The saga surrounding Senator Al Franken has been interesting, to say the least. In just a matter of weeks, he’s gone from being a speculative contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 to a disgraced politician forced out of office.
Numerous individuals have come forward alleging different episodes of sexual misconduct, some during his prior career as a comedian and some after his change to a politician. He’s claimed he either cannot recall these incidents or just flat out denies them, but still resigned from the U.S. Senate anyway.
His comedy career has presented an unusual issue for people to consider. Modern comedy has become dirty and sexual over the years, with tasteless jokes becoming the norm. For this reason, Senator Franken’s antics of feeling breasts while people sleep and trying to grope others is excused as apart of the gig. Perhaps he used his comedy as an excuse for his predations, who knows?
As a society, we’re faced with making exceptions for sexual misconduct. Should comedians get away with it? Louis C.K.’s own fall from grace implies not.
But what if comedian Al Franken addressed the antics of Senator Franken? What if comedian Franken made light of the issues that would haunt Senator Franken’s career and then force him out of office?
It happened apparently, according to a find was made by Harry Siegel of The Daily Beast. Siegel himself notes the striking similarities between Franken’s career as a United States Senator at this point versus the political career once envisioned by Franken the comedian.
A hypothetical President Al Franken was no stranger to sexual misconduct. He wasn’t faithful to his wife, instead sleeping around with numerous women. He beat out former Vice President Al Gore and then Newt Gingrich on his way to the top. But he would ultimately fall because of his own misconduct.
The book itself provides interesting insight into Franken’s own mindset. Why is Franken given a free pass through all of this? Many liberal commentators, activists and registered Democrats have said he never should have resigned (which isn’t quite official yet). While society condemns comedians like Louis C.K. for gross sexual misconduct, Franken gets off the hook because he’s a reliable Democrat.
It comes down to politics, but for the Democratic Party, this isn’t new.
When Senator Kristen Gillibrand criticized former President Bill Clinton for his sexual misconduct and stated he should have resigned at the time, Democrats reacted with horror. Former aides of his wife went on the attack. How dare Senator Gillibrand put moral decency and the safety of women before politics!
But for all the scandals to date, none of them is more strange than the case of Al Franken. His satirical writing became more of a prophecy foreshadowing his own political fate. The fictional President Al Franken, as told by comedian Al Franken, was a sexual deviant who couldn’t keep his hands to himself. As we’re finding out through the words of many women, this isn’t much different from the real Al Franken, a now-disgraced United States Senator who announced his upcoming resignation.
