I have to admit that my blood began to boil when I read at Huffington Post that Sen. Al Franken's anti-rape amendment might get weakened or even removed from the Defense bill. That another Democrat, Sen. Daniel Inouye, might do this really chafed.
Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.
This is my Senator and I feel rather protective and all that. Plus, I'd watched the hearings, knew the details of Jamie Leigh Jones horrific story.
How dare Inouye do such a thing. But then I noticed a phrase which gave me second thoughts: "multiple sources."
So I contacted Sen. Inouye's office.
A couple of hours later, Lori Hamamoto called me back.
I spoke with Lori Hamamoto, Sen. Inouye's Press Secretary. She said that Inouye voted for the amendment and continues to support it. Lori has no idea where these rumors originated and reassured me that Sen. Inouye would not be weakening or removing Franken's amendment.
So there are several possiblities.
- Inouye was really gonna do this, but caught a lot of flack and changed his mind.
- The chicken**** "multiple sources" were gaming the system for some unknown purpose.
- Ms. Hamamoto was lying to me.
Update: from comments
- Ms. Hamamoto was lied to and passing along what she thinks to be true.