Senator Al Franken Kissed and Groped Me Without My Consent, And There’s Nothing Funny

Beelzebuddy said:
Why is everyone ignoring this? Congress is spending over a million dollars a year to settle their own sexual harassment claims. They have a dedicated account just for it. It's budgeted.
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Because both sides are doing it. So you can't hang "LOOKIT AT WHAT THE DEMOCRATS ARE DOING or LOOKIT AT WHAT THE REPUBLICANS ARE DOING!" anywhere on it, ergo no political points, ergo no point.
 
autumn1971 said:
I stand by the idea that the picture alone is enough to at least keep him from seeking another term.
I'm as left as they come, but to be elected to national office should have higher standards than Americans have traditionally accepted.
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Not enough people hold that standard. He could get an undeserving pass on just the picture. It was "locker room behavior" and away he skates. The most damaging part though is that it would discredit future claims because of her involvement with Stone.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Yeah, just saw it and the woman is going on and on about being angry "for over 10 years".

I'll still wait to hear if this is a pattern or one person....

If on the other hand, a number of women come out and report a pattern of behavior I'll reconsider.

And by the way, this sadly serves to lessen the real complaints.
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wow. I thought every sexual assault survivor had “the right to be believed."

As long as it is a pattern, and until then? This ain't a "real complaint."

let us know if the "the woman" gets some back up, until then? Not a real complaint.

Holee *********** smokes......
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
It's also clearly just a joke, not groping.
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While I agree that it was clearly meant to be a joke, after all she is wearing a flack jacket so it's not really even possible to grope her, to me that doesn't matter. The fact is that he degraded her by his actions, treated her not as a human being, but a toy to be played with and jested about. That behaviour is unacceptable in someone that aspires to be a leader and a role model. This is one area were I believe that we need to have zero tolerance.
 
LTC8K6 said:
Pretending to grab her boobs while she is asleep, and taking a photo of the act, is sexual harassment, imo.
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Yeah, like asking a woman if she wants to come to your room on an elevator.

I'm not finding this woman to be all that assaulted. OMG, Tapper is asking her how she's holding up. Now she's in tears.

She's been pissed about it for '10 years' according to her.

Show me a pattern. If not, there is a point of taking accusations of sexual assault too far. We had this discussion over elevatorgate. Caused Linda (fls) to leave the forum. Included the divided camps of PZ vs Dr Hall.

Making a joke that has sexual innuendo on a USO tour? The audience is soldiers on duty for crying out loud.

I don't know what to make of the skit rehearsal. Clearly the woman has issues, Franken apologized. The only place to take this depends on if it turns out it's a pattern and I have a hard time with that given how much I know about Franken's work for women's rights.
 
The Big Dog said:
wow. I thought every sexual assault survivor had “the right to be believed."

As long as it is a pattern, and until then? This ain't a "real complaint."

let us know if the "the woman" gets some back up, until then? Not a real complaint.

Holee *********** smokes......
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The Big Dog said:
"the woman's" name is Leeann Tweeden.

Damn....
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More feigned indignation, please !!!
 
LTC8K6 said:
If I were to have such a photo taken with a female that I work with, I would be fired.
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On a USO tour in the military? There is context you know. If someone took a picture like that on the Sat Night Live set, no one would be fired, nor should they be.
 
The Big Dog said:
wow. I thought every sexual assault survivor had “the right to be believed."

As long as it is a pattern, and until then? This ain't a "real complaint."

let us know if the "the woman" gets some back up, until then? Not a real complaint.

Holee *********** smokes......
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I'll let Ms. Ginger handle this.
 
LTC8K6 said:
The photo humiliates and demeans her via a sexual reference, imo.

I'm sure it was passed around to the boys to giggle over.
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Think there weren't any pics of men asleep in various poses that were passed around and joked about?
 
Civet said:
You know, Mike Pence is probably feeling pretty smug right about now.
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Or nervous.

dudalb said:
And I don't like the guy, but Pence's policy of not being alone with a women other then his wife seems to have been a smart move on his part....
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I'm always a bit suspicious of the motives of people who wear their virtue so conspicuously.

I am reminded of rabidly anti-gay crusaders who end up getting busted for playing footsie in the men's room.
 
TheL8Elvis said:
I can probably agree to that part without much tweaking.

The other still has to be somewhat contextual.

The problems are both legal, and political -i.e. appearances.

I'm having a hard time getting worked up over a photo by a comedian that may have been, in your own words, "passed around to the boys to giggle over." Taken in an atmosphere that according to the article " full of sexual innuendo geared toward a young, male audience."

That's the sort of context that at least makes me stop and say hmm ... is this even anywhere the same as me doing that in a corporate office ? And the answer is, of course, no.

OTOH - does it make it all OK ? No, I don't think it necessarily does. But context matters.
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QFT ^
 
TheL8Elvis said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeann_Tweeden

She has also appeared on the political discussion series Hannity, as a member of the "Great American Panel" and occasionally appeared on the panel of Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.[4]

In 1996, Tweeden appeared non-nude in a fitness model pictorial for Playboy magazine. Fifteen years later, at 38 years old, she appeared again in the December, 2011 issue of Playboy, this time posing in a nude pictorial. IIn 2002, she was a guest character in the motocross video game Freekstyle as a motocross rider. The March 2007 Issue of FHM (which was the final printed US issue) featured Tweeden as the cover girl.[5] As part of Hooters' 25th anniversary in 2008, she was named among "The Top Hooters Girls of all time".[6]

More context.
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Relevant, I hate to go for the history thing, it's not always fair. But this does seem at least a little relevant.

CNN is sucking it up.

If it wasn't political (which it might not be) I have to wonder if she wasn't sexually harassed way worse than this in her career. And is this a 15 minutes of fame or not?

Show me Franken has a pattern. Or this really is a nothingburger.


This is interesting:
On Hannity last night, Sean asked radio host Eboni Williams and TV personality Leeann Tweeden about why Abedin is still standing by her husband. Tweeden said she can understand why Abedin has remained loyal, but believes Weiner should not continue his candidacy any longer.

But Williams contended that Weiner's personal issues are "separate and apart" from his ability to run New York City, if elected. She downplayed the importance of Weiner's personal shortcomings when it comes to his ability to do a good job as mayor.
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So is the Greg Gutfeld interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qBpS_Nhr8E
Pro-gun and a lot of sexual innuendo jokes.
 
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If we’re going to start calling to account every performer who goofed around backstage, there’s going to be hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in trouble. And for what? Goofing around backstage.
 
C_Felix said:
I'll let Ms. Ginger handle this.
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She can't even bring herself to say the accuser's name, and I am not certain that you are going to convince me that everyone is entitled to one free grope.

One grope? Not a real complaint But a "pattern"? Now maybe we are talking, heck we might even mention her by name.
 
And now "slut shaming"... damn.

How many free gropes do we get of woman that appear in Playboy anyway?
 
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