@JHS and @Magnetron – also what Moore did was with children. In dark parking lots behind dumpsters, locking them in the car when they protested, then dumping them out on their butts, literally, in the parking lot and telling them that no one would believe them because he was a DA.
vs.
Adult woman, wearing body armor that would protect her against bullets and a kiss with a tongue–all in front of others as what seem to be very very bad jokes.
No excuse for the latter, but the severity of two scenarios could hardly be more starkly different IMHO.
@intparent – it is Leeann’s contention in the article linked in the OP. After she confronted him and refused to interact with him unless necessary she was “repaid” with petty insults, the drawing of the horns on the pictures and then the final photo op.
That’s bad behavior, but I presume nobody here is advocating ethics investigations or resignations because a Senator was mean to someone before he became a Senator.
Wait, what? Moore is accused of attempting to rape a 16-year-old. Franken is accused of tongue-kissing an actress at a rehearsal. Pro tip: trying to rape someone is worse than unwanted kissing. Trying to rape a child is way worse than unwanted kissing of an adult.
Moore also forced a 14 year old to fondle him through his tighty whiteys. There are degrees of bad behavior. But sometimes I think the inability to see and analyze nuance is part of why we are where we are today.
“This is not a competition for who is worst and only that one needs to go. I am a Minnesota Democrat voter and I want him out. There are other people who can do this job well. It is not rocket science.” ~ Snowball City
Hear, hear! There needs to be “zero tolerance” on this. Franken is a definite “creepy crawler” who needs to go. If he won’t resign, hopefully Minnesotans will vote him out of office in the next election.
Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Tom Perez have all called for an ethics investigation into Franken. It’s good to see democrat leaders taking firm action against blatant sexual harrassment, even if many rank and file dems prefer to give it a “good ol’ boy” wink and a nod.
What would an ethics investigation entail? Is it only for his time in the senate? He was a comedian, so are they going back to his prior career? How does this work?
I’m in favor of ethics investigations for people who hold national elective office who have been credibly accused of sexual harassment. Absolutely. Great idea.
I haven’t seen any rank and file Dems disagreeing with the calling of an ethics investigation. Franken himself said he supports and will fully cooperate with an ethics investigation.
@Cardinal Fang “Trying to rape a child is way worse than unwanted kissing of an adult.”
First, the actress said that she agreed to the kiss. Yes, she also says that he added in the tongue, but the kiss was consensual. Second, he is not groping her in the photo, as reported. He is pretending to grope her and that is a big difference. Third, he isn’t trying to blame the victim.
I think that if this guy is really a sexual harasser, there will be many more women coming forward like we have seen with Roy Moore or the President. Time will tell. However, in the mean time, I think the Dems have bigger fish to fry, and they need to focus on what needs to be done to stand up for women’s rights so these incidents happen much less often.
^^^^well I guess all Franken needed to do was pop a tick tac before he forced the kiss…that’s the way all the “good old boy wink” guys do it @Defensor speaks of…
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
I’m OK with the “which is worse” discussion when comparing people who have been accused recently (although TBH, I think everybody who plans to answer that question has already, and this will soon be going down the debate slope.) However, let’s limit the comparisons to people who have been recently accused, not to people who were accused a generation ago.
@partyof5 I don’t know how the committee operates but the first thing that has to happen is that the chairman of the committee, who I believe is Senator Isakson, has to decide to move forward with it. He has issued a statement saying that right now he has no comment on whether the committee will move forward.
Apparently, the attitude of the person involved toward the investigation is something that the committee considers. I just read an article advancing that the reason the ethics committee came down so hard when Packwood was investigated was in part due to his unrepentant and uncooperative attitude. This may help explain why Franken would call for an investigation into himself and go on record as stating he would fully cooperate.
Franken co-wrote his first piece of legislation with Isakson so chances are they are friends or at least on good terms.
Actually, Tweeden initially declined to kiss Franken multiple times, but he continued to harrass her until she finally reluctantly agreed to it in order to try and get him to back off. Here’s a link to Tweeden’s complete original statement, directly from the website of her employer - definite sexual harrassment, intimidation and retaliation on the part of Franken:
This is based on pure speculation, but I imagine that there is at least one Senator who has committed a sexual infraction that is worse than what Franken is accused of doing. Very likely, there are other Senators who know about these hypothetical events. If Franken is forced to resign, these other Senators are in danger of exposure and expulsion. That being the case, I doubt there is a lot of appetite for this ethics investigation.
