The visceral and cathartic cry from women who have been sexually harassed and abused continued yesterday with news that Al Franken forcefully kissed and later groped a former model and radio personality on a USO tour in 2006. Franken immediately responded with an apology and a call for an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee. Democrats, who have long claimed to champion issues important to women, roundly condemned him. Almost nobody came to his defense. That was an appropriate response.
The response differed dramatically from the allegations against Senate candidate Roy Moore and those made against Donald Trump. While establishment Republicans condemned both men at the time of the accusations, the Republican base, particularly evangelical Christians, rushed to their defense. Despite overwhelming evidence of misconduct, they’re standing by their men.
While boorish, unethical and even criminal behavior towards women crosses party lines, it’s probably the GOP that will suffer in the long run from the cultural reckoning we’re experiencing. The evangelical community will also find themselves losers with the Franklin Grahams and Jerry Falwells of the world losing credibility with the generation they need for survival. They’re clearly willing to put the narrow interests of party before the dignity of the women who’ve been victims.
Democrats, though, are probably going to suffer in the short term. The self-righteousness that infects the cultural warriors on the left has no room for nuance or evolution. While Franken’s actions were clearly tasteless, insensitive and boorish, they don’t meet the standard of offenses of Moore, Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, Clarence Thomas or Trump. Franken clearly botched unacceptable jokes at the expense of an innocent woman. The other men either serially harassed or abused women while in positions of great power. Comparing their actions to those of Franken is false equivalence and a rush to judgment. Unless more accusations surface, Franken should not be forced to sacrifice his career.
In the next month, we might well see the GOP gain an evangelical Christian with an affinity for teenagers in the Senate while Democrats lose a powerful and articulate voice for progressive change. The GOP base will smugly claim victory while the cultural left will claim Franken’s scalp. Over time, young people, especially women, will abandon a party that tolerates abusers and harassers for political gain. But if Democrats don’t start distinguishing between degrees of offenses, they will lose leadership now that is already too thin for comfort.
As I’ve said, the cultural reckoning we’re experiencing is necessary and healthy for our nation. That said, we need to be very careful about scapegoating and false equivalence. We should be wary about calling for career-ending penalties in the immediate wake of accusations. We also need to distinguish between awful behavior, harassment and abuse. Otherwise, we’re going to destroy careers today in what could quickly become a feeding frenzy.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Republicans have elevated false equivalency to a fine art.
We should also keep in mind that Franken apologized twice and his accuser accepted his apology. I think that should count for something.
The GOP Tribe will stand by anyone with an “R” behind his name, no matter hoe egregious the offense, nor how vestigial the fig leaf. If a token nod is given to contrition, and the offender is deemed to have appropriately humbled himself in the eyes of whatever god he prays to, the faithful will grant absolution in every case. Consider the example of Tennessee legislator Scott Desjarlais, a doctor who made one of his patients pregnant as a result of an extramarital affair, and was recorded by his victim as he pressured her to seek an abortion — while at the same time supporting a 20-week abortion ban (among other things) in the state house. He retained his license to practice, and was not only re-elected, but was later elected to the US House by Tennessee’s 4th CD.
Politico ran an account of his litany of whoa! in 2014 as he won re-election to the House, that has even more sordid details.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/scott-desjarlais-reelection-110028
He won, by the way, despite all of it. This is just how tribal GOP voters are. The “R” could blow up a school bus full of nuns and orphans, and they would still vote for him, crying “Fake News!” Fake News!” even as the video of him tossing the grenade was viewed worldwide. There is no hope for them. They are beyond salvation.
Thomas –
The difference between Franken’s misconduct and the misconduct of the others you named is greater even than you indicated. Franken pretended to grope the woman. He did not actually grope her. According to the woman’s statement she wasn’t even aware of the incident until she saw the photograph in which Franken is holding his hands above her breasts (not on her breasts) in a juvenile attempt at humor. Franken certainly owed the woman an apology, but let’s not exaggerate what he did by saying that he groped her. Also, according to her statement Franken repeatedly asked her to kiss him and Franken did not kiss her until she said yes, but his kiss was more aggressive than she expected and he used tongue, which she did not expect, especially since the kiss was in the context of rehearsing for a skit they were later doing together. Franken was crude and sexually harassed the woman – back when Franken was a stand-up comedian — but she gave him permission for the physical contact (the kiss). Also, she was a grown woman, not a teenager.
Agree. Franken’s actions were inappropriate, boorish, and insensitive. But they don’t, IMO, to rise to the level of sexual assault.
Unlike the women allegedly assaulted/fondled by Moore and Trump, Tweedem did not seem emotionally distraught. She reported the incident in matter-of-fact fashion, smiling through most of it, and she immediately accepted Franken’s apology. And as you say, she was an adult and some of what happened (the kiss) was called for as part of a professional comedy skit.
Pretented…pretended. We pretended to shoot each other growing up in my neighborhood. No one was shot, no one was hurt.
Good points. Well made. My own experiences as Assistant to the Speaker of the Michigan House (five years), Executive Assistant to Michigan Governor Romney (six years) and my three years on the Michigan Civil Service Commission taught me that while sexual abuse is usually male on female, it also works the other way.
Comparing Moore’s offenses and past lifestyle with Franken’s one, stupid, public, stunt is interesting but really not relevant. Lifestyle vs. occasional dumb moves. Who among us has not made such mistakes? Especially those of us who consider ourselves Christians?
My experiences in the executive and legislative branches also taught me that if you were to search the backgrounds of every legislator (federal and state) and governmental executive you would probably find sexual episodes of varying degrees of disgust and naivete, that if publicized and prosecuted, would empty out our national and state capitols. And, of course, those episodes are bipartisan and widespread. Beware of throwing stones, folk, we all live in glass houses, don’t we?
Yes, those glass houses would be suddenly filled with vacant desks and a stunning number of mostly males gone!
Norma: You have no idea of how true and realistic your conclusion is.
May most of those vacant desks be filled by competent, ethical, thoughtful women. If that happened, watch how the appetite for war decreases in Washington and the regressive behavior of the old, white men in the Raleigh legislative building is wiped out.
Peace.
Walt, I worked for three decades as an advocate for the cultural sector in NYC and also dealt with the NYS political arena and for about four years, the federal folks. I know. And I spent a lot of time in the years prior to that volunteering in political campaigns. The progressive nature of NYC and NYS politics did not change the nature of the problem.