Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Tuesday insisted he’s innocent as more than a dozen of his Senate Democratic colleagues called on him to resign over last week’s indictment on bribery charges.
Asked by a reporter on Tuesday at the Senate over why he isn’t resigning, Menendez had a quick and simple retort.
“Because I’m innocent,” Menendez said in response to a question from NBC News correspondent Ryan Nobles.
“What’s wrong with you guys,” Menendez added.
In keeping with Senate Democrats’ protocol, Menendez stepped down from his powerful position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Innocent until proven guilty is about whether he goes to jail. He should resign from the because he can no longer fulfill his duties effectively.
Take a cue from Al Franken, ffs.
Not the best example. Dems screwed themselves with Franken. That was some number one bullshit.
Franken was right to step down.
“Hey, it’s just a joke” stopped being a valid justification sometime between my parents and my grandparents generation.
Even if that conduct was “normal” and “everyone did it” doesn’t fly either- because there’s plenty of times women will just go along because they’re afraid of what happens when they don’t. Or because peer pressure, or, you’re Senator Al Franken and they’re scared of loosing their job.
Truth is, it doesn’t matter if it’s accurate or not. The behavior was deeply inappropriate for anyone, never mind a senator, and as a senator he should have known cameras are everywhere and photos are very easy to misconstrue.
That said, he didn’t resign nearly as gracefully as they seem to remember- it took prettty much every female democrat politician stepping up and demanding it before he did.
Am I remembering all this incorrectly? Because from what I remember, none of his objectionable behavior happened while he was a Senator, and in fact it happened before he even ran for office. Some of it happened in the context of a USO show he was acting in. I’m not making excuses for his behavior, but I think it’s a very bad precedent to hold someone in office to a higher standard retroactively. I think Franken deserved a chance to keep his job and show redemption.
But contrast this directly with Menendez, who is accused of much worse behavior, while in office, that relates directly to his integrity.
Of course menendez should step down. And be prosecuted and all that.
Yes, he’s worse, my point is, Franken wasn’t wrong to step down.
Indeed, dems screwed themselves. But he was impeccably honorable, and resigned because he couldn’t possibly be effective any more. Not his fault, but also nothing he could do to fix it.
Menendez keeps saying he is innocent, but that is irrelevant. He is no longer useful as a senator, and he should resign.
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