Senator Al Franken?

Been there. My wife once had an incredibly embarrassing spell correction from something innocuous to something sexually suggestive, I've forgotten the specifics unfortunately. I thought the impressions you related about Avenatti were very helpful in understanding how the public perceives him, even if I have a different view. It would be nice if Trump supporters could make clear why, for example and just to choose one significant thing, they don't think Trump is hostile and disrespectful toward everyone and everything, from his cabinet to the press to his intelligence services to many members of Congress to the judiciary to California to Puerto Rico to our allies to free trade and so forth.--Percy

By "real possibility" you mean a probability greater than zero? Sure.But if by "real possibility" you mean something like "as likely as not" then no, absolutely not, not even close.I know you like Franken. I like him, too, both as a person and as a Senator. But we can't forget the sexual misconduct allegations. They're consistent over a period of years.AbE:Good news: Al Franken's return to politics seems more and more likely. I don't believe in life sentences for any but the most serious crimes, and I think the sentence should fit the crime. It could well be argued whether Franken has yet paid a sufficient price, but he'll already be known for the rest of his life as the senator who resigned over sexual misconduct allegations. He's already paid a price and will continue paying a price until the day he dies. I think that's enough.--PercyEdited by Percy, : AbE.

I hope Franken makes a comeback, but he'll have to find the right voice to talk about what he's accused of doing. This will be very difficult for him because in his heart he believes he did nothing or almost nothing wrong. Even enthusiastic supporters like myself believe that on a scale of 1 to Trump he's only a 2 or 3. But how does Franken talk about respecting women when on the Trump scale he did almost nothing, but just discussing the subject brings to mind images of grabbing women by the pussy and cheating on your pregnant wife? The Trump approach of "lie and deny," apparently so effective with Trump's base, isn't available to people of integrity.--Percy

The New Yorker has just ran an investigative article on The Case of Al Franken. This is a l-o-n-g article but well worth reading, especially if you're a Franken supporter.The gist is that the Tweeden charges have some serious holes, and that unbeknownst to us at the time Tweeden is an arch conservative who works for the most conservative TV outlet in Los Angeles. This outlet was instrumental in managing the release of her story by first making the groping photograph public and later providing her account. Tweeden didn't make herself available for the article.But the stories of the seven other women who came forward largely hold up, though not all made themselves available to the reporter.The bottom line seems to be that Franken should have had a chance to face a hearing before the Ethics Committee so that the charges could have been properly investigated. I hope he somehow finds his way back into the Senate.--Percy

Many might find Message 278 confusing because much of it is about Michael Avenatti, who was Stormy Daniel's lawyer who had a moment in the sun opposing Trump and revealing himself as an articulate and effective counter to Trump's lies and nonsense. But it seems it takes one to neutralize one, and Avenatti soon revealed himself to be as big a scumbag as Trump, just not as smart as now he's been found guilty of extorting Nike (30 month sentence) and stealing from Stormy Daniels (four year sentence).I'm all in favor of an Al Franken comeback, but I don't think it will work in less he's forthright about what really happened. It's really, really unfortunate if all the women are lying, but he can't win that argument. If they're lying then he's going to have to lie, too:

quote

---

Look, I was way too handsy to the point of molestation, I used my position to take liberties I never should have, and I'm very, very sorry. To all the women I've treated badly I apologize from the bottom of my heart and promise it will never happen again. I know an apology is not enough. There's nothing I can do to make it right. But I want you all to know how very sorry I am and that I am a changed man.

​

But if I return to Congress I promise to be a prominent voice in fighting for the rights of women, just as I've always been, and I think I can make important contributions in the fight against recent decisions of the Supreme Court on things like guns and abortion.
  —Something Al Franken Could Say

---

--Percy