Sen. Al Franken wants it both ways.
On the one hand, the Minnesota Democrat says we ought to respect the experiences of women who claim they’re the victims of sexual misconduct. On the other hand, he’d like you to believe that the women who’ve accused him of sexual harassment are simply misremembering those incidents.
One or the other, senator. Which will it be?
At least four women have accused the senator of inappropriate touching. The first woman, Leeann Tweeden, said Franken forcibly kissed her in 2006 during a USO tour rehearsal. On that same tour, when Tweeden was asleep, Franken also posed for a photo that showed him pretending to grope her breasts. There’s photo evidence.
A second woman, Lindsay Menz, said Franken grabbed her buttocks in 2010 when they posed for a photo together at the Minnesota State Fair.
Two more women, both of whom have chosen to remain anonymous, told the Huffington Post later that they also had their posteriors fondled by the senator while posing with him for a photo.
In response to these allegations, Franken has tried to walk a fine line, respecting the “believe women” mantra while also pushing back ever so gently on his accusers.
“There are different allegations. On the kiss,” the senator said this week during a press conference, “I recall that differently from Leeann, but I feel that you have to respect women’s experience.”
He continued, casually dismissing the women who claim he grabbed their buttocks during photo ops by stating simply he doesn’t remember it happening the way they tell it.
“As far as, you know, I take a lot of pictures in Minnesota, thousands of pictures, tens of thousands of people, so those are instances that I do not remember,” Franken said at his Monday presser.
His remarks this week are not quite unique in that his suggestion that we “believe women, but not these women” has been at the core of his overall response to his sexual misconduct scandal.
When Tweeden first came forward with her story on Nov. 17, for example, Franken responded eventually in a statement that included the following line: “While I don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit as Leeann does, I understand why we need to listen to and believe women’s experiences.”
That was after his first woefully tone-deaf response to her accusations, which read, “I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. I shouldn’t have done it.”
When Menz came forward later with her own story, Franken responded with, “I take thousands of photos at the State Fair surrounded by hundreds of people, and I certainly don’t remember taking this picture. I feel badly that Ms. Menz came away from our interaction feeling disrespected.”
Noticing a trend in these statements? Contra several news reports, these are not apologies. They’re denials cloaked in accommodating language.
To fully apologize, Franken would have to admit to wrongdoing, and the only time he has come close to doing that was when he conceded the photo in which he pantomimed groping Tweeden’s breasts was indeed authentic.
As for everything else, all the other claims, Franken has subtly denied everything, all while claiming we must respect women’s experiences.
Though this dual strategy has satisfied some in the press, the senator’s defense is by its very nature a contradiction. Franken can’t ask that we “believe women,” and then suggest in the same breath that his accusers’ memories must be fuzzy.
Well, he can try, but it doesn’t make any sense.
