36 women who worked with Al Franken during his ‘Saturday Night Live’ years signed a letter testifying to his character. His former female Senate staffers made similar remarks.
Great. Franken never inappropriately groped his coworkers. But does that really prove Franken’s innocence? Hardly.
As we’ve discussed at length, the court of pubic opinion is not the ideal place to try sexual harassment allegations. But this is the venue the media (and many accusers) continue to choose. We’ve cautioned against crucifying anyone, regardless of ideological orientation, without a complete assessment of the facts.
It doesn’t matter how Franken treated his coworkers if he harassed other women. Treating one person well doesn’t expunge treatment of others.
As Yashar Ali pointed out in the tweet above, the only result of these kinds of letters is that they dissuade other women from speaking up, and serve to delegitimize their allegations. Especially when the media talking points on Franken’s alleged offenses are that he made an itsy bitsy ‘mistake‘. A ‘mistake’ that as one reader pointed out, Franken made repeatedly, if allegations are to be believed.
As I blogged Sunday:
If what Franken did was simply a mistake, and he’s too politically valuable to lose, when and to whom is this standard also applied? The obvious answer is only to those who are Democrats, but that answer is hardly sufficient for the public who grow weary of double-standards and perverted logic in order to defend some while prosecuting others for the same offenses.
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY