Apologizing to no end, 66-year-old Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) finds himself in quicksand, not only for himself but the Democratic Party. Reportedly thrusting his tongue down the throat of 44-year-old Los Angeles KABC News host Leeann Tweeden while part of a USO show in 2006, Franken showed memory impairment. If that weren’t bad enough, Lindsey Menz told CNN Franken grabbed her “butt cheek” during a photo-op at the Minnesota state in 2010, two years after joining the Senate. Two other women have come forward claiming Franken grabbed their butts in 2007 and 2008. Franken told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he “feels terribly that I’ve made some women feel so badly.” Under investigation by the Senate’s Ethics Committee, Franken has refused to resign, hoping his groping scandal eventually disappears. Democrats fear Franken’s Senate seat now hangs in the balance.
Instead of counting heads in the Senate, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez should forcefully ask Franken to step down. Franken’s sexual indiscretions will follow him into next year’s Midterm elections, giving the GOP ammunition to hold onto the Senate, if not pick up seats. Apologizing does nothing to undo Franken’s credibility as one of the Senate’s most progressive voices, making him radioactive. Franken’s fantasy that the heat will eventually die down shows the extent of his political blindness. Never again can he say anything in any capacity without his sexual misconduct following him around. Franken was relentless lambasting President Donald Trump when a media bombshell exploded in 2016 with an audiotape of Trump talking about groping women . Franken likes to excuse himself saying he’s a warm-and-fuzzy person showing affection.
Admitting he “crossed the line for some women,” there’s always a hedge when Franken describes the incidents. He hedges his admission by talking about his affectionate personality, as if groping shows affection. Now a dead man walking, it’s a matter of time before Franken calls it quits. Unlike a consensual affair, like former President Bill Clinton with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, Franken’s behavior borders on sexual assault. Unwanted touching constitutes a sexual battery, regardless of the perpetrator’s intention. Franken can’t fathom the fact that he’s no longer has any credibility in the Senate. Expecting Minnesota voters to forgive-and-forget his misconduct is preposterous, especially because elected officials are held to a higher standard. Franken himself often decries the rights of women to protect their dignity from unwanted sexual advances.
Franken’s been one of the most vociferous members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling out Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions for failing to recall his conversations with Russian officials. Now that he’s accused by at least four woman, Franken’s suddenly has memory impairments. It’s difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don’t remember those campaign events,” said Franken, doing what he accuses others of doing in Judiciary Committee hearings. “I’m a warm person. I hug people. I’ve learned from recent stories that in some of these encounters, I crossed the line for some women—and I know that any number is too many,” said Franken, saying he doesn’t remember the groping incidents. Without denying the charges outright, Franken essentially admits to the incidents, despite saying he has no recall of the specific incidents reported by the Washington Post of his accusers.
Holding out until the controversy dies is no strategy for Franken, who’s Minnesota senate seat hangs in the balance. Never again can anyone take Franken seriously, especially because he can’t recall the incidents. “I shook his hand, and he put his arm around my waist and held it there,” said one of Frannken’s new victims. “Then he moved it lower and cupped my butt,” showing that his groping is no fluke but a pattern over which he claims no recall. Violating women in various informal settings, Franken showed he’s unfit for the Senate. No U.S. Senator can grope women with impunity, even where he claims he has no recall. Apologizing comes out the damage control playbook but doesn’t undo what’s happened. No matter how Democrats want to focus of GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore (R-Al.) for has alleged dating in his 30s of underage minors, it doesn’t change Franken’s situation.
Franken’s only path to redemption involves resigning from the Senate for the good of the Democratic Party. Showing affection doesn’t involve groping women, proving that Franken’s unfit to continue in office. It’s one thing to admit what he did and apologize profusely, it’s another to justify it based on an affectionate personality. Franken’s hypocrisy knows no bounds, lecturing Judiciary Committee interviewees about their failed memories. Once the groping accusations hit Franken, his otherwise good memory failed him, exposing for all to see his phoniness. However badly Franken “feels,” it’s not a real apology but damage control strategy to buy him time. If he refuses to step down, the Democratic Party’s going to have a hard sell in the 2018 Midterm elections where they expect to pick up seats in the House and Senate. Franken’s the Party’s poster-boy for all that’s wrong.
