The Democratic Party is led by hypocritical males who publicly support the #MeToo movement exposing endemic sexual harassment of women in the workplace. But in private those male Democrat elected officials, donors and party insiders express support for former Sen. Al Franken (D-MN). who was forced to resign this past January over several accusations of sexual misconduct, while they blame Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) for his downfall.
“A radio news anchor on Thursday accused Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., of forcibly kissing and groping her a decade ago when they were overseas entertaining U.S. troops. Leeann Tweeden, a radio news anchor with KABC in Los Angeles, said she met Franken in December 2006, before he became a lawmaker, at a USO show for service members that included a skit he wrote that featured a kiss between the two. (excerpt NBC News, Nov. 17, 2017.)
The true feelings of D.C. male Democrat leaders was reported after George Soros and former President Bill Clinton spoke out publicly this week in support of Franken.
New York Times national political reporter Astead Herndon, who recently moved to the Times from the Boston Globe, wroted on Twitter what he’s been told by male Democrat elites in Washington, D.C. Herndon keyed off comments made by George Soros in an interview with the Washington Post this week in which Soros expressed similar views of Franken and Gillibrand.
Soros, who said he wants to avoid dividing the party, also refused to pick favorites among the emerging crop of 2020 Democratic presidential contenders. But there is one prospective candidate he said he hopes does not get the nod: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
He blames Gillibrand for pushing the resignation of former senator Al Franken “whom I admire,” Soros said, “in order to improve her chances.”
Herndon added his observations, “The Soros view here is so popular among Dem male donors and lawmakers. Few say it publicly, but in DC I’d hear it all the time from supposedly liberal men: Franken as a martyr and Gillibrand as “opportunist”
In response to a question on how women voters see this, “Doesn’t it seem though that women voters aren’t buying this view?”, Herndon replied, “Oh 100%. This isn’t voters, but male party “elites” — donors, and insiders and lawmakers.”
The Soros view here is so popular among Dem male donors and lawmakers. Few say it publicly, but in DC I'd hear it all the time from supposedly liberal men: Franken as a martyr and Gillibrand as "opportunist"
— Astead (@AsteadWH) June 10, 2018
Oh 100%. This isn't voters, but male party "elites" — donors, and insiders and lawmakers.
— Astead (@AsteadWH) June 10, 2018
Clinton defended Franken in an interviews with PBS Newshour anchor Judy Woodruff, (via Real Clear Politics’ Ian Schwartz)
“I think that — I will be honest — the Franken case, for me, was a difficult case, a hard case. There may be things I don’t know. But I — maybe I’m just an old-fashioned person, but it seemed to me that there were 29 women on “Saturday Night Live” that put out a statement for him, and that the first and most fantastic story was called, I believe, into question.”
Newsweek reported on Clinton’s comments about Gillibrand, an ally who turned on Clinton when she said he should have resigned over the Lewinsky affair, “Bill Clinton suggests it was political reasons that drove Kirsten Gillibrand to call for resignation”
Bill Clinton suggests it was political reasons that drove Kirsten Gillibrand to call for resignation https://t.co/T22vf0l3jM pic.twitter.com/dNsXD8t5rE
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) June 1, 2018
“Bill Clinton has finally responded to New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s November comments that he should have resigned over the Monica Lewinsky scandal—and it was to accuse Gillibrand of making the remarks for her own political gain.
“You have to—really ignore what the context was,” the former president said in an interview with CBS Sunday. “But, you know, she’s living in a different context. And she did it for different reasons.”
