Al Franken Must Go: It’s the Right Way to Help Women and Protect Democrats
This is one of those rare situations where two apparently contradictory things could be true. This may well be a Stone-style political stunt and Tweeden may be telling the truth about Al Franken’s sleazy behavior. That’s why I haven’t wavered in my belief that the right move, both morally and politically, is for Franken to resign his Senate seat immediately and for Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton to replace him with one of the many fine progressive politicians from his state, such as Rep. Keith Ellison or state Attorney General Lori Swanson.
That sense that the campaign against Franken is an orchestrated dirty trick is clearly fueling a lot of reluctance on the left to cut Franken loose. Feminist writers I usually agree with, such as Kate Harding and Joan Walsh (the former editor of Salon), have argued that, on this allegation alone, Franken should not be forced to quit the Senate. I am usually one to argue that Democrats should dig in their heels in when Republicans pull these kinds of stunts. In the past, caving to Republican demands to defund ACORN or fire Shirley Sherrod turned out to be huge political and ethical errors, when it was later revealed that the supposed scandal that led to these decisions were faked by conservative media operators.
But Franken has basically admitted the photo of him “jokingly” groping Tweeden while she was asleep on an airplane is real. In that light, his best move is to take one for the team and resign. Finding gainful employment, somewhere in the crossover zone between politics and entertainment, should not be a problem.
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