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Woman accuses Al Franken of kissing, groping her without consent

Anthony60 said:
You know they way these things go, there will be more coming out.
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"Coming out" of course meaning "Making accusations which may or may not be true, motivated by what we dont know".

The claim of kissing here is highly unlikely, but let's hear what those in the area at the time have to say, if they remember anything, though almost 12 years interlude between the event and the investigation is way too long, it is unfair to this guy.
 
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ludin said:
touching someone's private parts without permission is groping even if it is barely touching.
so why are you trying to excuse it?

in this case we actually have evidence and picture evidence that he groped her.
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What private parts did he touch?

Because if things like vests are "private parts", we're all going to be "guilty".
 
Anthony60 said:
You know they way these things go, there will be more coming out.
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Question - and your opinion on the Roy Moore allegations is?
 
Cardinal said:
How would you answer the following two questions:

1)Do we deserve to be represented by virtuous politicians?
2)Presuming that the story is as it appears, was Franken's a virtuous act?

Also, I'd like to point you to the fact that your logic is literally a mirror image of the logic used by Republicans to defend Moore.
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Disagree with your stance on almost everything but you stick to your values like few do, hear and most everywhere, that's to
be respected.
 
americanwoman said:
Wow is he a senator or a college kid? What a jerk.
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Fortunately, he wasn't a senator back then. He was a "comedian" and actually a fairly mediocre one at that. He's been a surprisingly good senator, and is appropriately remorseful... but the way shoes have been dropping lately, we'll have to see what else comes out of the woodwork.

At least he accepts responsibility and apologized, unlike Moore and Trump.
 
roughdraft274 said:
Good for her for coming out. I don't think the picture looks bad at all, I can't even tell if his hands are actualy touching her tbh. But the kiss thing sounds ****ed up. It could be a misunderstanding between adults. If there are more accusations hopefully this will spur some of them and if so we will need to call for the removal of him. I like Franken and his politics, but this kind of **** can't go without punishment.
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Probably not a woman in the country who hasn't been kissed against her will, and frankly it's damned unpleasant. Makes you want to gargle grain alcohol to kill cooties.

I find the picture extremely offensive. He was using her as a toy while she slept, which is creepy as hell, all for ****s and giggles of the others who were obviously enjoying his antics, while photographing her to further her humiliation. I mean, how can she know that he got the last laugh unless she sees the proof?

I'm glad he apologized but christ on a cracker, women are NOT toys, dammit.
 
Cardinal said:
I'm just going to say that unless Franken has a super convincing response to this, he needs to step down. If the story is as it appears, then remaining a Senator will be a stain on the Democratic party.
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I'm not ready to go that far if this is an isolated incident. He deliberately humiliated her; she returned the favor and there will be a Senate ethics investigation. We'll see what happens after that.
 
iliveonramen said:
Well for one, there's a picture of it and two, there's a couple inches of ceramic between his hands and her body even if his hands were rested on her person.

Also...yes...gestures and "simulated" sexual assault are not sexual assault.

So yes...that's my argument.
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It's a really lame argument.
 
holbritter said:
Wow. Who's making excuses now.
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I'm not making excuses but saying what he did was sexual assault requires a lot of reaching. He should apologize but people are acting like he's Harvey Weinstein or Moore. Can we have a little room between being a creep and masturbating in front of women or rubbing on 14 year olds?
 
DiAnna said:
Probably not a woman in the country who hasn't been kissed against her will, and frankly it's damned unpleasant. Makes you want to gargle grain alcohol to kill cooties.

I find the picture extremely offensive. He was using her as a toy while she slept, which is creepy as hell, all for ****s and giggles of the others who were obviously enjoying his antics, while photographing her to further her humiliation. I mean, how can she know that he got the last laugh unless she sees the proof?

I'm glad he apologized but christ on a cracker, women are NOT toys, dammit.
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Fully agree, but I would think that a picture where you look like you are ogling somebody but you aren't even really touching them is just poking fun and not assault as people are treating it.
 
VanceMack said:
Congrats. you have completely shredded any possible integrity or credibility you may have ever had on the subject of Donald Trump, Roy Moore, or anyone accused of inappropriate sexual behavior.

And I expected nothing less.
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Yeah...my integrity is shredded for a guy fake grabbing tits in a picture. What is the state of your integrity for defending a child molester and a guy that claims to grab a womans vagina without asking??
 
Absentglare said:
Not at all. Your claim is brazenly dishonest. You seem to have difficulty comprehending the meaning of the word "grope".



It's hard to take right wingers outrage seriously in this case when they claim that a woman who says "no" during sex can be legally raped.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/janetw...men-cant-revoke-consent-after-sex-begins/amp/

This is such a brazen case of partisan double standards, it's obscene. You seem to be taking pleasure in this fantasy narrative.
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I never said "groped". You are the one using the word "grope" in our conversation. You put words in my mouth and then call me dishonest? LOL

What happened to that liberal ethos about a woman's body being hers and her having rights to chooses what to do with it? Does that only apply if there i9sn't a liberal politician involved?
 
NonoBadDog said:
It's a really lame argument.
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Okay, I don't care what you think about my argument. Our "debate" has pretty much consisted of you alluding to this deep insight you won't share and me staking out a pretty concrete claim based on the definition of why he didn't commit sexual assault.
 
Good lord, people! I've read the entire thread now, and those of you defending Franken's harassment or comparing it to Moore's serial dating high school girls, and being accused of attempted rape... I wanna Gibbs-smack the back of all your heads.

A forced kiss can be considered an assault, except the woman said she eventually consented to "rehearsing" the kiss because he was harassing her. Then he went too far with it, and she forcefully rejected him, warning him never to try that again. His ego was clearly bruised, so when she was asleep and vulnerable, he set about to humiliate her with that damned photo as a "joke".

Joke-smoke, he was angry at the rejection (and doesn't remember the kiss the same way because it was probably the highlight of his trip) and he got back at her in a childish, pathetic manner.

Nobody should be approving the behavior or minimizing it, nor should anyone be comparing it to sexual assault or rape. Get a grip, folks... and you know who you are.
 
NonoBadDog said:
I never said "groped". You are the one using the word "grope" in our conversation.
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I never said that you said "groped".

NonoBadDog said:
You put words in my mouth and then call me dishonest? LOL
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Actually you're putting words in my mouth. If your claim is that "grope" was not part of our conversation, then you admit that you didn't read the OP, nor the thread title, nor the accusation itself.

NonoBadDog said:
What happened to that liberal ethos about a woman's body being hers and her having rights to chooses what to do with it? Does that only apply if there i9sn't a liberal politician involved?
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I never suggested otherwise, you must have me confused with someone else.
 
iliveonramen said:
Yeah...my integrity is shredded for a guy fake grabbing tits in a picture. What is the state of your integrity for defending a child molester and a guy that claims to grab a womans vagina without asking??
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Name one time where I have defended either action.
 
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