When it comes to sexual harassment and misconduct, it’s safe to assume that when one accusation is made against a prominent man, there will be more to follow. And so it is now, as CNN reports:
“A woman says Sen. Al Franken inappropriately touched her in 2010, telling CNN that he grabbed her buttocks while taking a photo at the Minnesota State Fair.
“It is the first allegation of improper touching by Franken, who is a Democrat, while he was in office. It comes just days after Leeann Tweeden, a local radio news anchor in California, said that Franken forcibly kissed and groped her in 2006, when Franken was a comedian.”
After that first allegation, I can’t imagine anyone is surprised at this new one. Nor will anyone be surprised if another woman comes forward with another butt-grabbing story about Franken, or five or ten. I’m not sure whether men figure out on their own that posing for a photo is a great opportunity to grab a woman’s behind or if there’s a handbook of sexual harassment tips that includes it, but it seems to be a disturbingly common technique.
In any case, Democrats can — and should — get off the fence and declare that it’s time for Al Franken to resign.
That’s unpleasant, I know. Franken was beloved among Democrats, someone who’s smart and actually understands policy, but is also witty and performs well on television. That combination doesn’t come along that often, which is why some people were hoping he’d run for president. And it was perfectly reasonable to withhold judgment on his future after the first allegation. Maybe it was just an isolated incident, or a big misunderstanding. But that’s no longer a position that can be sustained.
And since Republicans are so aggressively heading for the low road, this is a good opportunity for Democrats to reach for the high one.
They don’t even have to take a political risk to do it. If Franken steps down, the governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton — a Democrat — would appoint his temporary replacement. Franken is all but done as a national spokesperson for progressivism, so there isn’t much for Democrats to lose. What good is he going to do from this point forward for the causes they believe in?
If Democrats call for Franken to resign, it would demonstrate that they’re willing to put their actions where their principles are, that they want to take this opportunity to begin really changing the culture of male supremacy that makes widespread sexual harassment possible. That requires that some high-profile examples be made, and politicians are the perfect examples, since their positions are always granted on a probationary basis.
Nobody wants anyone to be unfairly targeted or for mere accusation to be enough to cost someone their job. But to be perfectly frank, it’s more than okay for men to start feeling a little bit afraid. The whole reason so many millions of women are victimized in ways large and small is precisely because the men who do the victimizing don’t feel afraid.
As Donald Trump put it: “You can do anything.” Or, as Roy Moore allegedly said to the 16-year-old girl he had tried to force himself on: “I am the district attorney of Etowah County and if you tell anyone about this no one will ever believe you.” When you hear a new accusation against a powerful man and ask, “How did he think he could get away with that?”, the real question is, why should he have thought he couldn’t?
This is happening at a moment when Republicans are letting everyone know that they think it’s wrong for a grown man to pursue teenage girls, but not so wrong it’s worth losing a Senate seat over.
In fact, just this morning Kellyanne Conway went on “Fox & Friends,” attacked Moore’s opponent Doug Jones, and when asked straight out whether Alabamians should vote for Roy Moore, replied, “I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through.” Wink, wink. There’s really only one national Republican leader whose criticism of Moore might seriously affect his chances of winning: Donald Trump. When Mitch McConnell or Lindsey Graham or some high-falutin’ Washington pundit criticizes Moore, it’s easily dismissed as the corrupt Washington establishment conspiring against him. So the White House is making it plain that they want to have it both ways: they want to make a show of condemning Moore, but they also want him to win.
Of course, no one should take Republicans seriously on this issue, because the president they all stand behind was caught on tape bragging about his ability to sexually assault women with impunity, and then was credibly accused by more than a dozen women of doing what he said he could do — and he still retains their support. If Democrats want to show that they’re different, now’s their chance.
Having said all that, we need to make sure we don’t lose our ability to make moral distinctions between different kinds of sexual misconduct, and that whatever punishments we mete out are proportional and just. If the allegations against Harvey Weinstein are true, then he’s a monster who ought to spend the remainder of his days behind bars. A man who doles out the occasional unwanted kiss might deserve a vigorous public shaming, but still be allowed to have a career.
But we all know that if the cultural change we’re hoping for is actually to come about — so that women can go to work, meet a politician, or just walk down the street without feeling like a gazelle striding past a pride of lions — liberals need to take a stand. Giving up on someone like Al Franken that you used to admire may be a necessary part of the process.
Paul Waldman is a contributor to The Plum Line blog, and a senior writer at The American Prospect.
Paul Waldman | The Washington Post