Frankensense
Shed no tears for Al Franken as he looks set to resign his seat, ceding the privilege of serving Minnesota in the U.S. Senate. Wednesday, six allegations of groping or forcibly kissing women became seven and then eight, and fellow Democrats en masse demanded his resignation.
After the claim that in 2006 he forced himself on a congressional staffer whose boss had just appeared on his radio show, it is hard to deny that Franken has a pattern of unacceptable behavior.
America is in the grips of sharp moral growing pains in which a range of predatory actions by powerful men, for decades shrouded in silence, are finally being aired, meriting overdue consequences. Count Franken’s career as a necessary casualty. With political consequences. Having purged two misbehaving men in their midst — both Franken and ousted Rep. John Conyers — Democrats can now rightly claim to have seized the moral high ground (if it matters, and it should) over a Republican Party that embraces a credibly accused child molester as its Senate candidate in Alabama.
And that, oh, by the way, rallies behind a President who left in his wake a trail of women accusing him of unwanted sexual advances, and who bragged on tape of grabbing women “by the p----.”
Should the reckoning be anything close to balanced, both Roy Moore and Donald Trump should face consequences.
It, however, behooves us all to take a moment — do we have even a moment amid the daily, if not hourly, purges of men accused of behavior that ranges from out-of-the-office boorishness to workplace sexual harassment to outright rape? — to ask ourselves, calmly if possible, how we will decide who is unfit to serve and who is not.
One disputed allegation of inappropriate touching may not cut it, unless it’s especially severe. Two might not tip the scales either; did the hand slip down toward the buttocks on purpose? How tight was that waist squeeze when snapping a photo?
Meantime, accusations — all of them — demand vetting. Yes, as a matter of basic decency, we should tend to believe women who accuse men of wrongdoing, even years after the fact. They generally have nothing to gain.
But a claim is not a fact. Smell-test standards of proof still apply. Corroboration, whenever possible, is a must.
Meantime, the case of Conyers and now Franken and others are emerging in relative isolation, perhaps arbitrarily, from a Congress where more misconduct surely lurks.
Texas Republican Rep. Blake Farenthold, who settled a large sexual harassment claim, remains in office. As do unknown numbers of sitting congressmen and senators who also settled claims but whose names are locked in a black box.
And who knows who else might have groped or kissed aggressively once, or twice, or three times.
If the nation is to ensure that this does not devolve into convenient posturing, when additional revelations rain down we must be prepared to demand removal of any and all elected officials with an established pattern of harassment or abuse.
As the #metoo moment continues over the weeks and months and years, there will be few bright lines. Hope and pray we know unacceptable conduct when we see it.