Get A Grip
I keep hearing there's a photo of Al Franken groping the breasts of a sleeping woman. So far, I haven't seen it. What I have seen is the photo accompanying this post, where Franken is posing to look like he's about to grope some breasts, or is posing as if he's groping some breasts, but his fingers are still a few inches away. At least that's what it looks like to me.
Leeann Tweeden, the woman in the photo, does have plenty to complain about--not just the photo, but Franken's aggressive kissing in a sketch they performed on a USO tour. She says he groped her, though since she was sleeping (unless she was pretending to sleep), she has the same evidence we all now have.
Mind you, the photo is embarrassing to her whether or not he's touching her. My point, small as it is, is that I've heard a number of people state something with certainty when they really shouldn't be so sure.
posted by LAGuy @ 11:00 AM
5 Comments:
Agreed.
Also, the oft-repeated claim that "Donald Trump admitted in the Access Hollywood tape that he had sexually assaulted women" is false.
In that tape, he says, "You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful — just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait." That's in the first person singular, and is a claim about what he has done in the past. He continues, "And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em [censored]. You can do anything." This part is in the second person; he's making a general statement about what "stars" can get away with. One can infer from this that he has done such things, but he doesn't claim that.
But let's suppose that we interpret this as him claiming that he does routinely grab women in this way. In that case, he's clearly also asserting that the women allow this. Note that these are not employees or others who fear for their jobs, so there is no reason to assume prima facie that these women would be financially prevented from saying "no" if that's what they wanted to do. In other words, Trump is claiming this is all 100% consensual.
There are three obvious interpretations possible:
(1) Trump is making the whole thing up -- lying about what he has done in the past.
(2) Trump is telling the whole truth. He does kiss (and perhaps grab) wome he barely knows, and they willingly consent to his actions.
(3) Trump is telling the truth about his physical actions: he does kiss (and perhaps) grab women he barely knows. But he is lying (or mistaken) about their consent: they are unhappy about his sexually aggressive behavior.
Now, in the post-Weinstein world, one can make a good case for #3, and if that's true, then that does constitute sexual assault. However, #3 is not what Trump claimed. He claimed #2, and #2 is not sexual assault. So while one can claim to infer sexual assault by "reading between the lines", one cannot claim that Trump actually "admitted" to sexual assault.
I'm not saying this to defend Trump, who is an idiot, a liar, and a narcissist. But I strongly object to the press repeating false claims -- even about someone they and their readers dislike.
Trump is a man bragging about his sexual conquests. Any man bragging about his sexual conquests tends to exaggerate.
Off to the Gulag for both of you.
Al should leave when Don leaves. Seems fair
My impression has been that he's talking about groupies. He was (is) a TV star. So far, we haven't seen accusations against music, film and TV stars brought by their admiring fans who sought out the stars' company. Kevin Spacey has raised no defense to his accusers (besides blacking out) so I'm not sure there. Oddly, Meryl Streep seems not to be backing up her ages old description of Dustin Hoffman, but that would be more workplace harassment, akin to Weinstein's situation.
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