SLATE: Al Franken Should Resign Immediately: Democrats’ credibility on sexual harassment is at stake.
The hypocrisy of Franken’s reaction is galling. Following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the senator wrote an impassioned Facebook post declaring that sexual harassment is “appalling” and “far too common.” He added that it “takes a lot of courage to come forward, and we owe them our thanks.” Franken then praised Gretchen Carlson for writing about “the disappointing responses women often face when they go public both embolden harassers and encourage victims to stay silent.”
Now Franken has issued the exact kind of “disappointing response” that Carlson bemoaned, attempting to dismiss the accusation against him as a botched joke that his victim misremembered. Is anyone surprised? Yet another self-proclaimed defender of women’s rights has revealed himself to be a misogynistic fraud. Franken’s ardent promotion of gender equality on the Senate floor is rendered meaningless in the face of his disgusting conduct.
You should be suspicious of all men who engage in “ardent promotion of gender equality” in public settings.
UPDATE: Melanie Morgan: After TV appearance, Al Franken harassed me too.