Al Franken: Giant of the Senate by Al Franken

[gilda_elise]

From the #1 bestselling author - the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that.

This is a book about an unlikely campaign that had an even more improbable ending: the closest outcome in history and an unprecedented eight-month recount saga, which is pretty funny in retrospect.

I’ve liked Al Franken since SNL and Stuart Saves His Family, but never more so then after reading this book. His humor and wit shine through, but so does his desire to do good for the people of his state. He gives praise to his fellow Democrats, while gently chastising his detractors on the other side of the aisle. And he actually taught me something about how a bill really gets through Congress (forget all about that silly video that purports to.)

He could do that because he had actually taken the time to learn about public policy, not jumping in totally ignorant as so many have. And he was a good enough Senator for the people of Minnesota to send him back a second time by a wide margin.

Now on to the elephant in the room. I did some research into the accusations against him. Most don’t hold water. He left his hand on your breast for ten seconds? What, were you in a coma? Another claimed that he had “pinched the skin around her waist a couple of times.” Give me a break. Perhaps if one of these women had turned around and slapped him, or yelled something to the affect like “Keep your hands to yourself, a**hole,” it would have all ended there. In any event, I found nothing that would have warranted destroying a man’s career. Certainly not before allowing the vetting he was asking for.

So Gillibrand, Brown, Harris, Stabenow, Booker, Warren, and, yes, even Sanders, and the other twenty-five Democratic senators who voted to oust him (amazing how many of them are running for the presidential nomination,) you can all rot.







Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.


1. The Outsider
2. War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
3. Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts
4. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
5. Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition
6. From Baghdad to America: Life after War for a Marine and His Rescued Dog (Lava #2)
7. The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (Gap #2)
8. The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery
9. First King of Shannara (Original Shannara Trilogy 0)
10. Legends of the Fall
11. Moon of the Crusted Snow
12. Mio, My Son
13. Circe
14. Al Franken: Giant of the Senate



BOOK BINGO

13. Free Space - Al Franken: Giant of the Senate by Al Franken





1. Fantasy, Scifi, Paranormal - The Outsider by Stephen King
2. Mystery/Crime/True Crime - The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery by D.T. Max
5. Diverse Reads - Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
6. Children's or YA - Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren
7. Biography/Autobiography Non fiction - From Baghdad to America by Jay Kopelman
8. Historical (fiction or nonfiction) - Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie, John Geiger
9. Set in Your State/Country or Written by a Local Author - Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison
10. Title Starts with the First Letter of Your Name - The Gap Into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (Gap #2) by Stephen R. Donaldson
11. Female Author - Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon
12. One Word Title - Circe by Madeline Miller
13. Free Space - Al Franken: Giant of the Senate by Al Franken
15. Title is at Least Six Words Long - War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow
20. A New-to-You Author - The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
22. A Book that is Part of a Series (4+ books) - First King of Shannara (Original Shannara Trilogy 0) by Terry Brooks

Comments

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

In any event, I found nothing that would have warranted destroying a man’s career. Certainly not before allowing the vetting he was asking for.

It does seem an all-too-easy way to destroy someone and their career, doesn't it and frighteningly easy. There seems to be a kind of hysteria when someone like Spacey can even be edited out of some of his former work (at least I think that's what happened).

Yet again you've introduced me to a fascinating new subject so thank you for that.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I do wonder what goes through these women's minds. If true, why wait so long? Like what now is happening to Joe Biden. Five years? If it was that horrible, why wasn't something said before? If not, why say anything at all? Even a close relative, who's been raped, feels that these allegations, often long ago and not much more than boorish behavior, are hurting the movement more than helping.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Women wait because they're sure they won't be believed. Turns out, that's true. They aren't sure they aren't at fault, they aren't sure it wasn't that big a deal ... all the things women have said for centuries because we live in a culture where women's bodies belong to men to grope and squeeze and fondle as they please.


Yes, there are false accusations. Yes, there are women making mountains out of molehills. Of course. Women aren't perfect. But, after a half century as a woman in a man's world, my experience tells me that the vast majority of the accusations are true. That they are ignored, minimized, or called par for the course ("Big deal! So you were groped when looking for a job!") just reinforces how men still simply have a right, in our culture, to treat women's bodies as theirs for the having. The nerve of us, saying no to it.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

But do they think that, having waited all that time, they're more inclined to be believed now?

