I find Al Franken’s greatest transgression to be his vote as a super-delegate (in the Dems’ July 2016 national convention) for H. Clinton (and thus for Wall Street and the neocons), instead of Bernie Sanders, who was favored by the voters of Franken’s state (Minnesota) in their Democratic Primary. When questioned about it he arrogantly stated that he knew better than the voters he was supposed to represent. This was an anti-democratic transgression, a misuse of power he had over the regular citizens. Entertaining troops (during the Iraq War) and pontificating over the radiowaves (on Air America) could be transgressions against the public interest, in the sense of propaganda: efforts to influence the decisions of actual policymakers (pro Iraq War), and to influence support for those policies by a duped public. But, his collusion in Hillary’s anti-democratic, pro-corporate, anti-Bernie scheme was by use of actual political power, a procedural power he had because of his government office (senator, thus a Dem superdelegate). That and his evident careerism evaporated any interest and sympathy I might have had for him.
I’m sure the Dems are dumping Franken solely out of concern to keep him from contaminating them with the “masher plague” now being so vociferously attacked by the #metoo crusaders. Aside from the usual cover-your-ass concern of any political hack, part of the Dems publicly moral indignation against surreptitious male sexist exploitation is undoubtedly an emotional outlet for the disappointed Hillary cultists who didn’t get their “first female president,” as well as a tactic by the party managers to maintain a sharply contrasting image for the Dem Party from that of the Republican Party, which is poised to elect an open pedophile to the Senate, from Alabama: Roy Moore, a real positive showcase for Southern hospitality and charm!
Even if Franken is replaced by a Republican, it won’t matter much since the Dems are in the minority anyway. The Democrats can never outdo the Republicans for being Neo-Nazi, Klanner, sexist (against women), homophobic, and pedophile-friendly, so the Dems will never gain political majorities by aping the Republicans in the appeal to the bigot legions. So, they will make a show of being “inclusive” and of displaying a moralistic politically correct intolerance, to attract the audiences repelled by the Republicans’ flagrant lack of moral character.
Clearly, for both major parties, power is everything, and neither is concerned about appearing either “moral” or abysmally crude and base, if such a display helps them accumulate power by getting their partisans into political office. Hillary never had a problem with defending Bill’s sexual predations (and persecuting his sexual victims), and winking at the exploits of Bill’s pervy pals (like Jeffrey Epstein, and Donald Trump), nor hanging out with Harvey Weinstein, so long as the money came in to her “campaign fund;” and about 99% of the Republicans are now salivating on the floor in anticipation of Roy Moore swinging his dick around the Malls of Washington, D.C., and helping them gut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, so as to further punish the poor for being impoverished, and increase the ranks of the impoverished in order to satisfy the insatiable greed of the wealth-obsessed.
If the Dems had a one vote majority in the Senate I’ll bet Franken would have been scolded, sent to a plush rehab center for a month, and then declared rehabilitated and fit for duty. Power, money, career, with focus on one, and loyalty to none.
The previous comments were prompted by the following:
Al Franken (comments on his resignation from the Senate) by William Blum