SHALL WE DANCE, AL FRANKEN? “I didn’t laugh. I kept waiting for a punchline, as though the ass grab was a setup. But it wasn’t a setup. Fondling the fanny was the whole point.”

See, the point Franken was making is that when you’re famous, they let you do it. It was a trenchant commentary on female responses, in comedic form.

You laugh, but the WaPo would totally publish this defense. And you know what, it wouldn’t be wrong:

After the show I introduced myself to Franken and Davis. It was a casual atmosphere on the ballroom floor after a gig in Nowhere, Montana; they were friendly and approachable. The discussion was about to tick up a notch when, surprise, the two girls (the fondlees, shall we say) approached. All smiles and giggles. All starry-eyed and excited. Again I metaphorically scratched my head.

They invited Franken and Davis to a party.

A small party in the town of Logan, some twenty miles away. I assumed it was a small party because at the time there were maybe four, maybe five houses in Logan. And I also assumed, judging from their starry eyes, that Franken and Davis would have thought they had a good chance of perfecting their Fanny Fondle routine that night. I would have thought that. I’d have bet money on it, if I had been the recipient of such gazes and smiles.

That Franken and his trenchant commentary.