I certainly wouldn’t compare Franken’s behavior to a Weinstein or Trump, but it seems about time to draw a clear line and expect excellence from our public figures.
He was a comedian at the time and comedians do things like stage pictures to get a laugh out of people. It's clear from the picture that he is not actually touching her.
However, I can see why the picture, staged or not, would really bother her and make her feel violated.
But her story unravels a bit when she declares that she was groped. It's an exaggeration.
That brings us to the the question of the skit and the kiss. If she exaggerated one detail of the story she could be exaggerating or fabricating another part of the story for political purposes.
This is where an ethics investigation is relevant. Did she tell other people at the time about the incident? She says that she did. Will they go on the record supporting her claims of what happened.
Al Franken was the person who wrote the skit. Why did it end with the two of them kissing? Was that a funny thing to do? Did he put it in the skit so he could kiss a woman who wasn't into being kissed by him?
He had a long history on SNL. Did he harass other women in a similar fashion?
The incident could be a case of Al Franken making a project of harassing this woman over the course of the trip. But if that is the case, then why would Leanne Tweeden accept his apology now?
If Al Franken thought it was funny to write a skit about them kissing because she was obviously revolted by him that was a very bad idea. If I were on the panel, I would be asking questions about the skit and why it was written that way and what kind of working relationship the two of them had on the trip.
I'd want to get to the bottom of it before passing judgement.
I could see this heading toward a reprimand for behavior unbecoming of a future Senator.
But I would caution fellow Democrats with regard to the underlying politics. We just ran a national election as if it were a referendum on sexual harassment and the Democrats lost. They not only managed to lose the White House but they also managed to get less actual votes for House of Congress than the GOP.
I'm unconvinced that the combination of Red Scare and Pink Scare inquisitions are get the job done of reclaiming political power in America. And without regaining that power this is going to be all for nought.