My biggest problem with the situation is that often the woman could have done something. The woman who accused Biden should have turned around at the moment and said something like, "Excuse me, none of that allowed." Or, "Hey, big guy, I think you took me for someone else." Because she wasn't alone with him, and she wasn't a young girl. And complaining that she felt "powerless" because some guy kissed her on the back of the head? I do tend to believe that it happened; it sounds like something Biden would do. But how the woman reacted, then and now, is what I have a problem with.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Well, they're speaking up now because now there is an atmosphere of acknowledgment of how pervasive this kind of thing is. Also - and I'm sure you would agree - after the fact it's easy to say "you should have spoken up" or something. But in the moment most of us are caught off guard and don't have words ready on our lips. Also, women are accultured to play along, to be nice, to give in, not to make a fuss. I think it's all those things that crowd up in a woman's throat and make her feel powerless - not necessarily the act itself.

Me, the time a stranger grabbed my ass in a bar I backhanded him, on instinct. If I'd had a baseball bat he'd've been dead. But I have REALLY strong boundaries. I don't expect other women to react the way I did - nor would I necessarily recommend it! It didn't get the jerk to back off. He kept harassing me (following me around, trying to "talk" to me) until I asked my male band mates to threaten his life. That sort of worked.

What can you do? But no - I get the way a person, especially a woman, can freeze up and assume everyone will blame her for making a fuss over nothing, or call her a liar or a bitch. It's happened to pretty much every single woman who has come out with her assault or rape story.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I think that's something that definitely needs to change, how women are brought up to behave. Of course, then she's a b**ch, so you can't win. I do agree that being able to respond at the time is something that a lot of women aren't able to do, for whatever reason. Me, I stood up and pushed a guy who tried to sit next to me in a booth after I'd told him to basically get lost. So, yeah, my own instincts, which sound very much like yours, do make it hard for me to understand how women can put up with what they put up with.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Some women know they aren't going to win a physical fight. I wouldn't have, had the guy gotten more physical. Had I been alone, say in an office or stairwell or my home. Or had I been in a place where a fight would have gotten ME in trouble (other than a bar, for sure!). I acted on instinct. Fighting back can get you beaten up or killed. Women get that in ways that I think men don't understand. But I'm surprised when women don't understand that - we're very unlikely to win any real fight with a man unless he's a lot smaller/weaker. And god knows our culture doesn't encourage women to defend their space with words. Until now. And the ones who're speaking are still derided and doubted.

[st-crispins.livejournal.com]

I loved the Franken book. Read it before all the bad stuff went down. He didn't deserve what they did to him.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

No, he didn't. And don't think I'll forget those who jumped on the bandwagon.

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

I don't know this politician but this aspect of the so-called movement in the US bothered me. It's too easy to ruin someone's life by making false accusations of this nature. Add to that the horrible influence of social media and how some women do use their sex appeal/seduction as a means of advancing in life and it becomes a difficult mess to sort through.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Hm. I don't like to see sexual harassment called "difficult" because some people use that as an excuse to just dismiss the problem. I think taking each case individually makes it more time-consuming and less fun for the masses of ignorant ranters who like to jump on band wagons, but it also allows thinking people to sort through the nonsense claims and give due credence to the unfortunately vast number of legitimate claims.

We have to start by acknowledging a fact: Men have the power in this culture. People who pretend that's not so can never look at these cases from an informed starting point. Pretending our culture isn't still sexist is like pretending our culture isn't still racist. You're* starting from a convenient, comfortable lie and will never get to the uncomfortable truth.

*Not you personally. :-)

[ariss-tenoh.livejournal.com]

I've been on both sides of this problem as someone who works with lawyers. Yes, society's power is concentrated in the hands of men and male privilege is abundant and clear. Many women face sexual harassment and rape, but I've also seen the other side where a woman took out her revenge on a man by insinuation or making false claims. It's a difficult issue. Yes, it has to be taken on a case by case basis and investigated. But personally I think this overwhelming use of social media in this way has also negatively impacted the feminist movement in the US where many women hesitate to call themselves feminists, two steps forward and then one step back.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. Social media allows for the worst of mankind - the horde mentality, falsehoods being spread rapidly, unthinking statements broadcast as truth to uncritical readers. It has exacerbated one of our major social problems - that people don't think, don't research, don't vet, before they spout an opinion. We're a lot more grey - all of us - than we are black and white. Black and white thinking is the province of the ignorant, and social media really fosters that.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. :-) It's no secret that men hold most (well, practically all,) the power in our society, but constantly playing the victim isn't helping the women's cause. It's one thing when it's your boss, when you need the job in order to feed your family, but that hasn't been the case recently. Regarding Franken, many of these women were with him for a picture, just to be seen with someone famous. A good shove and "keep your hands to yourself, a**hole," would have probably done the trick, and may have stopped the man from trying it on another woman.

