Blue Collar Lit.: is there anyone left in Congress?

headline

"A Democratic Chorus Rises in the Senate: 'Franken Should Resign'"

Reader Comments

D
Illinois
~ Here's how stupid the Democratic senators are: (metaphorically) they bring a knife to a gunfight, and then stab themselves with it.

I'm not partisan, but it is so sad to see a once formidable political party stumbling around with silly posturing while the trump wrecking company rips up all the good things in this country.

This is why we can't have good government anymore -- one party serves the rich by dividing Americans, the other performs pointless morality plays forgetting they are supposed to be fighting for the good of the working class.

MSP
Downington, Pennsylvania
~ So, Democrats are taking the moral high ground. Where does it get them when the other side flaunts its debauchery and hypocrisy, pushes the limits further, wins elections, and dismantles decades of progress.

There's probably not a squeaky clean politician on any side.

There's a continuum of bad behavior and the harm it has caused.

Let's define it and move forward.

Trump and Moore aren't standing aside....Democrats...will never win back seats if they eat their own.

Sandy
California
~ I'm officially done. I will probably not vote again. What's the use? I vote a Democrat into the Senate and she turns around and does the Republicans' jobs for them. Last I checked accusation is not proof.

PGL
Cleveland, Ohio
~ I believe Dems are looking to clean up their own house as much as possible, as soon as possible -- setting up to hammer home this issue in the next round of congressional elections.

For those who comment on the short-term consequences of Franken resigning, I admit to temptation -- wanting to join Repubs in the gutter. That is the wrong answer, morally, and politically.

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Rick Gage
Mt. Dora
~ This false moral equivalence that the Democratic Senators are imposing on a man who has called for his own ethics inquiry so we can gauge the credibility of his accusers will not help in the greater attempt to shine a light on sexual harassers.

It just trivializes the greater harm done to those with legitimate claims of forced intimacy and job discrimination.

If they think using Sen. Franken as a sacrificial lamb will assuage the Republicans who are claiming this false equivalence they are surely mistaken.

This makes them look panicked, unreasonable and reactionary.

If the accusers were truly harmed I agree he should go but he has denied these claims and the Senators are calling for him to be burned at the stake before we know whether this is a witch hunt or not.

Parker
New York
~ Did I miss something? Have the accusations escalated beyond insulting, immature behavior in public settings? This is what these senators find not merely worthy of condemnation but resignation?

Good grief.

Franken has been a remarkable public servant and we owe the Mueller investigation to his prescient questioning of Jeff Sessions. While I'd agree none of that would matter if he'd been revealed to be of low moral character, that is not the case here and has never been suggested.

Bad behavior is equal to predation?

There is no gray area, no rehabilitation, no apology suffices? This is extremism of the worst kind. I'm shocked that my senator [Gillibrand] and women I've long admired have revealed themselves to be either so simplistic or so politically craven.

Cornflower Rhys
Washington, DC
~ I'm not impressed with the Democratic women. The Senate has a process and Senator Franken has indicated his willingness to be subject to it. Go forward with some orderly procedure -- let these women appear and speak under oath. It would be a healthy reminder of what due process looks like. I'd say we all need a reminder.

JLC
Seattle
~ Nope. Now is precisely the time to take the high road. This is not a minor issue -- and treating it as such perpetuates more of the same. It ends now.

There are better people who can and will run for office.

Chris
Florida
~ Much respect for what these Democratic lawmakers are doing. They get it. Your principles cannot be based on what someone else has done or what some other party is doing. They must be based on right and wrong. Period.

NM
New York
~ The thing is, Franken has acknowledged, and apologized for, poor behavior and welcomed an Ethics Committee investigation. When he could not place himself in someone's account, he acknowledged the validity of an accuser's feelings. And he is being asked to leave.

People like Trump and Moore, who reject any responsibility for predatory conduct, grandstand about their own supposed character and disparage their accusers, face no consequences.

JB
San Francisco
~ Al Franken should not resign before the ethics hearing. We are in an irrational environment right now, where untested allegations are taken at face value, due process is nonexistent, and distinctions are lost between serious wrongdoing and stupid error.

What could be more tragic than Al Franken resigning just as Roy Moore is welcomed into the Senate? Plus, if Franken is put before the ethics committee, it's harder for the corrupt GOP Senate leadership not to hold hearings on Moore.

If Franken leaves, they will give Moore a pass.

Why do Democrats always fall on the sword of purity as the Republicans practice shameless hypocrisy -- and win?

HM
Maryland
~ I am not sure this is a great thing. First, I think the action against Franken creates a false equivalence between his actions and those of Roy Moore. Has anyone seen enough of the evidence to know this for sure? Second, if the democrats need any votes from the people who supported Trump in 2016 for their 2018 campaign, those people will not care that Franken was tossed out.

I suppose if the party wants to run on how bad the Republican Party is to women, maybe he has to go. Unfortunately, I don't think that is a winning campaign theme.

The promise of personal financial gain and the privilege of telling others what they cannot do is about all Americans want.

As they say, all else is commentary.

Anand
Natrajan
~ Al should resign. A pattern of behavior has emerged that is not consistent with the senator's professed values about respecting women. He clearly has not respected women in these instances or perhaps is clueless.

These comparisons with what the Republicans are trying to get away with are irrelevant.

One cannot diminish the magnitude of one's crime by pointing out more egregious crimes committed by others.

Delmo
NYC
~ In calling for Al Franken's overdue resignation from office, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand once again has demonstrated courageous leadership and a steadfast adherence to important values and principles.

For many of us, she is the brightest light in the Democratic Party, a blazing symbol of its future, and the one who will lead the Party to a great and historic victory in the U.S. presidential election of 2020.