Ranting On...The Hypocrisy of Al Franken Supporters

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)

Al Franken's emergence into public life was inevitable.  A party fixture for decades (and a successful actor and comedian before that), his tenure as a US Senator for ten years was one that was much celebrated within the party, to the point where some thought he might be a presidential contender in 2018.  Franken, therefore, was surely going to come out of the woodwork at some point and start having his say on what happened late last year.  The reaction to Franken, particularly in relation to New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, has gained an enormous amount of media attention in the past few days and I wanted to weigh in because, quite frankly, the actions of some Democrats in this conversation have disgusted me in a way I rarely am disgusted by my own party.

For a refresher or for those who don't recall, in November, Al Franken, a US Senator from Minnesota, was accused by LeeAnn Tweeden, a comedian, of groping and kissing her against her will while on a USO Tour just a few years prior to him first being elected to the US Senate.  A photo of Franken, his hands hovering near Tweeden's breasts while she appeared to be sleeping, while he grinned for the camera also surfaced.  In the ensuing weeks, Franken was accused by a number of women of groping or inappropriately touching them, and after intense pressure and much public outcry, Franken resigned from the Senate (of his own volition) amidst calls from over two dozen Democratic senators for him to step down, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.  In the months since, Franken had not made any public comments until this past week, when he made a public appearance at the Leech Lake Indian Reservation and did an interview with WCCO (a local CBS affiliate).  One of the inevitable questions that surfaced surrounded whether or not Franken would run again for public office, and Franken neither confirmed nor denied his interest in pursuing public office in the future.

Let's get a few things clear first before we dissect this conversation.  Al Franken is a man I campaigned for, donated to, and voted for (three times).  I liked him, and liked him much better as his tenure in office continued (after Jesse Ventura I wasn't wild about us getting yet another celebrity politician in my home state), but I want to stress that I liked the guy before I point out, point blank that I don't want him to run for public office ever again.  Public office isn't the same as not having a job, it's not even the same as being a celebrity-it's not a job that we need damaged people in...we can do well enough to have people that haven't been a part of a gross, demeaning harassment scandal not hold public office in this country.

Al Franken is not irreplaceable (honestly, I already kind of like Tina Smith better than him), and he's certainly not beyond reproach.  Democrats who protest against Franken being indicted, making up stories about Roger Stone orchestrating a giant conspiracy ignore the fact that Franken had many, verified accusers who were thoroughly researched by reputable reporters.  These didn't happen in the dark-they were real and actual, and what he did was wrong.  Groping women is wrong, kissing them without consent is wrong, and taking photos of them in compromising positions without their consent is wrong.  That's all wrong, and certainly beneath the dignity of a US Senator.  You can say what you want about individual accusers (Tweeden, in particular, has been frequently maligned by critics), but you can either choose to believe these women or choose not to do so.  I choose to believe them because women don't make accusations against powerful men "just to gain fame"-that doesn't happen based on every study done on the subject, and we know that because, well, it's a maxim Democrats use frequently against Republicans.

After all, if you don't believe Franken's accusers, why do you believe Donald Trump's?  Or Roy Moore's?  Or Jim Jordan's?  After all, all of these men have denied the charges, and while they didn't apologize, that's not really consequential to Franken's case, is it?  Chances are you don't know Al Franken personally, or particularly well, and therefore all you have is your gut, and if you're the sort of person who believes based on your gut or political preferences, then you're no better than the people who lambast the accusers of Trump, Moore, and Jordan because "they know better."  That's harsh to say, but it's the only truth I know here-it might not be easy to believe Al Franken groped women without their consent, but to deny these women's stories is to be on the side of those who also malign the accusers of Moore, Jordan, and Trump.

And the same can be said for those who attack Kirsten Gillibrand.  Gillibrand called on Franken to resign...so did a lot of senators and thousands of his constituents (myself included).  It's because we believed these women (I still do), and because we wanted to be a party that respected women & fought to hold people who harass women accountable.  Franken may not have behaved as heinously as Trump or Moore, but he crossed a line that was wholly inappropriate for a US Senator, and he didn't deserve to be a US Senator anymore.  And he did the right thing in choosing to resign.  He could have not done that-he was probably never going to be expelled from the Senate-but he did the admirable thing and realized that his constituents no longer felt he represented them.  Attacking Gillibrand for stating this publicly is sexist.  How can she be the one to blame for Al Franken's behavior?  He groped and kissed women without their consent, but Kirsten Gillibrand is the one to blame?  That sounds an awful lot like the Republicans who blame Megyn Kelly for Trump's bad debate performance if you ask me.

In the end, I suspect this won't matter.  Franken will fade into an historical footnote, Tina Smith will easily win her election, and I suspect Kirsten Gillibrand will come out a winner in her fight with George Soros (generally taking on a billionaire wins public relations battles for politicians).  But the Franken resignation & the behavior of many Democrats disappoints me to no avail.  I learned that many members of my party simply talk-the-talk but don't walk-the-walk when it comes to respecting women.  Democrats who praise Franken and blame Gillibrand for his demise easily accept sexism and turn a blind eye to harassment in the same way so many Republicans do to Trump, Moore, and Jordan.  Thankfully New York has a Democratic senator with a bit more principle than that.