jarnon wrote:Regarding BJ's quotes from Dan Latuff and Shelly Duarte:
Victim shaming is wrong, whether Moore's supporters or BJ's sources do it. Franken was man enough to admit he acted inappropriately (as BJ also quoted). Democrats should heed Michelle Obama's advice: "When they go low, we go high."
It would be one thing if those comments were sourced. They're not. What I've seen claims that the (unnamed) photographer said something about the circumstances of the photograph that's contrary to the complainant's account. Until and unless there's a named source to that effect, such a report deserves no credence at all. Particularly when Franken himself acknowledges (at least tacitly) that he did not have her consent to stage the photograph.
By the way, in the photograph, there's clearly space between Franken's left hand and the complainant's body. Due to the camera angle, you can't (or at least I can't) tell whether that's also the case with respect to his right hand. Doesn't make the photograph any less objectionable, but it does mean that the photograph isn't (or may not be) an actual grope, as opposed to a mock grope, which would be a subtler sort of violation. I have real trouble imagining that I'll be able to support Franken's reelection (though his second statement was a step in the right direction), but if it's an isolated incident (and I give much less credence to the second account that emerged yesterday, though I do think that account also merits investigation), in my view it doesn't merit expulsion.
In any event, the Ethics Committee will get to the facts and that process is underway, and that's the body that would start the expulsion process. So even for those who believe Franken should lose his job over this right now, the process is underway. The present issue is whether the voters of Alabama will send Roy Moore to the Senate. And that's something that those voters still have direct control over. --Bob
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear." Thomas Jefferson