Franken Ain't No Verb

 I liked Al Franken. I think he was doing a great job as a Senator. I have no idea why he resigned. Neither do you, unless he personally confided in you.

As much as I regret seeing Al resign, I haven't attempted to second guess why he did so. I simply decided to respect his decision and move on.

I haven't decided to turn his name into a verb. You can't Franken someone. You can subject people to undeserved abuse. You can fuck over someone.

I'm from New York. I came to really appreciate Andrew Cuomo when he began holding daily press conferences after COVID-19 hit. He educated me about spread rates and such. He did a great job.

Now he's being investigated for under-reporting COVID-19 nursing home deaths and mistreating women.

I have no idea what happened with any of this. If he is guilty of anything he needs to be held accountable and I've said so publicly.

Lots of people took issue with me. Some did so civilly, some didn't. What can I say? I calls 'em like I see 'em.

What I don't get is alleged Democrats doing exactly what the Republicans did and continue to do when things like this happen.

Here's a list of some of those things along with my responses:

1. You can't hold Cuomo accountable unless you hold every Republican who got away with similar things accountable.

I have no idea what this means. Seems dumb.

2. The Republicans are out to get Cuomo.

Yep. It's politics.

3. The women are lying.

Really?

4. This is a conspiracy to get Trump pardoned by a N.Y. governor if he's convicted of crimes in N.Y.

Conspiracy theory anyone?

5. The Democrats need to fight dirty like the Republicans do.

Bullshit!

6. Cuomo is being Frankened.

?

7. You're stupid.

I'm definitely not a Republican.

I'm not a politician. I'm a registered Democrat. I don't like politics, but that doesn't stop me from getting involved.

When I left N.Y. in 1980, I had a letter of recommendation from the Chairman of the state's Democratic Party.

I found that interesting because I never worked for the party and I was a particular thorn in the chairman's side.

I've actually run and consulted on political campaigns.

When Bill Clinton disgraced himself, I thought he should resign. Clearly he didn't. Ergo ...

Bush and Cheney lied to us about Iraq and destroyed our economy. Ergo ...

Donald Trump never stopped disgracing himself. Ergo ...

I guess I should add that the Democrats took back the House in 2018 and the Senate in 2020.

Is there a lesson in this? There is for me. Honesty is the best policy. Character matters.

Before I'm a Democrat, I'm a patriot. I care about my country more than I do any political party. I don't think I'm alone in that.

I believe we're still in the midst of a coup. I will continue to vote for Democrats until the Republicans who've betrayed our country and theirs oaths of office are all gone.

In the meantime, I don't want to do anything to cause us to lose the House and/or the Senate in 2022.

I believe in standards and accountability. I like to think most people do.

Holy Moly!