I figured since we’re sending Al Franken diaries to the Rec List again, I’d dredge up some other old grievances, and fan the embers for a little extra attention, myself.
Is anyone else tired of this cycle? Is it just me, or is it that every time a contentious issue begins to fade, someone decides to go kick the hornets’ nest again? Even our beloved founder himself has been known to come back an stir the pot. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear it was on purpose. And I mean that quite sincerely: I know better than to see conspiracies in the fact that Daily Kos can’t have a settled moment without someone coming along to shit on Bernie Sanders, or call the centrists corporate shills, or complain about some perceived injustice that no longer matters. Simple, flawed humanity is enough to explain it.
And make no mistake: in the big picture, Al Franken — and his ouster from the Senate — no longer matters, if it ever really did. Was he accused and drummed out of the Senate unjustly? Was he the victim of a right-wing hit job? Was there enough fire under the smoke to justify his resignation? In the long run/big picture, it doesn’t matter. Sure, it matters to Al, his family, and his friends. But in terms of saving our country from the fascist takeover, it’s of little importance. It has fuck-all to do with the 2020 elections. It won’t stop our planet from alternately burning and/or sinking beneath the sea. It won’t free one child from the concentration camps.
Even assuming what happened with Franken was some well-orchestrated hit job against a largely innocent man, it was at least a successful one. The deed was done, whether anyone likes it or not. He resigned, as well he should have. It was the right call. He’d taken too much damage at exactly the wrong time. Regardless of guilt or innocence, he was an albatross around the Democratic Party’s neck, and his ouster cost almost nothing. It was a no-brainer.
Was it fair? Who gives a shit? Change is messy. Do we expect 100% consistency, and a clean revolution? If so, we’re deluded. I sat through nonsense like “manspreading” because it was minor collateral damage that wasn’t worth slowing the necessary feminization of America, and I bowed to the necessity of Franken’s resignation. If swapping one Democratic Senator out with another is the price of taking down monsters like Harvey Weinstein, and giving pause to thousands like him, then it was a fucking bargain.
We need to grow a thicker skin, and learn to face reality. Just like it never mattered whether or not it was fair Hillary Clinton was damaged beyond repair by 25 years of unrelenting right-wing attacks, it doesn’t matter if Franken was set up. The facts are, if he wasn’t, he deserved it, and if he was, it worked. Either way, the damage was done. Get over it. Republicans have been kicking Democrats’ asses for a long time now, in part because it’s easy to point Democrats at windmills and hand them a lance.
Get over it. We have bigger fish to fry. End of rant.