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Input: The Democratic partyâs strategy for responding to  the Al Franken scandal  is now apparent: Taking up Frankenâs own hint in  his  apology statement  there will be an âEthics Committee investigation.â
Investigate what  Senate Clouseaus?  Franken  has been caught on film. When Los Angeles radio host Leeann Tweeden said that during a 2006 USO tour  Franken  used  his  position as an entertainer to rope her into kissing  him  in the guise of a rehearsal for a sketch  that was repellent enough. Franken âput his hand on the back of my head  mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth â Tweeden said  and  Franken  offered no specific alternative story  only a lame suggestion that âI donât remember the rehearsal for the skit as Leeann does.â
Is the Senate Ethics Committee going to invite Tweeden in to tell her story and try to nail down exactly what  Franken  claims happened? Is the Senate Ethics Committee going to issue an open call to any other women out there who may have similar claims about  Franken  to submit their testimony? I doubt it. The purpose of this phony investigation is to give the appearance of doing something while allowing time to pass and tempers to cool  on the way to administering some meaningless reprimand to  Franken .
 Franken  might be able to shake this off if  he  could depend on conflicting memories. But  he  canât. Because of that photo. The sex-abuse scandal is becoming  to cultural history  what Watergate was to political history. It is gigantic. It is era-defining. And among the dozens of famous people implicated in it  the  Franken  photo is the most damning and irrefutable evidence yet to emerge. Itâs a tableau of our time. It is the photo of our moment. Itâs the kind of smoking gun you couldnât use in a Law & Order episode because it would be too blatant. It will never disappear from the national consciousness.
Consider the breathtaking way each detail reinforces the horror of the others: A Hollywood celebrity who will soon be a Democratic senator is molesting a woman. While sheâs asleep. And in military gear  because sheâs traveling to support our troops. In a war zone. And  Franken  is smiling. While shamelessly posing for the photographer. How can we ever cease to be amazed and appalled by this photo? It is to the sex war what the picture of the summary execution of that Viet Cong prisoner was to the Vietnam War.
Yet as the Senate circles the wagons around  Franken   itâs liberals and Democrats who should be angry â not Republicans. To Republicans itâs Thanksgiving come early. It makes no difference to the Republican policy agenda whether  Franken  or some other generic liberal Democrat holds that seat. If  Franken  remains  Roy Mooreâs chances of victory in Alabama increase. It makes it too easy for Republicans in Alabama to say  âWait a minute  weâre supposed to end the career of Roy Moore  a legend in this state  when Democrats wonât expel  Franken ? Why should we agree to unilateral ethics enforcement?â Should Moore make it to the Senate  Democrats will be able to cast Republicans as the party of sex creeps only if they expel  Franken . Every time Mooreâs name is mentioned  the response will be  âWhat about  Al Franken ? And by the way  what about Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy?â
True  in a certain sense this isnât fair. What Moore probably did is worse than what  Franken  admitted doing. But politics isnât fair. Whataboutism and crying hypocrisy arenât very strong moral arguments  but theyâre easy to make and theyâre emotionally satisfying. And a photograph of obvious wrongdoing simply carries more salience than a verbal allegation â even if the allegation is credible and even if the behavior alleged is worse than that seen in the photo.
Democrats who just this week were saying they would no longer tolerate Bill Clintonâtype behavior can prove it. They can make a clear break with the past by saying no more sexual misbehavior will be tolerated  even by beloved party members. They could then leverage that moral clarity in 2018 to seek the votes of the married women who are wary about the liberal agenda but might be persuadable. Instead  theyâre protecting their own. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand either can position herself as Americaâs leading tribune for women victimized by sexual assault or she can support keeping  Franken  in the Senate  but not both. Her initial gambit â  his  apology isnât enough but âI expect to hear moreâ from Franken â is insufficient. What more is there for  Franken  to say now that  he  has admitted guilt and apologized? The Democrats are creating a three-word weapon with which the GOP will never stop beating them over the head: What. About. Franken.
Al Franken Gives Liberals Another Chance at Virtue
Output:
Al Franken