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.
There are a thousand ways to lie and they know them all.
The Dems remind me of Captain Ahab luring the men chasing after Moby Dick to their deaths. Evil leaders all.
When the voters saw that picture of him in a diaper that should have been enough!
There will be an endless supply of women making charges against Franken.
Most concise description of the Dem modus operandi.
It seems that the Dems have taught their “children”—the voters to think like them. To be cynical rather than principled and to substitute sophistry for truth.
I thought people in Minnesota were supposed to be “Minnesota nice”. Where did all this fanaticism come from?
To be fair, the voters of Minnesota did not elect Al Franken. The people who found boxes of uncounted votes in the trunks of cars are the ones. I have faith that Al would not be close enough for cheating to work again. Might be somebody just as liberal, but I truly doubt it would be that creepy guy.
That’s short term - Trump came close there, they’ll want to try to make sure.
With all due respect, the words out of Conyers mouth alone only carry weight in that he said he will not run again. Show me on the congressional record that he is not and will not be listed. cBS and a Democrat Governor are like mixing methane and Nitro. You choose to believe either?
Good points, but I think he was ready to quit anyway. This just moved it up. Liberals are all about legacy, it’s part of their narcissism. By retiring now, the sex thing will fade away, and he’ll be remembered (by the complicit media) for all the “good work” he did. All b.s., but it’s what they do.
Agreed on your stuff, but my point is a very simple one, we are still at risk of this slime ball being able to effect our lives for another year. Until he OFFICIALLY resigns, he still can affect our daily lives.
When I speak to people about politics and they give me that typical lame answer in that they don’t have the time, worry or concern about following politics as their means of deflecting the discussion, I simply reply;
So you’re not concerned enough about people who control every day, hour, minute and second of your life and how you choose to live it? It is usually met with stunned silence.
If you’re going to accuse somebody of sexual assault, don’t wait 40 years. And don’t do it within days of 3 other people doing it, also after 40 years. It makes you look paid off.
He is finally tainted and discredited. He is now punchline. If he is replaced, it will boost another lib. Let him stay and serve and be ridiculed on a regular basis.
Couldn’t agree more! The complacency in America is a big part of what’s killing our way of life. There’s supposed to be checks and balances.
A complacent populace removes the checks, and allows the overlords freedom to do what they do best.
Fire Two, Fire Three!
Thanks Sopater. He may not think he's going to go, but he will go -- the female Demwits in the Senate and House can't duplicitously try to use President Trump or soon-to-be-Senator Elect Roy Moore as an alibi to let him stay, particularly since Franken didn't apologize, or resign. BTW, he didn't apologize or resign because he's a slimy liar, and his partisan colleagues aren't going to go for that, either.
Heh heh... as long as it lead them to hypertension, strokes, and heart trouble, along with acid reflux (which can itself obscure heart symptoms), let ‘em spin out they idiot yarns.
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