Running for Office...

I used to say I could never run for office because of my mouth. I tend to say what I really mean and say it in a colorful way, as you all know. Trump sort of fucked that up for me. He said whatever he wanted to, truthful or not, kind or not, logical or not, and was still elected. So my swearing and telling stupid people not to be stupid sort of pales in comparison.

But I still know I would be unelectable. Because I'm a progressive. And progressives love purity. We are seeing that right now as the Democratic Party continues to eat itself from the inside. The Bernie Sanders wing vs. the Establishment Democrats is how it's usually billed. Which makes those of us who might not be about purity but are about WORDS MEAN THINGS shout about Sanders not being a Democrat so why in the world is there a Sanders wing of the party? It should be the Warren Wing for god's sake.

I would also be unelectable because as I stated I'm progressive and I believe words means things so I have to say upfront, I'm not a democrat. I've never been registered as a democrat. And not only am I not a democrat I wouldn't feel right running as a democrat because my fiscal policies wouldn't line up well with their platform. I'm a fish out of water.

But the purity is what would hurt me more.

Because I've done and said some incredibly stupid things in my life and I am sure there would be a group of people willing to talk about them on record. And so there would be hand wringing and "if we let her get away with this then we have no moral high ground so..." and I would lose. (You all know how I feel about losing.) Never mind that if you have a progressive candidate and a conservative candidate running and the progressive loses because they aren't perfect you are in all essence electing the conservative who doesn't share a single one of the attributes you say you want. The sacrificing of the good in search of the perfect makes me crazy.

It happened in the last election cycle with Clinton. She wasn't perfect and so she was tossed out in favor of Trump. And now we have a new Supreme Court Justice who is so conservative Scalia is objecting from beyond. And not just the Supreme Court Justice but over a hundred other federal court judges. And heads of agencies. And revoking of protections. And we will see the ramifications of this election for my lifetime for sure. And probably beyond. All because Clinton wasn't perfect.

So I know I wouldn't be elected. I would be running third party, which doesn't work, and even if I could get acknowledged as a good progressive choice I wouldn't be perfect so I would top out at some local city council position, if I was lucky, and that would be that. But they would have their purity to fall back on.

Which is a shame because let me tell you. My good is pretty damn awesome. My past faults mean I've learned some hard lessons. My current beliefs were forged over time. Not set in stone from birth and never challenged. It means I worked to to get where I am, not that it was handed to me and I never questioned it. I understand why I think the things I do and I am willing to change my mind when needed.

But it's not purity.

It's not never made a mistake.

So it makes me not an electable progressive.

In the past when describing why I am not registered one way or the other I used to say "I'm too far left to be a Republican. My social stances are too liberal. I'm too far right to be a Democrat. I believe we shouldn't have programs that we can't pay for. I have too big of a heart to be a Republican and  like getting shit done too much to be a Democrat." The last line was partly a joke. But only partly. Democrats want everyone to be happy. They want everyone to get a say. And that tends to prevent anything from getting done. And now they want everyone to be perfect and never to have made a mistake in language or action or bad jokes. And so they will continue to eat their own and hand elections to the worst instead of the good enough.

And we will continue to see progressive policies pushed aside and debt increased to fund those that need the help least.

And since I'm already not electable I'm going to talk about the Al Franken situation. Just yesterday I wrote a blog and talked about the wave of sexual assault accusations and the fact that I will look at each one and make my choice on what I believe. Little did I know as I was writing that there would be an accusation made, with picture proof, against the liberal hero, Senator Franken.

Let me walk you through my reaction...

See the headline on Facebook "Al Franken Forcibly Kissed me and Groped Me!" My first thought was, "Seriously? Goddammit, Al, you are supposed to be one of the good guys!" Then I read the article and it lifted quotes from her blog describing what happened and that she had a picture of him grabbing her breasts. I am pissed. I cannot believe that he is such a slime. What the fuck is wrong with people? The article I saw did not have the picture but it did have a link to her actual blog so I clicked through to read it.

And as I read my face did that "my face" thing. It's the face that causes Brent to say, "Stop reading whatever it is you are reading." when he walks in while I am doing it. Or to say, "Did you realize you made that face just now or was it involuntary?" when we hear something on the radio or see it on TV. It's the What the Fuck face? My forehead crinkles, my mouth purses, my eyes narrow. It's the "I don't really know what the hell I'm reading/seeing/listening to here." Because her picture proof does not show what she says it shows. It just doesn't. He's not groping her, he's not grabbing her breasts without her permission, he's not doing what she said he was doing. You can see the space between his hands and her chest. You can see it. It's there. In the picture she says is proof. It's proof of a joke in bad taste, and if she is correct that they fought the whole tour then it's a shitty joke on another level. But he's obviously not touching her. Which made me read her blog again.