I imagine there isn't a woman out there that hasn't been accosted in one form or another. But what I did as a teenager, a woman grown should be able to do, too. I think if I hear one more time that, in a packed room, the woman felt "powerless" to do anything, I think I'll scream.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

**but constantly playing the victim isn't helping the women's cause. **

Well, I would disagree that women constantly play the victim. This problem is coming to light right now. It's visible, it's no longer in hiding for fear of not being believed (despite that abused women are still called liars or blamed). Naturally it seems like it's ubiquitous. But I wouldn't say women are constantly playing the victim

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Okay, you got me there. I should have used a less all encompassing word. There are a lot of women out there who didn't stay silent, who took matters into their own hands no matter the consequences.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

But for all the women who didn't speak, who didn't shout, who didn't fight back ... what? You surely don't believe they're all liars or undeserving of sympathy?

I fought back. Some people can't, physically. Some can't emotionally. Many are totally surprised and don't react, in the moment, the way history will later say they should have (I've been there too - most people have). That doesn't mean they weren't victims of assault.

Fighting off a man intent on assaulting you is physically impossible for most women. I'm not going to blame women for recognizing that. Maybe only another woman, or a pretty man in prison, would understand the feeling of threat when someone a lot bigger than you corners you somewhere alone far from help. I think a lot of men don't get that. "Why didn't you fight back?" "Because he punched me once and broke my jaw and I went down like a load of bricks."

Just sayin'. To be fair many women express the position you seem to be expressing - that you only have a right to talk about it, to call it assault, if you fought back in the moment. I just can't see that.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I tend to think that the women are telling the truth. That's not what I have a problem with. My problem is one of degree. Is what happened worth destroying a man's life? If he assaulted you, whether just physically or sexually, yeah, go for it. And, yeah, especially if you're alone with the guy, the chances of you fighting him off are pretty slim. But in this particular instance, that wasn't the case.

I had an episode with the guy who was getting too forceful. I was able to get him to stop by asking him if this was the only way to get a women to sleep with him, by forcing them. Years later that same guy worked with my husband. By this time the guy was married and had a couple of kids. I never said anything about what happened to him or my husband. What would have been the point? He had obviously changed, and I wasn't sure how my husband would have responded. Not well, I don't think. For me, it wasn't worth the trouble it probably would have caused. I just think that women need to think about just what it is they're expecting out of their proclamation. Do you want to destroy his career? Did he damage you that much? And what does the woman think is actually going to happen?

[leethet.livejournal.com]

**Did he damage you that much?**

Well, only the woman knows, right? And I think they speak, sometimes, because they've held a painful truth inside themselves for so long it's a relief to say "That guy? He's an A hole. He assaulted me. Don't lionize him." It's justice.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

I suppose. But it still astonishes me that someone kissing you on the back of the head could damage a woman, that it would be a painful truth rather than just a weird occurrence. I guess we're all just very different.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Well, we are, and while that is a wonder and a good thing, it does make finding common ground very hard sometimes. We all assume (I think) that we're coming from a good and decent place, so when someone disagrees, the natural tendency is to think they're coming from a bad (and indecent!) place. That's generally not actually true. Most humans want, broadly, the same things, and think the same things are good.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It's too easy to claim something that can't be disproved, especially when so many automatically say that they believe the woman.

One of the women claimed that she was afraid that Franken would destroy her career if she said anything. I doubt it. Franken was well known as a comedian, but he was no Robin Williams or Eddie Murphy. He'd done one movie that didn't do well, and was more known for his writing. I'm more inclined to think that she came forward after all those years for publicity, as her career never did take off.

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

It sounds like an interesting book about an interesting man.

It really is so very scarily easy these days to ruin someone's career and life - too scarily easily IMO.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

There's kneejerking going on, for sure. I see it in women claiming abuse when what went on was just a misunderstanding. Just like I sometimes see racism claimed in a situation where I see a crime being committed and police reacting to it. Culture often swings too hard the other way before it swings back to a reasonable position.

That said, I'm not going to cry because some sexist jerk got called out for being a sexist jerk. Wah. Poor baby. I won't cry for men who are whining they lost their jobs because it was revealed they were groping women right and left but "I didn't rape anyone!"

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

It has become that. It's too bad that the start toward fixing one problem would create another.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

It's the nature of the culture. Even I, who start out from a position of belief when a women says a man assaulted her - it's virtually universal; I don't know any woman who hasn't been mauled or cornered, and I call that abuse - will question the particulars, whether the woman has something to gain by lying, whether the guy deserves prison.

But hey, wait. Not one of them has gone to prison, right? So I'm not going to cry about all the men being ruined until I see a bunch of men being ruined ("a bunch" in comparison to all the women whose lives have been damaged or destroyed by rape).

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

Indeed it is :-( Maybe one day soon it will balance out - one can but hope.