The Case of Al Franken by Jane Mayer

[WhiskeyGrinder]

170. There's nothing new here, and Meyer leaves a lot out.

Tweeden's allegations were pretty much discounted before Franken resigned. And if hers were the only one, he's still be a senator.

But Franken himself started moving in a direction that to some indicated that he was becoming self aware about some of his behavior, and may have been trying to get in front of new allegations. About the "groping" photo, he said, "I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate. It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture ... how millions of other women would feel violated by it—women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me."

Does Franken no longer feel that way?

I'm also frustrated at how many times his staff told him to be more self-aware, and how he seemed to not take those warnings seriously.

Nevertheless, after Franken kissed a female acquaintance on the mouth in 2007, during his first campaign, an aide from South Dakota, David Benson, took him aside and said, “Don’t do that.” “Really?” Franken said. Benson warned him that people might misinterpret it.

Franken told me that he became more careful after that. “I’m a very physical person,” he said. “I guess maybe sometimes I’m oblivious.”

(snip)

When posing with kids, he jokingly put them in a headlock. “The family would often laugh about it,” Franken said. But once, when he did this in the Capitol, another senator, Chris Murphy, warned him, “That looks like something that will bring joy and happiness to a thousand families—until it ends your career.”

The article then goes on to say that no one had "ever complained" about his behavior -- like, what? People are telling you that should probably reconsider some of your habits and actions because they can cause him harm, what are you not getting?

Franken's a good man and was a good senator. He reacted poorly to a situation that surprised him, when it shouldn't have. He was not the only person who could get things done in the senate or in the party. I'm a huge fan of Tina Smith who has busted her ass to excel in that seat and hold onto it.