Well if you really want to stir up the pot retrieve his 1976 interview with The Harvard Crimson. Women are just one class of people that he publicly disrespects. Talk about “a piece of work.”
Sure all of this will come bubbling to the surface in the coming weeks.
Most of this came up when he ran the first time in 2008.
There was a double standard in 2008 too.
I would argue that a person’s word without a witness present to verify is not evidence anyway. The ‘honor system’ appears to be the de facto rule of law with sexual misconduct issues.
@TooOld4School
Double standard for what?
Yes, good question. There was plenty of discussion and negative advertising against Franken in that election. The voters had a fair chance to evaluate his work as a fairly raunchy comedian and compare him to his rival. He eeked out a win with a recount, then won his seat again 6 years later.
In the photo, the woman is wearing a flak jacket. Isn’t a flak jacket rigid?
@“Cardinal Fang” Isn’t a flak jacket rigid?"
Yes. The reporting that he groped her does not appear to be accurate.
I don’t see the value in going after him for this. I would leave that up to the voters in Minnesota. I think time is better spent trying to prevent this behavior in the future.
Well, standards of what’s acceptable have changed. Our culture has changed. As someone said earlier, should we judge old behavior according to today’s standards??
IMO, what Roy Moore did is creepy according to today’s standards, but it was also creepy according to the standards in place when he did those things.
it seems that if a politician “supports women’s causes” he gets a Get Out of Jail Free card. It worked for Ted Kennedy for 40 years. Having a family fortune to pay off victims helped.
@TomSrOfBoston
And apparently if you actively work against women’s issues and are a self proclaimed billionaire you are let off the hook too…what’s your point?
I am not sure there was ever a time when it was acceptable to be “glad” about someone being murdered.
The photo is only one aspect of Leeann Tweeden’s issue with Franken. His dogged insistence for the “practice” kiss which turned out to be aggressive and his petty retaliation after she confronted him about it appear to contribute to her anger. And yes she did confront him and he then targeted her for having the audacity to do so. Despite all that, she went on with the tour because in her own words:
Franken was the lead act on the tour. She confronted him and then ignored him. He continued to demean her – with petty insults, the horns on her picture and finally with the photo on the plane home. Besides leaving the show all together her options were limited. I think she handled it as well as can be expected under the circumstances and I don’t blame her at all for being angry about the way he treated her. Nor do I take any issue with her speaking out about it.
As far what the response should be let the Ethics Committee figure it out. Compared to the alleged behavior of many of his colleagues Franken’s actions could easily be viewed by them as a minor infraction. It’s interesting that some of these men will now be passing judgment on someone else.
No you get a pass if what you did doesn’t even remotely deserve more than to be chastised privately. The mob mentality is totally out of control. The public discussion is good but the need for public floggings is inexcusable for some of these incidents…not all but some. It is open mic night for all who have a grudge and want to ruin someone’s life regardless if the allegations are not remotely serious enough to require the equivalent of public flogging and social banishment.
People are so busy spewing hatred they can’t see the hatred in their own selves.
We don’t need to be splitting hairs over what she was wearing. The situation as reported was bad enough.
He was mean. He was petty. He aggressively kissed her. He demeaned her and broke trust by taking that photo.
I agree. His behavior was abhorrent.mocking, humiliating and sexually teasing someone, for public consumption no less, does justify banishment in my view. Then maybe the viewers who you found the photo funny will get the message. Having been subject to both, I found the public sexual harassment by a colleague to the glee of others far worse than a private sexual assault by a stranger.
The real test will come in 2020, when he is up for re-election. Will the party support him? Will he be primaried with the party supporting the other candidate? Or will all this be swept under the rug by then?
Honestly, I don’t think there’s a lot of difference between what Franken did with the kiss and what Roy Moore is accused of doing in the most serious of the individual accusations against him. But there are some significant differences in the surrounding context: the very young girls, the fact that there seems to have been a consistent pattern of behavior, and what seems like obvious lying about it now.
I see a big difference:
Victim 1 - Agrees to a kiss, gets a kiss with tongue.
Victim 2 - Agrees to a ride in a care, gets driven to a dark corner of the parking lot, attempted rape.
@HarvestMoon1, I don’t see where he retaliated. What are you referring to? Your example doesn’t show that.
Again, this was a misdemeanor level action if indeed he kissed her. No other accusers so far. Teddy Kennedy should have gone to jail. I expect now he would have. Franken didn’t kill anyone, didn’t rape anyone, didn’t masturbate in front of any one, or force them to fondle him. He apologized and she accepted, doesn’t want him to step down. He has no power over her, so I assume this is sincere. I notice that the tweeter in chief has said nothing about Moore, but jumped on this within hours. There is a political tinge to the slightly hysterical reaction to this. I’m pretty sure one goal is to distract from the tax bill.
@Magnetron agreed. I’m only indicting Franken for very bad prank in taking the pic when she was sleep. He did not grope her contrary to what the headlines scream. It was perhaps poor taste to tongue kiss her, but she did agree to rehearse the kissing scene. I don’t know how actors rehearse, perhaps he thought it was okay. She told him not to do it again and he didn’t.