Well, the dam broke for Sen. Al Franken (D-MN). He’s going to leave. After eight women accused him of sexual misconduct, along with the resignation of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) who also faced sexual harassment accusations, Democratic leadership decided it was time to clean house. It’s not a profile in courage. It’s not a come to Jesus moment. It’s all politics, which you already know. Franken is from a Democratic state with a Democratic governor. He was expendable and his exit allows Democrat to refocus their pressure on Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. It still doesn’t erase the fact that they gave Bill Clinton and his credible rape allegations a pass, which created this culture. Even with Franken, some Democrats were circling the wagons, giving weak statements, like deferring to the Ethics Committee.
Still, even some reporters, like CNN’s MJ Lee, noted how the deluge of Democratic senators calling for his resignation this week was something of a shock since a lot of them went into the bunker when these allegations surfaced.
“Obviously this is something that we have been keeping track of over the last couple of weeks as these stories—allegations of sexual harassment began to mount,” she said. “Up to this point, the silence was pretty remarkable.”
Lee added that it was clear that Senate Democrats were “reluctant” to call on Franken to resign until Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-MN) finally decided she wanted the comedian to go; she had refused in prior remarks. Yeah, what’s also remarkable is that the party of women took almost a month to decided what to do, only getting more aggressive as it looks apparent that Moore is going to win the Alabama special election on Tuesday. What better opportunity to turn the page and redirect the attacks against the GOP.
Franken is a liberal Democrat, he votes the right way, and he should stay—it wouldn’t shock me at all if that’s what the Left privately thinks. Quite a sad commentary—and both sides are up to their necks in this.