She says he wrote a skit with a kiss, and she knew what he was after, and when they rehearsed it, which she didn't think they needed to do at all but he kept insisting her crammed his tongue in her mouth. And then here is the kicker, she pushed him away, told him never to do that again and he....didn't. He didn't do it again. Those are her words. He did something I didn't like, I said don't do that and he stopped doing that.

Senator Franken is handling this much differently than I would (unelectable, remember?) he's apologized, he's said the photo was in bad taste and he is sorry she was upset by it, and he regrets doing anything that would upset her like that. He does say he recalls the rehearsal differently, but that that doesn't matter because it's her feelings that do. And then he requested an ethics committee investigate the matter.

And the Democrats are calling for his head. Seriously. And the media keeps printing that he groped her. He didn't. I know that the headline, "Al Franken Simulated Groping Her" isn't nearly as flashy but let's try and be honest. He didn't grope her. He didn't assault her while she slept. Use your common sense, if he were going to assault her why would he take a picture and have it included in a group of shots SHE got. She didn't find this picture on some weird website, she was given it with the other photos from the tour. And she says she held on to it for 12 years because she knew the time would be right someday to tell her story. Not when he was running for senate in an historically close election where it could have prevented him from being elected? That wasn't the right time? But now is? Yes, I know, we don't get to decide when a victim is ready to tell their story, but when they tell me they held their story during the tour because they didn't want to rock the boat, I can believe that, but when they hold it when they could prevent him from becoming a senator? I just wonder. Why now?

And I get it, you are all incensed over this and you think I'm giving him a pass because he's liberal and we shouldn't do that because then the republicans will use it against democrats and...fuck that shit.

The Republicans are going to use it anyway. Trump tweeted about it. You know Trump, "It's just locker room, just locker room." Trump? The one who has said Jack and Shit about Roy Moore? Yeah, and let's not forget the chorus of BUT BILL! that is resounding through the halls again. It doesn't matter what happens the Republicans will use it. So at least try not to toss a good Senator okay?

And I get it you are so insulted. How dare he pose for that distasteful picture. She was sleeping! Well, I'm sure you are just as deeply insulted when pictures of some drunk dude passed out at a party with a dick drawn on his forehead goes around, right? Or any other staged pictures taken with sleeping people. There are entire buzzfeed lists with these sorts of "funny" shots. People being messed with while they sleep with a picture to see later.

Oh no, I get it, this is miming grabbing her breasts so it's much worse, and, and, and, what about the skit he wrote just to get a kiss?

Really? Because just recently my feed was full of people posting "YAAASSS, QUEEN!" and "YOU GET IT!" about the SNL skit where Kate McKinnon and Gal Gadot kissed. If you cheered that and used any form of, "I would have written that part for me!" then you need to sit down. And my guess is he wrote the skit to get a laugh, not a kiss. See he was still working as a comedian at the time. Writing skits just to get your crush to kiss you is 7th grade drama class, writing skits with a kiss to get a laugh is more likely. And again, she kept performing the skit and he never shoved his tongue in her mouth again (if he did it the first time).

Each case needs to be evaluated on its own. And I know I am in the minority here when I say this is not a big deal case. This is at most a case where one person needs to say sorry to another for doing something they thought was funny that the other person did not. And he did that. And she's accepted his apology. So that should have been the end. But my guess is his political career is over. All of the good he's done and could do for progressive causes is over. Because Democrats are calling for his head.

And we are just seeing the start of this. Sit back and watch. Watch while Roy Moore still runs and Trump is still president and BUT BILL! is still an effective rebuttal to pretty much any conservative charge and the Democrats eat their own...

If more comes out about Franken that shows he's actually a piece of shit and not just a childish comic I will change my mind. And if  a case as flimsy as this one comes out about a Republican I believe I would judge it the same way. But I will not demand purity from anyone. If you made a mistake in your past and you (here is the important part) have changed and grown and are a better person then I will give you the benefit of the doubt. If you have a pattern of bad behavior I won't. But I will never demand purity and I will never say BUT BILL! is an excuse for shitty behavior. If you are an asshole you are on your own. Stop eating your own, Democrats and stop trying to ignore your creeps, Republicans!

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you people?

Ask me again why I am an independent. Ask me again why I could never run for office.

*my face is doing that "my face" thing again*