The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

‘Me too’ chorus of claims now stains Democrats, too

Party in awkward place as its members face new allegation­s.

- By Juliet Linderman and Calvin Woodward

Democrats have spoken fiercely and with one voice against Roy Moore.

WASHINGTON — Democrats have been quick to support the “me too” chorus of women — and some men — who have stepped up to allege sexual misconduct and name names. But now “me too” stains the Democrats, too, putting them in an awkward place as they calibrate how forcefully to respond.

Allegation­s against Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota and Rep. John Conyers of Michigan are part of the newest chapter in the hot-potato politics of sexual predation for the party, which has its own fraught history on the subject.

The latest revelation­s have prompted a hard look back at the way Democrats and their allies once circled the wagons around President Bill Clinton, dismissing allegation­s that extended to serious assault as mere dalliances or the tales of “looney” women.

In her 2016 presidenti­al campaign, Hillary Clinton drew a clear line on behalf of women who allege sexual assault, saying flatly: “You have the right to be believed.” But she equivocate­d when asked if her husband’s accusers from another decade should be believed, too: “I would say that everybody should be believed at first until they are disbelieve­d based on evidence.”

The pressure’s on now to act without equivocati­on.

Franken’s prankish photo of his hands over a napping woman’s breasts on a military plane, combined with her allegation­s that he kissed her forcibly on another occasion,

prompted swift condemnati­on from throughout the party’s ranks and inspired calls for an ethics investigat­ion that the senator-in-hiding supported, too. Then a second woman came forward, alleging Franken grabbed her buttocks during a photo op at a state fair.

And now, BuzzFeed has published affidavits from former employees of Conyers who said they saw the Democrat inappropri­ately touching women who worked for him and asking for sexual favors.

It reported that his office paid more than $27,000 to a woman who alleged she was fired because she rejected his sexual advances. On Tuesday, Conyers denied he made that settlement — but his office later acknowledg­ed it while still denying that the allegation­s were true. The House Ethics Committee has initiated an investigat­ion.

Democrats, predictabl­y, have spoken fiercely and with one voice against Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama who is accused of disrobing a 14-yearold girl in his house when in his 30s.

Some Republican­s have demanded Moore quit his candidacy “if ” his accusers have told the truth about his approachin­g teenage girls. Others have concluded the accusation­s are more credible than his denials. But a few, like Alabama’s GOP governor, have suggested that even if he did prey on a 14-yearold decades ago, the need to protect the Senate’s Republican majority trumps such concerns. President Donald Trump repeatedly noted on Wednesday that Moore has

denied the allegation­s and insisted that Alabama must not elect the Republican’s “liberal” opponent in a Dec. 12 special election.

In this sexual misconduct frenzy , unmasking figures in entertainm­ent, media, sports and politics (#MeToo on Twitter), all sorts of episodes on the spectrum of misbehavio­r are being lumped together, from the boorish and juvenile to the allegedly criminal.

Grabbing a woman’s behind at the state fair isn’t in the same league as molesting a child.

Still, the Democrats have a predicamen­t.

“They don’t want to look tolerant on this issue by saying, ‘He wasn’t as bad as so and so,’” said Dan Lublin, a political science professor at American University.

“They need to appear strong,” he said, and not focus on gradations in misbehavio­r. “They’re going with ‘unacceptab­le.’ And it is a dilemma, because you don’t know how far that will go.”

 ?? ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Allegation­s against Rep. John Conyers of Michigan (left) and Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota are part of the newest chapter in the hot-potato politics of sexual predation.
ASSOCIATED PRESS Allegation­s against Rep. John Conyers of Michigan (left) and Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota are part of the newest chapter in the hot-potato politics of sexual predation.
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