Right-wing radio host and documentarian John Ziegler confessed that there was a time he “would have rejoiced at the demise of such a far left zealot” but now wrings his hands that Franken’s resignation “will set an incredibly dangerous precedent which will likely cause chaos and injustice in the future.” Wednesday night, Newt Gingrich — Newt Gingrich! Of all people! — said Franken’s critics were motivated by “this weird puritanism which feels a compulsion to go out and lynch people without a trial.”
.. Much as rape is not opportunistic groping and exposing oneself is not child molestation, there’s a whole scale of consequences available between death and “no longer having an extraordinarily prestigious and well-paying job.”
.. He might have been denied “due process,” but that’s not because he won’t appear in front of the Ethics Committee, which will drop its recently opened investigation if he leaves the Senate; it’s because he’s not being criminally charged. His life won’t just not be over, it won’t even be ruined — he’s a wealthy man with many friends who show no sign of desertion. And I can’t see a man with Franken’s sizable talents and ego ever totally disappearing from the national stage.
.. The standards of evidence necessary to decide you don’t want to
- go see someone’s movie, or
- laugh at his jokes, or
- watch him read the news while you get dressed, or
- elect him to the Senate
are not the same as the ones required to put such men in prison.
.. Indeed, if we listen to those who wail that taking someone’s punditry gig and book contract is the same as if you “kill a guy,”
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As for Franken, who tried to explain himself yesterday: I did not think he should immediately resign after the first accusation of harassment. But there are now four, and three of them sound very similar.
.. they should make clear that Franken will not have the party’s support if he chooses to run for re-election in 2020.
For Slimy Senators, Our Conviction Should Be Expulsion
It involved comedy skits written by Franken, who slyly worked a kiss into the plot. When they were alone backstage before the debut, he pressed the reluctant Tweeden to rehearse the smooch. After some awkward protest, she acquiesced. He proceeded, she says, with tongue-plunging force. Humiliated but not wanting to ruin the tour, she did not make a fuss beyond warning him not to pull such a stunt again. Through the remaining two-week tour, she avoided him when possible, and he reacted with “petty insults.”
.. A statute-of-limitations defense, by contrast, simply means the state is barred from prosecuting. It is not a finding that the accused is not guilty.
.. Patently, Al Franken is not fit to be a United States senator. That is not a close call, certainly not if we judge Franken in accordance with threats by lawmakers to expel Roy Moore if he is elected. Of course, if Moore makes it to a Senate swearing-in, it will be because the citizens of Alabama, fully aware of claims of egregious abuse of women, voted him into office anyway. In Franken’s case, the voters will not have endorsed him and his abusive conduct is not merely “claimed” — it is readily provable.
.. Democrats like to posture about the “war on women.” Shouldn’t Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell force them to take an accountable vote on Al Franken? And if there is any thought of refusing to seat Roy Moore, wouldn’t a Franken expulsion put Alabama voters on notice
Beware of Running with the Al Franken Story — Consider Where That Leads Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/453899/al-franken-misconduct-conservatives-shouldnt-run?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=171121_Jolt&utm_term=Jolt
Don’t help blur the difference between bad manners and rape.
.. Because Franken is a high-handed moralizer of the Left, some Republicans and conservatives are happy to run with this, condemning Franken for it and another incident in which he attempted to kiss his co-star.
.. The first is that the difference between bad manners and rape will become blurred yet further. We live in an era when already a knee-touch can cause resignations.
.. Second, this opportunistic process risks embedding the now-prevailing narrative of third-wave feminism, which is that men are all rapists or proto-rapists and that women in our society tread a constant and violent minefield their entire lives when dealing with the male sex. This narrative — which for many young men and women is making relationships too complex to be worth having — needs to be pushed back against
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/453899/al-franken-misconduct-conservatives-shouldnt-run?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=171121_Jolt&utm_term=Jolt