Al Franken needs to go

http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/melinda-henneberger/article185315138.html


The less than conservative leaning Kansas City Star published this Op/Ed about Al Franken, and I makes some good points.

One of the salient point the author makes is this.

"And to the fury that Republicans have felt ever since over the way women who accused Bill Clinton of harassment, assault and rape were treated by feminists. How could they condone the actions of a man whose behavior undercut everything they’d ever said they cared about? I can’t tell you how many Republicans have told me, both before and after the election, that they saw no reason to disqualify Trump for behavior that progressives had defended."

To this day, I still hear leftists defend Bill Clinton with lines like: "He only lied about sex", "It was his private life," and "the Lewinky thing was consensual.".    So, it seems reasonable to ask why it's ok for Bill but not for Donald.

But none of that is why Franken should resign.  Nor should Franken resign because he's a liar with poor impulse control who has attacked, stalked, and threatened people with whom he disagrees.    Clearly that's problematic, but still not the reason.

Here's why Franken should go, and why the DFL isn't smart enough to push this.

1.  If the DFL encourages/forces Franken to resign, they regain at least a tiny bit of the moral high ground they've lost due to Clinton, Weiner, Weinstein, Menendez, etc.

2.  This puts the nail in Franken's reelection, and despite the deep blue nature of the peoples republic, there is a decent chance that the GOP could flip this seat if Franken runs.

3.  If Franken resigns, eventually Dayton will rouse himself from his stupor, and appoint a replacement.  Most likely that replacement would be Keith Ellison.  Ellison is the perfect candidate, he checks almost every affirmative action box, except for being a woman (of course he could change that in a second), and having him run as an incumbent will give him a huge advantage.   This ignores the fact that Ellison is dumb as a post and already in over his head, but it's the DFL.   

Clearly a Franken resignation moves the DFL cause forward in any number of ways and is a win/win for the left.   Unfortunately, Franken's support for abortion will probably tip the scales in his favor and his narcissism will prevent him from looking beyond himself.

It should go without saying, that I think he should stay and get beaten in his next election.