We have other candidates that can advocate for women.
@LakeWashington I guess that’s my point. I don’t see him in the same boat and I only want her to be honest about what happened because it diminishes the others stories if she can say he groped me and he didn’t.
There was still the forced kiss which I think was really icky.
@NashvilletoTexas : You think the language of that apology says he was touching her? I think it says the picture was crass and inappropriate – which it surely was – and that the woman was justified in feeling violated by it – which is true whether she was being felt up while she slept or merely being used as an unwitting prop. The fact that he pretty obviously didn’t actually touch her doesn’t excuse the picture at all, and his apology is consistent with that. But he pretty obviously didn’t actually touch her when that picture was taken, and he didn’t say he did in the apology.
@JHS – sorry, I thought I was clear that both the picture and apology were inconclusive. However until somebody who was actually there challenges the term “grope”, which none including Franken have, I think we should let her accusation stand as stated and not minimize it based on our own interpretations from limited evidence.
I’m kinda there also partyof5 and this is the kind of stuff that just gets people’s eye balls rolling…doesn’t really help the cause and if anything hurts it. Look at the expression on his face, there’s not one thing serious about this that she couldn’t have handled on her own. I doubt she was even sleeping when the pic was taken. If anything he deserves a naughty, naughty slap with a wet noodle and a promise never to make fun of any female the rest of his living life. The photo totally looks staged and it certainly doesn’t look like he even touched her. Whoever took the photo knows. Huge step back today.
The woman was sleeping when the picture was taken. If he actually touched her, she would’ve woken up. But she didn’t; she found out about the incident when she saw the photo. Franken apologized for the picture, as he should have, but he didn’t say he touched her.
To me the kiss and the groping were not the biggest issues with Franklin, but his actions (as LeAnn reported) after the kiss. She said she told him if he ever did it again (kiss) that she would not let him off, and after that on the tour he was rude and demeaning to her. He was the named star on the tour and she just a supporting act. Definitely a power play.
Because he probably didn’t touch her.
Well she’s not a teenager, so there’s that pretty key difference.
Yup and you’ll never convince me otherwise that she knew exactly what she was doing today. She says she doesn’t want him expelled she was just angry…for over ten years. Well lady enjoy your time under the me to hashtag… that’s a world of angry over nothing – you might be better served in life learning some anger management skills. Hurting someone because you are “angry” is never a mentally healthy thing to do. Fight dirty and you’ll loose the war.
Granted I am a worrier, but my daughters’ vulnerability on flights is something I worry about. Women getting groped on flights happens. Franken taking advantage of a women in a vulnerable situation and using it to his own amusement makes makes me angry.
If you believe that Franken should not be punished in some way, I assume you also believe that Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, who also both poorly “apologized” for their actions, should be given a pass as well.
@anxiousenior1 ^ that depends why one thinks Franken shouldn’t be punished. Weinstein is accused of rape in addition to sexual harassment. Franken is not.
Spacey did more or less what Moore is accused of - advances on a 14 year old. Also a different kettle of fish, IMO.
So someone should resign or be forced out of a company because of rape claims or pedophilia, but not of sexual harassment? Simply because it’s not as bad as rape or pedophilia?
I think numbers matter. ONE incident of harassment isn’t good, but it isn’t a pattern. We’ll see – could be that more women have stories about Al Franken.
If someone sexually harassed someone you loved once, you would be okay with the harasser escaping any real punishment? Because they didn’t have a pattern of harassing people beforehand?
I think he has apologized and this woman has accepted his apology. She has said she does not want him to step down. In that case, I’d say I could accept that. One of my kids WAS harassed by a prof at her college. I don’t know that she wanted the guy to lose his job – what she did want was for him to stop doing it to other women.
@anxiousenior1 there are shades of grey here. Some of these things are felonies, some misdemeanors, some grounds for civil action, some not against the law at all. Some look like patterns of behavior, some don’t.
Obviously it makes no sense for every type of sexual crime/deviant act to be treated exactly the same way.
It makes no sense for various crimes that have nothing to do with sex to be treated the same way, either. That’s why we have a justice system with different crimes and punishments defined, no?
I’ve been the victim of rape, also been sexually harassed at work and out and about. I definitely have different feelings about the perpetrators of each different act. To directly answer your question, I feel much more strongly about the rapist than the workplace jerk who asked me out when I was 14 or the gropers on the subway or bus or street.
Of course, @OHMomof2 . I do agree that these things should be examined case by case. In this case, it was not a simple catcalling, or whistling. He “mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth” according to the woman. So you believe that this does not warrant a resignation or some other form of formal punishment?
I don’t know about the situation your daughter unfortunately had to experience, but @intparent , if the professor did this to your daughter, you and your daughter would be okay with him keeping his job?