Or this:
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/06/al-franken-accusation-sexual-harassment-2006-281049
Or the fact that the women Franken touched felt it was inappropriate. What’s the phrase? “Married to a delusional belief.”
Let’s all take a good look at the photo, just to refresh our memories.
Is Franken invading her personal space? Certainly, and most definitely without her consent. Is Franken grabbing boobs? Looks to me like right hand is, left hand barely touching. Is he deriving sexual pleasure from it? I don’t think so.
In 2006 Al Franken was a comedian with aspirations to political office. He often provided smart, witty commentary on current events, but he also was known for stupid, silly, juvenile humor.
Al Franken was playing a naughty boy. He’s not the first comedian (or the first politician, for that matter) to cross the line between humor and poor taste, and to have his career blow up because of it. Nor will he be the last. Does the punishment fit the crime? That’s not for me to say.
It’s hard to tell from the angle of the photo how close his hands actually are to her. I don’t think he’s touching her, but I can’t tell for sure.
If I understand the New Yorker article correctly, the photo was sort of a re-enactment of something they had done on stage.
IMHO this doesn’t completely excuse it but it does mitigate it, as Franken may have had reason to believe that she would have taken it in the spirit it was intended, as harmless goofing around.
What the fuck difference does it make if he’s getting sexual pleasure from it? Why are you parsing this like there’s some acceptable degree of taking a picture of an unconscious woman while grabbing her tits? There isn’t, unless she consents.
lol grabbing her tits, through a bullet proof vest, yeah I bet he got a really good feel!
I always thought Franken was a fucking idiot and was glad he resigned but he’s not grabbing anyone’s tits in that photo, the other accusations of groping during photos, I can’t say, I wasn’t there.
I actually don’t think he touched her. But it’s still extremely disrespectful—and again, this is right as he was laying the groundwork for his run for office that, frankly, almost cost Democrats a Senate seat. (Any of the other “normal” DFL primary candidates would have one easily instead of taking months to settle the recount.)
Feel sad for him if you want. But politics ain’t beanbag, and rallying behind him would have completely blown up Democrats’ ability to call out Republicans for their sexual harassment shit.
Again, what difference does it make if he’s grabbing or pretending to grab? If he “got a really good feel”? If he didn’t actually get a real handful, the picture wasn’t a problem?
Ugh, WON easily. Due to a bad case of tennis elbow, I have had to give up typing (as well as switching to playing tennis left-handed) and now compose all my posts using Siri dictation on my phone. Homophones are a bitch!
He’s using an unconscious woman as a prop in his sex joke. Some people are ok with that, apparently.
What difference does it make whether he assaulted her or was just pretending to assault her? I can’t believe that’s a serious question. How ridiculous.
I’m not disputing the picture was inappropriate, I’m disputing that he actually grabbed, groped, or felt her breasts, at least from the evidence in the photo, as to anything that may have happened before or after the photo, again I wasn’t there. I do however find it disingenuous to say he is physically grabbing her breasts in that photo.
This thread is evidence that Al Franken needs to stay gone. He’s a divisive figure and his supporters have to twist themselves in to such ethical pretzels that they sound like Republicans.
Comic uses sleeping person as a prop for a juvenile joke! News at 11! Also Francisco Franco Still Dead!
Whatever. This is old news. Whether one believes that he needed to be sacrificed so that the Democratic party could maintain a high and pure ground of zero tolerance on #metoo issues and avoid whataboutism, or if one believes his being drummed out of office and political life was justice or a travesty, what value is being served by this relitigation?
I do not believe this is the work of Russian trolls but it certainly is the work they’d want done: reanimating an issue that wedges between liberals and divides Democrats.
Leave Franco’s corpse to rot.
Here’s the thing, Franken can serve the country in other ways than being a Senator. He’s not entitled to that role. Moreover, he should have known all along that politics is a bare-knuckle sport and he’s an idiot (or deluded) if he thought for a moment that he could run in the party that has historically represented women’s rights and not have that lurking in the background as a potential problem.
Older white voters fail to grasp changes in culture! News at 11.
asahi,
Entitled? Where are getting entitled?
He is certainly “entitled” to try to run again. And voters are entitled to vote for him or not in primaries and the general if he made it.
It would however be best if he didn’t even float anything like that until after 2020.
madmonk,
Amazingly enough your specific bubble does not American culture make. Of course neither is my bubble … but voters in his state would tell him what they think and what their culture is if he did run again.
Thank goodness we have hip middle aged white people like you to show us the way.
He’s sexually objectifying her in that picture. If he touched her, it would be sexual assault. Just because he didn’t touch her doesn’t make it okay. He was still sexually objectifying her by pretending to touch her breasts. Should anyone think that’s okay, I urge you to pantomime squeezing the breasts of one of the women at your job and then report back with how many milliseconds it took for you to be fired.
However, I will admit there are times when things like that are okay. If they were really close friends who had a habit of pranking each other, then I could see this as just part of their relationship. If it’s 100% certain that the other person won’t be offended and would see the humor, then it could be okay. But that is not the case in this situation. He did not have that kind of relationship with her, and she did not appreciate it. Like most women, she’s justifiably offended by being sexually objectified.
You’re welcome. Here’s a pro-tip: listen more. When people who you are used to dismissing and who are frequently the props in your jokes start to say they don’t like it, listen. Also, accept the fact that you are no longer the arbiter of culture and let others have their space at the table.
Franken represents the worst of baby boomer “liberals,” our politics and culture have calcified around their weary bones. About 1990, they all said “good enough” and we’ve been stuck living in Franken and company’s stagnant world. Follow the light Al and get out of the way.
I don’t need your advice on how to navigate this scary new world. I watched it unfold and grasp it just as well as you, my friend.