Regarding Al Franken...
What a stupid and cruel thing for him to do. He was a scumbag to her and acted like a scorned teenager.
The kiss thing could have been him projecting and misinterpreting her polite or kind behavior as flirtatious, but who knows? We weren't there.
I believe Ms. Tweeden and think we all should. I question why he would do such a dumb thing. He's been married forever and has a couple of adult kids. It's not like he was a single guy on the prowl; not that such a thing would be excusable even then. I know she's a beautiful former model, but that doesn't mean he gets to throw himself at her and hope she reciprocates. What a jerk thing to do and an awful way to treat her.
The photographed groping or faux-groping is juvenile petty crap. He dehumanized her in ways that should offend anyone, particularly today. I have to think he felt rejected as she was avoiding him after the first incident and he was lashing out. It doesn't excuse him of course. In fact, it probably makes it worse.
Okay. I'll stop raging for a minute and look at facts that we do actually know.
She was furious at him for over a decade. To the point that she describes making a fist every time she saw him on TV.
He apologized. She accepted. She said she doesn't want him to resign unless it's discovered that this has been some sort of pattern of behavior from him.
The Senate will investigate and draw it out for a couple months. Republicans will use him as a punching bag for a while. Probably through the midterms. He'll try to keep a low profile and do his job. If others come forward, he'll probably do the right thing and resign.
I assume he's having very uncomfortable discussions with his family right about now.
On a personal note, it's very interesting to see the flawed humanity behind those we hold in such esteem.
None of our heroes are perfect.
FDR and JFK had terrible track records with how they treated women. Likewise, Bill Clinton. Hell, it still seems pretty likely that Bill raped a woman and got away with it. That horrifies me. Just because I admire him politically doesn't mean I like him as a person. (There's an excellent episode of the "With Friends Like These..." podcast on Bill and Hilary Clinton from about a week ago. Check it out.) Hell, Joe Biden, whom I adore, was the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings and he basically didn't defend her from character assassination despite many opportunities to do so. Sure, that was more than 25 years ago, but that doesn't excuse treating women as less than human.
Taking off our rose-colored glasses is necessary and part of being adults. We need to stop turning a blind eye to bad behavior and accept the truth in all its ugliness.
And shame on Al Franken.
What a stupid and cruel thing for him to do. He was a scumbag to her and acted like a scorned teenager.
The kiss thing could have been him projecting and misinterpreting her polite or kind behavior as flirtatious, but who knows? We weren't there.
I believe Ms. Tweeden and think we all should. I question why he would do such a dumb thing. He's been married forever and has a couple of adult kids. It's not like he was a single guy on the prowl; not that such a thing would be excusable even then. I know she's a beautiful former model, but that doesn't mean he gets to throw himself at her and hope she reciprocates. What a jerk thing to do and an awful way to treat her.
The photographed groping or faux-groping is juvenile petty crap. He dehumanized her in ways that should offend anyone, particularly today. I have to think he felt rejected as she was avoiding him after the first incident and he was lashing out. It doesn't excuse him of course. In fact, it probably makes it worse.
Okay. I'll stop raging for a minute and look at facts that we do actually know.
She was furious at him for over a decade. To the point that she describes making a fist every time she saw him on TV.
He apologized. She accepted. She said she doesn't want him to resign unless it's discovered that this has been some sort of pattern of behavior from him.
The Senate will investigate and draw it out for a couple months. Republicans will use him as a punching bag for a while. Probably through the midterms. He'll try to keep a low profile and do his job. If others come forward, he'll probably do the right thing and resign.
I assume he's having very uncomfortable discussions with his family right about now.
On a personal note, it's very interesting to see the flawed humanity behind those we hold in such esteem.
None of our heroes are perfect.
FDR and JFK had terrible track records with how they treated women. Likewise, Bill Clinton. Hell, it still seems pretty likely that Bill raped a woman and got away with it. That horrifies me. Just because I admire him politically doesn't mean I like him as a person. (There's an excellent episode of the "With Friends Like These..." podcast on Bill and Hilary Clinton from about a week ago. Check it out.) Hell, Joe Biden, whom I adore, was the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings and he basically didn't defend her from character assassination despite many opportunities to do so. Sure, that was more than 25 years ago, but that doesn't excuse treating women as less than human.
Taking off our rose-colored glasses is necessary and part of being adults. We need to stop turning a blind eye to bad behavior and accept the truth in all its ugliness.
And shame on Al Franken.
