To Be Or Not To Be

For John, BLUF:  Do we actually know what Senator Al Franken is going to do?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Breaking:  CNN, NBC Report That Franken’s Out; Liveblog:  Franken Denies Allegations; Attacks Trump, Moore; Resignation In “Weeks”; Final Question:  Will Franken Actually Leave?

From Hot Air and Cap'n Ed Morrissey, 7 December 2017.

Now there is a headline.

I listened to the first part of Senator Franken's speech from the Well of the Senate and thought for sure he was going to tough it out.  Now I am just not sure.  It isn't that Senator Franken needs a few more months to make retirement.  He has been a Senator since July of 2009.  Maybe he is just angry at being pushed out by his Democratic Party senate Colleagues.  He might actually think that the things he did were not nearly on a level with Representative John Conyers.  And, it appears that he doesn't think he is as evil as President Trump or Judge Roy Moore of Alabama.♠

Then there is this from Emeritus Law Professor Ann Althouse, "TEN senators on Wednesday called on fellow Democrat Al Franken to resign, in a jaw-dropping avalanche…"

The 10 are: Gillibrand of New York, Hirono of Hawaii, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Patty Murray of Washington, Kamala Harris of California, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.

Where are our two Democratic Party Senators?  Especially our senior Senator, E Warren?

At any rate, here is how Ms Althouse does the TRUMP V FRANKEN Comparative Analysis:

1. In place of a presumption of consent — "they let you do it" — Franken claims a right.  He contends that because of his status as "an entertainer" he gets to do it whether she wants it or not.
2. Franken actually does it, even when confronted with active non-consent.  Trump was only talking — outside of the earshot of any woman — about what he supposedly does.  Who knows what he actually does?  But even in the bragging context, the woman consents.  Trump's joke is her susceptibility to star power.
3. Franken seems to get off on the forcible intrusion on the woman.  Trump seems to delight in the fact that women want him.  Those are entirely different sexual orientations!  Franken is the one on the rapist spectrum.
4. Trump said you needed to be a star to have special access.  Franken claimed access based on status as an "entertainer."  That's more self-effacing and maybe he thought it was sort of cute and funny.  But self-deprecation attached to forcing himself on the other person puts him in a very dark place, and makes me want to say those often-mocked feminist words: That's not funny.

I am not sure Senator Franken actually "gets it".

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Or President James Madison, when he was a Delegate to the Continental Congress.