The Patriot Post® · Much More Than Franken's Hypocrisy

Pressure further mounted on Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) when a majority of Senate Democrats joined together Wednesday in calling on him to resign after yet another woman stepped forward with allegations of his sexual harassment. This is now the eighth woman to accuse Franken of sexual misconduct. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said, “Enough is enough. We need to draw a line in the sand and say none of it is okay, none of it is acceptable. We as elected leaders should absolutely be held to a higher standard, not a lower standard, and we should fundamentally be valuing women. That is where this debate has to go.”

As we go to press, Franken is on the Senate floor announcing his resignation.

But why are Democrats just now growing a conscience against allegations of sexual misconduct? Until recently, leftists spent years walking in lock-step in their defense of Bill Clinton, a man accused not only of sexual harassment but of rape. They fully supported Hillary Clinton as a woman who sticks by her man, dutifully ignoring her vindictive discrediting and belittling of all the women who dared to come forward with their stories of abuse at Bill’s hands.

The answer is politics. The wave of revelations of sexual misconduct by powerful men, mostly against those on the Left, means Democrats are scrambling after that all important vantage point in both war and politics: higher ground. With Rep. John Conyers’ (D-MI) resignation yesterday after a mountain of allegations and accusations against Franken seemingly growing by the day, Democrats had to make a move. By getting rid of both Conyers and Franken, they essentially suffer no loss of political power, as both men will be replaced by Democrats, all while they can strategically claim the political capital of being the party standing on moral principles. Meanwhile, Republicans will continue to be painted as the party of morally bankrupt misogynists as they are saddled with the problem of Roy Moore. If he wins in Alabama next week, he will become the Democrats’ poster boy of the morally inferior Republicans. This is all political calculus rather than any newly found moral scruples.

In this current climate — where accusations are accepted as fact and due process is thought of merely as an excuse to deflect guilt — it should be pointed out that Franken has admitted to his misconduct, while Moore has denied the accusations against him, albeit rather inconsistently. Calling on one who has already admitted guilt to resign is no more morally commendable than is defending the right of the accused to be allowed due process. And when Democrats defended Bill Clinton and lionized Ted Kennedy — another philanderer responsible for a woman’s death — the only ground they occupy is the lower swamp.