Member-only story
#YouToo, Al Franken?
Note: This story originally appeared on my blog on November 17, 2017.
Senator Al Franken has recently apologized for sexually harassing a woman he met on a USO tour in 2006. Leeann Tweeden, a radio host, alleges that he kissed her without permission and groped her while she slept, having someone else photograph him while he did so. Franken has admitted to and apologized for his behavior.
After I got done marveling over Franken’s response, I then waited for the inevitable (and egregiously hypocritical) Republican chorus of condemnation. The GOP didn’t disappoint.
Then I wondered why the (mostly white) men who are disproportionately represented in our national government only want to talk about sexual harassment and sexual assault accusations when they can be used to discredit the (mostly white) men across the aisle. Many of the right-wing operatives who pushed Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick, and Kathleen Willey to come forward with sexual harassment/assault allegations against Bill Clinton had no problem pulling the lever for Donald Trump in the wake of the Access Hollywood tapes and Trump’s multiple sexual assault allegations. And many on the left are desperately trying to rationalize their continued support of Franken — one of the many Democratic senators who consistently calls out the Trump administration on its peculiar brand of malicious incompetence…
