Franken has apologized for this photo that was included in Leeann Tweeden's post about her experience with the former SNL writer, who is now a senator. (KABC)
Daily Mail: Radio host and former Playboy model says Democratic Senator Al Franken kissed and GROPED her while she was asleep and without consent during a USO tour to Afghanistan in 2006
* California morning radio host Leeann Tweeden says now-Senator Al Franken groped and forcibly kissed her during a USO tour in Afghanistan
* Tweeden was then a cover model who had appeared in Playboy, Maxim and FHM; Franken was an aging comedian and one of Saturday Night Live's first writers
* Tweeden writes that the Harvey Weinstein era has empowered her to speak out about the episodes that made her feel angry and powerless in 2006
* Franken is photographed grabbing her breasts while she slept about a troop transport airplane
* She also says he forced his tongue into her mouth when she expected to be rehearsing a scene where they would fake a 'kiss' for the audience
* 'I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann,' Franken says in a tepid apology
* 'As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn't. I shouldn't have done it,' he admits
* Just Wednesday he scolded a judgeship nominee over a chuckle-worth tweet, saying that 'sometimes when you don’t get a joke, it's because it wasn't a joke'
* Senate Republican leaders are calling for the Ethics Committee to review the case
Democratic U.S. Senator Al Franken is the latest high-profile man in power to face a sexual assault accusation, after a model-turned-radio host wrote Thursday that the longtime comedian and comic writer kissed and groped her without consent during a 2006 USA tour in Afghanistan.
Franken, a champion of women's causes, last month donated money his campaigns and political action committees have received from disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein to the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: I tend to stay away from these stories ..... I did a few posts on Harvey Weinstein, but I did them because he was a cultural icon, and a big player in Washington politics. But with all the allegations against Republican Senator candidate Roy Moore and now this photo and testimony from Leeann Tweeden on Senator Franken .... sex and politics is what the news media is covering right now. Mind you .... there is a now a media effort to downplay the Al Franken story .... but there is that picture, and I do not see how they can downplay that (but the media will try). But this story does not end there. When I read this story a few days ago on former President Bush, I said to myself there is a problem .... Despite 7 women's statements, Bush unlikely to be prosecuted (AP). And then there is this story .... Sexual harassment settlements in Congress paid by taxpayers (FOX News).
Update: Maybe I spoke too soon on Al Franken. There are more revelations coming out on Al Franken, and they are not helpful to him .... Al Franken Has Long History of Sexual Misconduct Jokes Before Accusation of Groping Woman’s Breasts (Newsweek). The Republican leadership have torpedoed Senate candidate Roy Moore, let us see if the Democrat leadership will do the same to Senator Franken.
Update #2: The culture on these issues have clearly changed in the U.S.. Those who are 35 and younger are making their opinions well known that they have zero tolerance for this type of behavior .... and for this old guy it is both surprising and refreshing to see. But will this behavior change? I do not know, but sexual behavior has now become very politicized in a manner that is different for when President Clinton was in the Oval Office, and it is making a lot of current politicians feeling very uncomfortable on where all of this is heading.
Update #3: It is now starting .... Al Franken Should Resign Immediately: Democrats’ credibility on sexual harassment is at stake. (Mark Joseph Stern, Slate).
12 comments:
I am unsure why you say the media downplays this story! I turn on my tv and no matter which news channel I go to, there is that story. I suggest you look a bit more at any news channel or paper to see how visible this story is
Fred,
No .... I said that the news media is all over this story .... "sex and politics is what the news media is covering right now". It is why I posted this story .... the U.S. press is covering nothing else.
When the story first broke the media was downplaying Al Franken. But as I said in my first update, the media has changed their approach and are now digging up all the dirt.
I try to avoid this crap as much as possible, but I
m forced to raise a big question about it: How much of these stories are actually the result of boorish behavior by men who let their impulses from below the belt dictate their actions, and how much of these accusations are actually motivated by some other agenda that has nothing to do with sex? I'm not suggesting that women who are actually victims of sexual harassment or worse should be ignored. On the other hand. the fastest way to destroy someone's career, whether it's in entertainment or politics, is by sexual scandal. In the US we have the principle, enshrined in our Constitution and our judicial system, that the accused is innocent until proven guilty, yet in most of these cases, the accused is tried, convicted and sentenced in the news media before there's even any actual criminal charges filed. What's really going on here?
Carl,
The culture on this type of behavior has changed, and it is reflected on how the media covers it.
Al F. has said he would be ok with a Senate group investigating him. However, the note saying that as a comic he made lots of sexual jokes is fully besides the point. Show me 3 comics who do not make sexual jokes...that is hardly the same thing as forcing oneself on a woman
Fred,
You are making my point. The culture has changed. Those jokes may not bother you, but it bothers a lot of those who are 35 and under. And for many of today's comics .... those type of jokes are now taboo.
As for the Senate investigation .... what's the point? The picture is not an allegation .... it is very self explanatory coupled with Leeann Tweeden's remarks are very damaging. And while this type of behavior may have given him a pass 20 years or more ago .... no more now. Senate Franken's only hope is that the media focuses on something else .... but it is going to be hard.
first off: I am very old. But if you think that does not bother me let me note that I have a stunning daughter who is 22.
Leeann now says she forgive Al
Now if that was acceptable in the past but not now, so too slavery and homosexuals etc...thus, are we to condemn Jefferson because he owned slaves (if the past matters)? Or are we to say: that was accepted back then but not now so let us jump on someone for what he did back then...I am not giving answers in my comment but raising issues
note: In the recent past, what a president did in private life was kept private, ie JFK, FDR, LBJ etc...now, anything they do is made public
This behaviour wasn't acceptable "back then", as the annual Diversity and Harassment in the Workplace seminars made very clear.
What has changed is that for some people, power and privledge no longer protects them.
That said, Trump's still POTUS, Roy Moore's still running and would Weinstien have been "taken down" if he was still making millions for the Studio's?
"I am unsure why you say the media downplays this story! I turn on my tv and no matter which news channel I go to, there is that story. I suggest you look a bit more at any news channel or paper to see how visible this story is" - Dyed in the Wool
I hear Moore 5 times or more for every time I hear Franken.
I get in my car and hear news at the top & bottom of the hour. The radio news on Moore was incessant. Usually news has a life span. It is unlikely to hear the same news story morning evening and then the next day until the Moore story.
Mitch McConnell acts like he has become transgendered. That is right. Now, he is known as Bitch McConnell after getting snipped. How else to explain how he has acted? Either that or his pair has shriveled and don't work.
The Left and RINOs simply will not do to Franken what they want to do to Moore. It would be so easy to nuke Franken and have a Democrat governor appoint another Democrat to replace Franken. But they do not do it. Bunch of hypocrites.
"Show me 3 comics who do not make sexual jokes...that is hardly the same thing as forcing oneself on a woman" - F. L.
Says Fred, who unlike the Leeann Tweeden has not had Franken's tongue forced down his throat.
"Leeann now says she forgive Al" - Fred
She forgives him 24 hours or so after she was mad enough to go public?
Smells like pressure has been applied, but since it is for a good cause ... Time to move On. Fred has learned to move on since the Clinton days.
"Well, I- I could have sworn I saw something. No matter..." - Vizzini
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0003791/quotes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EkBuKQEkio
Our connectedness to information is shining a light on the shadows of society and our own conscience. Lies are harder to tell, stories are harder to hide. We're on the exponential side of the curve now.
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