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Poor Al Franken (shown). Back in December 2017, the former Minnesota senator was pretty much forced to resign because of allegations of sexual misconduct by former model, sports commentator and radio host Leeann Tweeden. The allegations came back in the day when the #MeToo movement was the current cause du jour in progressive politics.
The Saturday Night Live alumnus, also known as Stuart Smalley to many, suffered one of the quickest falls from grace in the history of the Senate. In the space of three weeks from November 16 of 2017 when Tweeden blogged about the alleged misconduct, until December 7 when he announced his resignation, Franken went from the Democrats’ star interrogator, who was supposedly the reason former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Trump/Russia investigation, to a disgraced sexual deviant.
A year-and-a-half later, Franken now wants us to know that he feels he was railroaded into resignation by a mob of activists led by presidential candidate and junior New York Senator Kristen Gillibrand. In a piece for the New Yorker, which reads more like an apology to Franken than journalism, writer Jane Mayer makes the case that the Left was too quick to call for Franken’s head.
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Mayer wrote: “At his house, Franken said he understood that, in such an atmosphere, the public might not be eager to hear his grievances. Holding his head in his hands, he said, ‘I don’t think people who have been sexually assaulted, and those kind of things, want to hear from people who have been #MeToo’d that they’re victims.’ Yet, he added, being on the losing side of the #MeToo movement, which he fervently supports, has led him to spend time thinking about such matters as due process, proportionality of punishment, and the consequences of internet-fueled outrage.”
The poor, tortured soul. I wonder if Franken had any of those thoughts about “due process” during last fall’s Senate hearings on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Ironically, had Franken stayed in the Senate, he would have been on the same committee whose Democrat members so abused now-Justice Kavanaugh.
In the cases of Franken and Kavanaugh, neither was “on trial,” of course, so technically, the need for due process wasn’t technically breached. During the Kavanaugh hearing, the Senate was engaged in its “advise and consent” role, which is akin to a job interview. In Franken’s case, his own party attacked him and pushed him out of the Senate.
And now Franken is grumpy and brooding about it. When asked by Mayer if he regretted resigning, Franken answered, “Oh, yeah. Absolutely.”
Tweeden was not the only woman who accused Franken of inappropriate sexual actions. As in the case of Kavanaugh, more accusers came forward with stories of Franken inappropriately touching them. In almost all of the cases, photographs surfaced showing that Franken had at least been with the women at the times they claimed that Franken’s allegedly lewd behavior occurred. In the case of Tweeden, a photo emerged of Franken at least appearing to grope her as she slept aboard an Air Force plane.
How many photos of Kavanaugh appeared with Christine Blasey Ford?
Good progressive that he is, Franken went into immediate apology mode. “It’s been clear that there are some women — and one is too many — who feel that I have done something disrespectful and it’s hurt them and for that, I am tremendously sorry.”
But the apology didn’t work; and Franken was ousted. The Left killed one of its own.
Some Democrats are now sorry for what happened to Franken. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said his decision to call for Franken’s resignation was “one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made.” Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) believes that the Senate Ethics Committee “should have been allowed to move forward.” Duckworth added, “That due process didn’t happen is not good for our democracy.”
Even the hosts of ABC’s The View chimed in, calling Franken’s ouster “a witch hunt” and a “political hit.” If only they’d had similar revelations when Brett Kavanaugh was being abused by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Or when President Trump was being railroaded during the Mueller investigation.
But introspection and sympathy for the Left is limited to their own, these days. Franken was a significant presence in the Senate for progressives. They obviously miss him and so, in this case, the Democrats are feeling a little bit bad about what they, themselves, did.
Once thought of as a formidable opponent for Donald Trump in 2020, Franken has been completely marginalized. But Republicans didn’t do that to him. His own party did.
Photo of Al Franken: Department of Defense Media
