2017/12/08/conyers-house-seat-to-remain-vacant-for-nearly-a-year/amp/
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